30 pages • 1 hour read
Chinua AchebeMarriage is a Private Affair
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1952A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and essayist and is widely regarded as one of the most important African writers of the 20th century. Achebe is best known for his debut novel, Things Fall Apart, which is considered a classic of African literature and has been translated into over 50 languages.
Achebe was born in Ogidi, Nigeria, and grew up in a Christian household, which had a significant impact on his writing. He studied English literature and worked as a teacher before becoming a writer. In his writing, Achebe explores the complexities of Nigerian society and the impact of colonialism on African culture. He was a vocal critic of the way Africa was represented in Western literature, and his work challenges stereotypes and provides a more nuanced understanding of African culture. Achebe’s work also focuses on the tension between tradition and modernity in African society and the challenges faced by African people in the face of political and social change. His writing often deals with themes of identity, power, masculinity, and the struggle for self-determination.
Throughout his career, Achebe was also involved in politics, and he was a strong advocate for social justice and democracy in Nigeria. When the Igbo people sought independence during the Nigerian Civil War, he joined the Biafran government and served as an ambassador in Europe. He later served as a professor of African studies at Brown University and was awarded numerous literary prizes, including the Man Booker International Prize. After his retirement from teaching, Achebe joined the People’s Redemption Party and outspokenly criticized the corruption he saw in his nation’s politicians.
Overall, Achebe’s authorial context was shaped by his upbringing in Nigeria, his experiences with colonialism and postcolonialism, and his commitment to social justice and the promotion of African culture and identity.
Cultural Context: Nigeria in the Mid-20th Century
Achebe’s short story “Marriage is a Private Affair” is set in Nigeria in 1952 and alternates settings between Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria, and the traditional Igbo community in which Nnaemeka was raised and Okeke still lives. At the time the story was written, Nigeria was a British colony. In 1885, the European powers present at the Berlin Conference recognized Britain’s control over the country. Colonization affected the country’s political, cultural, and economic development. The economy became focused on exporting cash crops, including cacao. Politically, Britain installed a governor-general in Lagos and practiced indirect rule, a system of governance which allowed pre-existing Indigenous power structures to remain in place under the oversight of European officers. The spread of Western education, the English language, and Christianity faced greater resistance in the north than in the south. In addition, Britain’s divide-and-rule policy deliberately sought to prevent unity among Nigerians. From the 1920s onward, Nigerians advocated for greater self-governance and an end to racist discrimination. In the following decades, the anticolonial movement strengthened due to a number of factors, including Pan-Africanism, World War II, and a growing number of highly educated and politically active young professionals. Nigeria gained independence from British rule in 1960. However, the impact of colonization lingered in the form of exacerbated intertribal animosity. The Nigerian Civil War, which began seven years after Nigeria achieved independence, resulted from tensions between the Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani peoples. From 1967 to 1970, over 1 million Nigerian people died as a result of the conflict, many of them from starvation. British colonization impacted Nigeria’s history and culture in the mid-20th century and beyond.
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