Tuesday, January 17

A little bit of literature

“‘Ugwu!’ Master called. The guests had arrived. Ugwu went into the living room and his hands worked mechanically, serving kola nuts and alligator pepper, uncorking bottles, shovelling ice, laying out steaming bowls of pepper soup. Afterwards, he sat down in the kitchen and pulled at his toenails and imagined what was going on in the bedroom. He could hear Master’s raised voice from the living room. ‘Nobody is saying that burning government property is a good thing, but to send the army in to kill in the name of order? There are Tiv people lying dead for nothing. For nothing! Balewa has lost his mind!’ 

Ugwu did not know who the Tiv people were, but hearing the word dead made him shiver. ‘It is not yet your time,’ he whispered. ‘Not yet your time.’”

Vocabulary build-up

The transitive verb uncork has two very distinct meanings. In this context, it means “to draw the cork from (a bottle, etc).” But it can also mean “to release or unleash (emotions, etc).” The noun cork means “the thick light porous outer bark of the cork oak, used widely as an insulator and for stoppers for bottles of wine.”

The intransitive verb shiver means “to shake or tremble, as from cold or fear.” Close synonyms are “shake”, “shudder”, “quiver”, and “tremble.” 

Word Order Rule

The use of yet can be placed with not - "it is not yet your time" - or it can be placed at the end of the sentence - "it is not your time yet".

Comments

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a young and brilliant Nigerian writer, is considered by many the most prominent young anglophone author, who is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature, especially in the United States, her second home. Adichie’s commitment as a writer lies in her vision of the writer as a harbinger of social awareness, truth, and empowerment; with responsibilities to educate as well as challenge human actions and reactions at a point in time. She is deeply engaged in ideology, actively exploring, critiquing, questioning, and challenging dominant narratives through her work, particularly on two important aspects: Feminism and the oversimplification of African culture. But she doesn’t stop there, as she also highlights discussions of race, gender, immigration, class, war (both the Biafran War and the Nigerian war), and history. “Half of a Yellow Sun” is critical not only as a story of war, personal growth and humanness, but also because Adichie presents ideas that force you to internalize your own prejudgements. It is a story of pain and the horrors of the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), soon after Nigeria breaks free from its colonial status. The novel starts and ends with Ugwu, a village boy who becomes a servant in a professor’s house. But the story progresses through the experiences of other characters that have their lives drastically changed after the declaration of Biafra’s secession. In essence, “Half of a Yellow Sun” is a tale of the brutality of war, life changing personal decisions, grief, and hope.