No Longer at Ease: Commentary
Added by Melissa Culross
In No Longer at Ease, set in Nigeria just
prior to independence, Achebe extends his history of the Okonkwo family. Here
the central character is Obi Okonkwo, grandson of the tragic hero of Things
Fall Apart. This Okonkwo has been raised a Christian and has been educated
at the university in England. Like many of his peers, he has left the bush behind
for a position as a civil servant in Lagos, Nigeria's
largest city. "No Longer at Ease deals with the plight of this new generation
of Nigerians, " observes Eustace Palmer, "who, having been exposed to education
in the western world and therefore largely cut off from their roots in traditional
society, discover, on their return, that the demands of tradition are still strong,
and are hopelessly caught in the clash between the old and the new." Many, faced
with this internal conflict, succomb to corruption, Obi is no exception. "The
novel opens with Obi on trial for accepting bribes when a civil servant, " notes
G.D. Killam, "and the book takes the form of a long flashback."
Achebe carefully shapes the language in this novel, to inform, but also to
transport the reader to Africa. "It is through [his characters'] use of language
that we are able to enter their world and share their experiences," writes Shatto
Arthur Gakwandi in The Novel and Contemporary Experience in Africa. Gakwandi
adds, "Through [Achebe's] keen sensitivity to the way people express themselves
and his delicate choice of idiom, the author illuminates for us the thoughts
and attitudes of a whole range of Nigerian social strata," The impact of Achebe's
style is such that, as John Coleman observes in the Spectator, his "novel
moves towards its inevitable catastrophe with classic directness. Nothing is
wasted and it is only after the sad, understated close that one realizes, once
again how much of the Nigerian context has been touched, from the prejudice
and corruption of Lagos to the warm, homiletic simplicities of life."
[from Contemporary Authors]
Last Modified: 12
March 2002