THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY IN AFRICAN NOVELS: A STUDY OF CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE’S AMERICANAH AND ODILI UJUBUONU’S PRIDE OF THE SPIDER CLAN

Abstract

The problem of identify has been one of the major concerns of mankind in every society and a major theme in literature. The state of identity crisis is seen as one affecting the psychological conditions of a person or group, a situation of internal contradictions within the individual which could lead to different forms of disequilibrium. This study explores “the search for identity in Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah and Ujubuonu’s Pride of the Spider Clan. The theoretical framework for this study is Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis which is concerned with the mind in distress. The duality with the nostalgia of the main characters obviously for different reasons originates from their contact with the different worlds they found themselves in. The ultimate disillusionment in exposure of identity crisis is inevitable in every society as portrayed in the works under study. It was discovered that the foreign environment the characters found themselves and racial problems are the major causes of their search for identity.