A PSYCHOSOCIAL READING OF SUICIDE IN OKEY NDIBE’S ARROWS OF RAIN
Death is a fate from which no living entity can escape, be it a fauna or a flora constituent. The different kinds of death can be broadly classified into two: natural and unnatural. All deaths that occur due to age or illness in humans and animals can be said to be natural. To this, one can also add deaths due to natural occurrences like earthquake, volcanic eruptions, flooding as well as accidents. This presupposes that all other causes of death such as murders, assassinations, wars and suicides are not natural. Our focus in this article is on deaths as a result of suicides. Our interest in this topic is anchored on the rising cases of suicide the world over and particularly in our own Nigerian society. Although the mass and social media outlets are agog with multiple occurrences of suicide in our society, the literary community does not seem to have accorded it adequate attention as can be gleaned from past and recent thematic considerations. Our aim is to engender further critical analyses geared at stemming the sad phenomenon which is eating cancerously into the fabric of our already fragile society. To achieve our aim, we have chosen to analyse Okey Ndibe’s Arrows of Rain from a psychosocial perspective.
