50 pages • 1 hour read
Helon HabilaOil on Water
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9
Chapter 7 Summary
On the day they began the kidnapping assignment, Rufus and Zaq left the oil company rig early in the morning. The guide hired to accompany the journalists carried a gun and was physically intimidating, which was necessary given the danger of the assignment. Rufus sat next to Zaq on the boat, along with several other reporters, including two from Lagos who wore suits and soft shoes and looked unready for the terrain. They traveled through the Delta; the trip was difficult to navigate. The guide kept trying to hail the kidnappers on the radio, and it was determined that his instructions were to go in one direction for a time and then turn to a specific frequency to contact the militants. When nobody responded, they began to worry.
After some more traveling time, they came to a series of small islands; on the second island, they saw a fire. At first, they thought perhaps it was a sign of civilization, but upon further inspection, they saw that a wooden boat was on fire and appeared to have been hit directly by a rocket. They arrived on shore to find that the whole camp had been attacked, with the militants having apparently been ambushed by the military. There was carnage everywhere, and they came across several dead bodies. The reporters immediately began taking pictures, except for Zaq, who simply took some notes and returned to the boat. Rufus followed him, and they sat together talking about the first time they met, with Rufus telling Zaq that he was part of the reason Rufus got his job.
Shortly thereafter, the reporters returned to the boat, walking in a single-file line, along with their guide: They were being herded at gunpoint by several men in black masks. These men were militants who survived the ambush, and they took the travelers’ boat, assuring them they would send it back for them later. Close to midnight, after many hours of waiting, a small wooden boat appeared and landed on the shore. The boat contained the old man Tamuno and his son, Michael; they comprised the crew sent to pick all the journalists up, which was how Rufus and Zaq met Tamuno and his son.
Tamuno has been told to take them all to Irikefe Island. They are all hoping that there will be a hotel, a hot meal, and a good place to rest, but instead, the old man takes them to a shrine. Near the shrine, there are a number of statues of men, which they pass on the way to meet Naman, assistant to the head priest of the shrine. He allows them to stay, giving them a place to sleep and some food. When Rufus wakes up the next day, he goes outside and inspects the clay figures in the sculpture garden. When he returns to the hut, everyone is outside and ready to leave except for Zaq, who is still lying on the mud floor, dealing with his fever. A pickup truck comes to take the journalists to the pier, where a ferry will pick them up and take them back to Port Harcourt. Zaq tells Rufus that he will stay a little longer and gives Rufus the phone number of his editor, telling him to take the message for him. Reluctantly, Rufus gets into the truck, still thinking about Zaq and his reasons for remaining behind.
Chapter 8 Summary
Rufus returns home to visit after writing his piece for the paper in Port Harcourt. His sister, Boma, is there, and he tells her all about the kidnapping, the devastated island, and the dead bodies. She becomes upset, crying over the injustice and violence: “The poor people, they could be anyone, just anyone!” (95). Boma thinks of John, her ex-husband, who has become very political and angry and complains often about the government. Rufus has seen that kind of anger before, often from people who end up joining the militants.
John grew up with Rufus and Boma and married Boma despite her scarring (the result of a fire in the family home). Rufus was not sure if he could trust John until John and Boma said their vows, which proved to him that John was sincere. Rufus goes to sleep thinking about the Kevin Costner film Waterworld and drawing parallels to the situation in the Niger Delta, thinking there is:
[S]omething sad about a people who were born and lived and died on water, on rusty ships and boats and fantastic balloons, their days and nights filled with the hope of someday finding dry earth, their wars and industries and relationships and culture all driven by the myth of dry land (96).
Chapter 9 Summary
Rufus has written his story for the newspaper, and he is being praised for it. The owner of The Reporter, the newspaper Rufus works for, is known as “the Chairman,” and he has called Rufus to have a meal and chat with him. The Chairman is terrifying to his employees, but Rufus is surprised at how nice the man is to him. The Chairman asks Rufus about Zaq, saying he knew Zaq a long time ago. After the meal, Rufus finds his editor, who is also pleased with him. The editor asks whether Rufus is ready to interview the husband, James. Rufus notes how differently he is being treated since returning from Irikefe.
Rufus goes to the waterfront home of the Floodes in Port Harcourt. James Floode tells Rufus that he can’t even go outside of his house anymore, as the story of his wife’s kidnapping has turned his life into a circus. He asks whether Rufus believes she’s still alive. James thinks Nigeria has the potential to become “the Japan of Africa, the USA of Africa, but the corruption is incredible” (103). Rufus explains that his people hear about the potential but remain skeptical because although they are told these oil businesses are good for them, all they see is the destruction and pain that the oil companies cause for the common people.
The maid, Koko, comes in, and James has her get the men drinks. Rufus notices that he is somewhat intimate with Koko and wonders if there is an affair taking place. James admits that his wife came to Africa to save their marriage, but it was already too late; he had checked out of the marriage six months before that. There is another woman, and she is carrying his child. Still, he doesn’t wish his wife harm and wants badly to rescue her.
With his mobility limited, he asks Rufus to take some money and carry a message to Zaq. James believes that only Zaq can find his wife. After giving Rufus 100,000 naira, along with another envelope for Zaq, James tells Rufus that he doesn’t even have to stick around but simply take back the message that Zaq can negotiate with the militants on his behalf. Rufus offers a receipt for this large sum of money, but James declines, saying, “No need for that, Rufus. I have to trust you. You’re my only hope, you and Zaq. My wife’s life is in your hands” (108).
Rufus returns home to explain to Boma that he is going back. She’s worried, but Rufus assures her that he’ll be fine and gives her some of the money from his envelope to pay for her housing. He feels sorry for her, saying he has never seen her so broken as she was on the day John left her after five years of marriage. He wishes he’d been home to share in his family’s pain.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
Developing the theme of Searching for Order Amid Chaos, these chapters underline that no matter how prepared the people of the Niger Delta are for uncertainty and violence, there is every possibility that their preparations will be overwhelmed by chaotic forces. This emphasizes what little control they have over their own destinies, which are rather controlled by the economic forces and fall-on effects of the oil industry. Rufus and Zaq have hired a guide who is physically imposing and armed, yet this ultimately does no good. Similarly, when Salomon talks about how the kidnapping happened, he reveals that Jamabo, for all his attitude and toughness, was dispatched coldly and quickly by a character who could easily overpower him.
The village of Agbuki Island further reveals the conflict’s destructive impact, developing the theme of The Environmental and Social Effects of Neocolonialism. It has been burned and reduced to rubble, with dead bodies everywhere. This is most directly a result of the violence between the militia and the military, which ordinary people find themselves caught between. In reality, though, there is a third side: the oil company. It is ostensibly on the same side as the military (which works to protect it) but has a different agenda. James Floode is a representative of the oil industry, and he symbolizes the attitude of the oil company well. He takes Koko for his own, basically colonizing her in the same way that the white oil barons are extracting the land’s resources with no regard for the environmental or social problems their actions cause. Floode may not directly mean anyone ill, but he throws money at his problems to make them go away instead of addressing the underlying problems that create the conflict. Further, his attitude toward the region and its people is dismissive, classist, and racist. Like earlier colonizers, he sees himself and the forces he represents as “helping” the colonized—in the case of the oil companies, by providing the region with money and jobs. Anyone who does not appreciate this is in his mind simply ignorant and further underscores the need for the supposedly benevolent intervention of Western powers.
These chapters introduce the shrine, an important location that represents an alternative approach to the natural world as compared to the exploitative attitude embodied by the oil companies. They also introduce Boma, Rufus’s sister, whose face was scarred in an oil fire. This links her to the ravaged landscape of Nigeria, making Rufus’s attitude toward her all the more notable. Boma is something of an anchor for him. There are moments throughout the novel where he might be able to escape or do something selfish with his life and the money he is getting from James Floode, but he is always concerned about Boma. He feels guilt over not being present for the fire or her husband’s abandonment, and his guilt does not allow him to leave her despite the danger. This symbolically hints at a similar attitude toward Nigeria itself, signaling that despite Rufus’s current entanglement with men like Floode, he will ultimately act with his country’s interests in mind.
