Expressing the Wound: Insecurity and the Human Psyche in Selected Nigerian Novels

Abstract

insecurity. This paper foregrounds that physical insecurity, which involves acts of violence, is preceded by emotional and psychological insecurity. Basing its argument on the psychoanalytic literary theory, the paper draws illustrations from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958); Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibicus (2006), and Cheluchi Onuobia’s The Son of the House (2019), to show how writers have expressed the wounds of insecurity and state that intrinsic insecurity is mainly a by-product of the motif of fear, anxiety, lack of trust and unfulfilled dreams. When intrinsic insecurity is firmly established, it then breeds acts of violence which cause harm to the character involved and others in the society. These noticeable harms to others constitute what this paper refers to as physical insecurity. These can be injury as in the case of Kambili; crime, as in the case of Okonkwo and Beatrice; and, death in the case of Okonkwo, Eugene, Auntie Julie and Mama Nathan. The paper posits that the study of the link between emotional and psychological insecurity and physical insecurity is necessary in the course of finding solutions to the problems of insecurity in society.