The
newly acquired independence of Nigeria from the Commonwealth involves
new problems. The population is split over how the country should be
governed. Many intellectuals still see a strong bond to the former
colonial ruler Great Britain, and between the different tribes is
discord as well, because when you speak of Nigerians you don’t
speak of a homogenous people but a loose affiliation of different
peoples whose only common ground is that between the borders of their
nation.
Now
that the Nigerians are supposed to govern themselves, each of those
tribes is afraid of being overlooked, and Nigeria turns into a powder
keg. History is made quickly, a military putsch is pulled through
mainly by Igbo, one of the three biggest tribes in Nigeria. That
results in the persecution of the Igbo who get murdered in masses by
people of the other tribes. 1967 at last, in the South-East of the
country, the republic Biafra is declared, a nation supposed to
protect the Igbo and make them independent from Nigeria. What follows
is a bloody war between both countries and a blockade that coins the
image of the biafran malnourished child with a bloated belly forever
before Biafra is reincorporated after the capitulation in 1970.
In
“Half of a yellow sun”, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie bluntly and
impressively tells the story of three people during the rise and fall
of Biafra. The link between those people is the university docent
Odenigbo who fights for Biafra passionately. We witness the story
from the point of view of his wife Olanna who falls from the life of
a privileged daughter of a rich family into a life in poverty in a
refugee camp during the war, the point of view of the houseboy Ugwu
who is intellectually fostered but also influenced by his master and
yet always keeps a little jungle in his heart, and from the point of
view of the British journalist Richard who, after living as a
stranger in Nigeria, finally feels home in Biafra – and still
isn’t, due to his skin colour and origin and the privileges coming
with that.
With
“Half of a yellow sun”, Adichie, who is an Igbo herself, makes a
part of history visible that ususally is overlooked by the
Eurocentric world view and the habit to let the winners write history
and yet manages to not force a onesided view upon the reader by being
fully aware of both the flaws of Biafra as well as the injustices
that were committed by Nigeria and the rest of the world.
Additionally, with the social entanglements between Olanna, Odenigbo
and Richard and their families, she makes up a thrilling and
captivating family story.
“Half
of a yellow sun” makes this part of history understandable
especially to those who never heard the word Biafra. Helping with
that is a glossary at the end of the book.
