The Silences of War in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, narrates a story of the Nigeria-Biafra War and its aftermath partly through figurative and literal silences. The author's insights extend to other experiences and expressions of war. Silence may signify the loss of dialogue and other humane expression and reflect war's violations. Adichie's applications of silence also signify a disenchanted orientation to a war in which members of her family perished. The evasiveness and duplicity of speech during war sabotage truthful communication, silencing an essential characteristic of human utterance. Half of a Yellow Sun asks, moreover, whether speech that promotes commitment to military engagement with dubious chances of success is warranted by the justness of the military enterprise. The novel also traces the wartime pattern of individuals suppressing their faculties of conscience only to be plagued later by remorse. The silencing of conscience that nurtures collective violence extends beyond war itself because opponents may have died or experienced traumas that render realities of war unspeakable. While bringing the silences of war to consciousness, Half of a Yellow Sun and other war-related literary works paradoxically give voice to experiences that might otherwise never have been heard.