Joseph took Obi out afterward. No Longer at Ease takes place several decades after Things Fall Apart. Similarly, at the end of his going-away reception, Achebe writes of the gifts Obi received, noting they were “substantial presents in a village where money was so rare, where men and women toiled from year to year to wrest a meager living from an unwilling and exhausted soil” (13). Chinua Achebe (/ ˈ tʃ ɪ n w ɑː ə ˈ tʃ ɛ b eɪ /; born Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe, 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. Mr. Green, Obi's boss, plays tennis with a British Council man and observes that he can believe why the young man did it, because all Africans are corrupt. When he came back, he was a type of celebrity. He betrays Clara and drifts away from his moral principles. In the end, Obi stops repaying his debt to the U.P.U. As a government official, he is expected to take bribes. For example, the two Irish nuns are discouraged by their Mother Superior from socializing with African men. However, he is ultimately unable to defy the demands of custom when expressed forcefully by his mother. Obi remembered his first mistake was not being dressed properly. The men debated young men versus old men in politics, with Obi supporting the idea of more jobs being given to young men straight from university. While riding a lorry home, Obi thinks erotic thoughts in English, because his early training in Ibo censors such words. Some men even said he was his grandfather, returned. His first novel Things Fall Apart (1958), often considered his masterpiece, is the most … Achebe contrasts white and black culture in his novels. One man blames the boy's lack of experience and says bribes are common everywhere. Later a handsome and boyish man, the eligible bachelor the Hon. The chairman asked Obi if he found a job, and Obi replied that he had an interview coming up. After all, she did talk about wanting to marry him. She was talking to an elderly woman and an administrative officer named Macmillan. England is where he first realized Nigeria was more than a name to him. ‘‘Dear old Nigeria,’’ he chuckles to himself. 2 No Longer at Ease First published in 1960 1 For Christie. Osborne-Bartucca, Kristen. Falling asleep in his childhood bed, he wishes he were pressed against girlfriend Clara Okeke's body. In a later chapter Achebe writes of Obi’s recognition that the Union men have little money either but scraped together enough to give him the scholarship. Obi is prideful, ambivalent about his culture, naïve, and selfish. In these first five chapters, we learn why Obi was able to travel to England –he was given a prestigious scholarship from the Umuofia Progressive Union with the hope that he would bring honor to his kinsmen as well as return to be a lawyer who could help the Union with cases. He asked Clara why she is moody. He was also considered by many to be one of the most original literary artists writing in English during his lifetime. The driver refused to talk to Obi after that. He spoke of the scholarship program, and how the beneficiaries were to pay it back. He traveled first class on a mammy wagon. It looked like it might rain, and some wanted it to so Isaac Okonkwo, Obi's father, might realize Christianity had made him blind. These remarks illustrate the debasement of values that are the target of Achebe’s satire. Obi eventually succumbs to the pressure; when he gets caught accepting a twentypound bribe, few people are surprised. Instead of studying law, he majors in English literature. Achebe makes it clear from the beginning that he intends his reader to have to do a bit of work putting together the pieces of the story; he begins in the present day at Obi’s bribery trial and then jumps back in time to various points in his history. Themes. People clapped for the Secretary and were impressed by his English. Drinking, sex, dancing, and bribery are all... No Longer at Ease study guide contains a biography of Chinua Achebe, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. One of Obi’s kinsmen in fact finds it shameful that the offending bribe was for such a small amount. Sara Constantakis, Novels for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context & Criticism on Commonly Studied Novels – Chinua Achebe, Volume 33, Gale-Cengage Learning, 2010. The coming of modernity brought changes to the meaning of tribal identity and strains to the bonds of kin and clan. So that you can take bribes?’’. In the latter, his lack of understanding about his own Nigerian culture places him in an uncomfortable situation when his attempted intervention on behalf of the mammy-wagon driver leads to greater problems. The young men are unsurprisingly interested in girls and leisure, with Christopher throughout the text offering smug and amoral opinions on matters ranging from bribery (it is not morally wrong) to abortion (the young women he accidentally impregnates need to take care of the situation themselves). Not affiliated with Harvard College. Print Word PDF. Obi had received the scholarship five years ago. She had also gone to a lunch with him and a friend of his, Christopher, whom she did not like. They talked of the Nigerian people and Joseph reminded Obi of the time when he had written a letter to Hitler during the war. altogether. Mr. Okonkwo and an old man argued about kola nuts; Mr. Okonkwo said they would eat them, but not sacrifice them to idols. In one of many disappointing moments for the Union, Obi decides not to be a lawyer but to attain a degree in English and then a job as a civil servant in the scholarship division. Obi had presented his theory about young men needing to replace corrupt old men in the Nigerian public service in London, and it was now also borne out by his interview. Through his engagement to Clara, Obi intends to break away from the restrictions of traditional beliefs. He loved talking to Ibo-speaking people there, and felt ashamed when he encountered an African of another tribe and had to speak English; he did not want people to assume he "had no language of one's own" (57). About No Longer at Ease No Longer at Ease … The account of Obi’s return from England also provides insights into his character and foreshadows his eventual downfall. However, No Longer at Ease illuminates a subtler, deeper effect of colonialism, and that is the division and confusion of values—the conflict between tradition and modernity, between indigenous and Christian religion, between village communalism and urban materialism. He almost hit a wayward cyclist. No fit take bribe,’’ a colleague replies with obvious doubt. GradeSaver, 4 June 2015 Web. This Study Guide consists of approximately 60 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - Chinua Achebe. All individuals were expected to subordinate their personal interests and behave according to the best interests of the group. The conflicting claims of the individual and the group come to a head in Obi’s decision to marry Clara, despite the long-standing social taboo against the osu caste. Obi’s friend Christopher expresses a looser, somewhat jaded view of the ethics of bribery, and this cynical perspective seems closer to the prevailing sentiment. His parents gave a reception with a large feast, and the pastor gave a speech. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe. It's very much a mid-century humanist novel, with social issues at the forefront, but it's a good one, and even though the symbolism can be a bit heavy at times, the novel doesn't come off as a didactic show-and-tell session. The Union has scholarships for young men of promise; they were sent to England for their studies. Other examples of Obi’s shortsightedness include an episode from his past – his letter to Hitler – and one from his return visit to Umuofia. She responded that Obi needed to leave her alone. Both of these moments set up a contrast between the sacrifices made for Obi, and his witless squandering of vastly larger sums of money. This Study Guide consists of approximately 60 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of No Longer at Ease. Sam Okoli, arrives at the club. Obi, by contrast, spoke rather blandly. This non-chronological telling, as one contemporary reviewer wrote, “is rather erratic to start with, but is soon beautifully perfected.” Achebe starts with Obi’s failure and then works backward to see just how a young man with so much promise could arrive there. And so we too have changed our tune” (62). Corruption is clearly key to the plot of No Longer at Ease. The protagonist of the novel, Obi is a young Nigerian man who is given a scholarship to study in London. Joseph was pleased. All along the road to the village music-makers played for Obi. Odogwu said there were no great African men anymore, and "Greatness is now in the things of white men" (62). He was asked about how far the white man’s country was. His acceptance of a bribe constitutes the main conflict of the story. When he returns to Nigeria, he settles in the metropolis of Lagos instead of Umuofia. As for Clara, it is difficult to know what to make of her, as Achebe does not provide much information about her except as viewed through Obi’s eyes. 3 We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. The men said they were glad Obi did not bring back a white wife, and that he was still a son of Umuofia, not one of the "empty men who become white when they see white, and black when they see black" (61). He wondered why the hotel the Union put him up in was not very luxurious and told Joseph he was going to come stay with him. Do not be in a hurry to rush into the pleasures of the world” (13). But the novel makes clear that he is swimming against the current. No Longer At Ease is the third installment of Achebe’s African Trilogy, first published in 1960. Obi lived in Ikoyi, another part of Lagos. The patronizing attitudes expressed by Mr. Green reveal another dimension of the clash between cultures. Weeks earlier a similar statement had left Obi unmoved, as he had lost his mother and Clara left, but now unwanted tears leap to his eyes. When he interviews for a public service job, Obi is shocked when one man asks him directly, ‘‘Why do you want a job in the civil service?

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