No Longer at Ease

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1960

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-19

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Lagos

Lagos symbolizes the postcolonial condition in Nigeria. A former capital of Nigeria, it represents the postcolonial city, a Western urban center away from traditional Nigerian communities like the Igbo. While it demonstrates the distinction between Western and African lifestyles, it also illustrates how Nigerians navigate life after colonialism. As a kid, Obi heard dreamy stories of Lagos, a place of “progress” that contrasted with the difficult rural life: “There is no darkness there […] because at night the electric shines like the sun, and people are always walking about […]. If you don’t want to walk you only have to wave your hand and a pleasure car stops for you” (7).

However, it is evident that Europeans have authority in the new modern city. People tell Obi: “If you see a white man, take off your hat for him. The only thing he cannot do is mould a human being” (7). Upon his return from England, Obi sees the reality of Lagos and its slums for the first time. Despite being a developing Westernized and industrial city, it features increasing poverty and marginalization, mostly in Black neighborhoods. Development and inequality co-exist. Obi soon observes that “Lagos slum areas […] [stand] side by side with the cars, electric lights and brightly dressed girls” (8).

The Lagos that Obi imagined while homesick in England does not exist. For the men of the Umuofia Union, Lagos is a “sinful” world that gives false impressions and can have a negative influence on the Igbo people: “Lagos is a bad place for a young man. If you follow its sweetness, you will perish” (42). The contradiction is that the Umuofia Union operates in Lagos and seeks access to the Western society and state. The way that Nigerians live in Lagos reveals the pressures and struggles of postcolonialism.

Literature and Oral Tradition

Literature and oral tradition reflect the power of words and storytelling in identity, personal, and cultural expression. Again, the two co-exist within the text to convey the postcolonial condition. In the narrative, literature is powerful. Obi decides to study English to find new meaning and envision a future for Nigeria while using the language of the oppressors. Obi writes a poem that expresses his dreams about his people and hopes for his country’s independence: “Teach them to walk in unity/ To build our nation dear” (54). Obi’s father considers the written word as “the symbol of the white man’s power” that “never fades” (66). Obi is a lover of literature and at times of crisis he resorts to reading English poets.

Overall the written word prevails, as Chinua Achebe writes in English. However, the narrative also uses the Igbo oral tradition to convey stories and the Igbo way of meaning-making. The characters often mention Igbo proverbs in their discussions. The text recites Igbo songs that the community sings upon Obi’s arrival in the village, and in the bus as he travels to Umuofia. Obi recalls a folk story his mother told him as a kid. Following his mother’s death, the Union men come to mourn with Obi and tell the story of “Tortoise” to reflect on Obi’s behavior. Ultimately, when Obi throws away his nostalgic poem “Nigeria,” it symbolizes the collapse of his own idealistic principles on his country’s future and reality.

Umuofia Progressive Union

The Umuofia Progressive Union symbolizes the Nigerians’ endeavor for unity and empowerment on the eve of the country’s independence. They are the representatives of Umuofia in Lagos. The Union works for the interests of the Igbo community and paid for Obi’s scholarship. The Union also represents the Igbo communal values that contrast Western individualism. In the story, many Nigerians in several parts of the country “start a local branch of the Umuofia Progressive Union” (2). At times of crisis, the Union holds on to indigenous principles and to the value of kinship. For Obi’s trial, the president states that “a kinsman in trouble had to be saved, not blamed; anger against a brother was felt in the flesh, not in the bone” and the Union decides to pay for a lawyer (3). The Union’s goal is to prepare the Umuofia community to join other Nigerian cultural groups in the quest for the country’s independence from the British colonial rule. As the Umuofia village is poor, the Union promotes access to Western society through education and jobs in the state. However, this creates tensions and conflicts. The novel shows how, within a colonial system, community values do not always work. While the Union strives for the interests of the community, they also accept corruption as a part of the colonial system of government and lack organized political action to counter it.