HOAYS: Part 3, Early Sixties

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Please use this thread for discussion of Part 3 of Half of a Yellow Sun.

[Fozzie]

I was glad to leave the war and go back to pre-war times. 

If you thought your mother-in-law was difficult, imagine having Mama, Odenigbo’s mother, as a pseudo mother-in-law (since Odenigbo and Olanna weren’t married)!  Not only was she rude, she brought another woman, Amala, into the house, trying to seduce Odenigbo!  Odenigbo was guilty too because it takes two to tango, so to speak, but Mama was out of control!

And then Amala turned up pregnant!  Hmmm… And then Olanna slept with Richard!  My, what a tangled web!  And then Olanna and Odenigbo decided to raise Baby.  And then Kainene found out Olanna had slept with Richard.  A very interesting section of reading, indeed!

[Peppermill]

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Fozzie wrote:

I was glad to leave the war and go back to pre-war times. 

If you thought your mother-in-law was difficult, imagine having Mama, Odenigbo’s mother, as a pseudo mother-in-law (since Odenigbo and Olanna weren’t married)!  Not only was she rude, she brought another woman, Amala, into the house, trying to seduce Odenigbo!  Odenigbo was guilty too because it takes two to tango, so to speak, but Mama was out of control!

And then Amala turned up pregnant!  Hmmm… And then Olanna slept with Richard!  My, what a tangled web!  And then Olanna and Odenigbo decided to raise Baby.  And then Kainene found out Olanna had slept with Richard.  A very interesting section of reading, indeed!

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Do you think all these tangled relationships were a metaphor for anything?  Such as the muddle between Nigeria and Britain and, within Nigeria, between the tribes, Igbo, Hausa, and Yorba? 

I'm not sure, at least I can't do much of a job of recognizing the parallels.

[Fozzie]

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Peppermill wrote:

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Fozzie wrote:

I was glad to leave the war and go back to pre-war times. 

If you thought your mother-in-law was difficult, imagine having Mama, Odenigbo’s mother, as a pseudo mother-in-law (since Odenigbo and Olanna weren’t married)!  Not only was she rude, she brought another woman, Amala, into the house, trying to seduce Odenigbo!  Odenigbo was guilty too because it takes two to tango, so to speak, but Mama was out of control!

And then Amala turned up pregnant!  Hmmm… And then Olanna slept with Richard!  My, what a tangled web!  And then Olanna and Odenigbo decided to raise Baby.  And then Kainene found out Olanna had slept with Richard.  A very interesting section of reading, indeed!

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Do you think all these tangled relationships were a metaphor for anything?  Such as the muddle between Nigeria and Britain and, within Nigeria, between the tribes, Igbo, Hausa, and Yorba? 

I'm not sure, at least I can't do much of a job of recognizing the parallels.

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I don't know if the relationships were a metaphor for anything, but I did feel that some were representative of things.  There was a relationship between a black woman and a white man (Richard and Kainene) and a relationship between an Igbo person and a Muslim person (Olanna and Mohammed).  I think those relationships were meant to emphasize the divisions between blacks and whites or natives and colonials (Is that the right word?) and the tribal south and the more civilized Muslim north.

[Peppermill]

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Fozzie wrote:

I don't know if the relationships were a metaphor for anything, but I did feel that some were representative of things.  There was a relationship between a black woman and a white man (Richard and Kainene) and a relationship between an Igbo person and a Muslim person (Olanna and Mohammed).  I think those relationships were meant to emphasize the divisions between blacks and whites or natives and colonials (Is that the right word?) and the tribal south and the more civilized Muslim north.

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What makes you call the north "more civilized", i.e., what did you consider to be the textual evidence?  (I missed it.... I more saw three native ethnic groups and then the oil in the region that wanted to break away.  It reminded me of the battles for natural resources in Somalia Nuruddin Farah talks about in Maps.)

[Fozzie]

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Peppermill wrote:

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Fozzie wrote:

I don't know if the relationships were a metaphor for anything, but I did feel that some were representative of things.  There was a relationship between a black woman and a white man (Richard and Kainene) and a relationship between an Igbo person and a Muslim person (Olanna and Mohammed).  I think those relationships were meant to emphasize the divisions between blacks and whites or natives and colonials (Is that the right word?) and the tribal south and the more civilized Muslim north.

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What makes you call the north "more civilized", i.e., what did you consider to be the textual evidence?  (I missed it....)

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I think I read it somewhere outside the book.  Maybe not.  I'll see if I can figure it out tomorrow.  It was not my observation, but a generic one of some sort picked up from something I read somewhere.  How's that for specific?!?!  LOL!

[Fozzie]

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Fozzie wrote:

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Peppermill wrote:

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Fozzie wrote:

I don't know if the relationships were a metaphor for anything, but I did feel that some were representative of things.  There was a relationship between a black woman and a white man (Richard and Kainene) and a relationship between an Igbo person and a Muslim person (Olanna and Mohammed).  I think those relationships were meant to emphasize the divisions between blacks and whites or natives and colonials (Is that the right word?) and the tribal south and the more civilized Muslim north.

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What makes you call the north "more civilized", i.e., what did you consider to be the textual evidence?  (I missed it....)

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I think I read it somewhere outside the book.  Maybe not.  I'll see if I can figure it out tomorrow.  It was not my observation, but a generic one of some sort picked up from something I read somewhere.  How's that for specific?!?!  LOL!

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Read the excerpts from Ugwu's book on pages 115 and 155 (hardcover).