'Heko ejor ko!' A review of Chinua Achebe’s ‘No Longer At Ease’

‘Heko ejor ko’ is a terminology in Ghana’s Ga language. It simply means ‘nowhere (is) cool.’ That man is in a constant state of motion as he navigates life so much so that standing or staying still is a type of motion.

Chinua Achebe is one of Nigeria’s literary leading lights and has won not just continental but global acclaim. He is at the heart of Ghana’s High School literature with his early novel, ‘Things Fall Apart.’

My monthly reading for September 2018 caught me wanting to continue with an African streak dating to June when I started off with Sheikh Ishaak Ibrahim Nuamah’s ‘My Reflections On Life, Volume 1.’

Come July, I settled to read Taiye Selasi’s ‘Ghana Must Go,’ I failed to see that through and hopped on August successfully reading Joseph Out Larbi’s ‘Yarteley.’

Then came Achebe’s ‘No Longer At Ease,’ a pdf version that was shared on a purely reading whatsapp page I belonged to. It was to be the second Achebe novel that I was reading. Summary: thoroughly enjoyed.

I have summarised the novel in ten points of which I share here below. It was a page-turner – flipper in the case of someone who read it on my phone. Got me cracking up at points especially when pidgin was employed and also when the Ibo proverbs rolled out. 

1 – Corruption from page one

The first page and setting is of a court room where a young man is standing trial. Achebe drops hints of wits in the lawyer – judge interaction, then thereon he tells us the story of how the court case came to be – the court returns on the last page. Smart!

2 - Sense of community: Umuofia Progressive Union, UPU of Lagos

We are introduced to an African trait of a community pooling resources to raise the profile of their own for the collective interest. That is how the UPU sponsored main character Obi to study in Britain – rightly they take pride in him on return.

3 - Tradition vs. religion: The thorny subject of outcast, osu

When Obi returns from studies, he returns with a Nigerian he hoped to make his wife, Clara. There is a problem and she is the first to admit it, that she is an outcast. Obi won’t have any of it, his insistence on love over tradition woefully does him in. He fights UPU, confronts his catechist dad and beloved mum, fires a friend – loses Clara in the end.

4 - Contrast between two educational systems

So far back as 1960 as is the case today, Nigerians valued British education. Obi made the trip to Britain for university education, it was Umuofians best bet to have one of their own in the ranks of senior civil service, and that dream did come to pass.

5 - Links story with Things Fall Apart

Achebe effectively ties this novel to ‘Things Fall Apart,’ bringing in the story of Ikemefuna. Obi was grandson of Okonkwo, his warrior and illustrious grandad who killed a boy who was raised in his home – it affected Okonkwo and led his son Isaac (Obi’s dad) to Christianity.

6 - The importance of family

Society’s core unit, family, makes a strong case in the novel. Achebe positions the nuclear as a nucleus which Obi by his standing was bound to serve financially but also a unit that underlined Obi’s identity and convictions.

7 - Depicts typical African patriarchal society

Just as in Things Fall Apart, Achebe unashamedly writes of an African household and society run by the man. Obi’s mom shelved her traditional beliefs because his dad so insisted. Mom had her roles and respected daddy’s lead role.

8 - Language: Use of pidgin gives good blend

No Longer At Ease is written in conventional English for 90% plus but it is the pidgin (broken English) that gets one cracking when it pops up. ‘Dis kind well today sick tomorrow pass me.’ ‘Dey say dey don give am belle,’ nurses gossiping.

Lorry driver explains why all drivers cannot be insulted after a near accident: ‘No be all drivers de reckless. Dat one na foolish somebody. I give am signal make him no overtake but he just come fiam.’  

9 – Bigging up Lagos – the fast and furious city

So even though the story is of an Umuofian who went to Britain to study, it is staged more in Nigeria’s commercial city of Lagos. 1960s through to now, it remains the boiling pot of commercial activity. A place for the high and mighty, the ragged and wretched yet touted for its promise of prosperity.

10 - Summary of main character: Poor and proud Obiajulu Okonkwo

Obiajulu Okonkwo, born to catechist Isaac and Hannah was a bright young boy who showed academic prowess that saw him top provincial exams. He was a natural pick by UPU to study in Britain.

He returns and gets a job as a senior civil servant stationed in Lagos. He fights UPU over Clara, a fiancée – he engaged and impregnated. Obi’s finances cornered him after he made rush decisions to repay a UPU loan.

A strong proponent against corruption and patronage, he finds himself having to lower his guard to accept tips from people who sought his intervention in getting scholarships.

Then one day someone presents him with marked notes. Operatives show up at his residence and before Obi could say jack, the police had been summoned. He found himself in court.

‘Everybody wondered why. The learned judge, as we have seen, could not comprehend how an educated young man and so on and so forth. The British Council man, even the men of Umuofia, did not know. And we must presume in spite of his certitude, Mr Green did not know either,’ Achebe’s final words.

14 Muharram 1440 H = 24 September 2018