Identity and Silence

Abstract

Okey Ndibe’s Arrows of Rain engages the political concern in Nigeria, much of which could be understood through the societal, cultural, environmental and historical events that pervade the country. There is a shift in Okey Ndibe’s novel from the concept of colonialism as the major problem in Nigeria to more recent issues of corruption and political imbalance that exist in the country, perpetrated on one hand, by its citizenry and on the other, by its military rulers. This paper therefore examines the role of nature and the environment on the life of the protagonist and the stifling of citizens’ liberty, especially the women, by the autocratic rule. It exposes how women were forced to keep silent as a result of higher authority that imposes its will on them. It also argues that military brutality compelled some characters to modify their identity. Relying on postcolonial theory, the study makes an effort at rethinking the Nigerian environmental and political spaces as exemplified in the novel.