“Ezinma fumbles the keys against the lock and doesn’t see what came behind her.”

The author repeats this sentence throughout the story, creating suspense. Literally, it refers to Godwin coming up behind her with a gun; however, it also metaphorically suggests how her family members’ pasts led to this moment and thus her death, establishing the theme of How Mothers Shape Their Children.

“And Godwin is a better provider than Bibi’s father, now a modest trader. He rents her a flat. He lends her a car. He blinds her with a constellation of gifts, things she’s never had before, like spending money and orgasms.”

Bibi stays in her relationship with Godwin not despite her mother’s warning but because of it, illustrating how parents’ influence on their children extends even to their children’s resistance. Her decision to move in with him and her willingness to overlook his controlling personality lead to tragedy.

“My father never shared stories from before or after the war, as though he’d been born in the barracks and died the night of the final volley.”

In playing chess with her father, Nwando fills the role of her father’s friend Emmanuel. He tells her war stories—ostensibly as lessons after she has done something bad, but she realizes he is largely caught in the trauma of war.