Half of a Yellow Sun: Chapters 11–18

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
In 1967, the Republic of Biafra declared independence from Nigeria, leading to civil war. This novel traces the lives of several characters who get caught up in turmoil of the Biafran War.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–10, Chapters 11–18, Chapters 19–24, Chapters 25–28, Chapters 29–37

Here are links to our lists for other works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah, Purple Hibiscus
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. uxorious
    foolishly fond of or submissive to your wife
    He felt a flush of achievement, at how easily fiancée had slipped out of him, a sign of future uxorious bliss.
  2. propitiate
    make peace with
    To propitiate the North, they fixed the pre-Independence elections in favor of the North and wrote a new constitution that gave the North control of the central government.
  3. renege
    fail to fulfill a promise or obligation
    Aburi came up often in their conversations: Okeoma would say that Gowon should have followed the agreement he and Ojukwu signed in Aburi, or Professor Ezeka would say that Gowon’s reneging after Aburi meant that he did not wish the Igbo well, or Odenigbo would proclaim, “On Aburi we stand.”
  4. assuage
    provide physical relief, as from pain
    He had been caught up in himself, in thinking that his coming was enough, that he would be the magnanimous angel who brought the last hours of their son to them and, by doing so, would assuage their grief and redeem himself.
  5. ebullient
    joyously unrestrained
    She had put up a photograph of her murdered relatives—Arize laughing in her wedding dress, Uncle Mbaezi ebullient in a tight suit next to a solemn Aunty Ifeka in a print wrapper—but she said very little about them and nothing about Olanna.
  6. pedantic
    marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning
    The international press was simply saturated with stories of violence from Africa, and this one was particularly bland and pedantic, the deputy editor wrote, but perhaps Richard could do a piece on the human angle?
  7. risible
    arousing or provoking laughter
    He began to write about Nnaemeka and the astringent scent of liquor mixing with fresh blood in that airport lounge where the bartender lay with a blown-up face, but he stopped because the sentences were risible.
  8. histrionic
    overly dramatic or emotional
    Richard told Kainene how charmed he had been by Ojukwu even though the man showed signs of early balding and was vaguely histrionic and wore a gaudy ring.
  9. lugubrious
    excessively mournful
    He had the lugubrious face of one who simply refuses to be consoled.
  10. ignoramus
    a person who lacks intelligence or sophistication
    “That ignoramus Gowon pledged a miserable, measly amount for more than two million refugees. Did he think it was chickens that died and it is the surviving relatives of those chickens who have returned home?”
  11. ennui
    the feeling of being bored by something tedious
    You could not sit up on such chairs; they assumed a life of hard-earned rest, of evenings reclining in fresh air after a day of farmwork. Perhaps they assumed, also, a life of ennui.
  12. fortuitous
    lucky; occurring by happy chance
    “How fortuitous,” Odenigbo said. “I’ll tell your dad right away. We can have the wedding here next week.”
  13. spurious
    plausible but false
    She could not believe he had brought Arize up like that, cheapened Arize’s memory in order to make a point in a spurious argument.
  14. adjutant
    an officer who acts as an assistant to a more senior officer
    Some little boys in the Biafran Boys Brigade were practicing on the street, with sticks shaped like guns, doing frog jumps, calling one another captain! and adjutant! in high voices.
  15. ostensible
    represented or appearing as such; pretended
    He gestures to complex problems facing the new country but focuses on the 1966 massacres. The ostensible reasons—revenge for the "Igbo coup,” protest against a unitary decree that would make Northerners lose out in the civil service—did not matter.
Created on Wed Apr 10 17:50:01 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Aug 07 15:29:12 EDT 2025)

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