Faith's Purpose in The Shivering - Jacob Nolin

Jacob Nolin

"What a luxery to have faith like his, Ukamaka thought, so uncritical, so unforceful, so impatiant. And yet there was something about it that was exceedingly fragile; it was as if Chinedu could concieve of faith only in extremes, as if an acknowledgement of middle ground would mean the risk of losing everything."

Here Adichie shows how Chinedu and Ukamaka have reacted to events in their lives differently. Adichie's reason for including these details seems to be for constrast. Even when confronted with a plane crash and the death of the first lady, Ukamaka is unable to move on, however through his faith, Chinedu is able to keep his past to himself and focus on prayer and his immediate future.

Here the word "luxery" is particularly interesting to me because Chinedu is a man without much, yet faith is not something bought or inhereted. It is intangable and may connect to Adichie's own experience with conflict, especially when confronted with tragedies like the ones in The Shivering. The words "uncritical", "unforceful", and "impatient" at first seem to contrast, however, Adichie may be painting a picture of a Nigerian who has seen both personal tragedies like his ex-boyfriend's abusive behaviour, and national ones. His faith is also notable here as being "fragile", as this is referenced when he is at first hesitant to go back to church after he and Ukamaka stop talking to each other.

Scenes like their temporary break-up shows that his faith seems to be a coping mechanism despite his constant prayer. Ukamaka's own observations are poigniant and I feel that though these, Adichie is showing the reader what a Nigerian might experience under conditions like these. Faith is as much of an escape as it is a crutch. It cannot fix Chinedu's problems, yet he continues to have faith because it is all that he can do at the moment.