The problem of identification in Ch. N. Adichie’s “Half of a Yellow Sun”

Abstract

The article deals with the novel “Half of a Yellow Sun” (2006) by the African-American writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The writer shows different components of the identification process in the modern multicultural world. The main historical event of the novel is the Civil War of 1967-1970, which took place due to political and ethnic struggle. It was caused by numerous attempts by the southeastern provinces of Nigeria to secede and form the Republic of Biafra. The novel shows how the interethnic conflict between the Hausa and Igbo peoples, and later the war, influence not only the fate of the characters, but also the peculiarities of their identification process. This process is represented by three components: ethnic, national and gender. Kainene and Odenigbo, whose ethnicity is formed and recognized with the emergence of a new republic, feel, first, not as Nigerians, but as Igbos. Therefore, they take an active part in the Civil War. British interest in the war is shown through the characters of Susan and Richard who demonstrate typical colonial attitudes towards Africans. However, Richard’s interest in African culture contributes to the process of realizing the ethnic identity of Ugwu who chooses a member of the African community for his role model. Olanna, representing a new generation of Nigerian women, destroys the traditional forms of gender relations in Nigerian reality.