No Longer at Ease

Obi returns to work and Mr. Green asks him how his leave was. He wonders why Africans request a leave since they already have many privileges. He believes that no Nigerian would abandon any of their privileges for the benefit of their country and is sarcastic about their will to self-governance. When Green leaves, Miss Tomlinson agrees and says the Muslim holidays should be stopped. Obi says the Europeans initially created those privileges for themselves and now they blame Nigerians.

Obi asks for a salary advance to return Clara’s 50 pounds. He visited her in the hospital, but Clara would not talk to him, and he left immediately. The administrative assistant informs him he must refund 10 pounds from his leave’s allowance. He concludes that the debt to the Umuofia Union and decision not to accept a four-month grace is the source of his troubles. He decides to stop paying the debt, as they would not take him to court.

A messenger brings a letter to Obi. He had written to Clara recognizing his mistake and asking for another chance. He left the letter at the hospital himself.

Clara remains in the hospital for five weeks. Christopher tells Obi through a nurse friend to stop trying to see Clara, as she needs time. Obi cannot repay her because he now has to pay his income tax.

Obi’s mother also dies. He sends as much as he can, but the men of Umuofia Union say she deserved a better funeral. They think Obi spent all his money on sweet city life and forgot his people and his home. They also say that an “osu woman” can bring bad “medicine.” For them, Obi abandoned his family like his father did.

Obi is shocked by his mother’s death. He remains in bed crying and will not go to Umuofia, because her funeral would have already finished. He thinks how lost his father must feel. Joseph and the Umuofia men arrive at Obi’s to mourn with him. They chat and criticize a politician. Then a man tells a folk story about Tortoise, who was gone during his mother’s death. They lied to him about a growing fruit on his father’s palm-tree, making him return for her funeral. Obi wakes up the next morning “with a feeling of guilt” (86). However, he soon feels calm and peaceful.

After his guilt subsides, Obi feels “brand-new.” He recalls his mother as “the woman who got things done” (88). When action was needed, his father relied more on Hannah. He remembers a story when his mother killed a sacred Udo goat because it entered her kitchen and had been destroying the crops. The elders were angry with her but soon forgot the matter because she was Christian. Obi no longer feels guilty, because “[h]e, too, had died” (88).

It is the period for giving out scholarships again, and Obi often examines files. A Lagos businessman visits him. He asks him to see that his son gets a scholarship for England and gives him 50 pounds. Obi tells him he does not grant the scholarships himself but only recommends. The man says all he wants is for Obi to recommend his son. Obi asks him why he does not pay for his son’s studies since scholarships are for poor people. He replies that nobody has money and leaves. Obi leaves the money where the man placed it and cannot sleep at night.

Obi goes dancing with one of the scholarship applicants, then sleeps with her. People keep coming to give Obi bribes, but he never recommends a person without the proper educational qualifications. With the money from the bribes, Obi repays his debts. Soon, Obi feels bad and cannot stand it anymore. The police come to his house. They find the money and arrest him.

The narration returns to the events at the beginning of the novel. Everybody—the British Council, even the Umuofia Union, and probably Mr. Green—wonders why Obi did it.