“A CONFUSION OF VALUES”:  THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BIAFRAN DREAM IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S AND CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR FICTION

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Literary Studies (MA)

Lacey, Emma (2020)

“A CONFUSION OF VALUES”: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BIAFRAN DREAM IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S AND CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR FICTION

Master thesis | Literary Studies (MA)

One of the central points developed in this thesis is that the Nigerian-Biafran War, represented in Chinua Achebe's Girls at War and Other Stories (1972) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), exacerbates the deterioration of Biafra by revealing the inherited corruption adopted from colonisation. The lives and identities of both Achebe's and Adichie's central characters are dramatically altered when exposed to the trials and traumas of civil war; relationships break down, national pride falters and societal constructs are dismantled. By humanising stories of civil conflict, both narratives work towards shaping and legitimising the wartime experiences of the Igbo community, whose struggle for independence has often been blamed as the cause of a disastrous civil war.

Author: Lacey, Emma

Faculty: Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation: English Literature and Culture

Supervisors: Kardux, J.C.

ECTS Credits: 20

Language: en

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“A CONFUSION OF VALUES”: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BIAFRAN DREAM IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S AND CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR FICTION