Parentification, Neglect and Abandonment in Egya E. Sule’s Sterile Sky

Abstract

Ethno-religious crises have caused so much havoc in many African countries leading to loss of lives and property. They have also rendered fear and instability among people. Specifically, this article focuses on Nigeria’s experience to the ugliness of the crises through Sterile Sky a text that depicts the evil nature of the ethno religious violence in one of Nigeria’s city states, Kano and how this affects the children as witnesses and/or victims to such. Through trauma and narratology this article explores Egya E. Sule’s Sterile Sky from the angle of parentification, neglect and abandonment which are interconnected with the violence. Against this background it is argued that the novel depicts Murtala as a parentified child who is physically and psychologically crushed but has the agency to make constructive decisions that will help change his life for the better even in the face of abandonment.