NEW HISTORICIST APPROACH TO HELON HABILA’S WAITING FOR AN ANGEL AND CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S HALF OF A YELLOW SUN

The Nigerian nation was bedeviled shortly after independence by instability in governance and serious disagreement between its populace that led to an unfortunate development. This dissertation explored the Nigerian Civil War and the military rule saga in the country. This was undertaken by examining the novels of Helon Habila and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Using a New Historicist theory, the study delved into evaluating how certain developments in the Nigerian State provided materials for the novelists to deal with the thematic concerns mentioned above. It maintained that the stories of the novels were essentially premised on the history of Nigeria. It further revealed that history intercepted with literature to arrive at the creative rendition of events that happened in the time past. Debating that the authors portrayed this in the works, Waiting for an Angel and Half of a Yellow Sun, it relied on the portrayal of the history of the Nigerian nation to identify the causes and outcomes of the Civil War and military rule in Nigeria as the major themes from which sub themes were taken. These themes were skillfully created to make the storytelling potent. The final part of the work drew the conclusion on grievances that were left unattended to festered and degenerated into the ugly results in military rule and war. It suggests the need to build a new nation to be embraced by all, especially now that the nation was still witnessing agitations and cry of marginalization in some quarters.