He insists, “Just let me see” (Adichie 447). Then, further attempting to sexualize their encounter, he hastily “ his hand under her skirt” (Adichie 446). She also pushes his hand away when he reaches for her breast (Adichie 446). The novel explicitly points out that her buttocks are the very first thing he notices about her. He notices Eberechi’s “perfectly rounded buttocks” (Adichie 252). When he kisses Eberechi, the first woman he has romantic feelings for and fosters an emotional connection with, he still sexualizes and dehumanizes her. However, we see this innocence later devolve into deplorable violence. Additionally, he continuously calls Odenigbo “sah” even after Odenigbo repeatedly asks him to stop (Adichie 17). When he imagines giving Nnesinachi chicken to get her to notice him, the gesture is innocent enough (Adichie 9). Ugwu comes across as an eager and excited character, who aims to please those around him. Ultimately, although Ugwu commits a heinous crime, Adichie compels readers to sympathize with him through graphically illustrating his endearing qualities and firsthand war traumas, all the while eliciting questions about what role masculinity and power play in the perpetration of sexual violence. He is transformed from an innocent, young boy with typical human desires to somebody who commits sexual violence, and what makes the narrative all the more tragic is that war shapes all his experiences. Ugwu is an incredibly complex character whose actions drive the plot forward significantly. She creates certain tensions that exist between characters’ actions and their extraneous circumstances that hinge upon the violence of war. War and Sexual Violence: An Analysis of Ugwu in Adichie’s Half of a Yellow SunĬhimamanda Ngozi Adichie illuminates the crux of humanity in her historical novel Half of a Yellow Sun.
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