CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE'S STEADY  LOSS OF LITERARY INNOCENCE
      In her award-winning first novel, Purple Hibiscus, the prodigiously talented Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Adichie narrates the gripping story of Kambili,a self effacing girl whose fanatic father unleashes terror in his household. One striking feature of  Kambili's character is her innocence and chastity,especially at the early stages of the narration. However,as the plot of the novel thickens,she encounters and falls in love with Father Amadi.Remarkably,it is  a case of love devoid of romantic exploits.
     Like Kambili, Chimamanda Adichie is,slowly but steadily,losing her literary innocence. She is becoming more and more daring in her description of sexually explicit scenes in her novels.
     In Purple Hibiscus, Adichie studiously refrains from talking about sex,let alone vividly describing it. In her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, Adichie loses her chastity. The multiple-award winning novel is an epic story of love and civil war set in Nigeria during the 1960s. It recounts the lives of three enigmatic characters: Ugwu,a young houseboy working for an idealistic university professor; Olanna,the professor's mistress;and Richard,a British expatriate in love with Olanna's twin sister, Kainene. Their relationships are thrown into jeopardy when Richard spends one drunken nightwith Olanna, as the war escalates.
    In this novel,Adichie graphically give sexual details. The professor's sexual escapades with his mistress and Richard's dalliance with Kainene are vividly described.
    In her third and newly published novel,Americanah, Adichie evinces a complete loss of innocence as far as the issue of sex is concerned. Americanah is a powerful story of love,race and identity which centres around the characters of Ifemelu and Obinze who,as teenagers, fall in love in Lagos, Nigeria, and later move to America and Europe respectively for greener pastures and security. 
   Ifemelu once gets a jobof massaging a libidinous tennis coach for 100 dollars. She spurns the disgusting job offer. Ifemelu had sexual intercouse with Curt,a white American. Adichie's descriptions of their sexual bouts are graphic. She employs words like 'breasts','ass', and even the 'F.......word, 'f.......king.' Ifemule even had a fling with Rob,a shabby young man whom she feels will be a stud on bed.
  In the climax of the novel, Ifemelu and Obinze relocate to Nigeria,and reestablish their old relationship. They make love repeatedly.In one particular love making,Adichie graphically describes how Obinze removes Ifemelu's blouse,bra and pants.
     In conclusion,the aim of this write up is not to disparage Adichie's creative genius as a writer but to highlight this writer's observation.