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

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. Keywords— abandonment, ethno-religious violence, liminality, parentification, poverty.


INTRODUCTION
Many African countries have suffered a lot due to ethnoreligious crises. One of the mostly affected is Nigeria which due to the unending ethno-religious crises has experienced the loss of many lives and property. Fear and instability is also the order of the day among people in some Nigerian states and cities. This echoes what Tagurum et al (2015) stipulate that, "Nigeria, as a country has a variety of low grade conflicts that result in chronic bloodletting without the country actually being in an open state of war" (1). What this entails is that people are involved in violent acts in the name of ethnicity and religion regardless of who gets hurt. In view of this, various authors have also taken it upon themselves to write on issues related to ethno-religious crisis in different parts of Nigeria. Among them is Egya E. Sule who in his novel Sterile Sky focuses on the ethno-religious crisis in the northern part of Nigeria, Kano in particular. Adebore (2013) in her review of Sterile Sky says that "the text is set in the city of Kano in the nineties which was known for its endless religious violence which left many dead or wounded, houses burnt and a general feeling of distress on its masses" (1). This assertion is analysed in this article to appreciate how Sule uses the ethno-religious background in Nigeria's Northern states and cities in particular such as Kano as a basis for Sterile Sky and how well the crisis is interpreted in the text. As much as all this is true, it can be seen that through all this parentification is prominent especially when one looks at Murtala's life in the crisis and later abandonment by his father. Parentification is considered to be a type of role reversal, as it refers to "the broader category of relational disturbances in which an adult looks to the child to fulfil unmet needs for intimacy, parenting, or socialization by expecting the child to take on the role of partner, parent, or peer" (Engelhardt, 2012, p.50). According to Boszormenyi-Nagy and Spark (as cited in Engelhardt, 2012) parentification is "a ubiquitous and important aspect of most human relationships" (p.50). Hence, it is important to analyse this aspect in order to assess its impact on the child focaliser in the text. All these ideations will be read through trauma theory and narratology. Specifically the focus is on the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its manifestation in the experiences that the children have in the text. Besides, narratology will also be used in order that better understanding of relations between the narrator and the story in the given narrative is conveyed. Thus, an insight on how narration affects the way in which the story is told on the narrator, the writers, as well as the readers will be given.

II. PARENTIFICATION AND VIOLENCE
Parentification implies the phenomenon or the process of becoming a parentified child. According to Mark Karpel (1977), "it involves subjective distortion of a parent-child relationship through wishful fantasy or dependent behaviour of the parent" (cited in Tam, 2009, p.1). It also refers to the process through which children are assigned the role of an adult, "taking on both emotional and functional responsibilities that are typically performed by the parent. The parent, in turn, takes the dependent position of the child in the parent-child relationship" (Engelhadt 2012, p. 45). The term "parentification" was first utilized in depth by Boszormenyi-Nagy and Spark (as cited in Engelhadt, 2012, p. 45) to describe: a common component of relationships whereby parental characteristics are projected onto an individual. Within the parent-child relationship, this process is often seen when the child performs chores or occasionally offers emotional support for a parent, and is believed to be healthy for the child as he or she begins to see the potential for him or herself in an adult role.
Parentification occurs in two levels: instrumental and emotional. Instrumental parentification refers to "the physical help that a child may provide to his or her parent by completing tasks around the home that are typically reserved for adults such as grocery shopping, doing the laundry, and cleaning the house" (Hooper, 2011, p.228).
Emotional parentification on the other hand refers to "the expressive support that a parentified child may offer to his or her parent or sibling. For instance, serve as confidante, peacemaker" (Hooper, 2011, p. 228). However, emotional parentification is more harmful as compared to instrumental parentification. This is so as it involves roles that are more stressful for one to perform. This situation works hand in hand with aspects of abandonment and neglect. This is a form of child abuse as it harms the child who is overburdened with responsibility, thereby depriving them of the structure they need to survive. A parentified child takes on responsibilities that are not suitable for their age and life experiences, often creating frustration, stress, and feelings of being overwhelmed. Neglect and abandonment often lead to parentification which makes these concepts connected in one way or another.
Abandonment and neglect are most of the times intertwined with poverty. What this means is that due to lack of certain basic needs in life, one can relate to the situation differently as compared to others. Whilst some think and act positively, others react negatively. The disheartening thing though is the effect the decisions made by parents or guardians affect children. Poverty in isolation is not easy to define. This is so since it has multiple interlocking dimensions. For some it only involves material things but for others it includes the feeling of helplessness, powerlessness and voicelessness. Thus, while poverty is "material in nature, it has psychological effects such as distress at being unable to feed one's children, insecurity from not knowing where the next meal will come from, and shame at having to go without foods that have strong symbolic value" (World Bank, n.d., chap. 2). When this happens, and as a way of dealing with the situation, one resorts to neglect and sometimes abandonment of their children. The consequences of these acts always render the children vulnerable in one way or another.
Neglect is seen and defined in different ways by different scholars. According to Wilkinson and Bowyer (2017), neglect "is a serious and pervasive form of maltreatment that occurs across childhood and adolescence with potential long-term consequences across the life span" (p.21). Neglect is also "failure to provide for a child's basic needs physically, medically, educationally, or emotionally" (Dryden, 2009, p.4). Abandonment on the other hand is the "means by which a child has been deserted by the parent, guardian or care-giver, or who has, for no apparent reason, had no contact with the parent, guardian, or care-giver for the period of at least three months" (Blackie, 2014, p.7). Murtala and his siblings, especially Imatum, are affected greatly due to their father's neglect and later abandonment. The father, being poor and having a low salary, is unable to take care of his children such that he fails to know and understand what they want and need. In addition to that, he is very neglectful of the children such that he only gets to know about some of the things they do later. Even when he knows, he does nothing to alleviate the situation.
Imatum goes into prostitution due to poverty and neglect from her father. After she goes back to the village with her mother and other siblings, she finds it very hard to adapt as things are not as her mother had said they would be. Hence, she goes back to Kano. Instead of caring about his daughter and trying to find her a school, the father does nothing. When her mother comes back from the village, she only sees her daughter at night when the younger woman comes back from wherever she might have been. From Murtala's description, it is obvious that Imatum earns her money through selling her body. Apart from prostitution, Imatum also starts going to a new church and does not listen to her mother when the older woman reprimands her. child's body. My argument here is that Murtala assumes the responsibilities of a parent while he is still a child and while both his parents are living and very much capable to raising their children properly.
As expected, Imatum falls pregnant. When her mother asks her to mention the father of her unborn child, she only keeps quiet. This angers the older woman who threatens to beat her up. The threat only leads Imatum to run away from home. When her father comes back from work, and he is told of Imatum's pregnancy, he does nothing about it.
He only asks about Imatum a week after she had run away from home. This attests to the fact that Murtala's father is so uncaring and negligent of his children's well-being. Furthermore, his behaviour totally changes since he keeps to himself and even the children fail to talk to him properly. The father's condition is a constricted one. According to Herman (1992) constriction is the "withdrawal from others, numbing of the self so as to separate from intolerable pain, uncontrollable rage, or intense terror, a narrowing of perception, and an impoverished life" (p.199). Though at first it is not known why the father is traumatised, we soon learn why he keeps to himself: he has recently lost his job, which leads him to disappear from home without a trace. In her study of unemployed males, Griffin suggests that "unemployment could threaten the stability of a traditional masculine identity constructed around discourses such as bringing home a wage and freedom from the domestic sphere" (as cited in Mac Ghaill, 1996). Thus, it can be noted that Murtala's father feels that his ego as the head of family has been bruised by being dismissed from work. Hence, the only way is to run away from his home in order that he clings to his manhood and come to terms with this trauma. In this way, "the failings of customary masculinity are demonstrated by the physical and psychological collapse of Murtala's father" (Osha, 2012, p.1). The sad part is that this collapse, which leads to his eventual desertion of his family leaves the family with so many unanswered questions. In fact, they start a nightly praying vigil for him so that he comes back home. This makes Murtala to stop going to school and he assumes the headship of the family as his father is nowhere to be seen. As the narrator says, Ola 1 came to my house. 'I'm worried that you have not been in school for some days. The exams are coming.' Is your mum at the market?
1 Ola is Murtala's friend at school. He comes from a wealthy family, whenever necessary, he supports Murtala with some of his basic needs. To further worsen things, a riot breaks out and once again Murtala and his family are forced to seek shelter and protection at the police. While there, Imatum shows up with her Muslim husband and baby to get her mother and siblings to her house. However, the mother refuses to acknowledge her. She also refuses to let any of her children go with her daughter. Later, Ola comes with his father and persuades Murtala's mother to stay at their home. While at Ola's house, his mother decides to take her family back to the home village. Murtala is told that he is coming with them, thereby making him unable to sit for his Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination (JSSCE).
Murtala's mother constantly refers to him as "the rational one" and this has a huge bearing on how she treats him especially after the disappearance of her husband. Adekoya (2012) argues that "a name is an image and a metaphor. It not only gives the identity of a person or an object but it is also a representation of the person or the object" (as cited in Adegbite, Adekoya & Adegoju, 2012, pp. 368-369).
This is also what we notice here. Being called "the rational one" forces Murtala to behave sensibly at all times such that he is taken advantage of especially by his mother. In the end he suffers a lot due to this.
At his house, Ola's father tries to reason with Murtala's mother not to take the children to her home village. However, the host's pleas fall on deaf ears. In fact, Murtala's mother stubbornly refuses to go back to the village without her eldest surviving son. The whole situation renders him helpless and it is mostly due to his father's disappearance, much as it also concerns the riots happening in the country. Had his father not abandoned them, things would have been different. Having been left alone to fend for her children and with the instability in the city, the mother does not think of how Murtala is affected by her decision to go back to the village. Much as Murtala is distressed with his parentification, the state of instability he, his mother and siblings are in is heightened by ethnoreligious violence taking place in their community.
Violence per se is an instance of physical force usually effecting or intended to effect injuries. Violence also means "unjust, unwarranted or unlawful display of force, especially such as tends to overawe or intimidate" (Hanks, 1971, p.1617). Arblaster (1975) argues that "violence, other than imposition of physical harm and suffering and death, may also be described as depriving people of food and schooling" (p.239). Additionally, Arblaster also includes poverty as a mode of violence. This violence is experienced in different ways. Some of it is vertical whilst the other is horizontal. Vertical violence is the use of state power to oppress or colonise people. "It is manifested through state policies and the supremacy of the ruling power which curtails the economic, political and cultural freedoms of the oppressed" (Duffy, 1995, p.8). This in turn results in horizontal violence, defined by Harcombe (1999) as "behaviour associated with oppressed groups and can occur in any arena where there are unequal power relations and one group's self-expression and autonomy is controlled by forces with greater prestige, power and status than themselves" (p.40). It is also the inappropriate way oppressed people release built up tensions when they are unable to address and solve issues with the oppressor. Horizontal violence is basically systematic oppression. The unbelievers and non-Christians feel that Rev. Bonnke is some sort of magician and do not wish their city to be trapped by his magic. As such, they start a riot with the aim of immobilising everything. The problem is that it is innocent people who face the consequences of the wrath of these non-Christians led by the Muslims. According to Coser (1956, p.99) conflict occurs when two or more people engage in a struggle over values and claims to status, power and resources in which the aims of the opponents are to neutralize, injure or eliminate their rivals. He further explained that conflict emerges whenever one party perceives that one or more valued goals or means of achieving these valued goals are threatened or hindered by another party or parties or by their activities.
In this case it can be said that the ethno-religious conflict is merely a struggle of power between the warring sides, which are the Hausa/Fulani-Muslims and Igbo Christians. However, they try hard to find a scapegoat as a way of blaming it on someone else instead of accepting responsibility. being connected to Rev. Bonnke, the riots seem to be recurrent. This can be confirmed through the prayer by Murtala's mother. According to Murtala, his mother prays to God to preserve their lives as He did before: "Mama broke the silence. 'Jehova our Lord, we're in your hands. You've saved us from riots before. Save us from this'" (Sule, 2012, p.7). The last time the killings happened, their house (and that of their neighbour's) was spared. This time, the killers are all over the neighbourhood. This is attested by the fact that the killers murder all the occupants of the houses surrounding their house before they move on to theirs. For instance, the narrator points out that the killers reach Murtala's neighbour's house where they murder everyone and even cut open the womb of Helen's pregnant mother because they believe the unborn child will be a "kaffir" Christian. (Sule, 2012, p.10). The use of the word "kaffir" brings to mind the racist sentiments often uttered by people who feel that their race or religion is far more superior than that of the other person. This is also how the persecutors behave. As enemies of the Christians, they do not want to witness a new generation of Christians being born to cause trouble for them. 3 Thus, to control this and prevent it from happening, they cut the woman's womb thereby killing the unborn child. Murtala is greatly affected by this because Helen is his girlfriend and hearing her voice as she is being beaten weakens him. As the narrator says, The two children are quickly thrown into the water tank, while the husband and wife find solace underneath the bed. They locked their door, but the door was useless against the wrath of the mob; "two gunshots wrecked the lock and they poured in, thirsty for blood" (16). Apparently, the mob knew that the family was inside. At the end, the mob killed Samuel, the husband; and his wife, Mafeng, was raped until she was unconscious. (Ogundipe, 2018, p. 139) The description in the passage above is similar to what occurs in Sterile Sky as Murtala's family also hides in their house upon the inception of the killings. This simply shows the propensity of hatred propelling the killers. Just as Mafeng and her family are hiding from the killers, Murtala and his family also do the same and his mother even murmurs a prayer for protection from the approaching killers. In the words of the narrator, The storytelling is very palpable in the narrative and one can easily observe that Murtala seeks out ways of blocking the memories that are characterized by the struggle to both remember and forget due to their graphic nature and the feelings they evoke in him. There is what LaCapra (1999, p.65) calls an aspect of "absence" in the way Murtala's family responds to this trauma. There is a "sense of traumatic hurt" (LaCapra, 1999, p.65) resulting from the family's inability to grasp their signification from one another. It is not surprising that Murtala accepts and awaits the inevitable by stipulating that "the hour has come" (Sule, 2012, p.11). He only sees death as the only outcome given the circumstances that his family is in. The expression "the hour has come" has some biblical connotations. In Christian mythology, this alludes to the time when the Passover was fast approaching and Jesus Christ knew that the time had come when he had to die for the redemption of mankind. Hence, as a way of accepting the inevitable, Christ said 'the hour has come' several times (see Mark 14:41, John 12:23-24, and John 17:1) to signify the agonies he was to go through and the eventual crucifixion on the cross. In Sterile Sky, it can be seen that Murtala's family is in a state of fear due to the situation at hand as everyone around them is being murdered and the killers are nearing his house. Like the biblical Christ therefore, Murtala's family accepts the inevitable even though it is agonising. Hence, the allusion in the passage above is used to enhance the painful condition of Murtala and his family. It also symbolises the acceptance of an imminent negative situation. This is in line with what Herman (1992) stipulates, that "traumatic reactions occur when action is of no avail. When neither resistance nor escape is possible, the human system of self-defense becomes overwhelmed and disorganized" (34). This is what happens with Murtala's family. Before leaving for the police shelter, there seems to be no hope that they will escape the wrath of the killers and they become overwhelmed with their predicament and can only accept the inevitable. The imagery of Yakubu, Murtala's younger brother "dash[ing] out of the latrine, holding his shorts in his left hand, watery shit dripping from him" (Sule, 2012, p.11) clearly emphasises the terror and hopelessness of the When all hope seems lost, the barber shop owner comes to the rescue of Murtala's family. He lies to his fellow Muslims that the family has already fled and the house is under his care. As such, it should not be burnt down.
Murtala's family is thus saved by grace. While all this is happening, the sky becomes sterile and lifeless, which is symbolic of the situation at hand. Just as the sky looks lifeless, so too is Murtala's family. It looks helpless and has no power or ability to save itself from the killers. If it were not for the barber shop owner, the entire family would have been wiped out. Therefore, it can be noted that the barber shop owner, is an advocate of peace and goodwill. He is different from the other 'neighbours' (people of other ethnic groups and religion). Zizek (2008) observes that, "a neighbour could pose a threat to the internal psyche and the very core of personhood of another because of the proximity" (59) and because a neighbour could be a '''traumatic intruder,' one then should fear the neighbour" (Zizek, 2008, p.59 Later, the family takes refuge at the police station. On its way there, it witnesses the carnage caused by the killers. As the narrator says, "I noticed that the road was littered with corpses. I could also see many damaged cars and motorcycles. Some houses by the roadside smouldered with acrid smoke. We walked in silence. Inhaling the stale odour of death" (Sule, 2012, p.13). At the police shelter, they meet more families who had also run away from the killings. Hearing about the loss each family has suffered leads Murtala to become violent. Later, he loses his younger brother to an accident, an incident that shatters him for life. His mother, too, is affected by the loss such that she decides to go to the village to ensure the safety of her children. However, Murtala chooses to stay behind with his father while all his siblings leave with his mother.
It can be seen here that the older woman is "devoted to the care of others; she is self-sacrificing and not a subject with her own needs and interests" (Fombele 2015, p.194). Unlike the father, the mother wholly thinks of the safety of her children and behaves accordingly.
When the riot finally subsides, Murtala goes back to school where he hears so many horrendous tales about the riots. We learn, for example, that the school has lost twenty-four students. As prayers are being offered to remember the departed, Murtala feels disoriented. This is because he feels bitter that the leaders are using the same religions that led to the death of his brother, Ukpo, and his friend Helen.
The riot affects most of Murtala's classmates, except Ola who, in the narrative context of the novel, stays near the governor's house in a place called Government Reserved Area (GRA) and only knows about the killings through television. The fact that Ola's house is politically situated near the governor's house says a lot about the nature of the narrative. Autor et al (2005) observe that "places are stratified along a hierarchy, with the affluent occupying the most resource-rich neighbourhoods and these enjoy a number of social advantages such as safety, high quality schools, and political power" (p.205). It is no wonder that most of the people living in the GRA are those with affluence and live quite a stable and protected life which is sheltered from most of the viciousness life can bring. This is totally different from the poor neighbourhoods where the inhabitants suffer from "disinvestment, deteriorating physical structures, increased crime, and lack of political power" (Briggs, 2005, p.230). That is why only the poor and those living in unstable locations are the ones who are affected when violence breaks out and gets ugly. It also implies that the security of the many urban spaces is very poor. The rich and well-known people are the ones who are secured and protected from various kinds of crises, unlike the many poor who are left to fight for their lives when conflicts get out of hand.
It is no wonder then that when another riot breaks out, the poor, unstable people are forced to go back to the police shelter. This time around, Murtala is the one acting as the head of his family as his father has disappeared without a trace. He is forced to be in a liminal state due to circumstances beyond his reach. According Gennep (1960) "liminality expresses the ambivalent state of the initiand or the same 'transit-traveler', his transition to the intermediate, ambivalent social zone, the so-called 'limbo'" (cited in Ratiani, 2007, p.1). What this means is that an individual is in a "betwixt and between" situation. Often, liminality comes as a result of a person's conscious choices, but it is possible to have liminality thrust upon one. For example, sexual violence and the consequent the village so that he can continue with his education. He is so determined to do well and get out of the poverty trap.
He says this as much to Ola: "Please tell your dad I'll escape to Kano to continue my schooling. I will return" (Sule, 2012, p.276). This kind of agency in Murtala shows that through his bad experiences, he has found a reason to become someone in life and he is more determined than ever to achieve just that. Agency is the ability for one to make a choice regarding the experiences he or she undergoes. One would think that Murtala would just accept defeat and let destiny take care of itself. On the contrary, this is not what he does. The need to get out of the poverty trap propels him to go forward and be optimistic. What looks like a barrier becomes an opportunity for him to prove himself. This is not the first time for Murtala to resolve to do well rather than just give up. Instead of feeling sorry for himself due to his experiences as a child born in a poor family, he decides to do well no matter the disappointing circumstances. Earlier in the novel, before his father had abandoned them, and soon after his sister Imatum had returned to Kano, he had made a similar resolve. Murtala had found Imatum at their new home at Kwanar Jabba in Kano state. As they were chatting, Imatum had told him that she was going to marry a rich man and not a poor man like their father and Murtala himself. Murtala had declared to his sister that he was not going to be poor like their father. Rather he would go to university and become a medical doctor. Here, it can be seen that even though Murtala's father is poor, and the living standards are very bad, Murtala hopes for a better life for himself. He wants to get an education so that he escapes the throngs of poverty he is facing. Before then, he had stumbled upon his father beating his wife. His mother is taken to hospital where Murtala imagines himself as a medical doctor treating his parents and siblings: All these are signs of someone who is determined to get his family and himself out of poverty. Thus, it has to be noted that each time Murtala undergoes a discouraging situation either as a victim or a witness, he is motivated to work hard and become someone in his life. Rather than reacting negatively to this stimulus, he does the opposite. He is determined and optimistic.

III. CONCLUSION
This article has presented some of the ways in which notions of emotional abuse and ethno-religious violence play out in an African context. It has depicted how some children like Murtala are parentified due to abandonment coupled with violence thereby putting them in a precarious state. Parentification is often overlooked by people and is not mostly regarded as a form of abuse. However, this kind of thinking has been problematized in this article through the experiences that the protagonist goes through in Sterile Sky. Murtala becomes a man in a child's body, leading him to becoming a liminal being. As if what he goes through is not enough, he lives in that part of the city which is so unstable due to ethno-religious conflicts that see him (and his family) moving from one place to another in search of a safer dwelling place. It has to be noted that the experiences Murtala face are as a result of having poor parents.
Murtala's life is full of instability and misery, unlike his friend Ola's. Ola comes from a rich family and none of the ethno-religious crises taking place in the country affect him. In fact, his father is a Christian whereas his mother is a Muslim. Still, they live together in harmony. Ola's family is thus symbolic in the sense that Sule is perhaps trying to put across the message that some people may choose to fight in the name of religion or ethnicity while others can live in harmony with each other. Another example is Imatum, who is Murtala's sister. She is a Christian married to a Muslim. These family dynamics show how possible it is for different religions to coexist. Since both Imatum's husband and Ola's parents are rich, it can be said that it is easier for the rich to interrelate than the poor since it is the latter that are faced with the hardships of life. Hence, Murtala's agency in what he wants his future to look like is determined by all these situations as he begins to see life through a different light.