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Chapter 5
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
Obi’s homecoming is dampened by his mother’s ill health. His father is in feeble condition as well. Isaac is disappointed, as he can tell that Obi has not been keeping up his religious devotion during his time away. Privately, Obi no longer believes in the Christian God.
Just as Isaac’s Christianity was a Western import in the era of his youth, Obi’s atheism reflects his own time in England and academia in the post-WWII period.
Themes
Literary Devices
Obi recalls the harsh demands that Isaac’s Christianity made of Obi, his sisters, and his mother when Obi was growing up. The family’s adherence to stringent Christian practices isolated the children from community life. The folk tales that were ubiquitous in the village were banned in Obi’s house, and when Obi was called on to present one in front of the class, he knew none and was mocked ruthlessly for it. His mother then secretly taught him some folk tales while Isaac was away, and Obi returned to school and redeemed himself with a tale of a leopardess preying on lambs. Obi considers that his mother would have preferred to regale her children with folk tales rather than Bible readings, but she dutifully submitted to Isaac’s demands and raised them according to his strictures.
Obi’s recollections here shed light on the alienation he feels. As it turns out, his feeling of isolation from his surroundings has its origins in Obi’s childhood, when Isaac’s strict religious regimen set him apart from the vital oral traditions and community practices of his village. The emphasis on reading in his household, however, helps to explain his later success in his university studies abroad.
Themes
As Obi lies down to sleep, he worries about his enfeebled parents’ subsistence on a meager pension. He resolves to send them part of each of his paychecks once he is employed. As a storm gathers, Obi wishes Clara were with him, and then he worries again over why she didn’t want him to tell his parents about their relationship. He then recalls an incident earlier that day, in which he gently mocked his mother’s superstitious beliefs. Heavy rain begins to fall on the roof as he drifts off to sleep.
Amid the cheer and excitement of Obi’s return home and his budding romance with Clara, Obi finds himself nevertheless weighed down with various concerns. His attendance to these concerns shows his sensitivity and moral integrity.
Themes
