African Literature
Representation and Identity in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun
Volume / Issue
Vol. 17, Issue 1 · February 2026
Pages
1103-1124
Article ID
2026V17N1013
Abstract
This paper explores the complex negotiation of representation and identity in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, situating the novel within postcolonial literary discourse and the cultural memory of the Nigerian-Biafran War. Adichie constructs a narrative that challenges colonial historiographies while foregrounding the lived experiences of ordinary individuals navigating fractured identities. Through characters such as Ugwu, Olanna, Odenigbo, Richard, and Kainene, the novel interrogates the layered formations of selfhood shaped by ethnicity, class, gender, language, and national belonging. Each character’s identity is ruptured and redefined by the shifting socio-political landscape of 1960s Nigeria, demonstrating how identity is never fixed, but rather fluid and contingent upon external pressures and internal desires. The novel further dismantles simplistic binaries of representation by questioning how African stories have historically been told—and who possesses the authority to tell them.
Keywords
RepresentationIdentityPostcolonialismBiafran WarTraumaMemory
Article History
Received
1 September 2026
Accepted
11 February 2026
Published Online
3 February 2026
Full Text
How to Cite
Deena Nath, Prof. Deepak Kumar Singh. “Representation and Identity in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 1, Feb. 2026, pp. 1103-1124. ISSN: 0976-8165. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n1.72

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