SURVIVAL

This study examines the impact of war on the family as reflected in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun and Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come. It explores how war and political instability destroy family ties, distort affection, and transform domestic life into a site of suffering and endurance. Both writers reveal that conflict extends beyond the battlefield, invading personal spaces and reshaping identity and human relationships. Through the Postcolonial Theory, the study interprets how historical oppression, power struggle, and the search for belonging continue to influence the African social order. It analyses the themes, characterisation, and dialogue of the two novels to show how war breeds trauma, silence, and loss within homes. The findings show that both Adichie and Atta represent the family as a mirror of the nation. In Half of a Yellow Sun, the Biafran War dismembers homes and leaves emotional ruins that reflect the nation’s tragedy. In Everything Good Will Come, dictatorship, social inequality, and moral repression recreate a form of domestic war that stifles growth and love. The research concludes that African women writers use the family setting as a platform for recording the psychological aftermath of national crises. It contributes to scholarship by revealing that the true cost of war is not only in the number of the dead but in the brokenness that lingers within the living.

Iron regulation is a vital aspect of hematological function, ensuring adequate iron supply for erythropoiesis while preventing oxidative toxicity from excess iron. The Iron Regulatory Protein 1 (IRP1) gene plays a central role in maintaining intracellular iron balance by modulating iron uptake, storage, and utilization. This study evaluated the effect of varying concentrations of aqueous Piper guineense (Uziza) leaf extract on the survival rate and IRP1 gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster, a recognized model for human iron metabolism. The aim was to determine how phytochemicals in Piper guineense, such as alkaloids, tannins, and flavonoids, influence iron homeostasis at the molecular level. Adult flies were divided into five groups: a
control group and four treatment groups administered 100 mg/ml, 200 mg/ml, 300 mg/ml, and 400 mg/ml of Piper guineense extract through their diet. Survival was monitored over 21 days, and IRP1 expression was analyzed using semi-quantitative PCR. Results showed that the 100 mg/ml group recorded the highest survival rate (80 ± 2.65%) compared to the control (71.33 ±
1.76%), indicating mild protective effects at low doses. Conversely, 200 mg/ml (75.67 ± 3.38%), 300 mg/ml (72.33 ± 2.33%), and 400 mg/ml (73.33 ± 2.03%) exhibited slightly higher but statistically insignificant survival relative to control, suggesting that higher concentrations may induce mild stress or toxicity. Gene expression analysis revealed that IRP1 mRNA levels were significantly reduced in the 200 mg/ml (1.55±0.05), 300 mg/ml (1.05±0.15), and 400 mg/ml (0.85±0.05) groups compared with control (2.30±0.10) (p < 0.05), while the 100 mg/ml (1.80±0.10) group maintained a relatively higher expression, implying upregulation of iron metabolism at lower doses. These findings demonstrate a dose-dependent effect of Piper guineense, where lower dosage intake enhances iron upregulation and increased survival rate, but increased dosage downregulates IRP1 expression and reduces the survival rate. The study concludes that controlled consumption of Piper guineense may potentially support hematological health, and further research on its molecular mechanisms and safe therapeutic dosage is recommended.