CERTAINTY AND UNCERTAINTY IN THE AFRICAN NOVEL: EXAMPLES FROM ADICHE’S HALF OF A YELLOW SUN, OKPEWHO’S THE VICTIMS AND ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART

Abstract

Abstract

While it is true that nothing in life is certain, it is also true that this uncertainty is in itself a form of certainty. If people cannot be sure that anything is certain, they can at least be sure that uncertainty is a certainty. This paper examines the portrayal of certainty and uncertainty in modern African prose, particularly in Nigeria. It will attempt to do this through a close reading and analysis of three novels; Half of a Yellow Sun (2007) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, The Victims (1987) by Isidore Okpewho and Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe. This paper highlights the significant tension between certainty and uncertainty, between reality and fantasy, and between fact and fiction. It also attempts to excavate the roles that social norms, values, and dispositions play in creating and sustaining these tensions and how the writers of these texts navigate them. The article concludes by extrapolating these tensions to future creative literary adventures that might emanate from Nigeria.