Food Symbolism and Cultural Identity in Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s I Do Not Come to You by Chance

The novel, I Do Not Come to You By Mistake, by Adaobi Tricia Uwaubani is a narrative of relationships and is set in a contemporary pervasive culture of internet fraud, popularly known in Nigeria as 419. It explores the nuanced interrelationship of identity, scarcity, moral decadence and food symbolism. This study sets out to discover how Nwaubani depicts how food serves as a symbol of identity, scarcity and moral decay and discovers that the socio-economic and ethical dilemma that the protagonist, Kingsley, faces are reflected in and symbolized by the foods that show the protagonist’s evolution from an innocent young man to a conman who strips unsuspecting ‘oyibos’ of their money. Using Marxist and Postcolonial theories, this study interrogates how the have-nots navigate the world of poverty and unfounded wealth. It also emphasizes that opportunistic wealth, apart from changing the lifestyle of the protagonist and his ilk, eventuate the desperations that drive and propel the moral choices and compromises faced by young unemployed graduates who are victims of a failed system that celebrates conspicuous consumption. The study reveals how economic instability and uncertainties construe to erode traditional and cultural values while investing a get-rich-quick-without-legitimatemeans mentality on the young. Nwaubani denotes this erosion in the protagonist’s relationship with food; from the plain fare of his modest beginnings to the lavish and outlandish feast of corruption, the novelist portrays the fact that moral decay results from widespread inequality, results in the utter collapse of ethical boundaries, and a seemingly entrenched system of poverty in the society.

Keywords: Food Scarcity Poverty Moral Decay Culture

Author

• Isaac M. Udoh,
  Department of English Language and Literature
  Abia State University, Uturu
  isaac.udoh@abiastateuniversity.edu.ng