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Eastern Washington University

2013

Chris--Criticism and interpretation

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The Ogbanje In Little Bee By Chris Cleave, Courtney A. Harler Jan 2013

The Ogbanje In Little Bee By Chris Cleave, Courtney A. Harler

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"In Chris Cleave's 2008 novel Little Bee, he offers readers a literary representation of the Nigerian spirit-child for the purpose of political and post-colonial examination. Cleave's intentions are revealed through a full study of this traditional Nigerian concept. The Nigerian spirit-child, known as the ogbanje in the lgbo language and the abiku in the Yoruba language of Western Nigeria, is imprisoned in an endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The concept of the ogbanje-abiku is indeed related to the overall concept of reincarnation, but it differs in the sense that the child who is unduly linked to the spirit …