Writing styles Adichie uses both Igbo and English in her works, with Igbo phrases shown in italics, followed by the English translation. She uses metaphors to trigger sensory experiences, for example, the arrival of a king to challenge colonial and religious leaders in
Purple Hibiscus symbolises
Palm Sunday. Her use of language referencing Achebe's
Things Fall Apart invokes the memories of his work to her readers. Similarly, the name of Kambili, a character in
Purple Hibiscus, evokes "" ("Live and Let Live"), the title of a song by Igbo musician
Oliver De Coque. To describe pre- and post-war conditions, she moves from good to worse as seen in
Half of a Yellow Sun, in which one of her characters begins by opening the refrigerator and sees oranges, beer, and a "roasted shimmering chicken". These contrast to later in the novel where one of her characters dies of starvation, and others are forced to eat powdered eggs and lizards. Adichie usually uses real places and historic figures to draw readers into her stories. In developing characters, Adichie often exaggerates attitudes to contrast the differences between traditional and western cultures. Her stories often point out failed cultures, particularly those which leave her characters in a limbo between bad options. At times, she creates a character as an oversimplified
archetype of a particular aspect of cultural behaviour to create a
foil for a more complex character.
Igbo tradition Adichie gives her characters common names for an intended ethnicity, such as
Mohammed for a Muslim character. For Igbo characters, she invents names that convey Igbo naming traditions and depict the character's traits, personality, and social connections. For example, in
Half of a Yellow Sun, the character's name Ọlanna literally means "God's Gold", but Nwankwọ points out that means precious and means father (which can be understood as either God the father or a parent). By shunning popular Igbo names, Adichie intentionally imbues her characters with multi-ethnic, gender-plural, global personas. She typically does not use English names for African characters but, when she does, it is a device to represent negative traits or behaviours. Adichie draws on figures from Igbo oral tradition to present facts in the style of
historical fiction. She breaks with tradition in a way that contrasts with traditional African literature, given that women writers were often absent from the Nigerian
literary canon, and female characters were often overlooked or served as supporting material for male characters who were engaged in the socio-political and economic life of the community. Her style often focuses on strong women and adds a gendered perspective to topics previously explored by other authors, such as colonialism, religion, and power relationships. Adichie often separates characters into social classes to illustrate social ambiguities and traditional hierarchies. By using narratives from characters of different segments of society, as she reiterates in her TED talk, "The Danger of a Single Story", she conveys the message that there is no single truth about the past. Adichie is encouraging her readers to recognise their own responsibility to one another, and the injustice that exists in the world. Nigerian scholar Stanley Ordu classifies Adichie's feminism as
womanist because her analysis of patriarchal systems goes beyond sexist treatment of women and
anti-male bias, looking instead at socio-economic, political and racial struggles women face to survive and cooperate with men. For example, in
Purple Hibiscus, the character Auntie Ifeoma embodies a womanist view through making all family members to work as a team and with consensus, so that each person's talents are utilised to their highest potential. In both her written works and public speaking, Adichie incorporates humour, and uses
anecdotes, irony and satire to underscore a particular point of view. Adichie has increasingly developed a contemporary
Pan-Africanist view of gender issues, becoming less interested in the way the West sees Africa and more interested in how Africa sees itself.
Themes Adichie, in a 2011 conversation with Kenyan writer
Binyavanga Wainaina, stated that the overriding theme of her works was love. Using the feminist argument "
The personal is political", love in her works is typically expressed through cultural identity, personal identity and the human condition, and how social and political conflict impact all three. Adichie frequently explores the intersections of class, culture, gender, (post-)imperialism, power, race and religion. Struggle is a predominant theme throughout African literature, and her works follow that tradition by examining families, communities, and relationships. Her explorations go beyond political strife and the struggle for rights, and typically examine humanity. Many of her writings deal with the way her characters reconcile themselves with trauma in their lives and how they move from being silenced and voiceless to self-empowered and able to tell their own stories. Adichie's works generally examine cultural identity, especially Igbo identity which celebrate the Igbo language and
culture, and illustrate African patriotism, in general. Her writing is an intentional dialogue with the West, intent on reclaiming African dignity and humanity. A recurring theme in Adichie's works is the Biafran War. The war was a "defining moment" in the post-colonial history of Nigeria, and examining the conflict dramatises the way in which the country's identity was shaped.
Half of a Yellow Sun, her major work on the war, highlights how policies, corruption, religious dogmatism and strife played into the expulsion of the Igbo population and then forced their reintegration into the nation. Both actions had consequences, and Adichie presents the war as an unhealed wound because of political leaders' reluctance to address the issues that sparked it. The University of Nigeria, Nsukka reappears in Adichie's novels to illustrate the transformative nature of education in developing political consciousness, and symbolises the stimulation of
Pan-African consciousness and a desire for independence in
Half of a Yellow Sun. It appeared in both
Purple Hibiscus and
Americanah as the site of resistance to authoritarian rule through
civil disobedience and
dissent by students. The university teaches the colonial accounts of history and develops the means to contest its distortions through
indigenous knowledge, by recognising that colonial literature tells only part of the story and minimises African contributions. Adichie illustrates this in
Half of a Yellow Sun, when mathematics instructor , explains to his houseboy, , that he will learn in school that the
Niger River was discovered by a white man named
Mungo Park, although the indigenous people had fished the river for generations. However, Odenigbo cautions Ugwu that, even though the story of Park's discovery is false, he must use the wrong answer or he will fail his exam. Adichie's works about
African diaspora consistently examine themes of belonging, adaptation and discrimination. This is often shown as an obsession to assimilate and is demonstrated by characters changing their names, a common theme in Adiche's short fiction, which serves to point out hypocrisy. By using the theme of immigration, she is able to develop dialogue on how her characters' perceptions and identity are changed by living abroad and encountering different cultural norms. In
Dear Ijeawele or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions she evaluates themes of identity that recur in
Purple Hibiscus,
Half of a Yellow Sun, and
The Thing Around Your Neck such as stereotypical perceptions of Black women's physical appearance, their hair and their objectification.
Dear Ijeawele stresses the political importance of using African names, rejecting
colorism, exercising freedom of expression in how they wear their hair (including rejecting patronising curiosity about it) and avoiding
commodification, such as marriageability tests, which reduce a woman's worth to that of a prize, seeing only her value as a man's wife. Her women characters repeatedly resist being defined by stereotypes and embody a quest for women's empowerment. Adichie's works often deal with inter-generational explorations of family units, allowing her to examine differing experiences of oppression and liberation. In both
Purple Hibiscus and "
The Headstrong Historian", Adichie examined these themes using the family as a miniature representation of violence. Female sexuality, both within patriarchal marriage relationships and outside of marriage, is a theme that Adichie typically uses to explore romantic complexities and boundaries. Her work discusses homosexuality in the context of marital affairs in stories such as "Transition to Glory", and taboo topics such as romantic feelings for clergy in
Purple Hibiscus, as well as the seduction of a friend's boyfriend in "Light Skin". Miscarriage, motherhood and the struggles of womanhood are recurring themes in Adichie's works, and are often examined in relation to Christianity,
patriarchy, and social expectation. For example, in the short story "Zikora", she deals with the interlocking biological, cultural and political aspects of becoming a mother and expectations placed upon women. The story examines the failure of contraception and an unexpected pregnancy, abandonment by her partner, single motherhood, social pressure and Zikora's identity crisis, and the various emotions she experiences about becoming a mother. Recurrent themes are forgiveness and betrayal, as in
Half of a Yellow Sun, when Olanna forgives her lover's infidelity, or Ifemelu's decision to separate from her boyfriend in
Americanah. Adichie's examination of war shines a light on how both sides of any conflict commit atrocities and neither side is blameless for the unfolding violence. Her narrative demonstrates that knowledge and understanding of diverse classes and ethnic groups is necessary to create harmonious multi-ethnic communities. Other forms of violence are repeated themes in
Purple Hibiscus,
Half of a Yellow Sun and
The Thing Around Your Neck; these themes symbolise the universality of power, or the impact and manifestation in society of its misuse. == Views ==