Document Type
Article
Abstract
This paper examines the ways in which ethnicity and location intersect in selected works of fiction of Chinua Achebe and Ralph Ellison. It argues that the traceable correlation between ethnic origin and geographical location in the novels of these writers affects perceptions of and possibilities for personal and communal growth. Drawing upon Achebe’s No Longer At Ease and Ellison’s Juneteenth, the paper explores the ways in which characters and situations demonstrate the significance of ethnicity as major determinant of progress or catastrophe in multiethnic societies. It argues that the central characters of the two texts are culturally dislocated and are simultaneous representations of hero and outcast because they demonstrate contrasting elements of social centeredness and marginality.
Repository Citation
Olufunwa, Harry. "The Place of Race: Ethnicity, Location and "Progress" in the Fiction of Chinua Achebe and Ralph Ellison." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 5, no. 3, 2025, pp. 1–16. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol5/iss3/9
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