TRAUMA: MEMORY AND VIOLENCE IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL

APART AND PHANUEL EGEJURU’S THE SEED YAMS HAVE BEEN EATEN.

BY

ENYIDA, DAVID.

OCTOBER 15TH 2018.

Abstract.

This paper studies Trauma: Memory and Violence in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and
Phanuel Egejuru’s The Seed Yams Have Been Eaten (1993). The paper aims at investigating trauma
induced actions in the novels. It pursues the thesis that memories of psychic trauma produce pains and
the pains in turn produce all kinds of fear-patterned aggressive behaviours. It employs qualitative
textual analysis, interpretation and evaluation methodology. It adopts Trauma Studies and Literature as
its theoretical framework in interrogating and understanding the salient behavioural patterns of psychic
trauma in the chosen novels. The study shows that Okonkwo’s valour stems from his fear of failure.
He values the acceptance and praise of his clansman above all forms of spiritual and cultural
obligations. His fear is the psychic trauma he suffers due to his father’s lack-lustre lifestyle. These
contribute immensely to his quest to rise and tower above all, as a fearless warrior, and also to attain
the highest pinnacle of success in the Igbo cultural standard. Okonkwo’s fears lie deep within himself
and so he becomes a victim of his fearfulness. The study further shows that war is an agent of social
and cultural destabilization as it do not only stifle hope and aspirations, but also defaces and obliterates
cultural identity as well as individual industry and personal achievements. The characters in the
selected novels are traumatized psychologically and their actions are quests for healing of their pains,
which their memories conjure. The paper further reveals that the violent actions exhibited are the
products of the pulsating pains in the consciousness of the characters. It equally believes that war
victims are not only those that engage in actual war actions alone, but also those that are far away as
well as the cultures whose unique identities are obliterated. Finally, the paper advises that phobia and
inordinate ambitions to please the society always end up in self-defeat. It hereby cautions against war
as it is an evil wind that blows disaster to all and sundry. It agrees with the axiom that most awkward
peace is better than the most just war. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Phanuel
Egejuru’s The Seed Yams Have Been Eaten (1993) are indeed wide-open-doors through which the
world of psychic trauma, memory, pains, violence and their aftermaths can be observed without
inhibitions.
Introduction:
Trauma is an ever-abiding presence in the immediate horizon of humanity. There can hardly be found
an adult who has not experienced one traumatic pain or the other in his life. The traumatic occurrences
trigger up stress conditions in the consciousness of the victims. The victim’s responses to the stressed
condition in their hearts always produce some behavioural patterns that are obnoxious. Most times,
their frustrations and inordinate ambitions to succeed; and to re-enact the fond memories of the past
lead them ultimately to tragedy of monumental proportions. And the aftermath of such situation could
manifest in acute depression, anxiety, addiction as well as suicidal tendencies.
People respond to violence and pain in different ways. Some simply recoil into themselves
while wallowing in their pains and become social recluse. The members of this group are fearful,
indifferent and docile enough not to take any kind of action, other than to immerse themselves into
their suffering. Another group of trauma victims is vocal, assertive, aggressive, and disdain of their
society. They see everyone around them as the cause of the suffering they are wallowing in. Theirs is
a case of us, against them. Animosity and open rebellion to any kind of constituted authority are some
of their trade marks. All these character traits sometimes are triggered by the stress of their past
traumatic experiences. These are cries for healing of their traumatic wounds. In this class are the ex-
servicemen, pensioners, retirees, lower cadre war veterans. They always feel cheated. One can easily
locate this character type in Abdulla in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood.
The third class is also assertive and seeks vengeance to atone for the ills done to them in the
past. They believe that if their pains are avenged, their suffering would be soothed and then healed. All
these classes can be seen in the society we live in today. Two examples in African novel in this class
of restive trauma victims is Jacinta and Wanja in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross and Petals
of Blood respectively.
Trauma also manifests at national, corporate, ethno-communal as well as individual levels. As
it is with the individuals, so it is with the national, communal and corporate levels. While some nations
or communities cower in fear and wallow in shame and docility, others are assertive and vengeful with
a view to rectifying the pains inflicted on them by others. All these are attempts at opening up their
wounds to public scrutiny with the hope of engendering lasting healing. Also, in some cases, it is a
crying for reparations and a seeking for justice.
Trauma does not always manifest at the realm of noisome occurrences in the past alone. That
is, it is not about the memories of pain and evil alone. Sometimes it is about fond memories of the
pre-trauma period. The trauma patient recalls and endeavours to reconstruct and re-enact the fond
memories of the pristine past. He goes against all odds in his efforts to resuscitate the past in the
present. This action sometimes creates more anxious and psycho-traumatic moments. A clear example
in this regard is the Fitzgerald Scott’s The Great Gatsby
This paper seeks to analyze Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Phanuel Egejuru’s
The Seed Yams Have Been Eaten (1993), to see how the authors grapple with and portray the issues of
fear of failure; communal as well as individual pains occasioned by the painful experiences the
characters concerned endure during the Nigerian civil war, and how these characters react to the issues
of trauma and memory as well as respond to the attendant pains in their lives.

Statement of the Problem:

It is widely perceived that memory influences violent actions and inactions, and that the individuals
possess differing capacity to cope with trauma incidents. This paper seeks to understand trauma
narratives and the extent to which it induces violence in the individuals as well as how it affects the
community collectively. This analysis will focus on the narratives of Chinua Achebe in the Things
Fall Apart (1958) and Phanuel Egejuru in The Seed Yams Have been Eaten (1993). By this analysis, it
is hoped that the perceived gap in the study of the novels would be bridged.

Aim and Objectives:

The paper aims at studying the issues of trauma, memory, pain and violence induced actions and
inactions in the selected novels. The objectives of the study are:
1. To represent the patterns of psychic trauma in the chosen works.
2. To demonstrate that memory is a potent stressor of violence
3. To demonstrate the far-reaching consequences of war on a people.
4. To underscore the motivational effects of phobic memory in shaping the character of an
individual.
5. To show that reparation is vital in healing the wounds orchestrated by trauma.

Research Methodology:
The study employs the qualitative research method. This entails analysis, interpretations and
evaluations of the selected texts: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Phanuel Egejuru’s The
Seed Yams Have Been Eaten.
Literature Review:

Theoretical Framework-Trauma Theory:

Psychological Criticism had been the popular theoretical approach whenever literary analysts dealt
with the state of mind of an author in relationship to the work of art. It is believed that the author’s
state of mind affects his work or such author’s state of mind can be seen reflected in the work he
creates. M.H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham had explained that:
Psychological criticism deals with a work of literature primarily as an expression, in an
indirect and fictional form, of the state of mind and the structure of the personality of the
individual author (2009: 289).
The primary focus of psychological critical approach to literary study is on the state of mind and the
structure of the personality of the author. This is a way of arguing that if the author is in a happy or
joyfully mood; it would be seen in the work. From such state of mind overflows the behaviour and
mood of the characters in the work. Such character develops from within and flows outwardly to
shape the character in the work of art.
But Trauma Studies on the hand marks a slight departure from the psychological criticism. In
the 1990s the emphasis gradually shifts from the state of mind of the author to the character and the
issues and elements that form the main motivations for the character’s actions. Another important
factor is that the character experiences recurring memory, remembering of previous pains, hence the
bitterness and obsession to heal the painfully wound. The attendant violent or aggressive actions the
character exhibits are the result of the recurring painful memory.
Frantz Fanon can be adjudged as one of the early precursors or strongest voices on the
collective experiences of memory and agitation for communal reparations in trauma study. Fanon in
his book Black Skin, White Mask (1967) marks a departure from the westernized individualistic notion
or concept of trauma. Fanon in his book mentioned above emphasizes that the concept of trauma is
rooted in the collective experiences of a people such as in colonization, slavery, war, natural disaster,
terrorism, internal displacement and others, in this sense, Fanon is regarded to have been the earliest
vocal voice in this aspect trauma studies.
Fanon’s preoccupation is on material recovery and reparation as requisites to healing the
traumatic injuries. In the book stated above, Fanon has contended that:
the Blackman’s chronically neurotic state of mind cannot be alleviated as long as the
socio-economic structure that brought the condition on him remains unchanged; there will
be an authentic disallienation only to the degree to which things in the world would be
restored to their proper places (169).
The main issue of the above text hangs on collective (communal or national) healing of the pains of
the past. To bring about healing here requires robust reparations or restitutions.
 Trauma theory is not peculiar to literary scholarship alone as Hartman (1995) explains, but
denotes a vibrant, interdisciplinary area of western scholarship developed since the 1980s through
cross-fertilization between psychology and the humanities. The incorporation of trauma theory into
film and media studies, realized in relation to the field shaping influence of psychoanalytically
informed film theory, has enabled a fuller explication of the power and complexity of the relationships
among calamitous historical events, media objects and networks spectators positioning, and mental
processes in designing (540).
The foundation for trauma theory has been firmly established, according to Michael Balaev
(2008) across multiple disciplines and fields ranging from history, and psychoanalysis to cultural
studies, sociology, and anthropology among others with a particular upsurge in scholarship during the
1990s (150), that its underpinning is reflected.
Perhaps the early precursor to the individualistic westernized trauma studies can be attributed
to Cathy Caruth in her work Unclaimed Experiences. Trauma And The Possibility of History (1991)
and Trauma: Exploration In Memory (1995). Webster’s New Explorer Encylopedic Dictionary defines
trauma as an injury (as a wound) to living tissue caused by an extrinsic agent. It is also a disordered
psychic or behavioural state of mind resulting from mental or emotional stress or physical injury.
Trauma is the result of an injury which occurred physically or emotionally like what Katia Reinert
(2018) terms “words that wound”. This is arguing that words also possess the power of injury and
generate emotional pains which can create traumatic experience. And so after the physical pains, there
follows psychic reflection of the emotional pains through memory, flashback and nightmares. These
recollections always trigger up irrational and violent behavioural patterns, stress conditions, anxiety
and anger. These demonstrations are cries to redeem the past. They are desires to re-enact the past so
that the traumatic situation could be rectified. The victim of trauma carries double burden. The first, if
it is physical pain will later metamorphose into psychological or emotional hurts what Caruth terms
“double wounding”; and Laura S. Brown calls “walking wounded” (105). If it is an emotional hurt,
most times, the victim suffers structural pains; pains which are less discernible to the casual on-gazer.
The outsiders feel that all is well with the victim. But inwardly, the victim is suffering beyond
measure. The pain can only be fully understood when the victim acts in an irrational manner.
Most often, trauma is caused by external aggressor that is outside the will of the entity or
victim (the aggressed). Whenever the victim sees or senses those conditions (stressors) that brought
about the original traumatic conditions, the victim cringes, transfixes into immobility as if in shock,
and as if the scenario would play out all over again, and he makes the move to avert a reoccurrence of
the event. Sometimes the move is a cry for help even in an irrationally aggressive manner. These are
basically the westernized perception of trauma. The concept of trauma as perceived in the western
scholarship most often tilts towards individual experiences, but less emphasis on the collective at
communal realms. But in the practical sense of the concept, it affects individuals as well as nation,
race or communities of people or corporate entities.
To these ends, wherever and whenever systemic acts of violence occur with systemic candour,
it is likely as a result of psycho-traumatic memory: pains from emotional wounds that are pestering
and have refused to heal; wounds that are improperly treated and crying out for healing. Most often, it
means that the wounds are not properly healed but crying out for recognition, reparation, and for
justice to be done. As soon as justice is done, then proper healing process sets in. This could be the
case for Okonkwo as a character in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Jiwudu Osuiji and Araugo
people in Phanuel Egejuru’s The Seed Yams Have Been Eaten (1993).

Trauma Studies and Literature.

The main concern of literature in trauma studies is to understand how the link between critical method
and its techniques can open up knowledge about how individual and collective painful memories can
be constituted into the works of literature and other forms of artistic expressions and productions.
Perhaps the guiding principle in Trauma studies can be captured in Cathy Caruth’s (1995) advice in
the “Preface” as the duty of literature:
is to ask how we can listen to trauma beyond its pathology for the truth that it tells us,
and how we might perhaps find a way of learning to express this truth beyond the painful
repetitions of traumatic sufferings (vii).
Many victims are in dire need to voice out their pains but are hard put to find gentle and ready
shoulders to lean on and ears willing enough to listen to their pains. Thus literature provides that
important platform. Thus, literary scholars in attempting to analyze a text from the perspective of
trauma critical method, seek to probe whether the author represents the following salient aspects
in the text:
 Did the victim/character suffer injuries in the past?
 Was the wound he suffered caused by an external aggressor?
 Is the psychological wound falls outside normal range of human experience?
 Does the Victim/character suffer re-experiencing of the scenario in the form of
flashback?
  Does the pain keep on resurfacing in the form of memory even against the will of the
character?
 Does the character experience numbness and fear as a result of the memory of the
previous act of violence he had suffered?
 Does the character experience a disordered sleep/sleeplessness as a result of the past
wounds?
 Does the character act in violent or irrational manners as a result of the memories of pain
of the past experiences?
These are some of the fundamental questions, literature aims at unraveling in order to open up
the traumatic wounds for the public scrutiny with a view to engender healing.
In other words, the society desires to know how the text such as Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
(1958) and Egejuru’s The Seed Yams Have Been Eaten (1993) though crafted in the present as
representing past experiences can be said to be speaking about the need for healing in the present.
Literature, through its pedagogical, informative, entertaining and communicating qualities has the
innate potentials to dig up issues that lie deep down in the recesses of the society and opens them up to
public assessment with a view to proffering solution that could lead to healing. What Literature offers
in the ongoing world of trauma research, is that there is no single approach to listening to the many
different traumatic experiences and histories we encounter, and the stories require in its turn the varied
responses - responses of knowing and of acting. It is possible that through the literary media that we
can learn, in effect, not only to ease suffering but to open, in the individual and the community, new
realities to which traumatic experience bears witness (Caruth 1995: ix).
The earlier the pestering social wounds are opened up, the easier, quicker and better it is for
the perceived societal malaise to heal. When these stories are understood, it creates a kind of
consciousness in the reader. Such experience brings about the state of catharsis in the reader. By this,
there is every likelihood that the reader would avoid such pitfalls in real life situations.

Literature Review
African literary scholarship is awash with critical analyses on Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
(1958). One might be tempted to believe that everything has been discussed on this trail-blazing
literary masterpiece. It is therefore the aim of this paper to make a brief review of the available critical
works at the researcher’s disposals to see whether all aspects of the novel have been studied.
 Charles Nnolim, in his book Approaches to the African Novel: Essays in Analysis (1992) sees
Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) as “an embodiment of traditional narratives”. He argued that
Achebe does not aggressively include the African folkways into his works but rather subtly and
cunningly works them into his narratives (16). He also explains that what folk lore entails, to which
Things Fall Apart is inclusive is defined, are:
the unrecorded traditions of a people as they appear in their popular fiction, custom,
belief, magic, ritual, superstition and proverbial sayings. Folklore also includes myths,
legends, stories, omens, charms, spells found among a homogeneous group of people; it
is a major component in the total folk culture of such a homogeneous group of people
(16).
All these attributes are found in the Things Fall Apart. According to Nnolim, the totality of these
cultural elements is what makes Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart a traditional narrative.
Nnolim also argues that Achebe’s narrative under review is an Igbo National Epic as he explains:
If we are still in agreement that the narratives of the epic is a complex synthesis of
the cultural, religious, and national experiences of a particular nation or civilization,
and that in the national character which emerges from an epic theme must be
something of estimable fundamental human value behind it all-perhaps heroism,
perhaps nobility, perhaps fidelity to a cause worth pursuing, worth struggling for,
and worth suffering defeat for-then Things Fall Apart could be read as an Igbo Epic,
and Okonkwo, the Igbo epic hero. (189).
Nnolim’s submission in the two essays cited above is that Achebe’s novel under review is an Igbo
national epic which incorporates folklores as its fundamental ingredients. To this end, he summarizes
the novel as “a folk epic with the sense of the ‘tragic-epic’ about it, which it shares in common with
other folk epics” (189).
Helen Chukwema, in the introduction to her book Accents in the African Novel (2003) believes
that Things Fall Apart portrays the theme of cultural nationalism (vii). She particularly hypes on the
tightly-knitted African social cultural bonding, which she believes the novel embodies. This goes to
suggest that Chukwuma places Things Fall Apart on the pedestal of Anti-colonial narrative.
Some scholars perceive Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) as a narrative that thrives on the
struggle between patriarchal and feminine interests; vis a vis supremacy and domination by the male
and the efforts of the females to keep their subdued heads afloat in the Igbo society. These beliefs and
philosophies in the Igbo society are enunciated and depicted by the crops which the Igbos plant in their
farms. Important to note that the author carefully and cunningly juxtaposes the planting of yams with
the planting of maize, onions and beans between the yam mounds by women while the lesser crops
typifies feminism as substandard element, the yam is revered, elevated and crowned as the king of
corps typifying masculinity; a sign of superiority. Thus the Things Fall Apart is believed to be a
narrative that thrives on otherness, thingificaton, objectification of women in the Igbo society.
To Theodora Akachi Ezeigbo, “Achebe’s philosophy of history in his first two novels is
influenced by Igbo traditional thought and to some extent by the Yeatsian idea of the growth and fall
of civilization through external stimuli” (14), thus Okonkwo’s struggle is perceived as pushing against
the flooding external current. His struggle for survival is typified as the struggle for the survival of
African culture and civilization against the odds of marauding external aggressions and change.
Some also see the Achebe’s narrative as a novel that foregrounds African civilization and
culture. This school of thought believes that the author uses the novel to demonstrate that Africans
were civilized by all standards before the advent of the white man.
Chukwuma further, sees the novel as a narrative that highlights the futility and arrogance of
man’s quest by “pitching himself against society and each time he is made to accept defeat and bow to
the supremacy of tradition” (127). Thus she believes that the narrative dramatizes the essence and
supremacy of tradition and society over the individuality.
Onyemaechi Udumukwu (2003) perceives the novel as an anti-colonial narrative. He argues
that “the anti-colonial novel constitutes an idiolect. Accordingly, a traditional, pristine way of life in
the pre-colonial and early colonial period is trenchantly verbalized.” (158). This is arguing that anti-
colonial novels are the attempts by African writers to “rehabilitate” (15) and rehumanize the battered
image of the colonized people.
So far, there is no indication or attempt at analyzing the novel in the light of trauma, memory
of painand violence as the fundamental motivations that drive the plot of the narratives. It is this gap
that this paper seeks to bridge. However, this does not in any way suggest that such study had never
been carried out on this perspective in the past. It is possible that such study might have been done in
the past but then, its absence suggests that such study is minimal, and this paper aims at contributing to
filling up this identified academic lacuna.
Phanuel Egejuru, the author of this novel, while appraising her novel, comments on the back
cover of the novel that The Seed Yams Have Been Eaten (1993) is an intimate rendition of Igbo life
and culture. And that it explores the hidden consequences of the Nigerian civil war on the people of
Ara clan.
Chukwuma believes Egejuru’s story is a novel that dramatizes the role reversal between men
and women as symbolized by “yam and cassava” as she says, “simply put, Egejuru, using the leisurely
novelistic medium, has dethroned yam to complete nihility and cassava reigned in its place” (144).
The Nigerian Civil War ushered in a realignment of the gender ascendancy, as she further argues that
the cultural subversion was complete: yam was not only demasculinized but obliterated. Cassava
gained ascendancy and with it the women folk. Jiwudu, agricultural graduate with his life ambition to
massively engage in yam farming for his people, broke and fled into insanity (140). To Jiwudu, the
protagonist of the novel, it is a failed ambition that only typifies complete annihilation of masculinity.
This exposes the evilness of war.
Ben Davidson subscribes to the perspective that Egejuru’s novel is a comparative analysis of
culture: African culture and western culture (10). He believes the author juxtaposes the higher culture
and lower culture into glaring scrutiny of the reading public. Even though this assumption and view is
largely contentious, it should be bypassed for now.
Damian Rutledge in his work “The Effects of War in Nigerian Civil War Literature” (2000)
sees the novel as the devastating effects of war on the individuals and communities. On the other hand,
Marian Pompey in his essay “Nigerian War Literature by Women from Civil War to Gender Idea”
argues that the enduring “wartime picture of ‘man does, woman is’ has depended on the invisibility of
women’s participation’ in the war efforts, the unacknowledged, behind-the-lines contributions to the
prosecution of war, and “their hidden complicity in the construction of fighting forces and Egejuru’s
The Seed Yams Have Been Eaten is just one of those narratives” (pg1). The fundamental issues
inherent in the novel go beyond women participation in the wars especially in this civil war story.
Luke Amadi and James E. Agena in their work “Globalization, Culture Mutation and New
Identity: Implications for the Igbo Cultural Heritage” argue that the consequences of war has the
capacities of snowballing and spilling over into conflagration beyond the immediate theatre of such
war. They also argue that war has the ability of defacing man’s identity as man quests for survival in
the face of the onslaught of insecurity. They further argue that Igbo culture at that time reappears in
the globalization discourse. This reappearance underscores the disappearance of national boundaries
and an integration of the world into a global village. In this dynamic, culture clash is inevitable as the
dominant culture strives to dislodge the recessive culture. This scenario plays out in Egejuru’s story
(Pg 2), and while it could be admitted that the position of the duo here, in relation to the story as a
novel of globalization, and war has the potentials of achieving that; Egejuru’s narrative actually
dismantles cultural boundaries and fuse into a new emerging global culture of understanding. War
always produces psychologically aggressive effects on the victims, even though the global world
offers assistance; it is difficult for the victims to overcome their trauma easily on their own.
 A glance at the texts above, though not exhaustive, leaves a gap such as trauma, pain and the
resultant behavioural patterns of the victim, on which the novel thrives well. Once again, this review is
not exhaustive. It does not in any way suggest that no critical analysis has been done on psychological
texture of the characters (victims) of the war in this work. It is possible that such analysis might have
been carried out at various times in the past, but this researcher is yet to see one within his reach. This
is why the researcher deems the study a worthwhile academic venture aimed at bridging this perceived
gap.

Thesis Statements:
This paper will pursue the thesis that Trauma aspects in the two selected novels have not been fully
investigated and that this paper will seek to fill-up the perceived lacuna.

Artistic Representations of Atychiphobia as Trauma in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Francis X. Hezel (2005) has argued that when the fear of failure takes on an extreme form, then
it is termed atychiphobia. This also covers the fear of rejection. Individuals coping with atychiphobia
mainly fear failure because they lack confidence in their abilities (1). Some experience extreme fear of
failure because of the ridicule one might face owing to failure. Likewise, some suffer from
atychiphobia due to the fear of risk-taking. Individuals struggling with this malaise often have
unrealistic expectations and excessive standards of behaviour. Social anxiety disorder is a persistent
fear of one or situations in which the person is exposed to possible scrutiny by others and fears that he
or she may do something or act in a way that will be humiliating or embarrassing. Such can be
gainfully argued to be the case for Okonkwo in Achebe’s work.
Okonkwo, the protagonist of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a strong weakling. Fear is the main
motivator of his actions. He is in constant fear of failure; afraid that his clansman would think him a
coward. He is afraid of being thought a fearful and worthless man like his father, Unoka. He becomes
hyper-vigilant and sensitive to anything that would make people equate him with his father’s life of
ignominy. Okonkwo is in dire need for acceptance as a brave man, a strongman, a man of valour. The
truth is that he is sorely wounded by his father’s failings, as the author represents here:
Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest,
lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in
his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear
of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and
capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature,
 malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not
external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to
resemble his father. Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness,
and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that
his father was agbala. (11)
Okonkwo lives in constant remembrance of his father’s ignominious life. His father, Unoka’s failure
looms larger than life before him. The memory of that lack-lustrious life is an ever abiding presence.
Okonkwo dreams of his father’s failure. Okonkwo thinks of that failure. Okonkwo lives in constant
shadow of that life of failure. It dogs his every step and so shapes his every action. The attendant and
the resultant action is Okonkwo’s clear call to his clansmen for whole-hearted acceptance that would
bring about his psychological healing. His, is a cry for help, a cry to heal his emotional wounds.
Okonkwo as a character is what Laura S. Brown calls “walking wounded” (105) personae.
Cathy Caruth in the preface to the book Trauma: Explorations in memory (1995) explains that
psychic trauma involves intense “personal suffering, but it also involves the recognition of realities
that most of us have not begun to face” (vii). Okonkwo as a character experiences intense
psychological pains. The intense pain is personal and can hardly be understood by an outsider. This
holds true to a large extent due to the demands of the Igbo social requirements. A man who calls
himself a man should not, and must not be an “agbala” an “efulefu” (a worthless fellow)! Human
societies world over set classifications and standards for every male to attain. And a real Igbo man for
example, must compete with his fellows to achieve such set high standard.
In Okonkwo’s pursuit of eradicating all resemblances of cowardice in his immediate vicinity,
he also worries about Nwoye, his first son.
Nwoye, was twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his
incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct
him by constant nagging and beating. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad faced
youth (11).
In creating a clear perspective to understanding and recognizing trauma patient or victim, Laura
Brown in her essay “Not Outside the Range: One Feminist Perspective on Psychic Trauma” defines
trauma as:
The person has experienced categories of symptoms as follows: re-experiencing symptoms,
nightmares, and flashbacks; avoidance symptoms, the marks of psychic numbing; and the
symptoms of heightened physiological arousal; hyper vigilance, disturbed sleep, a
distracted mind… (100)
Okonkwo is hyper-vigilant and very watchful. He does not wish to allow anything associated with
him to bear any semblance to weakness and failure. This is why he bullies his son, even when his son
is in his tender age. He wishes that Nwoye should have been a successfully brave man. This is a
demonstration that Okonkwo is suffering from Psychic trauma. Okonkwo’s psychic fear of failure
drives him into frenzy, thereby creating in him an unassailable desire for success. He has resolved to
succeed and would never be like his effeminate father.
But in spite of the disadvantages, he had begun even in his father’s lifetime to lay the
foundations of a prosperous future. It was slow and painful. But he threw himself into it
like one possessed. And indeed he was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible
life and shameful death (14-15).
Because of Okonkwo’s morbid fear of cowardice, he never shows fond emotions. He is always on
guard never to betray any trait of weakness. To him fondness is tantamount to cowardice. He carefully
covers up his humane side of tenderness with his masculine sternness so that his society would see him
as a brave man and never like his coward father.
Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show
affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength. He
therefore treated Ikemefuna as he treated everybody else- with a heavy hand (23).
Okonkwo is a very stubborn man. He is more of a brawler than an intellectual. His quest to be
successful by all the standards of Igbo culture has driven him beyond the boundary of intellectuality
and reasonability. He has acquired everything that an Umuofia man may crave for, yet he is not
satisfied. The fear of being tagged weak is an inordinate and abnormal psychic reflection. For instance,
even when Ezeudu, the oldest man in Umuofia warns him against bearing a hand in the death of
Ikemefuna, the community sacrificial lamb, Okonkwo refuses to heed the timely advice for fear that
his kinsmen would take him for a coward.
That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death. Okonkwo was surprised, and
was about to say something when the old man continued. Yes, Umuofia has decided to
kill him. The oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. They will take him
outside Umuofia as is the custom, and kill him. But I want you to have nothing to do
with it. He calls you his father (46).
The worst case scenario should have been for Okonkwo to hand over the lad to the community. But to
Okonkwo, this line of thought and action would be construed as weakness and so demean him in the
eyes of his Umuofia clansmen. To him bravery is more adored a quality and gain than the obedience to
the cautions of any deity. Okonkwo would rather pursue the dictates of his own heart irrespective of
whatever anyone or deity would want him to do, provided such pursuit would bring him an aura of
valour and acceptance by his society, it is alright. So:
As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his matchet, Okonkwo looked
away, the heard the blow. The pot fell and broke in the sand. He heard Ikemefuna cry,my
father, they have killed me as he ran towards him, Dazed with fear Okonkwo drew his
matchet and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak (49).
To Okonkwo the fear of being thought weak is stronger than the fear of deities. The fear of weakness
is equally stronger than the quality of reason. The fear of weakness was stronger that the love he has
for the hapless lad. The praise of his kinsmen is more cherished and better priced than any father-son
bond of love.
The question is, why would Okonkwo behave like this? One can only use another question in
trying to decipher the answer to the first question. What would Unoka, Okonkwo’s father have done if
he were Ikemefuna’s guardian? Would Unoka have had the gut to cut the lad down? The answer here
is an emphatic No! Okonkwo is the exact opposite of his father, one weak, effeminate, coward,
unsuccessful; and the other; strong, brave, manly, illustrious, successful! Okonkwo would never be
associated with anything weakness. The truth is that Okonkwo is fearful as the text above
demonstrates. “Dazed with fear.” This shows that the opposite of Unoka’s traits is what Okonkwo uses
to measure his prowess and bravado. This also shows that Okonkwo lives a haunted life. A life
haunted by his father’s failures, is what generates the responses to cruelty and violence he displays.
The trauma stressor here is his father’s failures. And so anything that bears the stain or taint of his
father’s failings arouses pains and fears in him so that he would not be associated with his demeaned
lifestyles affects him psychologically.
The memory of that dastardly cruelty haunts Okonkow for days. Okonkwo is actually
traumatized by the death of Ikemefuna. He cautions himself.
When did you become shivering old woman? Okonkow asked himself, you, who are
known in all the nine villages for your valour in war? How can a man who has killed five
men in battle fall to pieces because he had added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you
have become a woman indeed (51).
There is no way to term or explain this feeling other than traumatic as Cathy Caruth explains: “Psychic
trauma involves intense personal suffering, but it also involves the recognition of realities that most of
us have not begun to face” (vii). Arguably, Okonkwo is in intense pain as a result of the heinous act.
He is a victim here. He is a victim of the assessment of society, because Igbos and indeed most
African societies prescribe such. And to act like a weakling is to court disdain in the eyes of the
society. Okonkwo is a victim of the prescriptions of the society.
Hugh Holman and William Harmon (1992) explain that psychological novel is the prose fiction
that places unusual emphasis on interior characterization and on the motives, circumstances, and
internal action that springs from, and develop, external action. The psychological novel, not content to
state what happens, goes on to explain the why of this action. (382).
Okonkwo’s actions that develop even to engulf not only those within his immediate horizon
but the clan at large is the smouldering inferno of fear in his heart. This traumatic trait shapes the
action of violence which he unleashes on all around him, in the name of valour. Fear, most often
comes on him and he acts spontaneously without first thinking. Fear controls his entire being.
The dialogue between Okonkwo and his friend Obierika reveals much about Okonkwo’s
fearfulness covered in the garb of valour. Okonkwo covers his action and fearful weakness with the act
of piety to the earth goddess, as Obierika upbraided him for committing the abominable crime.
If I were you I would have stayed at home. What you have done will not please the Earth.
It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out whole families”…. But if the oracle
said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it (53).
Piety cannot replace wisdom, reason and tact. In this case, wisdom and reason seem to argue that
obedience is better than piety. Okonkwo endeavours to cover up his weakness with the cloak of piety.
Unfortunately such effort cannot stand under the microscopic scrutiny of Obierika. Intellectually,
Obierika is head and heel above Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a man of action and not one of thought or
reason. Unlike his father Unoka, who was a man of sweet tongue and not of physical action.
Okonkwo’s ego is always massaged whenever he is praised for bravery and prosperity. In such
a case like he is praised by the speaker in the Obierika’s daughter’s wedding. The speaker says
“…Prosperous men and great warriors” He looked in the direction of Okonkwo. “your daughter will
bear us sons like you E e-e-e !” (94). Okonkwo yearns and enjoys praises, praises that enthrones him
on the highest social pedestal of acceptability and respect. This goes to show that the actions that
Okonkwo exhibits are the direct responses to the feelings in his heart.
Perhaps this episode would go a long way to summarize Okonkwo is situation. This is a classic
case of epiphany. Okonkwo reflects on his life in exile. He becomes moody and covered himself in
drudgery. The reality of life is hitting him hard.
Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm. But it was like beginning
life a new without the vigour and enthusiasm of youth, like learning to become left-handed
in old age. Work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have, and when there was no
 work to do he sat in a silent half-sleep. His life had been ruled by a great passion-to become
one of the lords of the clan. That had been his life-spring. And he had all but achieved it.
Then everything had been broken. (104).
This dark thought of regret perhaps remorse for all his actions aimed at attaining the highest point in
the land, is an awakening. His quest to be accepted seems to be crumbling down like a pile of ill-
arranged cards. And the reality is hitting him heard. This shows that when a man bull-dozes his to the
top, there is the likelihood that he would come crashing down into the mud of life. At this stage the
fear of failure he struggled to escape from is catching up with him.

Ikemefuna: An episode of Memory, Pain and Violence:

Another character in the Novel, Things Fall Apart, is Ikemefuna. Ikemefuna is a sacrificial
lamb -a sacrifice that must die through no fault of his but to atone for the wrongs of others. Ikemefuna
as a sacrifice is not offered immediately. He is first kidnapped from his parent’s home and in full
approval of his father and handed over to strange men. His father seems to be in support. But why
Ikemetuna’s father is in consent of his son as to the sacrificial lamb is strange. In fact, it is abnormal.
But then the novel does not explain why. A father is always the last line of defense in situations like
these. Fathers have been known to die for their child/children, but Ikemefuna’s case is abnegation
from the norm. Apart from Ikemefuna’s mother who cries and wails but her efforts are limited. The
experience must have been really frightening for the lad. It is an experience he can never come to term
with. There is no way this frightening experience would not have haunted the young lad for the three
years he lived in Okonkwo’s household as Achebe says:
As for the boy himself, he was terribly afraid. He could not understand what was
happening to him or what he had done. How could he know that his father had taken a
hand in killing a daughter of Umuofia? All he knew was that a few men had arrived at
their house, conversing with his father in low tones, and at the end he had been taken out
and handed over to a stranger. His mother had wept bitterly, but he had been too surprised
to weep (12).
This fear keeps on haunting the lad for the most part of his early days in Okonkwo’s household. He
sometimes refuses food due to nostalgia and for innocently asking when he would go home; Okonkwo
would beat him severely for feeling nostalgic and voicing out such feeling. This experience, no doubt
occurs most of his early days of his sojourn in Okonkwo’s household. The experience is beyond the
lad’s ability to cope. It is trauma. It should be clearly stated here that what makes it a case of trauma
to Ikemefuna, is not his death but the build up to this death. When a scene of violence keeps
resurfacing either in dream (nightmare) or flashback and the victim shudders and cringes in fear, it is
an outright manifestation of trauma. Such is the case for Ikemefuna.
The next day a group of elders from all the nine villages of Umuofia came to Okonkwo’s
house early in the morning, and before they began to speak in low tones Nwoye and
Ikemefuna were sent out. They did not stay very long, but when they went away
Okonkwo sat still for a very long time… (46).
This scene of whispering reoccurs. This has become the stressor that triggers up the fearful memory of
his kidnapping. The earlier scene of his kidnapping comes flooding into his consciousness. The
threatening question in the young man’s mind must have been: what now? What misfortune lies ahead
now? The first whispering brought kidnapping. This whispering portends ominous danger, and
indecipherable path that might lead to death. The fear that ensued, even though such fear is a normal
occurrence, it is beyond the normal occurrence to the lad. The child could hardly cope with it. It has no
other name than trauma.

Nwoye: Trauma, Pain and Protest.

There is no way the issue of trauma would be discoursed in Things Fall Apart that the
experience of Nwoye cannot be brought into the arena of the discourse. Nwoye is Okonkwo’s first
child. He finds an elder brother in Ikemefuna, when Ikemefuna was brought into Okonkwo’s family.
Ikemefuna’s influence facilitates the rapid transformation of Nwoye; from an almost effeminate child
to a fast developing strong-willed lad. Nwoye forms strong bond with Ikemefuna. Nwoye finds an
elder male figure to confide in. Ikemefuna becomes a place of escape from his father’s overbearing
and bullish demeanour. The bond becomes unbreakable as the third year of Ikemefuna’s captivity
winds down, so it is not difficult for him to understand that Ikemefuna has been killed:
As soon as his father walked in, that night, Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna has been killed,
and something seemed to give way inside him, like the snapping of a tightening bow. He
did not cry. He just hung limp… A vague chill had descended on him and his head had
seemed to swell like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit on the way. Then
something had given way inside him. It descended on him again, this feeling, when his
father walked in that night after killing Ikemefuna. (49).
This eerie feeling of traumatic experience assails Nwoye earlier when he heard the shrill cry of
abandoned twins in the evil forest, when he and his people were returning late from farm earlier in his
youthful years. It is an experience that keeps recalling on Nwoye’s psychological consciousness.
 So, when his father returns from killing Ikemefuna, the feeling triggers the stress and the whole
psychological fear floods back into his consciousness. He is numbed. He cringes and shudders in fear.
Since that day, he sees his father and the culture he represents as evil. To him, a culture that demands
the death of hapless twin babies in most horrible way is obnoxious. A culture that demands the death
of a vibrant innocent young man like Ikemefuna should be seen as noisome, and should be discarded.
But he does not possess the potentials to effect such change. Little wonder, Nwoye sees an
alternative religion and culture in the Christian religion: a religion that preaches against twin-killing, a
religion that condemns such gruesome murder of the likes of Ikemefuna must be the better religion
and culture. Nwoye’s opting for the white man’s religion and culture is his own way of protesting
against his perception of the African religion as brutish, wicked and unaccommodating. The new
religion therefore found an already fertile soil in Nwoye’s heart.

Summary:
In Things Fall Apart, this paper has demonstrated that the issues of trauma and how the various
characters: Okonkwo, Ikemefuna and Nwoye feel and their responses to the psychological episodes of
their life. These incidents are outside the range of Normal experiences that is why the victims are
gripped so powerfully that they resort to various means for healing.

War as an Agent of Trauma in Egejuru’s The Seed Yams Have Been Eaten:

The purpose of this segment of this paper is to take a brief look at Phanuel Egejuru’s The Seed
Yams Have Been Eaten (1993), to see how the author grapples with individual and communal pains
occasioned by the experiences the characters concerned endured during the Nigerian Civil War 1966-
70, and how these characters react to their pains. This section seeks to probe the effects of war on the
mind of its victims. Obviously, war has never been wholly an easy venture, neither is it a venture with
certain aftermath. In the event of any war the casualties are not only those that die in the trenches of
the battle field alone as J. P. Clark (1975 ) argues, but also those that are physically far away from the
actual geographical theatre of war. While those physically present on war zones suffer both physical as
well as psychological trauma, those outside the actual scene suffer psychologically.
The first part of this section will analyze the effects of the Nigerian Civil War on the main
character, Jiwudu Osuiji. It will also analyze the psychological effects of the war on women,
especially young women typified by Rachael. Finally, it will delve into the traumatic effects of the war
on the Araugo clan especially on her hope or expectations.
Jiwudu Osuji’s Psychological Trauma: Memory and the Quest to Recreate the Past

The novel is basically a narrative of the Nigerian Civil War. It portrays the traumatic effects of the war
on the rural Araugo clan. The protagonist Jiwudu Osuiji always reminiscent the pristine, firmly and
closely knitted African rural communal setting, where everybody rally around everyone in the time of
peace, joy and sorrow. But the war disrupts all those good and fun times that pervaded the society. The
quest for and fear of failing to revive those joyful days are what constitute trauma in this section.
Most often, psychic trauma occurs when terrible things happen. This occurrence keeps playing
on the mind of the character. This scenario or the painful memories influence the victim to act in such
a way that reflects the agitation that is playing in the mind of the sufferer. But in this case, it is almost
a reverse for Jiwudu’s life is dominated by the love, peace and joy that pervaded the community. And
so, when the serene atmosphere was disrupted, it acts on his mind to bring back the pristinely serene
society they commonly enjoyed earlier. This is where the trauma occurs. For instance,
the women were stunned and moved to tears when they heard that Jiwulu Osuiji had
invented the hand board out of necessity. The catechist was not surprised .he felt vindicated
before the school committee to which he had recommended the boy for a scholarship. He
had foreseen in the little boy a leader of sorts. He could not lay his fingers on the type of
leadership role which the boy was destined to play in the future, but he could intuit
greatness (20).
The whole community of Araugo under the aegis of the church comes to the rescue of the little
Jiwudu, A scholarship is awarded. This kind of gesture can only be found in a close-knitted and co-
ordinated society. This leaves indelible marks on the mind of the scholarship recipient. The young
mind strongly wishes to respond to this gesture by assisting his community in the future. This
resolution is the mainstay of his effort through college and higher institution. It becomes the
motivations of his life. Will the dream see the light of day?
This motive or aspiration keeps on playing in the mind of the protagonist. He carries the aura
of a “messiah” (21). And he intends most sincerely to play the role with utmost alacrity. This sense of
messiahship is confirmed by this ritual, which Mr. Ogbuagu, the community catechist performed on
Jiwudu before the entrance examination.
My son, remember that you are representing all of Araugo people here, do not be
afraid, we prayed for you this morning during morning prayers at the church. God of
the widow and the orphan will direct your hands when you write today. Now open the
 palms of your hands.” Jiwudu did so and he spat lightly into them as a blessing from
him and the people of Araugo. Jiwudu thanked him and rubbed his palms together.
(27).
In most African cultures, this is a sign of blessing from father to son or paternal/maternal figure. But
this goes farther than biological parentage. This ceremony carries with it the spirit of Araugo people.
This ritual foregrounds the elevated public office the catechist holds in Araugo nation. The catechist
represents the collective spirit of the community. Jiwudu, the protagonist is their champion! The
champion of Araugo people and he is expected to return victorious from this challenge. His success is
seen as the success or failure of Araugo people. So the young lad carried that messianic burden on his
young, tender shoulders.
The turn-around in this dream of achieving something meaningful for Araugo people was his
choice of studying agricultural Engineering in the Wisconsin University and not the other seemingly
lucrative and prestigious courses. But love for his people and the desire improve yam cultivations vis a
vis the Araugo cultural life is the main tunic the propels Jiwudu’s choice of such course of study. His
aim and motivation is to improve the cultivation of yam culture to which his kinsmen are renowned.
Those of them whose names are associated with yam will be perpetuated by perpetuating the culture of
yam. Yam carried great symbol in Igbo culture, Hence his dream. But then, the civil war broke out and
everything turns around for bad.
But luck ran out too soon on Juwudu. Something tragic happened in his country and the
consequences were far-reaching for everyone at home and abroad. He heard over the radio
one morning in mid-January that the military had taken over the government. The country
boy that he was, he had no idea of the implication of a military take-over, but he learned a
new expression-coup d’etat; he heard his compatriots saying that it was a clever move, that
the country at last had a chance to put things right (115).
Perhaps, this is the genesis of the protagonist’s trouble even in Diaspora. A period of uncertainty has
set in. The dream and role he has accustomed to, as the messiah of his people is about to fade away
like the mid-morning dew in the early morning sun.
For weeks, Jiwudu wore a solemn look as he struggled to carry on with his studies. However,
in June he heard over the radio that violence erupted in northern section of the country and
that many people from his tribe were being massacred. The radio further announced that
there was massive exodus of survivors back to their southern homelands… Jiwudu fell into
a deep depression, he was not sure if his townspeople in the North were killed (116).
The news of the war from his country triggers off psychic depression to the extent that Jiwudu finds it
difficult to concentrate in his studies. This is a symptom of trauma. This confirms the belief that war is
an agent of trauma. The reaction to the news and the effects of the news unnerves Jiwudu and drops
his grade to 3.50 in the next examination result grading. If not this war news, he would still enjoy his
3.85 to 4.50 grades. War is an evil wind that destroys all; whether in its immediate vicinity or in the
horizon of other climes.
Jiwudu also resorts to alcohol and tobacco. Nkosi his roommate succeeds in initiating him into
smoking and drinking as pastime. Probably this action was to make Jiwudu immune to bad news from
Nigeria. This, no doubt is as a result of trauma. Kali Tal in her book Worlds of Hurt: Reading the
Literatures of Trauma (1996) states that many trauma victims resort to alcohol and narcotics in a bid
to escaping trauma (10).
But I keep wondering what is inside it that calms you down each time you smoke. Why
not let me have a stick from your pack” Nkosi pulled out a stick, lit it from his own and
landed it to Jiwudu. Jiwudu put it into his mouth and inhaled with all his
strength…maybe I would try again sometime because the thing seems to calm you down
each time you smoke. I am beginning to feel that I might need some calming down soon
(12-3).
Jiwudu needs “nerve-calmer” because he is agitated due to the effect of trauma from the war news
from Nigeria. While reflecting on the war in Nigeria, he wonders why the elders could not settle it as it
used to be in his village. He shudders at the devastating effects of war.
Then he fell into a reverie of what might happen to his people at home. When he got
home that evening, he could not concentrate on anything, he kept staring into space. He
did not even hear when Nkosi got in and said hello. It was Nkosi who pulled him out of
his dream.. (126)
Unpleasant reverie, dream and nightmares which cause the sufferer to be frigid and sometimes hyper
vigilant, are some of the tell-tale signs of trauma. The civil war in Nigeria is surely an agent of trauma.
It testifies to the time-tested belief that war injures not only those that are engaged in the war theatre:
those who participate directly in the war may suffer physically, while those far away from the war
arena suffer psychologically.
Jiwudu as the messiah thought out an effective way of helping his people even from far away
Wisconsin in USA. He organizes charity concerts in public places and churches where thousands of
dollars and clothing materials are collected and sent to Araugo, in Nigeria. Whenever the news has it
that his tribes men are being crushed, he would relapse into depression which slows down his physical
and mental activities (138). There is no doubt that Jiwudu is heavily weighed down by the burden of
the war and by his own private suffering occasioned by the war (154). The war leaves indelible painful
marks on the psychic of the young man. It lays a heavy burden he can hardly bear. This is why he
always relapses into stupor. His, is a case of obsession. Perhaps the highest point of the narrative is
when Jiwudu received the letter from home intimating him on all that had happened in the cause of the
war…
... we young ones are happy now because we shall not go to farm again as all the seed
yams have been eating by the soldiers, both our soldiers and enemy soldiers. We now
eat cassava and women go all the way to Umuagwo to collect cassava after doing
manual work for them like ndi isuema used to do for us in those days. They bring home
cassava tubers to make gari and some stems to plant… Jiwudu couldn’t put the letter
down after reading it. Betty called him several times but he didn’t answer. He kept
muttering, “The seed yams have been eating, the seed yams have been eaten. “The seed
yam have been eaten, “suddenly he raised his voices and shrieked.” The seed yams have
been eaten “then he lapsed into almost in audible voice and in a sing-song fashion: The
seed yams have been eating (174-175).
Whatever that is spent ends. When the yams have been eaten, that signals the end of Araugo people. It
is the sign of the end of African culture typified by Igbo culture. It is a strong symbol of the end of
Jiwudu Osuiji whose names are associated with yam culture. It summarized the end of his educational
relevance and dream of providing mechanized yam farming to immortalize yam culture. It signals the
end of masculinity because yam is the crop for men. Yam planting is tasking and demanding that it is
not a business for the weakling and women. So its ending signifies end of hard work, industry, pride
and prestige.
Yam is associated with Igbo culture such as New Yam festivals. When all the kindred
(umunna) gets together to celebrate. This binds and ties all together with a bond of unity and affinity.
Now with the ousting of yam from the socio-cultural equation of the Ara clan, these traditions and
customs would die untimely death.
Also pathetic is the likes of his father as the Ezeji of Ara clan would no longer exist. The war
has killed and destroyed everything associated with yam culture. The enormity of this realization hits
Jiwudu very hard. It is an unthinkable scenario that no one can imagine Igbo culture without yam. The
destruction of yam and the culture it represents is the destruction of Igbo culture and invariably the
destruction of all life in the Igbo socio-cultural space.
 As the import of the message sinks into Jiwudu’s consciousness and what that vanishing of
yam portends, Jiwudu loses his mind. Dementia sets in. The news was too much for the young mind to
cope with. He continues to mutter and bemoan that dastardly disappearance of yams from his Ara clan.
Even in the ensuing delirium, he still mutters his resolution to bring back the yams-after their kinds to
his Ara people. To bring back the vanishing yams symbolizes to resurrect the affinity of brotherhood
which the mindless war has dissipated. To bring back the yams after their kinds is an attempt at
rejuvenating the various aspects of the dying Ara culture. And also to bring back the yams is an effort
aimed at recreating and refacing a defaced an obliterated identity.
But there are some groups that jubilate at the disappearance of yam in Araugo. The group
includes children and the lazy ones. Also the men that are ready and willing to surrender their role and
be relegated to the back waters of cultural relevance are happy in the post war Ara clan.
When a situation exacts this kind of strong impact on a mind and such a mind relapses into
delirium, it can only be termed as traumatic. “Now that the yams are gone, no one will mention his
name in any way, so in a way his name has been eaten too” (202). The loss of yam amounts to the loss
of their identity: personal and communal identity of Ara clan as well as Igbo at large is defaced. No
well-meaning Igbo man would be happy about such communal catastrophe. Anything that tasks and
exacts such psychological agony can only be termed traumatic.

Rachael:

At the individual level, the novel dramatizes the story of Rachael, a young woman, who is married to
the protagonist, Jiwudu Osuji. The young wife nurses the high hopes of traveling overseas to rejoin
with her husband, and then the enemy soldiers capture her. She becomes war booty. The young
woman’s mind cannot comprehend it. The experience practically benumbs her. She cannot will herself
to take any action, as she finds it difficult to comprehend why she should suffer such injury. She
resorts to hunger strike with the hope that she might die in the process. When a victim prefers death to
his suffering, the issue becomes “outside the range of normal experience”. And trauma is its only
name. Her baptism into the realm of traumatic experience climaxes when she is raped by her abductor,
the captain of the Nigerian Army.
When he regained enough strength, he dragged himself out, dripping blood. And for the
first time since her captivity, Rachael broke down and wept. She called on Jiwudu and
her chi and asked them what she did to deserve her fate. From that moment, Rachael
became a zombie… (249).
This is an apt description of Rachael’s traumatic experiences: first, as a captive in her own country and
second, to be sexually violated are enough to induce psychic trauma. Even though the society sees the
situation as normal and as an everyday occurrence, does not mitigate the effects on the victim. And so,
it is abnormal, irrational, and outside the normal experiences of the victim to cope. Psychic numbness,
whether pretended or in reality is as the result of the psychological trauma the character is
experiencing. To Rachael, frigidity and zombieism was the way out. Mentally, Rachael died!
Any woman who had not been kidnapped and raped would feel that such action is a normal
occurrence, as she would never understand the psychological pain such victim goes through all the
days of her life. Rachael’s shattered dreams of traveling overseas, of joining with the love of her life;
the pains of being branded a rape victim by her society; all in an irrational war are just too much for
her to handle. Rachael here represents the first class case of trauma victim that are benumbed, docile
and resorts to suicide as the way of escape from the lifelong nightmares of shame and pains.

Communal Trauma: a Quest for Reparation and Healing:

Communal trauma is dramatized in the novel in the dialogue that ensued in the community when
Jiwudu Osuji returns from Overseas at the end of the war. Though, the war was over, the pain and the
hopelessness that it brought in its wake encompassed the people of Araugo, is vivdly captured by Mr
Ugwuanya in these words:
what it means to us is that cassava has displaced yam in our farming occupation…we
clear the bushes as usual and burn them. The women and children plant cassava (219).
What this means is that the war has re-ordered the role of the participants in the communal hierarchal
equations. Patriarchy is replaced by matriarchy. Cassava, which hitherto was a feminine crop and
relegated to the second position, has taken over the revered foremost stage, which yam, the symbol of
man enjoyed before. Patriarchy is reduced to wine guzzling fellows.
Furthermore, the arguments of Seven-Seven are relevant of the issues of trauma:
Listen Chijioke,…but I don’t think you know much about this war. But let me tell you one
secret, this war is not over yet. The mop up operation is going on right now. Our wives
don’t know it, but they are part of the mop up team. Most young men were lucky to die at
the war front but those of us who survived are now facing our own firing squad. Yes, it is
a firing squad because we cannot fight back…(220).
These are words induced by traumatic experiences. The pain that exudes from the speaker is far-
reaching. Again, when one subscribes to death as a better option to one’s prevailing estate in life, such
one is passing through traumatic experience. Again, he continues his dialogue:
As I was saying, those who got some money shared it with those who didn’t, and what can
a man do with a few shillings but buy palm-wine to drink away his iwe na onuma, to help
him forget his anger and frustration. I have continued to ask my chi why he allowed me to
survive this war and live this life which is worse than being dead. At this point, tears
clouded his eyes and for first time since the war ended, Seven-Seven shed warm tears of
deep sorrow (220).
Once again, it is pertinent to state that the two speakers above are the mouth piece of the community.
They symbolize the people of Araugo. Their pains are the pains of Araugo. Their frustration as to the
twist of fate is the frustrations of Araugo people. There is no way it can be argued that the aftermath of
war is pleasant, especially to the vanquished. The sufferings orchestrated by war always drum-up fear
and painful recollection as enunciated here by Seven-Seven. When a situation is worse than death,
then the reader can understand the intensity of such pain.

Conclusion:

Fear is one of the most powerful forces in this life. It affects the decisions one makes, the actions one
takes, and the outcomes one achieves. Who one is and what one has at one point or another been
influenced by fear. And while the primary role of fear is to protect one, fear very often becomes a
significant obstacle that stands between one and one’s goals. Therefore, being successful relies to a
large on knowing how to leverage fear. Fear comes in many different forms. There is a variety of
things one is afraid of. Some are specific like snakes, wild animals, and some are more general and
abstract, like being afraid to try new things or speaking one’s mind in public or in front of others. But
among these different kinds of fear, there is one that can a direct harmful impact on one, and that is
achytiphobia that is the fear of failure. (Ortwin de Graef. 2003:2). Such are the cases of Okonkwo and
Jiwudu in the novels under analysis.
Wherever fear exists trauma thrives and uncoordinated attempts at dealing with traumatic
situation will create many more traumatic episodes. And that war as an agent of trauma does not
respect territorial and cultural boundaries as it destroys industries and deletes identities.
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