No Longer at Ease’ – a reflection

By Matthew Woolford

This was a gem of a book! When I purchased it, I could not have predicted the powerful and explanatory effect it was going to have on my own understanding about life.

Things Fall Apart may have reshaped my thinking on community; Arrow of God may have reshaped my thinking on individuality; but it was this final saga in Chinua Achebe’s African trilogy that best helped me to see how both complexities, may in fact, be distant sides of the same coin.

On group dynamics

In No Longer at Ease, Achebe wrote, “Their complaint was that they were not given any of the two dozen bottles of beer which had been bought… The President called the young men ‘ungrateful ingrates whose stock-in-trade was character assassination.’ One of the young people suggested that it was immoral to use public funds to buy beer for one’s private thirst.”

I loved the novel’s exploration of the struggle between the young and the old. No one generation, alone, I believe, should control the reins of the community. Power should be shared, not necessarily equally, but appropriately, and decisions taken on behalf of the community should be opened to challenge. This is illumined by Achebe’s reflection on the fallibility of the old, not just the young, through this novel’s connection with Things Fall Apart:

“I was no more than a boy when I left my father’s house and went with the missionaries. He placed a curse on me. When a man curses his own child, it is a terrible thing… Obi knew the sad story of Ikemefuna… Obi’s grandfather loved the boy. But when the moment came it was his matchet that cut him down. Even in those days some elders said it was a great wrong that a man should raise his hands against a child that called him father.”

On relationships

In No Longer at Ease, Achebe wrote, “His father…was not really a man of action but of thought… When faced with a problem under normal circumstances, he was apt to weigh it and measure it and look it up and down, postponing action. He relied heavily on his wife at such moments. He always said in jest that it all started on their wedding day. And he would tell how she had cut the cake first.”

I loved the novel’s celebration of both male and female strength. No one individual, alone, I believe, should control the reins of marriage or the family. Responsibility should be shared, not necessarily equally, but appropriately. A man or a woman should not only be expected to shine in his or her societally imposed role.

One obstacle to this ideal, mentioned by Achebe, was the financial burdens created by the modern economy and their social ramifications: “That was what the world had come to. Children left their old parents at home and scattered in all directions in search of money. It was hard on an old woman with eight children. It was like having a river and yet washing one’s hands with spittle.”

On integral living

In No Longer at Ease, Achebe wrote, “Obi had long come to admit to himself that, no matter how much he disliked Mr Green, he nevertheless had some admirable qualities. Take for instance, his devotion to duty.”

I loved the novel’s examination of the positive role foreign influences could play in our holistic development. Personal biases do not make us unique, but our ability to incorporate winning habits into practical living, does contribute to sustainable growth, no matter where they originate.

‘The Tree of Life’

One of the best visual representations of paradise reclaimed that I have ever come across, was the Tree of Life, displayed at the Sainsbury African Galleries at the British Museum, Great Russell Square, London.

According to the British Museum, “After the armed struggle for independence from colonial rule ended, Mozambique experienced a civil war from 1976 to 1992… Millions of guns were poured into the country during the war, most of which remain hidden or buried in the bush…The artwork is made from weapons collected by the Transforming Art Into Tools project (established by Anglican Bishop Sengulane), which employed former child soldiers in Mozambique to dismantle guns. The weapons were swapped locally for farming tools, sewing machines bicycles, and building materials.”

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr Stephen R Covey recommended that we should ‘seek first to understand, then to be understood’. This may help alleviate suspicion and sometimes resultant inclination towards violence. Achebe, through his many writings, has communicated how violence in thought and action is passed down from one generation to the next through behaviour, lies and the ‘games people play’.

After all, an apple does not fall far from the tree that bears it.