Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

   

        Half of a Yellow Sun

First Edition

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Country: Nigeria
Language: English
Genre:   Historical fiction
Published: January 15, 2007 Alfred A. Knopf
Pages: 448 pages

Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Published in 2006 by Knopf/Anchor, the novel tells the story of the Biafran War through the perspective of the characters Olanna, Ugwu, and Richard.

Plot

The novel takes place in Nigeria prior to and during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–70). The effect of the war is shown through the dynamic relationships of five people’s lives including twin daughters of an influential businessman, a professor, a British citizen, and a houseboy. After Biafra's declaration of secession, the lives of the main characters drastically changed and were torn apart by the brutality of the civil war and decisions in their personal lives.

The book jumps between events that took place during the early and late 1960s, when the war took place, and extends until the end of the war. In the early 1960s, the main characters are introduced: Ugwu, a 13-year-old village boy who moves in with Odenigbo, to work as his houseboy. Odenigbo frequently entertains intellectuals to discuss the political turmoil in Nigeria. Life changes for Ugwu when Odenigbo’s girlfriend, Olanna, moves in with them. Ugwu forms a strong bond with both of them, and is very loyal. Olanna has a twin sister, Kainene, a woman with a dry sense of humor, tired by the pompous company she runs for her father. Her lover Richard is an Englishman who has come to Nigeria to explore Igbo-Ukwu art.

Jumping four years ahead, trouble is brewing between the Hausa and the Igbo people and hundreds of people die in massacres, including Olanna's beloved auntie and uncle. A new republic, called Biafra, is created by the Igbo. As a result of the conflict, Olanna, Odenigbo, their infant daughter, whom they refer to only as "Baby", and Ugwu are forced to flee Nsukka, which is the university town and the major intellectual hub of the new nation. They finally end up in the refugee town of Umuahia, where they suffer as a result of food shortages and the constant air raids and paranoid atmosphere. There are also allusions to a conflict between Olanna and Kainene, Richard and Kainene and Olanna and Odenigbo.

When the novel jumps back to the early 1960s, we learn that Odenigbo slept with a village girl, who then had his baby. Olanna is furious at his betrayal, and sleeps with Richard in a moment of liberation. She goes back to Odenigbo and when they later learn that Amala refused to keep her newborn daughter, Olanna decides that they would keep her.

Back during the war Olanna, Odenigbo, Baby, and Ugwu were living with Kainene and Richard where Kainene was running a refugee camp. The situation is hopeless as they have no food or medicine. Kainene decides to trade across enemy lines, but does not return, even after the end of the war a few weeks later. The book ends ambiguously, with the reader not knowing if Kainene lives.

Characters

Ugwu

The novel starts and ends with Ugwu. He is a village boy from Opi who later becomes a servant in Odenigbo’s house. Under Odenigbo and Olanna’s guidance, Ugwu is able to continue his education and his literary skills progress throughout the novel. He tries to maintain contact with his mother and sister, Anulika, back in his home village, and is constantly looking out for his mother’s health and wellbeing. His free time is often dominated by his love interests, which include Nnesinachi, Eberechi, and Chinyere. His life is violently interrupted when he is forcibly conscripted into the Biafran Army. There, he witnesses and participates in gruesome battles and a rape.

Odenigbo

Odenigbo starts the novel as Professor of Mathematics at Nsukka University. His strong opinions result in some characters labeling him as a “revolutionary.” He favors socialism and tribalism to capitalism and Pan-Africanism or nationalism. After the war forces him to vacate his position at Nsukka University, Odenigbo becomes active in the war cause under Manpower Directorate . His personal life is dominated by his relationship and later marriage to Olanna. He is the father of Baby, though Amala, not Olanna, is Baby’s mother. Odenigbo also has a strong, albeit turbulent, relationship with his mother. “Mama” affects his relationship with Olanna, and Mama’s death starts Odenigbo on a dark path of alcoholism and depression.

Olanna 

Olanna is one of three characters through which the novel is told (the others being Ugwu and Richard). She is the daughter of Chief Ozobia and twin of Kainene. Olanna was raised in Nigeria, and later attended university in the United Kingdom. She is described as “illogically beautiful,” and her appearance often dictates how others treat her. For example, her parents try to offer sex with her as a bribe to help secure business deals. Consequently, her connection with her parents is weak and she gravitates towards her Aunt Ifeka and Uncle Mbaezi in Kano. Mohammed is her ex-boyfriend and Odenigbo is her husband, and she is the adopted mother of Baby. Professionally, she is a Professor of Sociology at Nsukka University before the war begins. She later works as a school teacher in Umuahia and finally helps her sister care for refugees in Orlu.

Kainene

Kainene, Olanna’s twin, seems to be at first very different from Olanna. She is the type of strong-headed woman, independent, cold, very calculated. Kainene lives in Port Harcourt where she runs her father’s business. Her father, very proud of her, tells one of his friends that she is “not just like a son, she is like two.” In the beginning of the war, she is a war profiteer. However, after she witnesses the war’s cruelty, she changes completely as a character and instead of running her father’s business, she runs a refugee camp. She remains fearless and in the end decides to trade with the enemy, putting her life at risk.

Richard Churchill 

Richard is an English writer who comes to Nigeria to explore Igbo-Ukwu art. At first he associates with other expats, especially Susan who becomes his girlfriend. However, once he meets Kainene at one of the parties Susan drags him to, he becomes fascinated with her. Richard moves to Nsukka where he teaches at the Nsukka University and attempts to write a book about the Igbo-Ukwu art. Olanna invites him to be part of Odenigbo’s circle of intellectuals. Richard is glad to witness Biafra’s birth, thinking it would actually make him Biafran. He starts writing a book about the war, but soon realizes that it is not his story to tell. Adichie has said in an interview that the idea of Richard came from Frederick Forsyth, a staunch supporter of Biafra: “Richard isn’t at all like him, of course, but just the sense of an Englishman who became more Biafran than Biafrans themselves, was really an idea that came from him, Forsyth.”
Other characters are; Miss Adebayo, Olanna and kainene's mother, Baby, Eberechi, Seize, Mohammed, Aunty Ifeka etc.

Themes

War- The Nigerian Civil War (or the "Nigerian-Biafran War")

Started on 6 July 1967 and ended on 13 January 1970. The war broke out due to political and ethnic struggles, partly caused by the numerous attempts of the southeastern provinces of Nigeria to secede and form the Republic of Biafra. Political conflict between the Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and Fulani people erupted into two deadly military coups. The Igbo tried to breakaway from Nigeria to become the Republic of Biafra, but was met with little support. From 1968 onward, the war fell into a form of deadlock, with Nigerian forces unable to make significant advances into the remaining areas of Biafran control. Nigeria cut off humanitarian aid to Biafra, resulting in hundreds of thousands of civilians dying from starvation and disease. Many lives and resources were lost during the war; and even today there are still tensions between the different ethnic and religious groups of Nigeria.

The story in Half of a Yellow Sun centres on the war. The author has stated she believes that many of the issues that caused the war remain today. She further commented that the war is talked about "in uninformed and unimaginative ways", and that the war is as important to the Igbo people her book features today as it was then. Because none of the major political events were changed in the book, Adichie said that the book contained "emotional truth", and that the book showed the war had a significant impact upon the people of Nigeria.

Politics and identity in post-colonial Africa  

The social gatherings at Odenigbo’s house are full of debates on Africa’s political future. Here, the usefulness of various forms of African governance are discussed amongst the Nigerian intelligentsia. One particularly noteworthy debate involves Odenigbo defending the tribe as the ideal unit for African, as other characters stress the need for pan-Africanism or nationalism. He is quoted as proclaiming: “the only authentic identity for the African is the tribe...I am Nigerian because a white man created Nigeria and gave me that identity. I am black because the white man constructed black to be as different as possible from his white. But I was Igbo before the white man came.”

Role of Westerners in post-colonial Africa 

Although there is a clear accusation of Western influence on Biafran war (mostly England’s involvement in the war), a more subtle critique is found in Richard’s character. Richard, although with good intentions, tries too hard to be part of first Nigeria, and later Biafra. His fascination with the culture and his wish to be part of Biafra leads to him speaking for Biafrans by attempting to write two novels, one about the art, and the second one about the Biafran war. Richard is unable to complete either, and concludes that these are not his stories to tell. However, he is effective when he writes about the war for the Western press, which actually helps Biafra’s cause. Adichie herself has said in an interview, that “maybe [Richard’s character] is my subtle way of slipping in my politics that maybe it’s time that Africans wrote about Africa.”

Relevance of academia in everyday life 

Many of the main characters in Half of a Yellow Sun are professors, including Olanna and Odenigbo. Odenigbo regularly hosts fellow professors from Nsukka University for political discussions on the weekends. Over the course of the novel, Half of a Yellow Sun seems to criticize both these professors and their opinions. It does this by juxtaposing the high-minded political opinions of Odenigbo and his companions from the “Early Sixties” sections against the political realities of the “Late Sixties” sections. The novel also uses the same professors from the “Early Sixties” sections and puts them in the “Late Sixties” sections. Also, Kainene’s business mind helps her successfully run a refugee camp, whereas Olanna and Odenigbo seem ineffectual.