Half of a Yellow Sun

1
Half of a Yellow Sun

• Love and Race/Class Relations as the Seeds of War
  and its Resolution

Joyce Chen and Kate Liu, Fall, 2009
2
Outline

• I. Introduction
• Nigeria-Biafra war
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and the novel
• II. Chap 1 Ugwus Education
• III. Chap II Relations between
• Olanna and her family
• Olanna and her uncles family
• Olanna and Odenigbo
• Seeds of Independence and Conflicts
• IV. Notes References
• V. Next Time

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Nigeria-Biafra War (1967-1970)

Joyce
4
NigeriaBasic Data
Joyce
5
NigeriaBefore Colonization

• circa 11th century onwards - Formation of city
  states, kingdoms and empires.
• 1472 - Portuguese navigators reach Nigerian
  coast.
• 16-18th centuries - Slave trade
• 1809 - Single Islamic state - Sokoto caliphate -
  is founded in north
• 1850s - British establish presence around Lagos.

Joyce
6
Nigeria Colonization to independence

• 1861-1914 - Britain consolidates its hold over
  what it calls the Colony and Protectorate of
  Nigeria, governs by "indirect rule" through local
  leaders.
• 1923-Western-educated elites established the
  first political party NNDP the rise of
  independence movement
• 1960 - Independence, with Prime Minister Sir
  Abubakar Tafawa Balewa leading a coalition
  government.
• 1964-First national election

Joyce
7
Nigeria-Biafra WarCauses

• Race-Religion Tribalism to regionalism
• Religion and Ethnic differences
• Hausa-Fulani feudal society governed by Muslim
  Sharia. Conservative, undeveloped, yet most
  populous
• Yoruba feudal society governed by oba (monarch)
• Igbo republic system, governed by titled men.
  Covert to Christianity and enjoy the highest
  literacy in English during colonization
• Economy the discovery of oil reserves
• Direct cause
• Coup in 1966
• genocide in the north 30,000 people of Ibo/Igbo
  ethnic origin were killed

Joyce
Part 1 http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJ3ReFoFp0Gs
346 three tribes
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Nigeria-Biafra War International Intervention

• Recognition Gabon, Haiti, Côte d'Ivoire,
  Tanzania (the first) and Zambia
• A continuous power wrestling between ex-
  colonizers
• Interest of oil
• Fear of Balkanization (seccesionism)

Joyce
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The end of the War Air raid, blockade,
Starvation, and Ojukwus exile to Côte d'Ivoire
Part 4 http//www.youtube.com/watch?veppgEVwxCfk
featurerelated 412 starvation
Joyce
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Questions

• Different perspectives of the researches on the
  war.
• Civil war meaningful or meaningless?
• Why/ How do we (non-Nigerians) study the war?
• How is the war presentedby American films such
  as Blood Diamond, The Last King of Scotland, and
  by African novels and documentary such as
  War/Dance?

End of the war http//www.youtube.com/watch?vrZT
puVlKJ_Qfeaturerelated 600 Biafran Govt in
Exile http//www.youtube.com/watch?vrZTpuVlKJ_Qf
eaturerelated
Joyce
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Literary Presentation of the war Earlier
Generation

• Witness memoirs / diaries

• Wole Soyinka (1934-)
• The man Died Prison Notes of Wole Soyinka
• Elechi Amadi (1934-)
• Sunset in Biafra A Civil War Diary
• Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-95)
• On a Darkling Plain An Account of the Nigerian
  Civil War.

Joyce
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Literary Presentation of the war Earlier
Generation

• Allegory/fictions/ Poems

• Chinua Achebe(1930-)
• Girls at War
• Christmas in Biafra and other poems
• Christopher Okigbo(1932-67)
• Labyrinths with Path of Thunder
• Flora Nwapa (1931-93)
• Wives at War and Other Stories.
• Never Again.
• Buchi Emecheta (1944-)
• Destination Biafra .

Joyce
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Literary Presentation of the warYounger
Generation

• Dulue Mbachu
• War Games
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Half of a Yellow Sun
• Uzodinma Iweala
• Beasts of No Nation
• Chris Abani
• Song for Night

Joyce
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• born (after Biafra war) in 1977
• the family's ancestral hometown is Abba (where
  Odenigbo comes from)
• grew up in Nsukka,
• left for the United States at the age of 19
• Got her BA degree in communication and political
  science at Eastern Connecticut State University,
  her master's degree in creative writing at Johns
  Hopkins University
• Purple Hibiscus (2005)
• Half of a Yellow Sun (2006)
• Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007

Source http//www.l3.ulg.ac.be/adichie/
http//www.halfofayellowsun.com/content.php?pagea
uthor_galleryn1f2
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Why write?

• because I wanted to write about love and war,
• because I grew up in the shadow of Biafra,
• because I lost both grandfathers in the
  Nigeria-Biafra war,
• because I wanted to engage with my history in
  order to make sense of my present, many of the
  issues that led to the war remain unresolved in
  Nigeria today,
• because my family my father has tears in his
  eyes when he speaks of losing his father, because
  my mother still cannot speak at length about
  losing her father in a refugee camp,
• because the brutal bequests of colonialism make
  me angry,
• because the thought of the egos and indifference
  of men leading to the unnecessary deaths of men
  and women and children enrages me, because I
  don't ever want to forget.
• (source youtube http//www.youtube.com/watch?vQ
  O8ZEtyuiZM )

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Half of a Yellow Sun

• Three major characters
• Olanna born of an upper-class family, a teacher
  at Nsukku U. before the war
• Uugwu Odenigbo's household servant from the
  village
• Richard Churchill a British writer and
  journalist, lover of Kainene kaineinei

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Why the title Half of a Yellow Sun

1. Commemorates Biafra
2. The sun can be a rising sun, or a falling sun.
3. Who and what can survive the war?

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The Novel and the war

• (1) The characters as witnesses
• Olanna -- witnesses the killing of Igbos in the
  streets of Kano, including some of her family
  (her uncle and aunt)
• Richard -- sees the killing of Igbos in the
  airport while waiting for a plane
• Ugwu forced to serve in the army, where he
  witnesses and gets involved in the violence of
  wartime (e.g. raping a woman).
• -- heard that the Nigerian soldiers had promised
  to kill five percent of Nsukka academics.

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Structure the Theme of War and Love

• Parallel between two time lines
• Early Sixties Part I, III (climax),
• Late Sixties Part II (massacre? war breaking
  out), IV
• 8 chapters end with a fragment from The Book The
  World Was Silent When We Died
• Two kinds of wars, trauma, and how to survive
  both.
• (2) The characters as survivors and/or writers.

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The Book in the Novel

• e.g. At Independence in 1960, Nigeria was a
  collection of fragments held in a fragile clasp.
  (195)
• e.g. Nigeria did not have an economy until
  IndependenceBut the new Nigerian leaders were
  too optimistic
• Who wrote it?
• Title from Richard (This war isnt my story to
  tell, really 530)
• A poem modeled after Okeomas poems
• Ugwu wrote his dedication For Master, my good
  man.

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WHERE YOU SILENT WHEN WE DIED?Did you see
photos in sixty-eightOf Children with their hair
becoming rustSickly patches nestled on those
small heads,Then falling off, like rotten leaves
on dust?Imagine children with arms like
toothpicks,With footballs for bellies and skin
stretched thin.It was kwashiorkordifficult
word,A word that was not quite ugly enough, a
sin.You neednt imagine. There were
photosDisplayed in gloss-filled pages of your
Life.Did you see? Did you feel sorry
briefly,Then turn round to hold your lover or
wife?Their skin had turned the tawny of weak
teaAnd showed cobwebs of vein and brittle
boneNaked children laughing, as if the
manWould not take photos and then leave, alone
(470).
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SEEDS OF INDEPENDENCE (OR THE RISING SUN)

• Chap I

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Reminder Place Names

• setting of chaps 1-2 Nsukka ? Lagos ? Kano
• (Kainene Port Harcourt, running her fathers
  business)
• Odenigbo from Abba

War Game Jos? Amafor
Abba
Nsukka
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Reminder Character Names

• Olanna
• sister Kainene (45) boyfriend Richard
  (44-45)
• father Chief Ozobia mother (42-43) Chief
  Okonji
• uncle Mbaezi aunt Ifeka daugher Arize
  (49) --Hausa friend Abdulmalik (50)
• ex-boyfriend Mohammed
• boyfriend Odenigbo
• Ugwu

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Chap 1 Ugwus Education

• Ugwu as a villager
• What aspects of the town Nsukka and Odenigos
  house are new to Ugwu?
• Where does Ugwa keep his traditional thinking?
• Do we see similar responses to modernity in chap
  2 (p. 34)?
• Ugwu as a houseboy
• How does Ugwu settle down and win the masters
  heart? Is he completely obedient?
• What makes him special as a houseboy? How does
  he learn from Odenigbo and his colleagues?
• Where do you see the seeds of Biafra independence?

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Ugwu as a villager

• Ugwu -- the town Nsukka and Odenigos house
• Street (3)
• The house too much space (5), bookshelf, ceiling
  too high and white (5), tap fridge (7), bulb
  (8)
• Masters wearing slippers (7), Ironing the socks
• chap 2 (p. 34)the older womans response to the
  landing airplane
• Ugwas traditional thinking
• Desirous and Sexist a) keeps chicken in his
  pocket 2) Nnesinach -? Anulika (9-10)
• Wary of the traders in the North
• Literal-minded Cannot understand the analogy the
  Master makes (12)
• Blames all on Evil spirit (17) curses those he
  doesnt like (16)
• Believes in dibias power e.g. using arigbe to
  win the masters heart.

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Ugwu as a houseboy

• The Masters emphasis on education
• (13-14) Education is a priority
• Different from the other houseboys (21)
• Ugwu attentive and open to learning
• Careful in learning the rhythm of Masters life
  (16)-
• Reads the books though not understanding them
  completely (21)
• Listens to the talk of Odenigbo and his
  colleagues (21-) Al Ugwu needed was the deep
  voice, the melody of the English-inflected Igbo,
  the glint of the thick eyeglasses (26)
• chap 2 learning to cook from Olanna

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Ugwu as a houseboy (2)

• Ugwu personally involved, he cares about both
  Odenigbo and Olanna.
• Dislikes Ms. Adebayo (26)
• Cursing her at first (27)
• Finds the masters English to be dignified and
  like music, and Olannas, magic (27-28)
• Attentive to their interactions (pp. 30-31)

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Seeds of Independence and Survival

• Independence
• Intellectuals comments on racial inequality in
  American South, South Africa
• pan-Africanisnism vs. pan-Igbo idea-- The only
  authentic identity for the African is the tribe
  (25)
• (24-25)
• Survival
• Ugwu imitates the Master (25)
• Ugwu Feels confirmed (tall) by Olannas smile
  appreciates her inner strength like a polished
  stone

30
HUMAN RELATIONS THE SEEDS OF CONFLICTS

• Chap II

31
Olanna and her family

• How do you describe Olannas parents class
  background and social position? (clues airport
  scene, Lagos Life and the meeting with Chief
  Okonji).
• How is Olanna related to her parents, and her
  sister Kainene? (36-46)
• From their interactions, could you tell what the
  parents expect of Olanna and Kainene differently?

32
Olannas Family rich but cold and distanced from
one another

• Well-known and glamorous
• airport scene recognized by the ticket seller,
  who invites her to the VIP lounge (33)
• Lagos Life (41) a picture of her and her mother
  (Olanna does not feel comfortable about being a
  part of the gloss that was her parents life
  (42)
• the meeting with Chief Okonji.
• the father has a construction company, which
  usu. gives the government 10 as a bribe.
• They want her to marry one of these famous people
  in order to improve their business (43)

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Kainene vs. Olanna

• (36-46)
• Kainene critical/acerbic (????), sharp and
  detached
• Calls her a sex bait (44) So will you be
  spreading your legs for that elephant in exchange
  for Daddys contract (44)
• Calls Odenigbo Olannas revolutionary love
• The two drifted away since their 2nd-school
  years (45)
• a clue to future (dis-)connection Richard (44)

34
The trip to Kano (1) Olanna and her uncles
family

• What makes Olanna close to her uncle and aunt?
• What types of racial differences, relations
  and/or antagonism does Olanna encounter in her
  uncles (e.g. her meeting uncles Hausa friend,
  her conversation with Arize), and then with her
  ex-boyfriend, Mohammed?

35
Olanna and her uncle and aunt

• Uncle Mbaezi light-complexioned, earthy (47),
  admired by Olanna because of his differences from
  her mother
• Aunt Ifeka breastfeeding O and K always kills
  a hen when O visits
• Arize (49) gives her an excited hug,
• a Hausa friend gives her a pair of slippers
  friendly. Olannas parents look artificial by
  comparison.
• The whole household noisy, lively and intimate
• Olannaavoids looking at the cockcroach eggs or
  worrying about the choking smoke (51)

36
The seeds of Independence

• Igbo Uncle about The Igbo Union
• Igbo Union Grammar School (47)
• Anti-colonialist Odenigbo critical of
  Europeans views of Africa Hegel calls
  Africa a land of childhood (62) ? If Europe had
  cared more about Africa, the Jewish Holocaust
  would not have happened. (62)
• Okeoma the function of WWII (63) realizing
  that white man was not mortal.

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Seeds of Conflict (1) Racial Differences

• Arize
• lack of appreciation of Ijaw culture and their
  stockfish (51) cheap or delicious for Arize?
  Mischievous or condescending?
• About a man from Abba so ugly (52)
• looks forward to getting married, but definitely
  not to a Hausa man
• Mohammeds mother used to be standoffish, speak
  stiffly (57)

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Seeds of Conflict (2) Olanna and Odenigbo

• How did Olanna get to know him? Is their
  relationship sex-driven only?
• Olanna A mixture of ideal and sex.
• Mohammed youre a nationalist and a patriot,
  and soon you will marry your lecturer the freedom
  fighter (58)
• Their sex being interrupted, she is reluctant to
  go meet his colleagues. (62) Her connection to
  life is later also a means of survival.
• But she talks more when feeling threatened by Ms.
  Adebayo (64)

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Tentative Conclusion a collective history
written about/by

• Intellectuals who are idealist but beaten
• Igbo mathematician, poet (in the group are also
  one from the Caribbean, one from America, one
  from India)
• Foreigners Some indifferent and some
  sympathetic
• Susan escapes.
• Dr. Patel -- Indian doc. who never eats kola nut
  but appreciates the joke
• Richard a friendly foreigner who is sympathetic
  but still an outsider.
• Olanna in between her interest in intellectuals
  debates and the joie de vivre
• Ugwu in between his traditional thinking and
  learning from the masters.

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Notes (1) Black German Holocaust

• Heroro people In 1904, the Heroro tribe of
  German South-West Africa revolted against their
  colonial masters in a quest to keep their land
  the rebellion lasted four years, leading to the
  death of 60,000 Heroro tribespeople (80 of their
  population). The survivors were imprisoned in
  concentration camps or used as human guinea pigs
  for medical experiments
• the Rhineland of 1936 Hitler retaliated against
  the African soldiers' occupation by targeting all
  Black people living in the Rhineland first. In
  particular,Germany's 24,000-member Black
  community was the number one focus for Hitler's
  sterilisation programme. (source)

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Notes (2)

• Kola nut (??? ) -- offspring of the cola tree
  that grows in Africa, South America and the West
  Indies. Chewing this nut is a favorite pastime
  of natives who claim it diminishes fatigue and
  thirst and (for some) has aphrodisiac properties.
  (source)

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Note (3) Kwame Nkrumah

• (21 September 1909 - 27 April 1972) was an
  influential 20th century advocate of
  Pan-Africanism, and the leader of Ghana and its
  predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to
  1966.
• attempted to rapidly industrialize Ghana's
  economy. He reasoned that if Ghana escaped the
  colonial trade system by reducing dependence on
  foreign capital, technology, and material goods,
  it could become truly independent. Unfortunately,
  industrialization hurt the countrys cocoa
  sector.
• As his government was overthrown, and Nkrumah
  deposed, Ghana fell from being one of the richest
  country in Africa to one of the poorest.

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah
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Reference

• http//www.historians.org/Tl/LessonPlans/nc/Trask/
  study.htm
• http//www.nathanielturner.com/rememberingbiafraal
  iteraryreview.htm
• Hawley, John. Biafra as Heritage and Symbol
  Adichie, Mbachu, and Iweala. Research in African
  Literatures 39.2 (2008) 15-26. Print.

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Next Time 1.2

• 0.2 -- Grief of Stranger --a traumatized
  immigrant in a city
• 1 -- The first four chapters -- A childs
  experience of escaping from a city to a
  countryside.