Extradiegetic Conflict In Ngozi Adichie's Half Of A Yellow Sun

Half of a Yellow Sun is Ngozi Adichie’s second novel set before and during the Biafran war in Nigeria. Eight years before Adichie was born, her two grandfathers died in Biafra as refugees after fleeing hometowns that had fallen to federal troops during the war. Adichie grew up hearing stories of the war. She composed this novel because she wanted to write about love and war. Moreover the author wanted to engage with her history in order to make sense of her present and bring honor to her parents who have tears in his eyes when they speak of losing their own parents during the war. The book is written in extradiegetic narration. Extradiegetic contains the word “extra” which means "outside" or "beyond." Hence, an extradiegetic narrator is much
Biyi Bandele wrote the screenplay of the film. The shooting of the movie was done in Calabar and Creek Town, Nigeria. Half of a Yellow Sun focuses on the experiences of a small set of people who are experiencing the conflict from very different points of view. In the movie, Bndele chooses to focus on the love stories of two educated Nigerian sisters; Olana Ozobia, played by the actress Thandie Newton, and Kainene Ozobia represented by Anika Noni, a Nigerian actress. They are caught up by the Biafran war in the play. In the movie, Joseph Mawle plays the role of Richard, Kainene’s lover. He is white expatriate from Britain who considers himself Biafran. Ugwu is a thirteen-year-old peasant who becomes a houseboy. The British actor John Boyega acts as Ugwu in the movie. A writer makes use of words while a filmmaker uses pictures. While reading a novel, the reader has to use his imagination to have a physical portrait of the characters. However, a movie enables the reader see the characters and their actions. Bandele’s movie adaptation of the book Half of a Yellow Sun is remarkably different in comparison to the novel. While watching the movie, someone familiar with the book will realize the Adichie’s novel outshines Bandele’s movie in a number of
In some cases, Adichie puts the reader in suspense. Adichie breaks the chronological sequence to delay the revelation that Baby is not Olana's child and that Olana had a brief liaison with Richard. The effects of these revelations tell of a cultural dilemma. Amala, the baby's mother rejects her, Odenigbo's mother also rejects her for not being a son, yet Olanna demonstrates her true courage in accepting the baby as her own. Adichie displays Olana's pride and middle-class frame of mind. In the novel Olana is disgusted at the cockroach eggs in her cousins' house and is reluctant to let Baby mix with village children because they have lice, but by the end of the novel, the course of the Biafran war changes her privileged outlook. Bandele’s movie is straightforward. He puts the audience in no suspense. It is obvious that Baby is Amala’s child. Odenigbo is seen having sex with Amala and the news of Amala’s pregnancy does not come as a surprise. Unlike in Adichie’s novel, in the movie, one does not see nor hear of the presence of cockroaches in Olana’s relative’s house. Olana appears to be humble as soon as she leaves her parents house. On screen, her transformation from upper-class socialite to war-traumatized yet fortified mother-wife is flattened, as mirror of Ugwu’s movement from subaltern domestic servant to politicized writer of the Biafran story is not shown. She is