Title:   ACHEBE’S FEMINIST MODERNITY AND THE AFRICAN POSTCOLONIAL DILEMMA: THE CASE OF CLARA IN NO LONGER AT EASE

Abstract
This study adopts Postcolonial feminism to explore the personality and cultural identity of Clara
as presented by Achebe in No Longer at Ease. The aim is to establish an interplay between post
colonialism and feminism in a novel that has already been described by critics as “a pioneering
text of postcolonial criticism.” In this context, the novel is examined as a powerful representation
of the crisis of being post colonial and modern, while seeking legitimacy in the moral economy of
tradition and culture. For Simon Gikandi, “if the postcolonial condition implies the location of
subjects between historical, cultural and temporal spaces, then No Longer at Ease can be
considered to have been the first novel to thematize this dilemma.” Apart from Gikandi’s
assertion, No Longer at Ease has been reputed as a fictional representation of the complications of
a society on the verge of postcolonial modernity, with much of the conversations focused on Obi
Okonkwo. It is however discovered that not much, in the above regard, has been written on Clara,
the major female character in the work. This study therefore sets out to interrogate the extent to
which Clara can be presented as the ultimate portrait of a pioneer modern African woman, from
the Achebean narrative oeuvre, particularly in the (post)colonial sense. Conclusions are drawn and
recommendations are made after the critical assessment of Clara.
Keywords: Postcolonial Feminism, Modernity, Multicultural, Dilemma, Tradition.

Citations:

Publication Date: 2021-07-09