Chinua Achebe here tells the
story of a
young man form the eastern region of Nigeria.
The
story is set in pre-independence Nigeria. The young man,
Obi
Okonkwo is the grandson of Okonkwo, a major character in
Chinua Achebe's earlier novel titled 'THINGS FALL
APART'Obi
Okonkwo comes back from London a graduate of English. He
owes his educational expenses to the Umuofia
Progressive
Union. He is to
pay the loan back in monthly
installments when he starts working.It will take him
some
two years to pay off his
debt. He finds himself back in
a
corruption ridden society. He however makes his stand
clear;
he will not be any part of it. He
soon gets a job as the
secretary to the scholarship board. As a senior civil
servant, he gets a car and a beautiful apartment and a
handsome pay package. His relationship with
clara, a
girl he
had met earlier at a dance in London and on the ship on
which he had travelled back to Lagos receives a jolt as
she
announces to him that she is an OSU(a descendant of
someone
who had dedicated himself to a particular God in order
to
escape death or debt). Marriage between the OSU caste
and
the non-OSU was forbidden(and is still frowned at by so
many
Igbo people till date). He assures her the issue will
not
stand between them. They get engaged in no time. He
storms out
of a meeting of the Umuofia Progressive union at the
union
president's mention of his proposed marriage to 'a woman
of
doubtful ancestry'. His friend Joseph had betrayed his
confidence. He soon finds himself in debt as a result of
heavy responsibilities. His plight would have been
better
had he not refused the acceptance of his application for
the
postponement of his loan repayment's start date by the
union out of sheer
pride. Clara soon breaks off their engagement despite
Obi's
having convinced his father to allow him marry an OSU.
She
also turns out pregnant and he has to borrow money from
a
mutual friend to get an abortion. Clara refuses to see
him
anymore. Obi's mother , whe had promised to kill herself
should her son marry an OSU, SOON DIES. He does not
attend
her funeral as he is so heartbroken of her death,
Clara's desertion, and his financial problems
but he does send all the money he can. Members of
Umuofia Progressive Union come to sympathise( some
mocking him) with him at
home and his friend Joseph saves the day by providing
drinks
for the entertainment of Obi's unexpected visitors.
Another scholarship season comes around and unlike the
last
season when he refused bribes being offered by would-be
beneficiaries , he takes the bribes offered, in cash and
from women, in kind, wounding his conscience each time
he
did. He soon falls into a trap set for him, on taking
another bribe and he is on his way to jail. Umuofia
Progressive union will try its possible best to ensure
Obi
does not go to jail. Neither the judge presiding ever
his
case , Mr. Green , Obi's boss nor the men of Umuofia
could
comprehend what could have led a young man of Obi's
education and brilliant promise into this.
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