Book Review Of Half Of A Yellow Sun

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Recommended: An Essay on Nigeria

Half of a Yellow Sun – Book Review Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half of a Yellow Sun explores the events that occur prior and during the Nigerian Civil War (Biafran War). In addition, the novel is directed to those of us outside of Nigeria that are unaware of how immensely the war has impacted its people. The author tells the story ingeniously, engaging the reader to the perspectives of the characters and their own specific plot, which is quite intriguing on its own. Moreover, she gently touches on the dark reality of the Biafran War in such a way that it educates the reader, but does not change the feel of the narrative. The impact of the war on her parents served as deep motivation for Adichie to bring forth this type of storytelling (cite this). Her perspective on the effect of the postcolonial identity of Nigeria, which leads into the war, is clearly reflected in one of the protagonists of the novel, Olanna. The trauma endured by her parents and family has led her to construct …show more content…

The culture and general nature of their society changes over the course of three stages: pre-war, war, and post-war. The British formed Nigeria, putting a variety of ethnic groups together, leaving the power of government with northern Nigeria (the Hausa) in efforts to exploit and rule from afar. The tension that arose from this between the Hausa and the Igbo were definitely causal factors to the war. The multiple viewpoints exhibited through the eyes of the three main characters: Ugwu, Odenigbo, and Olanna, demonstrated to me the various levels of impact the war had on the people of Biafra. The rate of both cultural change and change in social identity for the Igbo from pre- to post- Biafran war is most certainly evident through the character development over the course of the

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