PORTRAYAL OF CAREER DILEMMAS AND SOCIETAL PERCEPTIONS OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES GRADUATES IN ACHEBE’S NO LONGER AT EASE AND TARTT’S THE SECRET HISTORY

This study investigates the portrayal of career dilemmas and societal perceptions of English and Literary Studies graduates in Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital as its theoretical anchor. It explores how both texts depict the struggles of humanities graduates Obi Okonkwo and Richard Papen who, despite acquiring elite educational credentials, find themselves disillusioned and marginalized due to structural and class-based limitations. The analysis shows how their cultural capital, embodied in literary and classical knowledge, fails to convert into economic security or social mobility within the institutional environments they return to or inhabit. Obi’s narrative captures the tension between communal expectations, moral idealism, and bureaucratic corruption in postcolonial Nigeria, while Richard’s story reflects the isolating elitism and performative class mobility of American academia. In both cases, their education becomes a burden rather than a liberating force, leading to psychological detachment, ethical compromise, or eventual failure. The study concludes that while cultural capital offers intellectual prestige, it remains inadequate for sustaining upward mobility without structural support and economic empowerment.