Language and Cultural Revival in Nigerian Postcolonial Literature

Abstract

Postcolonial discourse is concerned with protesting eurocentric stereotypes forced on former colonies by their colonial masters and clamoring for the establishment of an identity for the former colonies after independence. Identity is an important issue, and it raises the question of whether it is possible to maintain an identity in postcolonial Nigeria. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s characters in the novel Half of a Yellow Sun represent many different cultures and races. In order to analyse the language and cultural revival in a colonized society as they are deduced in Adichie’s book Half of a Yellow Sun, this paper employs postcolonial theory, a term that is used to analyse the legacy of colonialism. Colonialism was not confined to the colonial era alone; it persisted even after Nigeria gained independence. Adichie’s main concern seems to be what has become of the nation since independence.