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Chinua Achebe is the author of many novels, short stories, essays and children’s books. No Longer At Ease, his second novel was first published in 1960.
Other work Achebe has done includes Things Fall Apart in 1958, Arrow of God in 1964, A Man Of The People in 1966.
Title: No Longer At Ease
Author: Chinua Achebe
Place of publication: England
Publisher: Pearson Education Limited
Date of Publication: 1960
Number of pages: 154
No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe as a story is neither of the village nor the city
But it is a conscious and celebrative
Of both rural and urban spaces. No Longer at Ease is a continuation of the Okonkwo family
Saga through the second and third generations From the novel Things Fall Apart.
The main character of the story Obi Okonkwo, is haunted by doubts , about his moral choice but marginal to the Universe of the novel and Obi is part of a new generation of highly educated Africans post colonisation.
The story which opens with Obi’s trial and sentencing for corruption, proves that corruption post colonialism in Africa was a big problem and morally wrong.
Corruption and mismanagement was what Obi whole hearted hated, while studying English in England but circumstances obscured him from doing what’s right.
Yes, one can be educated and acquire all the credentials from university institutions , but if intellectually you fail to logically and maturely take proper decisions and you treasuries money, then corruption and you will be best friends.
A simple question may be asked, how can a man who spent four years
away from his native land, to further his studies in a foreign country, to get himself good education, end up in court for petty corruption ?
Were personal problems driving him to accept bribery or was it financial problems that were too much of a burden for him to carry. A perfect excuse may likely be pressure of transformation and colonial history but from a cultural perspective, its a case of moral failure.
The reality of Obi Okonkwo, A brilliant promising young man from Umuofia in Nigeria was,
Of belonging to two worlds with equally salient but conflicting demands.
Demands from Umuofia elders and young people from him , to be their representative in the “White man’s world”
Meaning they wanted him to represent their collective interests in the courts, as they wanted him to study Law and to be morally righteous at all times.
The other world, which the elders and young people in umuofia termed “The White man ‘s world” demanded to much burden to Obi to carry.
It demanded Obi to deliver in the work environment, to save as much money as he can, to fall in love and to socialise.
At first Obi was able to balance all the demands from the “white man’s world” but as time went by , it all came down crashing, brick by brick, as the saying says
“an empire doesn’t fall at once but brick by brick”. His relationship with Clara soured up when she aborted their unborn child.
The other demand was for Obi to start dressing as one of the natives in the “white man’s world” and to fluently speak their language.
No Longer at Ease, opens a story about an idealistic young man who fails to live up to expectations of his Umuofia community and peers, Achebe’s narrative constantly reminds readers that from the moment Obi was born, his social and cultural position was so weak and uncertain that it hardly existed.
Obi is preceded in his family history by two essential people, who had made vivid choices about life, pre-colonialism, during colonialism and post colonialism.
The two individuals are his grandfather , Unoka Okonkwo, who preferred a permanent solution to a temporal problem, suicide, rather than live under the teaching and instructions from colonist.
While Obi’s father, Isaac Okonkwo , chose to study his family history and made it his passion to follow his heart in whatever he did.
Obi’s challenge was how to reconcile the past, the way his grandfather died and
the biblical way his father, Isaac, was teaching him.
The main objective of the book is to paint a vivid picture of what was the state of mind, of most Africans, post colonisation, how Africans reacted to white people’s invasion of Africa states. The book reflects how education started to matter to Africans and how much collectively, people can achieve. Today’s youth can be the perfect audience, to this book.
The youth MUST read this book, to see that education shouldn’t make one to be big headed and turn his back against those who have invested so much in your ability and to those who believe in your promising and energetic literacy skills.
The real subject, Obi Okonkwo is first portrayed as a good and very clever pupil, who passed with distinctions at high school, to put himself in an advantageous position to get a loan from the Umuofia Progressive Union to study Law (even thought he opted to study English instead of Law as the elders initially hoped for) in England for four years.
Obi Okonkwo is similar to his father, Isaac Okonkwo, as both man cringed failure and are hard workers and in No Longer at Ease , Isaac hardly features compare to Things Fall Apart. No Longer at Ease, education is important together with money for one in order to survive while in Things Fall Apart money and education were scarce.
No Longer At Ease , culturally, taboos, polygamy, gods and spirits are extincting but the elders kept respect .
In Things Fall Apart, taboos, polygamy, gods were strongly recognised, respected, practised and always taken into consideration.
‘I must give them a monthly allowance from my salary’ how much? Could he afford ten pounds? If only he did not have to pay back twenty pounds a month to the Umuofia Progressive Union . Then there was John’s school fees . Words uttered by Obi, lamenting about his salary and calculating and minusing how much he will be left with post every payment he’ll make.
‘Shut up’ roared Mr Jones and followed it up with a slap to Simeon Nduka , head master of Mr Jones’ school. This situation highlights how whites disrespected Africans ‘ dignity and pride. Whites saw Africans as minorities, who didn’t deserve respect.
Things Fall Apart also highlight the impact of the arrival of the Colonist in Africa (specifically in Nigeria) and the beginning of colonisation. No Longer at Ease, highlights the full impact of decolonisation through Obi’s mindset and level of thinking and of doing certain things, I.E engaging Clara without his parents and the Umuofia elders’ blessings.
Personally, I’ve learnt that it’s important to conduct yourself in a manner that people can respect you for and not to allow temptation to be in charge, because one might lose what he/she has built over a period of time. Bad company corrupts a good character and complacency is indeed a great weakness among educated individuals.
I’m not happy with the entire book . Issues like corruption, bribery and abortion are relevant in today’s lifetime, the way author narrates them, I’m not 100 percent satisfied but overall, its a good story .
Other work Achebe has done includes Things Fall Apart in 1958, Arrow of God in 1964, A Man Of The People in 1966.
Title: No Longer At Ease
Author: Chinua Achebe
Place of publication: England
Publisher: Pearson Education Limited
Date of Publication: 1960
Number of pages: 154
No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe as a story is neither of the village nor the city
But it is a conscious and celebrative
Of both rural and urban spaces. No Longer at Ease is a continuation of the Okonkwo family
Saga through the second and third generations From the novel Things Fall Apart.
The main character of the story Obi Okonkwo, is haunted by doubts , about his moral choice but marginal to the Universe of the novel and Obi is part of a new generation of highly educated Africans post colonisation.
The story which opens with Obi’s trial and sentencing for corruption, proves that corruption post colonialism in Africa was a big problem and morally wrong.
Corruption and mismanagement was what Obi whole hearted hated, while studying English in England but circumstances obscured him from doing what’s right.
Yes, one can be educated and acquire all the credentials from university institutions , but if intellectually you fail to logically and maturely take proper decisions and you treasuries money, then corruption and you will be best friends.
A simple question may be asked, how can a man who spent four years
away from his native land, to further his studies in a foreign country, to get himself good education, end up in court for petty corruption ?
Were personal problems driving him to accept bribery or was it financial problems that were too much of a burden for him to carry. A perfect excuse may likely be pressure of transformation and colonial history but from a cultural perspective, its a case of moral failure.
The reality of Obi Okonkwo, A brilliant promising young man from Umuofia in Nigeria was,
Of belonging to two worlds with equally salient but conflicting demands.
Demands from Umuofia elders and young people from him , to be their representative in the “White man’s world”
Meaning they wanted him to represent their collective interests in the courts, as they wanted him to study Law and to be morally righteous at all times.
The other world, which the elders and young people in umuofia termed “The White man ‘s world” demanded to much burden to Obi to carry.
It demanded Obi to deliver in the work environment, to save as much money as he can, to fall in love and to socialise.
At first Obi was able to balance all the demands from the “white man’s world” but as time went by , it all came down crashing, brick by brick, as the saying says
“an empire doesn’t fall at once but brick by brick”. His relationship with Clara soured up when she aborted their unborn child.
The other demand was for Obi to start dressing as one of the natives in the “white man’s world” and to fluently speak their language.
No Longer at Ease, opens a story about an idealistic young man who fails to live up to expectations of his Umuofia community and peers, Achebe’s narrative constantly reminds readers that from the moment Obi was born, his social and cultural position was so weak and uncertain that it hardly existed.
Obi is preceded in his family history by two essential people, who had made vivid choices about life, pre-colonialism, during colonialism and post colonialism.
The two individuals are his grandfather , Unoka Okonkwo, who preferred a permanent solution to a temporal problem, suicide, rather than live under the teaching and instructions from colonist.
While Obi’s father, Isaac Okonkwo , chose to study his family history and made it his passion to follow his heart in whatever he did.
Obi’s challenge was how to reconcile the past, the way his grandfather died and
the biblical way his father, Isaac, was teaching him.
The main objective of the book is to paint a vivid picture of what was the state of mind, of most Africans, post colonisation, how Africans reacted to white people’s invasion of Africa states. The book reflects how education started to matter to Africans and how much collectively, people can achieve. Today’s youth can be the perfect audience, to this book.
The youth MUST read this book, to see that education shouldn’t make one to be big headed and turn his back against those who have invested so much in your ability and to those who believe in your promising and energetic literacy skills.
The real subject, Obi Okonkwo is first portrayed as a good and very clever pupil, who passed with distinctions at high school, to put himself in an advantageous position to get a loan from the Umuofia Progressive Union to study Law (even thought he opted to study English instead of Law as the elders initially hoped for) in England for four years.
Obi Okonkwo is similar to his father, Isaac Okonkwo, as both man cringed failure and are hard workers and in No Longer at Ease , Isaac hardly features compare to Things Fall Apart. No Longer at Ease, education is important together with money for one in order to survive while in Things Fall Apart money and education were scarce.
No Longer At Ease , culturally, taboos, polygamy, gods and spirits are extincting but the elders kept respect .
In Things Fall Apart, taboos, polygamy, gods were strongly recognised, respected, practised and always taken into consideration.
‘I must give them a monthly allowance from my salary’ how much? Could he afford ten pounds? If only he did not have to pay back twenty pounds a month to the Umuofia Progressive Union . Then there was John’s school fees . Words uttered by Obi, lamenting about his salary and calculating and minusing how much he will be left with post every payment he’ll make.
‘Shut up’ roared Mr Jones and followed it up with a slap to Simeon Nduka , head master of Mr Jones’ school. This situation highlights how whites disrespected Africans ‘ dignity and pride. Whites saw Africans as minorities, who didn’t deserve respect.
Things Fall Apart also highlight the impact of the arrival of the Colonist in Africa (specifically in Nigeria) and the beginning of colonisation. No Longer at Ease, highlights the full impact of decolonisation through Obi’s mindset and level of thinking and of doing certain things, I.E engaging Clara without his parents and the Umuofia elders’ blessings.
Personally, I’ve learnt that it’s important to conduct yourself in a manner that people can respect you for and not to allow temptation to be in charge, because one might lose what he/she has built over a period of time. Bad company corrupts a good character and complacency is indeed a great weakness among educated individuals.
I’m not happy with the entire book . Issues like corruption, bribery and abortion are relevant in today’s lifetime, the way author narrates them, I’m not 100 percent satisfied but overall, its a good story .
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