Composite Consciousness and Memories of War in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun

Abstract

Studies of the Nigerian civil war have examined the notion of ‘war fronts’ and ‘home fronts’ as reflective of gendered representations of the war. Others have critiqued these representations as informed by the anxieties of the elite – the military, business and politician classes. This article attempts to examine Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun (2007. London: Fourth Estate) as constructing a composite consciousness of the war. It does this by examining the evolving consciousness of Ugwu, the houseboy in the text. By tracing his evolution, the article aims first to examine the novel as a project of memory, especially trauma memory and how it is played out in the daily lives of the protagonists. Secondly, Ugwu is examined as an embodiment of a composite consciousness in the novel. He embodies a memory that competes with the elite and bourgeoisie one, which has defined the literary historiography of the war. Thirdly, the article examines how he evolves from the state of naivety as a houseboy to become a ‘vernacular intellectual’. His involvement in the war allows Adichie to explore an expiatory and authorial role for him that reflects the evolution of the traumatic, cultural and collective memory of the destroyed Biafran nation. Ugwu is therefore a product of a composite consciousness that embodies composite memories. These memories cut across the daily life of Ugwu's middle class employers, and the trauma of the Biafran war, and his role as a child soldier. The memories are also examined through their individual and collective dimensions.