No Longer at Ease (Penguin Modern Classics)

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However, everything is not as rosy as it seemed. Although having been accepted in the services, his boss Mr. Green is a “white-man” who rebels against Nigeria’s independence. Suffering Mr. Green’s taunts and verbal abuses is, however, least of Obi’s problems. The feast was Christian in tone, blessings were handed out, and Christian prayers said. Songs were sung to Obi, and kola nuts were offered. Analysis

Obi Okonkwo, protagonista di questo romanzo è il nipote del guerriero Okonkwo che ne “Le cose crollano” rappresentava l’ostinato e cieco legame con il passato tradizionalista che subisce la rovina coloniale. He sat and mused, listening to the words of the traders' songs and wondering why Clara said he could not tell people about her yet. After all, she did talk about wanting to marry him. I realize that most people who read this review won’t read the book, but I’ll put all this in a spoiler because I found the story to be a fascinating sociological/anthropological study of the futility, or at least the tremendous difficulty, of attempting to change societal rules in a system like this. Falling action After Obi loses Clara and his mother dies he goes though a period of mental turmoil and eventually finds himself out of it through a strange sense of calm and complacency that leads him to eventually allowing himself to guiltily take bribes. After he takes the bribes, he is taken to court, and he seems to be unmoved by the actions, but when his promise and education are mentioned he finds himself in tears.

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Although Obi is thankful for his education, he is not always truly grateful to the UPU, who are perpetually intruding on his life and whose "scholarship" was nothing more than a loan, according to Obi. Obi is at odds with the Union just as he is often at odds with tradition—the Union and tradition being one and the same for the purposes of the novel, despite the misleading name of the Union, which contains the word "progressive."

One of the most important aspects of Obi's life is that he was educated in England. This small fact molds the way others treat him and shapes what others expect of him. At the same time, the education he holds dear is also one for which he has felt guilt and one which has often made him a stranger in his own Nigeria. This is also observed in the first of many unheeded warnings Obi receives regarding his future, here delivered by a pastor on the eve of his departure. Mr. Ikedi cautions, “We are sending you to learn book. Enjoyment can wait. Do not be in a hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world” (13). Subsequent chapters reveal the contrast between this warning and Obi’s actions. Similarly, at the end of his going-away reception, Achebe writes of the gifts Obi received, noting they were “substantial presents in a village where money was so rare, where men and women toiled from year to year to wrest a meager living from an unwilling and exhausted soil” (13). In a later chapter Achebe writes of Obi’s recognition that the Union men have little money either but scraped together enough to give him the scholarship. Both of these moments set up a contrast between the sacrifices made for Obi, and his witless squandering of vastly larger sums of money. At first I missed the powerful story of Things Fall Apart. By the end I realized that it could not be the same. The tragedy is the same: the loss of certainty and the surrender of old tribal values in an effort to mix with the White Man. But the times are so different that Obi mistakenly hopes his modern views and education will see him through. The novel's protagonist, Obi Okonkwo, is a young man who has returned to Nigeria after having studied in England. The fact that he went to England to study and has returned puts him in a peculiar position, one in which he will have to face the issues of a man torn between his own country and what he has learned in the hands of those who have colonized his country (the English). The novel follows his idealistic beginnings to his unfortunate end, an end in which he is put on trial for taking a bribe.

Famed writer and educator Chinua Achebe was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe on November 16, 1930, in the Igbo town of Ogidi in eastern Nigeria. After becoming educated in English at University College (now the University of Ibadan) and a subsequent teaching stint, Achebe joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in 1961 as director of external broadcasting. He would serve in that role until 1966. 'Things Fall Apart' Achebe’s breaks the rules of novel craft and focuses instead on bringing out character and societal flaws, and therefore I found the style quirky in places and influenced, no doubt, by the oral tradition of his Igbo tribe. Obi comes across as impulsive and Clara can be jealous and cold. Achebe thinks it is more important to show a driver using his elbows to steer the car while lighting his cigarette than clearly and proportionately demarcating time and scene shifts in the novel. The local patois is hard to follow but lends authenticity to the dialogue. Poetry and song intrude into the narrative. Achebe’s political observations, which seem to be the prime motivation behind this trilogy, are quite astute: The novel begins with the trial of Obi Okonkwo, who we find within this first chapter is accused of having taken a bribe. The courtroom is full and the case seems to be a very popular one—everyone in Lagos, Nigeria, has been talking about it and is going to witness it in court on his/her day off. Obi seems to be indifferent most of the time until tears come to his face when his "education" and his "promise" are mentioned. Long fiction, Things Fall Apart, 1958. No Longer at Ease, 1960. Arrow of God, 1964. A Man of the People, 1966 Anthills of the Savannah, 1987

Obi's father, Isaac Okonkwo, is a Christian. He had left home at an early age, against the will of his father, because he wanted to join the other Christians. Isaac's Christianity is the most important aspect of his life, and it colors most everything he does and says. Hannah Okonkwo Torna, pertanto, con tanta teoria come ad esempio il credersi saldamente fermo sui principi morali che si oppongono alla corruzione dilagante del paese.Obi has been in England for four years. England is where he first realized Nigeria was more than a name to him. He remembers as a boy in Umuofia hearing a soldier talk about Lagos and its bright lights and motorcars.

Mentre nel primo libro il titolo si riferiva ad una poesia di Yeats (”The second coming”) in cui parlava della caduta del vecchio mondo rappresentato dal Cristianesimo, qui il riferimento è a T. S. Eliot I understand the story and the main message, which is how Nigeria was colonized and therefore contaminated by the Brits from the point of view of the administration and how clean or honest everything is done. Obi received a job in the senior service in the scholarship office. He did not care for his boss, an Englishman named Mr. Green, who expressed negative opinions of Nigerians, but he soon became friends with Miss Tomlinson, the secretary. The above quote is spoken by the narrator in the first chapter of the novel, while Obi is on trial for having taken a bribe. While at the trial, Obi has shown himself to be somewhat indifferent to those around him. However, when his promise and education are brought up, he begins to tear visibly. There is much irony in all of this. First, and on the most basic level, it brings to the fore the idea that Obi sees failure within him. He begins as an idealist, ready to root out corruption in his country, ready to stand up and fight for what he believed. At first, everyone tells him that to take a bribe is not truly wrong as long as you knew how to do it because everybody did it. If he did not take bribes he would not be solving any problems because people would simply offer the bribes to others in the Civil Service. Still, at the beginning, Obi stands for what he believed. It was not until his economic burden became harsh, until his mother died and he lost Clara, that he gave into such bribes. His deepening love affair with a beautiful, educated nurse Clara Okeke suddenly hits a wall when the latter reveals that she is an Osu. Osu is a caste in Nigeria, and an Osu is someone whose fore-fathers has dedicated themselves as servants of god. It’s a rigid caste-based society and superstition holds that outsiders who marry Osus bring misfortune upon themselves. Obi, being a Christian and hailing from a family of devout Christians (who wouldn’t even eat at their neighbors’ because they sacrifice food to idols – heathen food), believed that this would not be a problem. But Obi couldn’t be further from the truth. His father implores him to change his mind and not marry an Osu, who he equates to lepers. Obi puts forward arguments of Christianity to help his father understand and having his father’s quiet submission he knows that he can convince his mother too. His mother however stoutly refuses to discuss the matter and requests Obi to wait for her death before he marries, and if indeed he marries earlier she threatens to kill herself.Obi, as a bright kid from his village, is selected for greater things and falls into the “ruler” camp. His village sponsors his education abroad. As a returning British-educated son of the land, in whom Nigeria places its hope for governance after independence, he is immediately given a civil service job earning him ten times more than his peers, plus a car, a driver, a house, a cook and the other trappings of upper middle class life. Rising action Obi's fiancée is an osu, which causes problems in their engagement because she is an outcast; Obi finds himself deeper and deeper in financial hardship; people tell him that taking bribes is not a "big deal; Clara has an abortion with complications; he eventually loses Clara; and Obi's mother dies. Mr. Achebe is such a marvelous talent and one whose praises I sing. I’m sure he’d put me at ease were I to join him for a little chat over a small meal. I’d love to hear about his days growing up in Nigeria and his interest in world religion and politics. Of course, I’d attempt to get some pointers on his flawless writing. Here’s an author I will definitely return to.