YOUTH IN CRISIS OF SURVIVAL: THE QUEST MOTIVE AND DIASPORA EXPERIENCE IN GEORGE NDUBUISI’S WOES OF IKENGA AND CHIKA UNIGWE’S ON BLACK SISTERS’ STREET

Abstract

The problem of identity and greener pastures have become the major concerns of Africans in diaspora and a major theme in literature. The state of identity crisis is seen as one affecting the psychological conditions of a person or group, a situation of internal contradictions within the individual which could lead to different forms of disequilibrium. The conflict and search for identity and survival have to do with various factors such as the new versus the old, modern versus conservative or migration. Most times, writers are often individuals in search of their identities, and it is no wonder that the major characters possess basic similarities with the authors. The intention of this research, therefore, is to explicate the search for identity and survival in Ndubuisi’s Woes of Ikenga and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters Street. The duality with the nostalgia of the main characters obviously for different reasons originates from their contact with the different worlds they found themselves in. The resolutions of these conflicts and dualities are naturally not the same because of differences in both cases. However different they are, the ultimate disillusionment in exposure of identity crisis is inevitable in every society as portrayed in the works under study. The data for this study is form both primary and secondary sources. The theory that guided this study is that of Trauma. It was discovered that hardships, unemployment and quest for greener pastures necessitated the different humiliating situations, fates and actions taken by the various characters out of desperation and keenness to survive against all odds.