The Shea Tree and Shea Butter in Remote Control: Symbol Analysis

The Shea Tree and Shea Butter: A Symbol of Home, Healing, and Curse in Remote Control

In Nnedi Okorafor’s Remote Control, the shea tree and the butter made from its nuts appear as a quiet but persistent presence in Fatima’s life—first as a childhood refuge, then as a ritual of self-care, and finally as the site of a deliberate burial. More than a natural backdrop, the shea tree anchors Fatima’s sense of home, while shea butter becomes a physical and emotional balm for the damage her power inflicts. As the novel traces her transformation from a sickly girl into the feared Sankofa, the shea tree shifts from a symbol of innocent belonging to a marker of loss, and ultimately to a place where she can choose to end the cycle of destruction.

What the Shea Tree and Shea Butter Literally Are

The shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) is a real African tree whose nuts produce a fatty substance used for cooking, cosmetics, and traditional medicine. In the novel, the tree is both a specific family tree in the backyard of Fatima’s home and part of the larger shea farms that surround the village of Wulugu. The butter is a thick, yellow substance that Sankofa carries in a jar and rubs into her skin. The text repeatedly emphasizes its sensory qualities: the smell reminds her of home, and it soothes the dryness caused by her glowing light.

The tree itself is described as having “long leathery leaves and unripe plum-sized shea fruit” (Chapter 10). It is a living, growing thing that persists even after the village is abandoned and rebuilt. The box that contains the alien seed is also made of shea wood, linking the tree to the source of Sankofa’s power.

Where the Symbol Recurs

The shea tree appears in key moments across the novel, often marking transitions in Fatima’s life.

Chapter 2 (Starwriter): As a young child, Fatima sits beneath the shea tree, drawing in the dirt and later climbing it to view her “sky words.” The tree is her refuge from malaria and her place of imaginative play. When the meteor shower brings the glowing seed, it lands at the base of this same tree, and later the wooden box emerges from the soil beneath it.
Chapter 3 (Moonrise): Seven-year-old Fatima spends the day in the shea tree, feeling an unusual heat. The tree is where she experiences the first signs of her power, and it is also where she hides when the politician’s aide comes to take the box.
Chapter 5 (The Road): As Sankofa travels, she always carries shea butter. The text notes, “Sankofa always smelled of shea butter, a smell that reminded her of home.” She rubs it on her skin after using her light, because “her light dried out her skin when she flared and the shea butter kept her skin supple and smooth.”
Chapter 8 (Everything Happens in the Market): When Sankofa finds the wooden box in the market, she recognizes it by its material: “The wood of the shea tree from home. The smell of it.” The box is a tangible link to the tree and to her past.
Chapter 9 (Death): After washing in a stream, Sankofa “rubbed shea butter on her clean skin,” using it as a ritual of renewal after violence and loss.
Chapter 10 (New Year): Sankofa returns to her family’s home and digs beneath the shea tree to bury the box. The tree’s root grasps her hand, and after she crushes the seed, she sees glowing green seeds at the base of nearly every other shea tree in the farm—except hers.

How the Symbol’s Meaning Changes

The shea tree and butter are not static symbols; their meaning evolves with Sankofa’s journey.

Innocence and Comfort: In childhood, the shea tree is a place of safety and creativity. Fatima draws her “sky words” in the dirt beneath it, and the tree’s leaves seem “greener in the sunshine than any other tree” (Chapter 2). The tree is associated with her grandfather, who taught her the stars, and with the happy years before her power awakened. Shea butter, in this early context, is simply a family product—her father makes it from nuts he picks himself, and the family spreads it on their skin.

Loss and Alienation: After the accident that kills her family and transforms her into Sankofa, the shea tree becomes a painful reminder of what she has lost. Shea butter becomes a way to cling to that lost home. The smell “reminded her of home,” but that home is gone. In Chapter 5, she dreams of her aunt mocking her for “stinking of shea butter over dirty skin,” linking the butter to her isolation and her inability to fit into a normal life.

Curse and Rejection: By the time Sankofa reaches the market in Chapter 8, she calls the seed “evil, vindictive, life-destroying.” The shea wood box, once a gift from the tree, now holds a curse. When she finally buries it, she declares, “You weren’t a gift, you were a curse.” The tree itself becomes the site of rejection—she spits on the box and lets the roots crush it.

Resolution and Renewal: In the final chapter, the shea tree offers a kind of closure. The root that grasps her hand is almost loving, and after the burial, Sankofa feels something leave her. She sits facing the tree, remembering her family without mental walls. The tree remains a witness to her past and a place where she can finally rest. The glowing seeds at the other trees suggest that the alien presence is spreading, but Sankofa’s deliberate act of brightening her light hints that she may now be able to control or counter it.

Connections to Themes and Characters

The shea tree and butter are deeply tied to the novel’s central themes.

Home and Grief: The tree is the physical anchor of Fatima’s home. When she returns to Wulugu, she finds her house gutted, but the tree remains. Her grief is expressed through her memory of her father carrying a sack of shea nuts, and her final act of burying the seed is an attempt to lay her past to rest. This connects to the theme of grief, loss, and the search for home.
Identity and Reinvention: Fatima’s transformation into Sankofa is marked by her loss of name and memory. The shea tree is one of the few constants that links her to her original self. When she says “Fatima” at the burial, she reclaims a part of her identity. The tree and butter help her maintain a connection to who she was, even as she becomes something else. See identity loss and reinvention.
Power and Its Burden: The shea butter is a practical response to the physical toll of her power. It soothes her skin, but it cannot soothe her mind. The tree is where the seed first lands, making it the origin of her destructive ability. This ties to the isolating burden of destructive power.
Exploitation and Technology: In Chapter 10, Sankofa sees a LifeGen nasal spray advertisement in Wulugu, and she worries that the glowing seeds will be harvested by the corporation. The shea tree farm becomes a site of potential corporate exploitation, linking the natural symbol to the theme of surveillance technology and corporate exploitation.
Stories and Myth: The shea tree is also a place where stories are told—Fatima tells the seed stories, and later the folk story of Sankofa is told by others. The tree’s roots and the buried seed become part of a new myth. This connects to stories, myths, and the power of narrative.

The symbol also illuminates key characters. For Fatima’s grandfather, the tree is a place of stargazing and teaching. For her father, it is a source of shea nuts for the family’s butter. For Movenpick, the fox, the tree is a perch and a companion. For Alhaja, the avocado tree she tends is a parallel to the shea tree—both are sources of livelihood and community. The shea tree thus connects the human and non-human worlds, and its persistence mirrors Sankofa’s own endurance.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the shea tree function as a symbol of home in the novel, and how does that meaning change after Fatima becomes Sankofa?

Answer: In childhood, the shea tree is a literal home—a place of safety, play, and family. Fatima draws beneath it, climbs it, and finds comfort in its branches. After the accident, the tree becomes a symbol of a lost home. Sankofa carries shea butter to remind herself of that home, but the smell also brings pain. When she returns to Wulugu, the tree is still there, but the house is gutted. The tree now represents both what was lost and the possibility of closure. By burying the seed beneath it, Sankofa transforms the tree from a site of loss into a site of deliberate choice.

2. What role does shea butter play in Sankofa’s daily life, and what does it reveal about her relationship to her power?

Answer: Shea butter is a practical necessity—it keeps her skin from drying out when she uses her light. But it also serves an emotional function. The text says it “reminded her of home,” and she rubs it on after killing the gateman, after washing in the stream, and before sleeping. It is a ritual of self-care that grounds her in her humanity. The butter does not negate her power, but it offers a moment of physical comfort. This reveals that Sankofa is not fully alienated from her body or her past; she still seeks the soothing touch of a natural substance associated with her family.

3. In Chapter 10, Sankofa sees glowing seeds at the base of nearly every shea tree except hers. What does this contrast suggest about her relationship to the alien seed and to the natural world?

Answer: The contrast highlights that Sankofa’s seed was unique—it was given to her specifically, and it was tied to her “sky words” and her time in the tree. The other seeds may have spread from the original meteor shower, but they did not choose a host. Sankofa’s act of crushing her seed breaks that connection. The fact that her tree is the only one without a glowing seed suggests that she has rejected the alien influence, but the other seeds remain, implying that the threat is not fully gone. The natural world is both a source of life and a conduit for the alien presence.

4. How does the shea tree connect to the theme of stories and myth in the novel?

Answer: The shea tree is where Fatima draws her “sky words,” which are a form of storytelling. Her grandfather’s star lessons become part of her personal myth. Later, the folk story of Sankofa is told by others, and the tree is part of that legend—it is where the seed fell and where it was buried. The tree itself becomes a symbol of narrative continuity: it witnesses Fatima’s childhood, her transformation, and her return. By burying the seed, Sankofa creates a new story, one in which she chooses to end the curse. The tree’s roots and the buried seed become a physical marker of that choice, ensuring that the story will be remembered.

Conclusion

The shea tree and shea butter in Remote Control are far more than background details. They are living symbols that carry Fatima’s history, her pain, and her agency. From the innocent drawings of a sickly child to the final burial of a curse, the tree remains a constant—a natural force that both grounds Sankofa and reminds her of what she has lost. Through this symbol, Okorafor explores how home can be both a source of comfort and a site of reckoning, and how a simple tree can hold the weight of a life transformed by power and grief.