No Longer at Ease includes a variety of idealistic characters, from Obi Okonkwo, the typical young, educated reformer, to Mr. Green, his gruff racist boss . Despite the different visions of these characters, they share the characteristic of being trapped in their own worldviews, unable to effect change due to an inability to see the world beyond their own preconceptions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Because he is between two worlds, Obi would seem the most likely to accomplish something, but he is least able to do so. Raised in a Nigerian village and educated in England, he has experience of both European and African cultures but understands neither. He believes strongly enough in European progressivism to marry a woman from a forbidden caste, even though she does not share his beliefs. “I can't marry you” (80), says his fiancée Clara, to which her response is “nonsense!” (81). Even after Clara attempts to return her engagement ring, explaining that "your family will be against [our marriage]. I don't want to come between you and your family" (141), Obi retorts, "bullshit!" (141) and proceeds home, where his mother tells him that if he marries while she is alive, she will "kill herself" (154). Obi does not understand the fact that he cannot marry Clara. Although his opinions are enlightened, no one else in his life shares them. Clara is not interested in the gift of equality brought by missionaries who teach that "in Christ there are neither bonds nor free" (151). The Umuofia Progressive Union, which sent Obi to England to become "a great light" (9), has no desire to see what it illuminates, condemning Obi's marriage to "a girl of dubious origin" (94). Likewise, no one appreciates Obi's marriage attempt to reform Nigeria's corrupt bureaucracy. When Obi refuses a bribe from a man trying to secure a scholarship for his sister, the sister comes in person to offer Obi another bribe. She gets the scholarship without any help from Obi, but when her friend Christopher asks her, "how do you know she didn't sleep with the board members?" (138), Obi acknowledges that he “probably did” (138). Likewise, when Obi's chariot is stopped by armed men demanding money, Obi conspicuously spies on the extortionists, making them fear that Obi will report them. The driver reacts by complaining that "now that [']the policeman['] [has] go[ing to] charge...ten shillings" (50) instead of two. Mr. Green, the only person in the book who agrees with Obi's goals, never knows of his attempts to stop corruption, only of his eventual bribes, which supports his view that "the African is corrupt in every way" (3).Mr. Green's form of idealism is less orthodox than Obi's. Mr. Green dreams of a corruption-free government: a Nigerian government without Nigerians. According to Obi, he is “a man who [does] not believe in a country and yet work[s]… hard for it” (120), which makes him seem like a pragmatist. It's true that Green tries to stem corruption; we hear him dictating a letter in which he informs the recipient that "the Government pays a dependent's allowance to the bona fide wives of government scholars and not to their friends" (132). Yet he “had resigned when it was thought that Nigeria might become independent” (121), which could only be an act of an idealist. Mr. Green "must have originally come with an ideal: to bring light into the heart of darkness... in 1900 Mr. Green might have been ranked among the great.