Previous
Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in No Longer at Ease, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Corruption
Western Influence and Alienation
Language, Literature, and Communication
Prejudice and Discrimination
Summary
Analysis
Just as Mr. Green reminded him months earlier, Obi’s annual £40 car-insurance bill is now due. Obi only has £13 in the bank, so he must take a short-term loan. He also tries to collect the 30 shillings he lent to a messenger in his office, but the man successfully dissuades him.
Obi’s failure to heed Mr. Green’s reminder to set aside money is understandable, given that this is the first time he has had money of his own and hasn’t been educated on budgeting. At the same time, Obi is dealing with lots of added responsibilities that Mr. Green may not have accounted for: Obi has to pay back the Union for his scholarship fees, for instance.
Themes
Obi grapples with his financial straits. He doesn’t think he’s been extravagant—were it not for the money he has had to send his parents, he would be alright. Yet he recognizes that his new elevated position in society depends on him maintaining his fancy car and other trappings, so he has no choice but to take on debt. More bills pile up, and he frantically tries to cut costs by removing half his apartment’s lightbulbs and instructing his cook to use half as much meat in his stew.
Obi’s mounting financial woes lead him to undertake absurd measures like removing half of his lightbulbs. His total lack of preparation for this scenario highlights the difficulty he faces, having been initiated into a world of money and prestige that’s almost entirely unfamiliar to him, and yet also having more financial obligations than he is equipped to handle.
Themes
Literary Devices
Clara returns home and soon presses Obi to reveal why he’s distraught. She’s offended that he tried to conceal their financial situation from her, and they part on bad terms. When Obi returns home later that night, he takes down A. E. Housman’s collected poems and finds a poem called “Nigeria” that he had written in the manner of Housman and stuck in the volume. Obi then reads his favorite poem, Housman’s “Easter Hymn.”
Obi’s poem from his college days is the first and only sign of his active participation in his field of study, adapting Housman’s English poetic style to address his home country. It seems, however, that he has not kept up this poetry-writing habit.
Themes
Literary Devices
