THE DEHUMANIZING EFFECTS OF WAR A STUDY OF SELECTED IGBO PROSE FICTION
ABSTRACT
Between July 1967 and January 1970 may be described as the darkest age in the Nigerian history especially in the Biafran area south east Nigeria. It was within this period that the Nigerian civil war was executed. The civil war actually dealt a hard blow on the people of Biafra as the war centered directly on the geographical area of the Biafra (Igbo) land. Up till today, the evil effects of the war are still fresh in the people’s mind. In this study, effort was geared toward portraying the negative effects of the Nigerian/Biafra War not only on the civilian population but also on the military. This is with a view to noting and x-raying the dehumanizing effects of the civil war as portrayed in the two novels, Jxq Obinna and Isi Akwx Dara N’Ala. Based on his mastery of the Igbo language and the style of his writing, many critics have focused on his writing, each focusing on way area or the other. However, despite all the write-up that have focused on Ubesie’s novels, none to the best of the researcher’s knowledge had focused on the dehumanization effects of war as observed in his literary works. In this study, documentary research was adopted for the collection of data while the descriptive approach was adopted in the analyses of the two novels. Apart from bringing out the unique features of the literary works, the results of the study indicate that there were excessive hunger, financial problems, psychological trauma, and excessive use of force by the Nigeria forces on the Biafrans. The dehumanizing effects of war was evident in the two novels as the people of Biafra were traumatized and in most cases, did the unimaginable just to survive. The dehumanizing effects of the war were evident in different characters and in different communities in Igbo land and as such the two novels could be described as historical novels.