Interrogating Lewd Communication in Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

Abstract

The general consensus since the era of Plato is the acceptance of literature as a moral tool. Until the advent of literary theory in the twentieth century, this acceptance has shaped poetry, as literature was originally called. The focus of this study is that African literature should be inseparable from moral criticism through appropriate communication. The later emergence of the propounders of literary works solely in the context of entertainment and art for art’s sake countered the essence of literature in view of morality. This study aligns with the school of thought which emphasises the moral roles literature plays in society. It interrogates lack of moral restraints of contemporary African fictional studies through an insightful critique of Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow. The interrogation of the selected text revealed that Adichie does not apply caution in her portrayal of sex scenes. She rather makes it pornographic, thus corrupting the young. Adichie’s narratives also fail to balance the Aristotelian principle of crime and punishment. While Adichie might be radically feministic in challenging the posturing of women as weaker sex, and her establishment of the vulnerability of men to sex, the study submits that it is contradictory to the fundamental African values as championed by Achebe, Ngugi and those who share their literary philosophy.