The Futility of War
As depicted in Half of a Yellow Sun, the war that Biafra wages against the North has a few different objectives. The hostilities are naturally tinged by righteous anger over the massacres that occurred after the first coup. There is also, though, a more optimistic side to the uprising that divides Nigeria in two: the desire to form a nation that is secure from ethnic violence and that is an example of enlightened patriotism. Though this desire is promoted by several thoughtful, assertive characters - Odenigbo, Kainene, Olanna, and Richard among them - such dreams of a flourishing and independent Biafra collapse. Military and economic deficiencies explain part, but not all, of the futility of Biafra's aspirations. Instead of bringing out the best in Adichie's characters, war reduces them to depressed shells of their former selves (in the case of Odenigbo) or pressures them into committing acts of violence (in the case of Ugwu, who rapes a bar girl) that cut against the fledgling country's lofty ideals. It is perhaps no coincidence that the book begins and ends in Nsukka, using the recurrence of this location to suggest that war creates a vicious circle - at best looping characters back to exactly where they were, just sadder, poorer, and angrier than they were before.
African Culture, European Prejudice
Another pivotal theme that permeates this narrative is that of oppressive stereotyping within a society that, presumably, is becoming more modern. There are several characters who surrender to the Orientalist narrative that caricatures non-European society as an uncivilized, inferior space. Characters like Susan echo this belief, and the American reporters who tour Biafra with Richard are outsiders who, in a few cases, are given to openly racist remarks. While more sympathetic European characters like Richard are portrayed as benevolent people despite their colonial background, the central idea seems to create a binary between the East and West and delineate how the East, or Nigeria in this case, has been oppressed by the weight of Western influence.
The Persistence of Love
While this novel has overriding political themes, the personal narrative has redeeming force of its own. It is quite clear from the story that it pivots around the personal experiences of people - flawed people often, but people who are capable of abiding affection. Half of a Yellow Sun explores the love between different characters in a number of ways. Romantic relationships like the one that exists between Olanna and Odenigbo, as well as familial love like the that between Olanna and Kainene, help the author explore enduring affection in the face of great adversity. The fact that these forms of love survive both domestic tensions - extramarital affairs prime among them - and the more harrowing realities of war speaks to the sense of perspective and forgiveness that Adichie's characters bring to their most treasured relationships.
The Distance from Political Power
Half of a Yellow Sun makes a point of featuring characters who, despite their family connections and intellectual attainments, are by no means at the core of political decision-making in Biafra. By Part 4 of the novel, even Olanna and Kainene must maneuver largely without the aid of their wealthy family or of privileged government connections. Of course, figures of authority are mentioned in the novel, but what stands out most about some of these leaders is, paradoxically, their absence from the most pressing scenes of conflict in the young nation. Ojukwu, notably, begins by visiting Nsukka and inspires Richard. As the novel's conclusion nears, the Biafran head of state has been reduced to a voice on the radio, delivering diplomatic and patriotic jargon that has ceased to reassure characters such as Richard and Ugwu. The helplessness of Biafran citizens in the face of distant political decisions - about supplies, about international recognition for Biafra, about whether world powers will aid Biafra or Nigeria in the North - is underscored by the daily sufferings that overwhelm the narrative in Part 4, with Ojukwu providing grandiose, ultimately disconnected commentary.
Self-Improvement and Its Reversal
Taken in the absence of the narrative of Biafran independence, Parts 1 and 3 of the novel can be understood as a story of modernization - a process reflected in Ugwu's movement away from the homely ways of his village and towards the more cosmopolitan ideals of Nsukka. Conveniences such as running water and medicine, though seemingly everyday for Odenigbo, are at first life-altering for the houseboy. Ugwu, though initially rough-hewn and undereducated, is naturally intelligent, and Odenigbo helps him to earn an education - with the British novels that Ugwu reads as frequent symbols of the young man's day-to-day commitment to learning and self-improvement. This portrait of a Nigeria that is capable of granting mobility and education based on merit is for a time reassuring - almost as though Adichie has transplanted a "rags to riches" American Dream narrative to Nsukka - and for this reason the backwards movement in Part 4 of the novel is especially harrowing. The idea that Nigeria rewards intellect and hard work is contradicted by the fact that Odenigbo's family suffers and that, even after the war, Nsukka academics are persecuted. For his part, Ugwu's gifts are no longer used to move him easily forwards towards academic rewards and further opportunities; instead, he must use his skills as a thinker to reflect on suffering - including the acts of violence that he has participated in.
Unnamed Victims
Though Half of a Yellow Sun calls attention to the need to acknowledge wartime suffering and to empathize with the victims of a humanitarian crisis, the novel itself does not always attempt to give the victims of war distinct identities. The eventual characterization of Biafra as a country of afflicted, nameless masses is itself thematically important; after all, the scale of the suffering is so vast that the number of names on a casualty list would, naturally, boggle the mind. Still, specific unnamed characters play significant roles in bringing forward the theme of victimization. In this respect, the unnamed bar girl whom Ugwu rapes is an important figure, a character who remains unnamed but who continues to haunt Ugwu's thoughts, serving as a reminder of the morally corrupting effects of war. Of course, there are named characters - Anulika in particular - who are exposed to sexual violence. For every one of these victimized young women that readers get to know in depth, there are perhaps thousands of others across Biafra, anonymous figures whose lives have similarly been upended.
Motivations for Writing
There are a few significant characters who identify as writers: Okeoma is a respected poet, and Richard himself is eager to make his mark as a novelist, journalist, or cultural commentator. Already populated by academics, Half of a Yellow Sun frequently investigates the question of why its writers write. The answers - Okeoma's political engagement and infatuation with Olanna, Richard's desire to achieve meaningful self-expression and promote his adopted culture - are instrumental in developing the characters and, after a time, in indicating how war redirects writing towards new purposes. Richard, for instance, turns his attentions from Nigerian art to the Biafran war effort, or from anthropology to political engagement. He continues, though, to be motivated by a real, embattled affection for Igbo culture. Ugwu, however, develops in radically new ways through his exposure to the written word, which is initially linked to Odenigbo's plan to improve Ugwu's life through education. Later, Ugwu shifts from reader to writer, motivated to record the truth of the war in Biafra and to work through his own traumas by creating a text of his own.
