The Fragmented Self: Mapping the Socio-Political Crises of Transitional Igbo Identity in No Longer at Ease and a Man of the People

Abstract

This study provides a critical assessment of Chinua Achebe’s post-colonial narratives, No Longer at Ease (1960) and A Man of the People (1966), exploring them as literary critiques of post-independence African identity and institutional deterioration. Moving away from the historical settings of his earlier works, Achebe centers these narratives within transitional urban landscapes where modern Western socio-political systems clash directly with indigenous Igbo values. This paper examines the psychological and cultural fragmentation of the modern elite class, using Obi Okonkwo and Chief Nanga to trace the evolution of social identity from defensive preservation to profound moral and political alienation.
Applying post-colonial hybridity frameworks and Fanon’s theories of national consciousness, this investigation details the systemic collapse of indigenous ethical accountability when subjected to bureaucratic capitalism and populist demagoguery. The study demonstrates how Achebe maps the systematic breakdown of traditional check-and-balance systems, such as the Umuofia Progressive Union, when confronted by urban individualism and institutionalized bribery. Ultimately, the paper highlights Achebe's narrative style—specifically his use of satirical prose and linguistic code-switching—as a deliberate decolonial strategy that exposes the ideological shortcomings of the post-colonial state, framing the modern identity crisis not as an isolated personal failing but as a structural failure of colonial modernity.