Summary of African Novel, No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

912 Words2 Pages

Clara Okeke is a young ,trained nurse who is presented in the novel as a character who finds it difficult to adapt to the Nigerian society before independence. She is the fiance of the protagonist, Obi Okonkwo who she first meets at a dance in England. Though said to be Ibo, Clara is educated abroad and lives a very modern lifestyle much like that of the protagonist. Right from the beginning of the story, we see her relationship with Obi as a very unstable one with many disagreements and quarrels. It is revealed as the story progresses that, she is an Osu and belongs to a group of people known to be outcasts in the Nigerian society of the 1960s where the story is set.

Right from the beginning of the story, readers are made to see Clara as a very educated young woman and strong-minded, though she is not portrayed as very intellectual. Unlike Obi, Clara is bound tightly to her tradition. Achebe portrays Clara's strong attachment to her tradition,to offer an index to the culture of class society in Nigeria. As the story goes on, Obi notices Clara's unhapinness as they drive through town and asks her what is wrong. After several attempts of trying to get her to answer, Clara replies saying,"I can't marry you." And explains saying," I am an osu." The fact that Clara says she "cannot marry" Obi because of her ancestry, does not only show her strong respect for her culture but also, her strong attatchment to her tradition. On hearing this, Obi screams "Nonsense!". The exclamation mark suggests Obi's strong dissaproval of the point Clara raises and also emphasizes his resentment. Here, Obi is portrayed as 'very' angry to bring out the fact that, he has fallen in love with a woman who can never be a part of the social class he belongs to...

... middle of paper ...

...t going to watch it just because Obi says so. From this little disagreement, readers are made to see that Obi and Clara have different interests though they have love for each other. This disagreement also symbolises the beginning of all the problems in their relationship, that will unfold gradually as the story progresses.

Clara is portrayed as a very significant character in the novel. Through her actions and charater , Achebe is able to project to readers, the degree of stability of Clara and Obi's relationship and most importantly, the character of the protagonist, Obi Okonkwo. Achebe makes Clara's characater one, who contributes greatly to the plot of the story. Through Clara's actions and her thoughts, readers are made to see Obi's thoughts on the Nigerian society and also helps the readers to understand the society class system in an African society.

Show More
Related

  • A Single Story Of African Culture In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

    1675 Words  | 4 Pages

    As wise John Berger once said,“Never again shall a single story be told as though it were the only one”. A “single story” is the story of a culture that we learn from stereotypes and conspiracies developed throughout time in our society. In “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe defies the single story of African culture while still tying their native language in to show the importance between a physical differentiation of culture, and the similarities with morals and values they have in common. Through gender roles and proverbs used in the language of this book, we have a cultural insight of Nigeria through a new set of eyes given to us by Achebe that detures us from the single stories that we were taught to by our society.

    Read More

  • Aimee Mulara A Phenomenology Of Disability

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clara struggled for many years with her disability in “darkness” while slowly discovering ways to accept herself and be okay with her disability. Unhappy and discouraged, Clara described her status as “trapped,” and “abandoned by everyone and everything.” She often focused on who she was before her disability and compared that to who she is now. She let her past keep her from moving on to other things and potentially creating a new, positive reality. She felt troubled with accepting that where she was at this point in her life was up to her to decide. She continuously struggled since who she once was had changed in certain physical aspects leaving her to start from a lesser version of what she expected to be. Clara reveals that she often felt alone and incapable of doing more because of the way she was viewed as well. Her family would pick up her slack or assume that she couldn’t handle many situations giving her no chance to grow. She was often embarrassed but turned this research process into a therapeutic process that helped her see the light at the end of the tunnel. It took a long time for her to believe in herself again, against what others may see her as. Slowly she began going against the grain and even challenged her Father when he didn’t believe she could walk to work alone. Over time with this phenomenology, Clara concluded “What was important wasn’t doing at all. It was that through doing I could realize I could be myself, and be someone who, like others, continues to live and change and grow,” which was a wonderful way to finalize her outlook against her personal

    Read More

  • Clara Barton: A Nurse Leader

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... battle. Oates (1994) states, “What was more, the war had given Clara and her entire generation of women a new sense of worth.” (p. 377) Oates goes on to quote Clara “that she had character, and firmness of purpose-that she was good for something in an emergency.” (p. 377) Clara went against the odds and fought for her calling as a nurse during a time where most women wouldn’t even think of doing that. By doing so, she became a role model for women of her era and nurses of the future.

    Read More

  • Women In Umuofia Culture

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    The women play an important role in the Umuofia’s culture because they help continue important traditions, which might disappear if the women did not find value in these customs. The women of the tribe save their heritage by telling folk stories to their children. This is depicted in Okonkwo’s family, when Achebe writes, “Low voices, broken now and again by singing, reached Okonkwo from his wives’ hut as each woman and her children told folk stories” (Achebe 96). The women telling these stories to their children helps pass down the skills of storytelling

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Okonkwo has murdered, beaten, and cast off those he loved throughout his life. He remained stubborn and violent until his last days, and yet through his internal struggle, and sparse, yet endearing loves Okonkwo is still perceived to be morally indefinite. Okonkwo may not be considered by western culture to be a good person, but viewing his life in its entirety, it is almost impossible for one to attach a completely negative label to him. By telling the story of Okonkwo's life, Chinua Achebe, creates a dynamic and morally ambiguous protagonist while addressing the moral issue of Christian evangelism in Africa.

    Read More

  • Cultural Change Explored in Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe

    1874 Words  | 4 Pages

    William James, a famous American philosopher, once stated, “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives”. This quotation effectively illustrates how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives. This concept is clearly demonstrated throughout the novel Things Fall Apart, authored by Chinua Achebe, by establishing a connection through the development of its characters and the change in traditional African tribal villages seen in the Nineteenth Century. It will be established how various characters demonstrated by the author throughout the novel exemplify how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives addressed by William James’s quote above. First, by analyzing Achebe’s development of Okonkwo’s character through his initial character description and the emergence of outsiders, it is evident that he is portrayed as an old fashioned character that is less responsive to change. Secondly, through examining Nwoye’s character, Okonkwo’s son, it becomes apparent that the youth in the novel are more open-minded, easily persuadable and more adaptive to societal changes. Lastly, uncovering the meaning behind the arrival of European missionaries, it becomes apparent that Achebe defines this group as being a “disease”, poisoning the society in which Okonkwo lives. The author look’s at individuals as being critical and influential figures in shaping the environment to which they belong, beginning with Okonkwo.

    Read More

  • Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though many may interpret Okonkwo as a tragic hero are drawn to him, Obierika deserves more sympathy from the reader than Okonkwo. Obierika suffers just as Okonkwo does under the thumb of the missionaries, but he lacks the selfish focus that drives most of Okonkwo’s actions. Ultimately, Obierika’s venerability springs from his ability to see the compromise that will allow the Ibo to find a method for adaptation to the inevitable changes brought by the missionaries.

    Read More

  • How Is Okonkwo A Tragedy

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    This culminates in Okonkwo’s suicide the main tragedy of the novel which is representative of a deeper tragedy of a culture’s nearing end. Throughout the novel Okonkwo causes those around him to endure many hardships. His actions have serious consequences that affect both him and the tribe as a whole. As the novel progresses his flaws get the best of him again and again and when he can take it no more he commits suicide. This act of complete disgrace towards his tribe leaves the reader with the impression of something much more profound than and end to a man’s life. It is symbolic of his entire culture’s end. Okonkwo was one of the most firm believers of his culture’s values and his death represents the end the resistance of the white man. The novel shifts to the perspective of the District Commissioner as if to say that they have won, and their dominance is inevitable now. The fall of Okonkwo and the imminent fall of Umuofia is slice of life in Nigeria and many other parts of Africa during the colonial period. The novel presents both the positive and negative side of cultures intermingling and raises the question of whether cultures mixing is ultimately a beneficial process or leads to the erasure of culture

    Read More

  • Theme Of Body Modification In Things Fall Apart

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, Okonkwo was the epitome of manliness because of his athletic prowess and his position of power within the clan, emphasized on page 26 of Achebe’s work, “ “He was talking about Okonkwo, who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of

    Read More

  • Conformity and Convenience in Friedrich Durrenmatt’s The Visit

    1508 Words  | 4 Pages

    ”Clara loved justice. Most decidedly. Once when they took a beggar away she flung stones at the police. . .She stole potatoes once for an old widow (Durrenmatt 15).”

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart Theme Essay

    1621 Words  | 4 Pages

    Before the arrival of the Europeans, Achebe did a excellent job portraying how the life of Igbo was before they were forced to oppose their own culture. To support this theme, Achebe included detailed descriptions of social rituals within each family, the justice system, religious practices and consequences, preparation and indulgence of food, the marriage process and the distributing of power within the men. Achebe shows how every man has an opportunity to prove himself worthy to achieve a title on the highest level, based merely on his own efforts. One may argue that the novel was written with the main focus on the study of Okonkwo’s character and how he deteriorates, but without the theme that define the Igbo culture itself, we would never know the universe qualities of the society that shaped Okonkwo’s life. The lives of the Igbo people was no different to the actual lives of the Ibos people back in the early days of Africa. Just like in Things Fall Apart, in actual African tribes there was never a ruler. “Very interesting thing about these villages is that there is no single ruler or king that controls the population. Decisions are made by including almost everyone in the village” (AfricaGuide). Using the theme, Achebe educated readers on by mirroring real African life in her

    Read More

  • The Power Struggle in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is a powerful novel about the social changes that occurred when the white man first arrived on the African continent. The novel is based on a conception of humans as self-reflexive beings and a definition of culture as a set of control mechanisms. Things Fall Apart is the story of Okonkwo, an elder, in the Igbo tribe. He is a fairly successful man who earned the respect of the tribal elders. The story of Okonkwo’s fall from a respected member of the tribe to an outcast who dies in disgrace graphically dramatizes the struggle between the altruistic values of Christianity and the lust for power that motivated European colonialism in Africa and undermined the indigenous culture of a nation.

    Read More

  • Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through her juxtaposition, she undermines the stereotypes that continue to characterize Africa as backwards and traditional, proving instead that colonialism has produced a cross culture where the two are intertwined. Adichie portrays the persisting existence of traditional African culture through Odenigbo’s mother – who symbolizes the extreme end of traditional beliefs. When Odenigbo’s mother visits Odenigbo and Olanna at their apartment in Nsukka, she is immediately personified as the traditional Nigerian village woman. Unaccepting of modern attitudes and advancements, she “peered suspiciously at the stove, knocked on the pressure cooker and tapped the pots... ...

    Read More

  • Change And Tradition In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout history, there have been many instances of people struggling to identify and cope with change and tradition, and this is no different in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

    Read More

  • Tradition And Modernity In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    All throughout history, we see this dichotomy between tradition and modernity. On one hand, we have tradition, the force living perpetually in the past and refusing to change. On the other hand, modernity leaves tradition behind in favor of progress. These two concepts, much like oil and water, dare to divide but coexist as a debatable founding solution. Not only are the themes Western ideas, but they have been present and are found in literature all around the world, from China to Africa.

    Read More

More about Summary of African Novel, No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

Open Document