No Longer at Ease: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|1960 novel by Chinua Achebe}}

{{infobox book | <!-- See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]] or [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Books]] -->

| name = No Longer at Ease

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = File:NoLongerAtEase.jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = [[Chinua Achebe]]

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = [[Nigeria]]

| language = English

| series =

| genre =

| publisher = [[Heinemann (book publisher)|Heinemann]]

| release_date = [[1960 in literature|1960]]

| english_release_date = 1960

| media_type = Print

| pages =

| isbn =

| preceded_by = [[Things Fall Apart]]

| followed_by = [[Arrow of God]]

'''''No Longer at Ease''''' is a [[1960 in literature|1960]] novel by a [[Nigeria]]n author, [[Chinua Achebe]]. It is the story of an [[Igbo (people)|Igbo]] man, Obi Okonkwo, who leaves his village for an education in Britain and then a job in the [[Colonial Nigeria|Nigerian colonial]] [[civil service]], but is conflicted between his African culture and Western lifestyle and ends up taking a bribe. The novel is the second work in what is sometimes referred to as the "African trilogy,", following ''[[Things Fall Apart]]'' and preceding ''[[Arrow of God]],'', though ''Arrow of God'' chronologically precedes it in the grand storychronology of the trilogy. ''[[Things Fall Apart]]'' concerns the struggle of Obi Okonkwo's grandfather Okonkwo against the changes brought by the [[EnglandGreat Britain|EnglishBritish]].

The book's title comes from the closing lines of [[T. S. Eliot]]'s poem, ''"[[The Journey of the Magi]]''":

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,<br />But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,<br />With an alien people clutching their gods.<br />I should be glad of another death.

At the same time, Obi is developing a romantic relationship with Clara who reveals that she is an ''[[CasteOsu caste system in Africa|osu]]'', an outcast by her descendants, meaning that Obi cannot marry her under the traditional ways of the Igbos. He remains intent on marrying Clara, but even his Christian father opposes, albeit reluctantly due to his desire to progress and eschew the "heathen" customs of pre-colonial Nigeria. His mother begs him on her deathbed not to marry Clara until after her death, threatening to kill herself if her son disobeys. When Obi informs Clara of these events, Clara breaks the engagement and intimates that she is pregnant. Obi arranges an abortion which Clara reluctantly undergoes, but she suffers complications and refuses to see Obi.

Though set several decades after "''[[Things Fall Apart"]]'', "''No Longer at Ease"'' continues many of the themes from Achebe's first novel. Here, the clash between European culture and traditional culture has become entrenched during the long period of colonial rule. Obi struggles to balance the demands of his family and village for monetary support while simultaneously keeping up with the materialism of Western culture.

Furthermore, Achebe depicts a family continuity between Ogbuefi Okonkwo in "''Things Fall Apart"'' and his grandson Obi Okonkwo in "''No Longer at Ease"''. Both men are confrontational, speak their minds, and have some self-destructive tendencies. However, this aggressive streak manifests itself in different ways. Where his grandfather was a man of action and violence, Obi is a man of words and thoughts to the exclusion of action.<ref> {{cite journal|last=Rogers|first=Philip|title="No Longer at Ease": Chinua Achebe's "Heart of Whiteness"|journal=Research in African Literatures|year=1983|volume=14|issue=2|pagepages=165165–183 |jstor=3818384}}</ref> The story portrays the theme of corruption.

[[Category:1960 Nigerian novels]]