“Ghosts”

Chimamanda Adichie’s, “Ghosts,” tells a story about a day in the life of James Nwoye. The story begins with Nwoye, a retired professor, going to the University bursary to inquire about his long overdue pension. While there, he runs into an old acquaintance, Ikenna Okoro, with whom he taught with at the University prior to the Nigerian-Biafran War. It had been generally accepted within the community that Ikenna had died during the war, so James was quite surprised to see his old friend “return from the dead,” so to speak. The two talk for quite some time; inquiring about each other’s families, and saying how much has changed since they have returned to Nigeria. Nwoye informs Ikenna that he is often visited by the “ghost” of his deceased wife, and the narrative ends with Nwoye, “listen[ing] for the sound of doors opening and closing” (73). Through the employment of narratological devices such as free indirect discourse, direct discourse, and the first-person focalization, the narrative serves to highlight the major themes of impotence, sterility, and sociopolitical gaps that arose in the aftermath of the war. Through free indirect discourse, we are given insight into the impotence and sterility afflicting the poverty-stricken country. Clustered under a flame tree are men talking amongst themselves, calling down curses upon the education minister and vice chancellor whom they believe embezzled school funds. “His penis will quench,” they say, “His children will not have children” (58). These sentiments are adapted through Nwoye as the narrator, while maintaining the grammatical third person. Through this free indirect style, we are given insight into the frustrations of the Biafran war victims. Their curses reflect their own feelings of helplessness and impotence in a country where violence and bribery has stripped residents of their agency. Another example of free indirect discourse which helps to highlight the themes of impotence and sterility can be found in Nwoye’s disbelief that Ikenna is alive. When Ikenna laughs and responds, “I am, I am alive!” (62), Nwoye notices that, “his [Ikenna] laughter seemed discolored, hollow, nothing like the aggressive sound that reverberated all over the Staff Club in those days” (62). This stands in stark contrast to Ikenna’s, “erudite asperity with which he blazed through issues” (61), before the war broke out. Through this free indirect discourse, it becomes evident that Ikenna has lost his fire. Although Ikenna does not experience the sexual impotence and sterility that Nwoye suffers from, it seems that he too has lost his way in the aftermath of the war. In addition to free indirect discourse, Adichie also employs direct discourse to further reinforce the themes of impotence and sterility. James Nwoye, the narrator of the story, is himself afflicted with impotence – his wife comes to him as a “ghost” and touches him sexually not to pleasure James, but to gently tease him – he says that, “She knows very well that my prostate medication has deadened things down there” (72). Nwoye’s interactions with the ghost of his wife serve to highlight his impotence. It is as if Nwoye finds himself powerless against his sterility – unable to control the visits from the ghost of his wife. The seemingly inescapable bond that Nwoye finds himself trapped within, helps to highlight the sociopolitical gaps that are referenced within the narrative. From the first-person focalization of the narrative, we are given direct insight into the severity of the sociopolitical gaps, and how they have impacted Nwoye himself. When talking with Ikenna about his long overdue pension, Nwoye says, ““It’s all over the country, really, not just here.” I shook my head in that slow, side-to-side way… as if to say that the situation is, sadly, ineluctable” (69). From this, the text seems to suggest that Nwoye has given up in his fight for reform. It seems as if he has bought into the notion that he is unable to evoke any real change, and as a result has come to accept his condition as his fate. This is further reinforced later in the conversation when Ikenna talks about the “falling standards” (69), of the world in regards to the sale of fake drugs; the very thing which ultimately killed Nwoye’s wife. Nwoye simply responds, ““Fake drags are horrible,” I said gravely, determined to say nothing else” (70). Through this first-person focalization, and the fact that Nwoye is “determined to say nothing else,” it becomes evident that the sociopolitical gaps that occurred as a result of the war have engendered a sense of pacifism within Nwoye. Instead of addressing the sale of fake drugs with Ikenna, Nwoye simply offers a trite response, and tries to bury the painful memories of his past. The aftermath of the war paved way for social and political corruption which permeated throughout the entirety of Nigeria’s infrastructure. Another example of how the first-person focalization helps illuminate sociopolitical gaps within the narrative can be found when Nwoye compares his present condition, with that of the time when he lived in America. Nwoye refers to America as a place, “cushioned by so much convenience that it is sterile. A life with what we call “opportunities” (67). Through this first-person focalization, it seems as if the text is suggesting that Nigerians, in the turmoil of a post-civil war period, must choose between a political and social impotence at home caused by a corrupt system, or, a self-imposed sterility resulting from the whimsical, “convenient,” life of America, in which they struggle to maintain their cultural identities. The struggle for identity as well as corruption within the Nigerian government, are undoubtedly a result of the social and political gaps that occurred in the aftermath of the war. In summation, the above mentioned narratological devices help to reinforce the themes of impotence, sterility and sociopolitical gaps within the narrative. Through the free indirect and direct discourse, as well as the first-person focalization, we are given insight into the reality of the struggles that Nigerians faced as a result of their civil war. Adichie cleverly uses Nwoye as a vehicle through which she expresses the sufferings of not just one man, but of the entire population of her native country. Ultimately, we are left to speculate who are the “ghosts” within the story – Is it Nwoye himself? Ebere? Ikenna? Although we may never know, it can be argued that all three of the characters are ghosts – simultaneously alive and dead.

Works Cited
Adichie, Chimamanda. The Thing Around Your Neck. New York: RH, 2009. Print.