This story is set in a town in nigeria, lilian sees a stranger , mr okonma, watching her while she is dancing. he meets her on the street and they talking. she is upset because the people are looking at her and she explains him that in this society women are not allow to talk with men on the street in public, may due to certain religious restriction because there is majority of muslim in nigeria. it is not consider respectable here as only decent girls lives here. her mother is very upset with her because she was talking to a stranger on the street, but she tells her mother that he was only asking her the way to the post office. she alreddy had a fiance and has a son for him . this is why her mother is furious with her. the stranger comes to her house and she looks into his face silently, watching outside if her fiance is coming or not. then lilian's friend alice comes and she was surprise about the stranger. her fiance arrives as well ,he too is surprise and greated him. her fiance was talking to him in a way that he know him since a long time. Later the stranger leaves and lilian's fiance starts accusing her of infidelity that she loves the stranger. he shouts at her and they quarrell with each other. he is very nervous and soon leaves. Lilian is trap in the society and she wants to escape from that society but she is not brave enough to break out of that society. she encourange the man with her appearance and she walks in a provocative way to attract the stranger. Lilian's world is small and stifling. she is oppress. her world is small because she lives in a small town. people exagerate and judge in that town. she does not feel free and that is the idea of LACK OF FREEDOM.
Her world is small because her fiance consider her as an object, as her property. It is as if her fiance is giving her a favour by marrying her and by accepting her as his wife.The stranger momentarily offers the posibility of freedom from her small and stifling world. But finally she does not take it which means that she lacks courage. Lilian's thinks of it as an act of coward on her part but no one can denied that the pressures on her are heavy.she was thinking of the stranger from lagos and wishing she had been braver.