After living through and experiencing the trauma of a bloody civil war in his own country, protagonist, Professor James, in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story, “Ghosts”, struggles to fully recover. Professor James lives a mundane daily life that was once filled with love and family. However, despite this loss he still feels pride for his country and is comforted by the recurring ghost of his wife’s visits. Although the war undoubtedly hurt Professor James and left a part of his life empty, his ability to carry on and accept his own situation while maintaining pride for his country proves he is and will be okay.
Professor James is not the same enthusiastic and family man that he was before the war and the scars of trauma still clearly …show more content…
Even though professor James is an acclaimed science professor at a top university in Nigeria, his native heritage and values are not lost on him even after seeing his own country devastated by the war. Upon seeing his co-worker whom he thought was dead, he still had an initial reaction where he says, “perhaps I should have bent down, grabbed a handful of sand and thrown it at him… I could not have done so even if I had wished to, anyway, since we met on the concrete grounds” (Adichie 57). Despite saying he was western-educated and knew better than to throw sand, the fact that this was his initial and natural response, and that he wasn’t repulsed by it but rather only justified not doing it for lack of sand, shows the engrained Nigerian culture still rooted in him despite the …show more content…
Instead of leaning to science to justify a feeling he has in his home he says, “She visits me. She visits me” (Adichie 66), and further explains how “I heard the feet on the stairs… then I felt the bedcover pulled back… she visits weekly” (Adichie 67). Despite being a man of science and going through a severe trauma of losing his wife, Professor James proves that he is capable of moving forward and maintaining a manageable lifestyle being comforted weekly by his
Professor James is not the same enthusiastic and family man that he was before the war and the scars of trauma still clearly …show more content…
Even though professor James is an acclaimed science professor at a top university in Nigeria, his native heritage and values are not lost on him even after seeing his own country devastated by the war. Upon seeing his co-worker whom he thought was dead, he still had an initial reaction where he says, “perhaps I should have bent down, grabbed a handful of sand and thrown it at him… I could not have done so even if I had wished to, anyway, since we met on the concrete grounds” (Adichie 57). Despite saying he was western-educated and knew better than to throw sand, the fact that this was his initial and natural response, and that he wasn’t repulsed by it but rather only justified not doing it for lack of sand, shows the engrained Nigerian culture still rooted in him despite the …show more content…
Instead of leaning to science to justify a feeling he has in his home he says, “She visits me. She visits me” (Adichie 66), and further explains how “I heard the feet on the stairs… then I felt the bedcover pulled back… she visits weekly” (Adichie 67). Despite being a man of science and going through a severe trauma of losing his wife, Professor James proves that he is capable of moving forward and maintaining a manageable lifestyle being comforted weekly by his