Character Analysis
She is known as the "Mother of the Market" and, as such, seems to be the leader of the market women. She starts out being pretty deferential to Elesin and his needs as he prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice.
When he is pretending to be mad at her and the other women, for example, Iyaloja's pretty much beside herself trying to figure out how she offended him—and, even after she realizes he was just kidding around about not being properly outfitted, she leaps into action to get him some snazzy attire for his last day on earth.
Also, despite her reservations about distracting Elesin with marriage and sex as he prepares for death, she ensures that Elesin gets to marry a local girl that caught his eye. Even though this girl is betrothed to her own son. (Good luck explaining that one at dinner, Iyaloja.)
However, when Elesin fails to carry out his duty to the late king and his community, Iyaloja's attitude turns around. So instead of being deferential and sympathetic, she mocks and berates Elesin when she visits him in the prison where Simon Pilkings has placed him to prevent any further suicide attempts. She's his fan, but only so long as he's upholding his duty.
To this end, Iyaloja does absolutely nothing to soften the blow when Olunde kills himself. In fact, she really seems to revel in building up suspense regarding the package or "burden" she brought with her before eventually having the body carried in and revealed to Elesin. It's a pretty cruel way to go about things, if you ask us. But then again, the stakes of Elesin's failure are astronomically high. Literally. It's enough to transition Iyaloja from completely subservient and deferential to Elesin to taunting and outright mean.