Analysis Of No Longer At Ease

Achebe’s No Longer at Ease: A Post-Colonial Reading

Abstract: This article is an effort to bring in light the theme of corruption, alienation and rootlessness generated by colonial conflicts in Achebe’s No Longer at Ease. The novel directly deals with distress and difficulty of Nigerian youth amidst contemporary social, economic and political problems of Africa. The purpose of this paper is to show how colonial conflicts and resurgent changes in post-colonial life bring changes in the life of natives and how they accustom to corrupt practices and began to alienate from their own roots.

Key Words; Post-Colonialism, Corruption, Alienation, African Culture Introduction

Chinua Achebe, “the cultural ambassador of Africa” (Panigrahi 162), is a prolific

The novel directly deals with distress and difficulty of Nigerian youth amidst contemporary social, economic and political problems of Africa. In the words of Innes, No longer at Ease is the story of a young man who, educated by the British, attracted by much of what British civilization has to offer, employed by the British, seeks to live up to a new inflated image created by his position, falls into debt, takes bribes, is caught, tried and convicted (Achebe 42). Obi, the protagonist of the novel represents the postcolonial voice of Africa. His identity revolves round the traditional lgbo culture of Umuofia, the Christianity of his father, the idealism of English literature, and the corrupt sophistication of

The onslaught of western influence causes the displacement of the traditional societies, degeneration of age-old values and unending traumas. Obi no longer belongs to the old society. He receives a similar education and is selected by Igbo community to study in England. After getting western education he considers himself an independent youth, with a Western concept of government and administration. He remains in an undone state who neither accept his parents’ values nor reject them. He rejects the old orthodoxies, but while accepting the modern he falls prey to corruption and accepts bribes, one of the undreamt practices of African culture. Ultimately he feels isolated. Khayyoom remarks the typical feature of postcolonial African novel representing the issue of