Chapter Summaries of No Longer At Ease

Chapter 1 Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease reveals its ending at the beginning: Obi Okonkwo is on trial for accepting a bribe. The trial is the talk of Lagos and the courtroom is crowded. Obi has maintained a demeanor of indifference throughout, but at the judge’s summation tears come to Obi’s eyes. The scene shifts to a British club, where Obi’s boss, Mr. Green, cites the case as proof of his conviction that ‘‘the African is corrupt through and through.’’ The Umuofia Progressive Union, an association of Ibo from Obi’s home village, meets to discuss Obi’s case. This group has raised funds to send select young men from Umuofia to study in England. Obi Okonkwo, a brilliant student, won the first scholarship, but disappointed his sponsors by studying English instead of law. The flash-forward ends, and the narrative backtracks to reveal how Obi’s disgrace came about, beginning with a prayer meeting and feast held at the Okonkwo family home before Obi’s departure for England. The guests sing, pray, and make speeches. The Reverend Samuel Ikedi thanks Obi’s father, Isaac Okonkwo, and urges Obi to take his studies seriously, deferring the pleasures of the flesh. Chapter 2 Obi gets his first brief view of the Nigerian capital of Lagos before flying to England. He stays with his childhood friend Joseph Okeke, but must walk around the neighborhood when Joseph brings a woman back to his apartment. The story then flashes forward several years, as Obi drives through the Lagos slums with his girlfriend, Clara, recalling his first impressions of the city. The couple’s mild quarrel reveals that their relationship is well established. Earlier that day, the pair had gone to lunch with Obi’s friend Christopher. The two men, who enjoy debating each other, engage in argument about bribery in the civil service. Obi espouses the view that bribery is routine to the older generation, but younger officials can afford to remain virtuous. Chapter 3 Obi and Clara’s relationship begins when they meet at a dance in London. Obi admires Clara’s beauty but is at a loss for words and steps on her toes on the dance floor. Eighteen months later, they happen to be returning to Nigeria on the same boat. Obi is invigorated by the sea in the morning and sits down to breakfast with the other passengers, avoiding Clara’s eyes. Later in the day the sea becomes choppy and Obi declines to eat his dinner. Clara, a nurse, comes to Obi’s cabin door with medicine for seasickness. Obi befriends a young Englishman, John Macmillan. In the evening, the boat anchors in the Madeiras and Obi disembarks with Macmillan and Clara. The three of them drink wine and return to the ship holding hands. When Macmillan goes to his cabin, Obi kisses Clara passionately and declares his love for her. Clara says she will hate herself in the morning, but returns his kiss. Chapter 4 On Obi’s arrival in Lagos, a young customs officer offers to reduce his duty payment in exchange for a bribe. Obi dismisses him coldly. The Umuofia Progressive Union (U.P.U.) holds a reception for Obi. The guest of honor shows up in his shirtsleeves, displeasing his hosts who expected him to dress formally. The union secretary introduces him with a rather pretentious address; Obi’s plainspoken speech fails to impress the crowd. Afterward, Obi and Joseph dine at the Palm Grove. The U.P.U. has paid for Obi to stay at a hotel, but Obi insists on staying at Joseph’s flat. A handsome young politician, Hon. Sam Okoli, enters the hotel lounge, and Obi spies Clara waiting outside in Okoli’s car. Chapter 5 At his job interview, Obi impresses the chairman of the Public Service Commission by discussing modern literature. When another man asks him directly whether his interest in the civil service relates to taking bribes, Obi’s response is heated. Obi sets out aboard one of the ubiquitous mammy-wagons—rickety pick-up trucks fitted out with brightly painted wooden roofs and benches that were West Africa’s principle means of public transportation—for the long journey to Umuofia. Police stop the wagon. One officer is about to take a bribe from the driver’s mate (someone who travels with the driver of a truck and helps them load and unload goods) when he sees Obi and stops. The other officer finds fault with the driver’s papers and ends up accepting an even larger bribe. The driver blames Obi for intervening and the other passengers mock the ‘‘too know’’ young man. After riding through the night, Obi stops at the market in Onitsha before a car takes him to Umuofia. The entire village has turned out to welcome him home. During the reception at the family compound, Isaac Okonkwo states that since his is a Christian house, no customary ceremony must be made over a kola nut. A quarrel ensues until an elder, Ogbuefi Odogwu, resolves matters by blessing the kola nut ‘‘in the name of Jesu Kristi.’’ Chapter 6 Obi notices that his mother and father are frail from insufficient food and advancing age. He lies in response to his father’s inquiry whether he had read his Bible while abroad. He recalls the loneliness of his strict Christian upbringing: he was never allowed to dine in his neighbors’ homes and never learned the folk stories his mother knew as a child. Obi lies awake calculating how much of his earnings he can afford to give his parents; he has already agreed to pay his younger brother’s school fees. He also wonders why Clara did not want him to tell his parents about their relationship. Chapter 7 At his new job, Obi takes an immediate dislike to his boss, Mr. Green. Once officially appointed, he buys a brand-new Morris Oxford car. He and Clara have drinks at the home of Hon. Sam Okoli, then go out to a celebratory dinner. Clara is upset and they do not touch their food. Clara cries and tells Obi she cannot marry him because she is an osu—a member of an untouchable caste. Obi recounts the story to Joseph, and insists that he will marry Clara despite her status. Joseph is aghast, but his reaction serves only to strengthen Obi’s conviction. The next day he buys Clara an expensive engagement ring and a Bible. Joseph reminds Obi of his special position amongst his people and warns him that his family will not consent to the marriage, but Obi remains confident that he can overcome his mother’s objections. Chapter 8 Joseph accompanies Obi to the meeting of the Umuofia Progressive Union. All are ecstatic when they arrive in Obi’s new pleasure car. Midway into the agenda, Obi rises to speak. He is obligated to repay the union the money it has loaned for his education, but he asks for a fourmonth delay before beginning his repayments. The group grants Obi’s request, yet the president warns him not to fall into bad ways, for he has heard that Obi is involved with ‘‘a girl of doubtful ancestry.’’ Obi becomes enraged, revokes his request, and storms out of the meeting. Chapter 9 Obi works as secretary to the Scholarship Board alongside an English secretary, Marie Tomlinson. Obi is wary of Miss Tomlinson at first, but warms toward her after she expresses genuine delight upon meeting Clara. An Ibo man named Mr. Mark visits Obi in his office. His sister has applied for a scholarship. It becomes clear that he seeks to offer a bribe. Obi sends him away; afterward, he feels victorious. Elsie Mark herself, an attractive girl of about eighteen, appears later at the door of Obi’s apartment, pleading for his help. While they are talking, Clara enters. Obi and Clara drive the girl back to town. After hearing the whole story, Clara says Obi was too hard on Mr. Mark, because offering money is not as bad as offering oneself. Chapter 10 Obi’s annual car insurance payment comes due, and this fact awakens him to the precarious nature of his finances. He obtains an overdraft from the bank and begins to economize in his apartment by removing extra lightbulbs and instructing his steward, Sebastian, to turn off the water heater and refrigerator. When Clara hears about the bank overdraft, she is angry that Obi didn’t think to tell her about his troubles. He says the troubles are not serious, but they part with the matter unresolved. Chapter 11 Obi and Marie discuss Mr. Green. Obi dislikes his boss, but inwardly admires his sense of duty. A small parcel arrives from Clara, containing an apologetic note and fifty pounds in cash. Obi wants her to take back the money, but does not want her to be hurt. Obi and Clara go out dancing with Christopher and his girlfriend, Bisi, until two o’clock in the morning. When Obi and Clara return to his car, they discover that the fifty pounds have been stolen from the glove compartment. Chapter 12 Obi receives a letter from his father, hoping he will visit soon to discuss an urgent matter. Obi suspects his parents have received word that Clara is an osu. Obi and Christopher drive to a convent to play tennis with two Irish women, teachers at a local convent school, newly arrived in Nigeria. The four have already gotten to know each other and played on two previous occasions, but this time the women say they cannot socialize with Obi and Christopher anymore because the head nun at the convent warned them not to go out with African men. While driving home, Obi brings up his visit from Elsie Mark, and he and Christopher discuss the incident. Once again Christopher takes a more easygoing stance than does Obi on the ethics of bribery. Chapter 13 Obi prepares to travel home on his local leave. The night before his departure, Clara, in tears, says they should break off their engagement, because she does not want to come between him and his family. Obi has decided to spend one week at home rather than two, so that he won’t run out of money. When he arrives home, he is eager to see his mother and aggrieved at how ill she looks. Chapter 14 On his first night home, Obi sits down to talk with his father. Hearing the name of Clara’s father, Isaac Okonkwo understands that she is osu and tells his son he cannot marry her. Osu is like leprosy, the elder Okonkwo says, and to marry one would shame his family for generations. Obi argues that they are Christians and that the ignorant superstitions of the past will soon disappear. His father is unmoved. The next day, his mother tells him of a bad dream she had, in which termites devoured the bed in which she slept. She connects the dream with the news of her son’s intention to marry an osu. If he insists on marrying her, she demands that he wait for her to die; if he does not, she tells him, she will kill herself. Obi is undone by her words and shuts himself in his room, spurning visitors and absenting himself from family prayers. His father speaks to him of his own past: how his own father had placed a curse on him after he ran away with missionaries in his youth. Because he suffered, he tells Obi, he understands Christianity more deeply than his son ever will. Chapter 15 Driving back to Lagos in a stupor, Obi avoids a head-on collision with a mammy-wagon by making a last-second swerve into a bush. He and the car survive with minimal damage; onlookers aver that he is extremely lucky. He tries to persuade Clara that all will work out in the end, but she returns her engagement ring. Clara hints, without admitting, that she is pregnant. Obi becomes alarmed. He asks Christopher if he knows a doctor. Obi and Clara visit two doctors; the first refuses to perform an abortion, but the second agrees to for a fee of thirty pounds in cash. Both doctors ask Obi why he doesn’t marry Clara. Chapter 16 Facing the need to find thirty pounds by the afternoon, Obi thinks of asking Hon. Sam Okoli. Obi brings Clara to the doctor. Alone in his car, Obi has a premonition of doom and is unable to drive away. When Clara and the doctor get into a car, Obi wants to jump out and stop them, but he does not. He drives after them but is unable to find them in the traffic of Lagos. That evening, the doctor tells him to return in the morning. The next morning, Obi pushes past the attendant to see the doctor, who tells him Clara is at a private hospital. A patient berates him for jumping ahead and accuses him of arrogance. No Longer at Ease Novels for Students, Volume 33 197 Novels for Students, Volume 33 – Finals/ 2/23/2010 12:13 Page 198 Chapter 17 Back at his job, Obi sees the administrator, Mr. Omo, about a salary advance. He has visited Clara at the hospital, but she turned away and refused to look at him. Vowing to return Clara’s fifty pounds, Obi decides to stop repaying his loan to the Umuofia Progressive Union. He writes a letter to Clara, asking her to give him one more chance. She returns the letter by messenger, unopened. Chapter 18 Clara leaves the hospital after five weeks and departs from Lagos without seeing Obi. A messenger brings Obi a telegram bearing news that his mother has died. His grief is deep, yet he decides not to travel to Umuofia for the funeral, but merely to send money. The Umuofia Progressive Union finds that Hannah Okonkwo’s funeral was cheaper than she deserved, and Obi is roundly criticized for skipping it. One man reminds the group that Obi’s father did the same when his father died. Nevertheless, a contingent of Obi’s kinsmen from Umuofia pay him a condolence call at his flat. All are embarrassed when one of them tells a story about a tortoise who seeks to avoid his mother’s funeral. Chapter 19 After a period of sadness and guilt, Obi comes to feel a strange sort of inner peace. His ideals and illusions have passed away, leaving his heart lighter. As scholarship season arrives, Obi accepts a bribe for the first time. More bribe money comes his way, allowing him to pay off his debts. When a young woman comes to see him seeking a scholarship, he accepts her advances. One day, after a man has left him twenty pounds, Obi feels he can no longer stand it. A moment later, he is caught and placed under arrest. Source Credits: Sara Constantakis, Novels for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context & Criticism on Commonly Studied Novels - Chinua Achebe, Volume 33, Gale-Cengage Learning, 2010

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