No Longer at Ease
Reviews
A Nigerian Heart of the Matter but without the "'happy ending'" because "real tragedy is never resolved." (p. 45) http://pussreboots.com/blog/2017/comm...
Within the first chapter we already know what happened to Oki Okonkwo - a British-educated young man, who returned to colonial Nigeria in the late 1950s to work in the civil service. Bright-eyed, idealistic and disillusioned, Oki found the ruling elite’s corruption repugnant, but not long after we found him in court on trial for bribery. The white judge outcried “I cannot comprehend how a young man of your education and brilliant promise could have done this!”. Obi’s English boss lamented “We have brought him western education, but what use is it to him? The African is corrupt through and through!” How did this happen? That is what we try to find out in the rest of the book. Published in 1960, right before Nigeria gained independence from the UK, I can see how Achebe’s fictions came to be regarded so highly for their focus on culture ambiguity, African identity, and decolonization. Written historical record from the colonizers, the rich and powerful, is always more plentiful than it is from the colonized, the poor and powerless. Fiction writing serves as a medium for readers to enter deep into the personal lives of individual African in the colonial era. One of my favorites from the book: “The second generation of educated Nigerians had gone back to eating pounded yams or garri with their fingers for the good reason that it tasted better that way. Also for the even better reason that they were not as scared as the first generation of being called uncivilized.”
Within the first chapter we already know what happened to Oki Okonkwo - a British-educated young man, who returned to colonial Nigeria in the late 1950s to work in the civil service. Bright-eyed, idealistic and disillusioned, Oki found the ruling elite’s corruption repugnant, but not long after we found him in court on trial for bribery. The white judge outcried “I cannot comprehend how a young man of your education and brilliant promise could have done this!”. Obi’s English boss lamented “We have brought him western education, but what use is it to him? The African is corrupt through and through!” How did this happen? That is what we try to find out in the rest of the book. Published in 1960, right before Nigeria gained independence from the UK, I can see how Achebe’s fictions came to be regarded so highly for their focus on culture ambiguity, African identity, and decolonization. Written historical record from the colonizers, the rich and powerful, is always more plentiful than it is from the colonized, the poor and powerless. Fiction writing serves as a medium for readers to enter deep into the personal lives of individual African in the colonial era. One of my favorites from the book: “The second generation of educated Nigerians had gone back to eating pounded yams or garri with their fingers for the good reason that it tasted better that way. Also for the even better reason that they were not as scared as the first generation of being called uncivilized.”
