No Longer at Ease

No Longer at Ease Literary Elements

Genre

Novel

Setting and Context

Nigeria and England; early 1960s

Narrator and Point of View

3rd person, limited omniscient narrator

Tone and Mood

Tone: satirical and amused
Mood: cynical and critical

Protagonist and Antagonist

Obi Okonkwo (protagonist)

Major Conflict

Obi's decision whether or not to be bribed is the micro-conflict, whereas the ramifications of the colonization of Nigeria by the English, as evinced by the conduct of Obi, is the macro-conflict.

Climax

Obi's acceptance of the bribe, indicating his moral downfall.

Foreshadowing

All of the allusions to bribes throughout the text prefigure Obi's own downfall.

Understatement

n/a

Allusions

-Obi compares Clara to T.S. Eliot, the famous poet.
-Obi quotes Psalm 107:23 when he says "those that go down to the sea in ships" (27).
-Mr. Jones quotes Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" when he says "water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink" (31).
-Obi refers to Voltaire's Candide when he says "so much for the best of all possible worlds" (31).
-Obi calls reforming society an "Augean stable", referring to Hercules's laborious fifth task.
-Obi refers to St. George and the dragon.
-Obi identifies with Kurtz from Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Imagery

See Imagery section.

Paradox

n/a

Parallelism

n/a

Metonymy and Synecdoche

n/a

Personification

-Obi is seen as foolish, but the Union men are careful about him: "The fox must be cleared away first; after that the hen might be warned against wandering into the bush" (6). They are saying it is best to take care of the white man first -- personified as the fox -- and then go after the hens -Obi and his ilk.
-Obi says of the sea that its "face was contorted with anger" (28).

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