Renata Reich

English Language and Literature, MA

2
nd
Year

No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe
~ hand-out ~
Chinua Achebe- life and work
Nigerian poet, professor, and critic.
He gained worldwide attention for Things Fall Apart in the late 1950s; his
later novels include No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man
of the People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987).
Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian
influences, and the clash of Western and Traditional African values during and
after the colonial era.
Style relies heavily on the Igbo oral tradition, and combines straightforward
narration with representations of folk stories, proverbs, and oratory. He has
also published a number of short stories, children's books, and essay
collections.
No Longer at Ease
Achebe's first novel on modern Nigeria.
The novel opens with the trial of Obi Okonkwo on a charge of accepting
a bribe. It then jumps back in time to a point before his departure for England
and works its way forward to describe how Obi ended up on trial.
Obi returns to Nigeria after four years of studies and lives in Lagos with his
friend Joseph. He takes a job with the Scholarship Board and is almost
immediately offered a bribe by a man who is trying to obtain a scholarship for
his little sister.
At the same time, Obi is developing a romantic relationship with Clara Okeke,
a Nigerian woman who eventually reveals that she is an osu, an outcast by her
descendants, meaning that Obi cannot marry her under the traditional ways of
the Igbo people of Nigeria.
Clara breaks the engagement and tells him that she is pregnant. Obi arranges
an abortion, which Clara reluctantly undergoes, but she suffers complications
and refuses to see Obi afterwards.
Obi sinks deeper into financial trouble
Obi finds himself trapped between the traditional ways and Western or
European ways, the presence of the English, and corruption.

Renata Reich
English Language and Literature, MA
2
nd
Year


Historical context- Colonial Nigeria (1850-1960)

British occupation in Nigeria =Christian evangelism = civilising'
During the colonial period, the British asserted their dominance through a
variety of media, but mostly by educating the people of Nigeria
The Church Missionary Society used the schools as a means of converting the
indigenous people to Christianity
Missionary achievements include: translation of the Bible into the local
languages, the use of English as the vernacular, the establishment of proper
code of conduct for the localities


Postcolonialism in No Longer at Ease

Cultural displacement
Obi is caught between two very different worlds: the English- educated and
with high moral and ethical values, and the African- full of barbaric
traditions ( bride price, osu, folk stories about the warrior forefathers,
superstition, corruption, kinship)