Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

© BBC

Having previously read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s feminist essays (Dear Ijeawele and We Should All Be Feminists), I was excited to read one of her novels. Already in awe of her way with words, it was a huge relief that Half of A Yellow Sun did not disappoint. This book is Adichie’s second novel, published in 2006 (seven years before our July book of the month, Americanah) and won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2007 (now the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction).

Centred around the secessionist state of Biafra, the narrative alternates between

three characters: Olanna, a strong young woman, who defies her parents to go and

live with her “revolutionary lover” (36) as her twin sister, Kainene, terms Odenigbo.

Kainene’s lover, a white Englishman called Richard, is another focalizer of the story. The

third narrator is Odenigbo’s and Olanna’s servant, Ugwu, who comes from a small

village and in time forms an integral part of Olanna and Odenigbo’s family. This

choice of characters allows Adichie to explore the topics of the novel from widely

differing positions of class, gender and race. Olanna and Kainene are

daughters of one of the most influential men in Nigeria, while Ugwu comes from a

relatively poor background. In the context of Richard, the topic of race is mentioned

frequently, since he is one of the few white characters in the novel.

The novel is divided into four parts and alternates between the early and the late

sixties (Biafra was established in 1967). Topics such as jealousy, betrayal and love are explored against a backdrop of a secessionist state and a war that rages on. The political background is included in the narrative in an accessible way, even for readers with no knowledge of Nigeria’s history. It does not play a prominent role, but is cleverly blended into the greater narrative of following the lives of Olanna, Richard and Ugwu and those of the people surrounding them.

The book interrogates the harmful effects of colonial rule on the state of

Nigeria. The country, founded as a result of British colonial rule, united many

different ethnic groups. In the novel, the main conflict develops between the Muslim

Hausa and the Christian Igbo people. Olanna witnesses a massacre committed by

the Hausa on members of her family, and having this experience in mind, the reader can see how the secession and establishment of Biafra seemed like a necessary step for the Igbo people.

Adichie tells the story from an insider perspective, providing the reader with some insight into Nigerian history. This can be seen in the narrative surrounding the living standards in the newly-established Biafra. The starvation, the forceful subscriptions of children and the lack of help from the outside world is appropriately and effectively shocking. The war in Biafra sometimes seems like children playing at war. For example, as the Biafrans do not have enough weapons, they make wooden guns to deceive their enemy. This impression is further underlined by Adichie’s accounts of the Biafran children playing at war in the backyards of their refugee camps: “[…] he went back to watching the children. They ran sluggishly on the parched grass, holding sticks as guns, making shooting sounds with their mouths, raising clouds of dust as they chased one another.” (399)

Adichie’s focus on three different characters from differing backgrounds of race, class and gender allows her to explore the Biafran state and war from a variety of perspectives. Olanna seems to adapt well to the ever smaller houses she has to live in with her family, but the horrors of war she witnesses, such as the killing of part of her family and the daily bombings of her safe place, her home, deeply affect her mental health. Moreover, Olanna and Kainene’s parents escape Biafra at the first hints of an impending war, showing how easy it is for the rich elite to escape poverty and starvation.

Ugwu becomes an integral part of Olanna and Odenigbo’s family. He is an immense help in looking after Odenigbo and Olanna’s child. As Ugwu is forcefully conscripted, the war at the front lines also becomes part of the narrative. However, the real horrors of war are not on the frontline. The novel shows what a group of men, corrupted by the daily terrors and killings they witness first hand, are capable of doing. Ugwu is persuaded by a group of other soldiers to take part in the gang rape of a woman. This powerfully evokes conflicting emotions on behalf of the reader; a confusing sense of moral ethics and empathy for the character results in pure shock. The scene also shows how women are often the victims of war. This ties in with the larger topic of women’s vulnerable positions addressed in the novel. Even before the war is going on, Olanna’s parents try to use her as a tool to advance their societal status: “She [Olanna] was used to this, being grabbed by men who walked around in a cloud of cologne-drenched entitlement, with the presumption that, because they were powerful and found her beautiful, they belonged together.” (33)

Finally, the chapters told from Richard’s perspective most obviously deal with the

topic of white hegemony. Richard is a journalist, and tries to give the international

press an account of the real happenings in Biafra. However, the western media seem

uninterested in his efforts: “The international press said it was simply saturated

with stories from Africa, and this one was particularly bland and pedantic, […] but

maybe Richard could do a piece on the human angle? Did they mutter any tribal

incantations while they did the killings, for example?” (167). This shows how colonial structures still remain firmly in place even after the official independence of Nigeria and echoes a perverse fascination with the exotic.

The unwillingness of the western world to act is further underlined by the title of one

of the manuscripts, fragments of which are interspersed in the narrative: “The world

was silent when we died.” (204) Reading the first-hand accounts of Olanna and Ugwu

of the horrors of the war, I found it hard to understand how so little help could be

given to people in need. It also made me question to what extent this is

the case today, and how trustworthy media coverage is – a timely question to be addressed in the context of fake news. While at the same time writing a strong statement on the harmful influences of colonisation and a non-whitewashed version of Nigerian history, Adichie also manages to write a compelling story of love and betrayal. Ultimately, the book is a statement on the humanity of all of us.

© Listening Books

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Half of A Yellow Sun. 4th Estate, 2017 [2006].