Half Of Yellow Sun - Susan and Ozobias
HALF OF A YELLOW SUN
BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF SUSAN AND THE OZOBIAS
BY KRYSTAL CHINDORI-CHININGA AND NYASHA CHINOGUREI
LITERATURE
MS.MARKS
UPPERSIXTH FORM
FEBRUARY 2014
THE OZOBIAS
Who were they?
The Ozobia’s are Kainene and Olanna’s parents. They represent the NOUVEAU RICHE - “Chief Ozobia owns half of Lagos but there is something terribly nouveau riche about him. He doesn’t have much of a formal education, you see, and neither does his wife. I suppose that’s what makes him so obvious.’’ They show us the glamour of the rich life as they are upper class affluent, rich and powerful Nigerians. They are used to show the class system in Nigeria and the diff between them is clearly shown by how they treat those in lower classes, “her father said they pay them good salaries, and her mother said thanking them would give them room to be insulting”; another example is how Mrs. Ozobia treats her servant who has stolen rice, “Olanna stared at the rice grains on the ground and wondered how her mother could have worked herself up like this over them and if her mother believed her own outrage” Their money and love of it may be what makes them so shallow and greedy as they offer up their own daughter in a bid to make even more money and are uninterested in Richard the moment they realize he was not an indispensable rich white man. The way money has changed them is further emphasized by how Mrs. Ozobia’s brother Uncle Mbaezi is a poor man and strikingly different and more realistic and ‘earthy’ than his sister. The difference between them may also be a result of the different class systems - “It was hard to imagine Uncle Mbaezi and her mother growing up together…because there was an earthiness about him. Sometimes Olanna wondered if she would admire him if he were not so different from her mother.” Money had changed her.
The importance of money and appearances is further emphasized first by how they represent corrupt upper-class black
BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
CHARACTER SKETCHES OF SUSAN AND THE OZOBIAS
BY KRYSTAL CHINDORI-CHININGA AND NYASHA CHINOGUREI
LITERATURE
MS.MARKS
UPPERSIXTH FORM
FEBRUARY 2014
THE OZOBIAS
Who were they?
The Ozobia’s are Kainene and Olanna’s parents. They represent the NOUVEAU RICHE - “Chief Ozobia owns half of Lagos but there is something terribly nouveau riche about him. He doesn’t have much of a formal education, you see, and neither does his wife. I suppose that’s what makes him so obvious.’’ They show us the glamour of the rich life as they are upper class affluent, rich and powerful Nigerians. They are used to show the class system in Nigeria and the diff between them is clearly shown by how they treat those in lower classes, “her father said they pay them good salaries, and her mother said thanking them would give them room to be insulting”; another example is how Mrs. Ozobia treats her servant who has stolen rice, “Olanna stared at the rice grains on the ground and wondered how her mother could have worked herself up like this over them and if her mother believed her own outrage” Their money and love of it may be what makes them so shallow and greedy as they offer up their own daughter in a bid to make even more money and are uninterested in Richard the moment they realize he was not an indispensable rich white man. The way money has changed them is further emphasized by how Mrs. Ozobia’s brother Uncle Mbaezi is a poor man and strikingly different and more realistic and ‘earthy’ than his sister. The difference between them may also be a result of the different class systems - “It was hard to imagine Uncle Mbaezi and her mother growing up together…because there was an earthiness about him. Sometimes Olanna wondered if she would admire him if he were not so different from her mother.” Money had changed her.
The importance of money and appearances is further emphasized first by how they represent corrupt upper-class black