The Folly and Scourge of War in Chimamanda Adichie's Half ofa Yellow Sun

Abstract

War is an infamous social crisis that affects and alters human affairs very drastically and fundamentally. The paper is a literary critique of the Biafran-Nigerian Civil War in Chimamanda Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun.Through the use of Freudian psychoanalysis which establishes an affinity between the influence of memory and trauma on an individual's social behaviour and literary creativity,the study reveals that war causes indescribable destructions to human life, property and the environment. It further portrays that traumatic memories of the civil war inevitably shape the personal and socio-political life of characters in the selected text because the crux of the scourge of war lies in its psychological impact on people.The multiplying effect of destructions of war is that it causes untold agonies and problems-psycho-social and psycho-spiritual traumas that cannot be completely obliterated.Consequently, the paper recommends sincere dialogue as a civil, sustainable and pragmatic means of preventing war.