Analysis Of Chinua Achebe's Novel No Longer At Ease

At primary school, my teacher used to tell me that studies are the key to the future, always asking me to rise the board higher. Few years after, I was surprised to see teachers, people well educated and are educating others, fired for having taken students’ money and harassed some girls students. I became perplexed about school, studies. In reading Chinua Achebe’s novel No Longer At Ease, I discerned that: Education is a double-edged weapon because in one hand it helps to think critically and inquiry everything in order to understand the world; in the other hand, it contributes to a loss of identity and morality.

Obi, the main character of the novel, is seen by his family and entourage as a source of pride because of his studies and his “White” post; contradictorily this same education brought him in front of a court for bribery. During his first meeting with Umuofia Progressive Union, the union of the people from Obi’s home town, the union’s President showed Obi preciousness by arguing: “The importance of having one of our sons [Obi Okonkwo] in the vanguard of this march of progress is nothing short of axiomatic...we are happy that today we have such an invaluable possession in the person of our illustrious son and guest of honour” (Achebe 30). The words used by the President of the Union like “vanguard”, “progressive”, invaluable” and “illustrious” cleared Obi’s education’s uniqueness for them Umuofians, by bestowing him a great statute in the society. However, at the