Under the postcolonial sign: character figuration in Chinua Achebe’s No longer at ease

Abstract

Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe`s novel No longer at ease sharply focuses questions related to post-coloniality, which operate, in the novel, as a marked element in character constitution. Character figuration is, as defined by Reis (2018), the rhetorical, fictional and acting devices which outline the fictional figure; in  No longer at ease these devices deal with the post-colonial element through  cultural dissents between the old metropolis, England, and the former colony, Niger, and through tensions between tradition and modernity as well. Therefore, we propose an analysis of character constitution through the optics of  post-colonial studies, considering cultural differences,  colonialist heritage and character figuration. Theoretical foundation for the implications of post-coloniality in the novel are sought in Bonnici (2012); reference on character construction is based on Forster (1962), Bordini (2006), Brait (2017), and Reis (2018). The analysis developed in articulation with this theoretical framework allows for the conclusion that the novel central character is constituted by the duality triggered by his existential conflicts, and, very especially, the contrast between who he is and who he intended to be in the post-colonial context.