The House, It's Alive

 

    In "Mother of Invention" by Nnedi Okorafor, I found the aspect of the house being caring towards Anwuli as well as the way in which society treated her for having the baby of a married man to be very interesting. Everyone in the story seemed to be in each other's business. Everyone treats Anwuli pretty terribly. She is seen as a home wrecker by everyone in the community, and absolutely no one will help her even though she is extremely pregnant like the man that passes her while she is trying to get massive metal parts to the house Obi 3 and does not even life a finger to aid her. Pretty heartless if you ask me. Her baby daddy does not even make an effort to take care of her himself; he just offers up one of his three houses, one of which his actual wife and other child live in, to Anwuli to live in and maybe some money. In this technologically advanced society, it is interesting how their personal beliefs have not changed from today's judgemental stereotyping ways.

    But not Obi 3 the house, it was willing to care for her like no human would. This created a really fascinating relationship between technology and human. Obi 3 comforts Anwuli through words and is also able to help her medically. Obi 3 even saves her life while she is bleeding out all the while helping her take care of the newborn. Anwuli also helps Obi 3 by fetching all the different parts that it needs to maintain its mechanics. They rely on each other and need each other to keep living which connects heavily to Afrofuturist elements.