Structure

Introduction

The traditional structure of Half of a Yellow Sun's third person omniscient flows based on the war and three characters. The novel starts off before the war in Part One with third person 13-year-old Ugwu. Then, the novel automatically shifts to a new chapter along with a new character, Olanna. On the third chapter, Adichie places the point of view of Englishman Richard, the third main character of the novel. The main characters take turns for each chapter. At the end of the third chapter, there was a section called "The Book: The World Was Silent When We Died." It described of Nigeria and Richard wrote it since it was always found at the end of his section and they began with "he."

Characters

Three main characters in three chapters represent a jump from one perspective to another. The fact that it went in order the first six chapter represents a routine or everything in this time is orderly. Besides that, a distance is already present with the third person point of view in the novel. This could be an effect this war had: it distanced people from one another. The book written inside the book to be part of the story can show recording or archiving important accounts or events. Maybe they can be new accounts that have never been found, like secrets being revealed.

War Begins

The novel continues in a chronological order to Part Two fast forwarding to the late 60's when the war begins. Point of views still continue to switch back and forth for the next nine chapters, but they no longer go in the same order as they did in Part One. The resemblance of the war starting might have something to do with it. The sense of instability or sudden changes can show in this way. 

Strangely, Part Three travels back to the early 60's with the exact same features as Part One: six chapters long, characters points of view alternating in the same order, and Richard's third chapter ending with "The Book: The World Was Silent When We Died." The division of going back in time can be Adichie experimenting with comparing the lifestyles of people before the war versus during the war. People had food, shelter, and clothing in the early 60's; the late 60's show food scarcity and people leaving their homes.

End of War

The last part of Half of a Yellow Sun returns time to the late 60's to the end of the war. Longer chapters represent the war dragging on both chronologically and emotionally in Nigeria, and this part has different character orders compared to Part Two. 

Adichie definitely used structure to convey the effects of war by twisting a traditional story.