Poetic Metaphor and Multi-Signification: A Rereading of Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article explores the poetic metaphors and multi-signification in Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease . The novel itself has been the focus of several readings, many of which pursue the humanistic and sociological orientations of the text as merely an instrument of communication about the post-independence sociopolitical and cultural realities of Achebe’s society. This manner of reading may be attributed to the birth of African literature and Afrocentrism, which many of the earlier writers, including Achebe, believe was a reaction to the poor Euro-American portrayal of Africa and Africans. But it forecloses the possibility of a grounded analytical methodology capable of opening up multiple possibilities of meanings in the text through the linguistic elements of literature. Relying on Paul Ricoeur’s depth semantic theory, this article explores the poetic metaphors of the text to unveil the multilayered meanings.