Browsing by Author "G/Meskel, Tesfamaryam"

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    Application of Major Narrative Techniques: A Comparative Analysis of Chinua Achebe’s Novels
    (Addis Ababa University, 2008-06) G/Meskel, Tesfamaryam; Daniel, Abiye (PhD)
    This thesis tries to investigate the application of major narrative techniques used in Chinua Achebe’s novels. The main objectives of the paper are identifying the narrative techniques used in Achebe’s novels and pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the novels in relation to the use of narrative techniques. In accomplishing the aforementioned objectives, the writer of this study tries to review relevant literatures in relation to narrative techniques. Then an attempt is made to go through Achebe’s five novels in accordance with the reviewed literatures by focusing on point of view and narrative time. In the analysis, it is pointed out that Achebe’s first three novels are written in the third person omniscient point of view. This perspective made the reader a passive recipient of information since he/she expects everything from the narrator. Achebe’s fourth novel, ‘A Man of the People’, is written from the point of view of a first person narrator. With all its subjectivity and unreliability, this novel is appealing to readers because of the narrators’ humanly appearances. Achebe’s fifth novel ‘Anthills of the Savannah’ employs the third person omniscient and the first person point of views. The use of the two points of views helps the author to minimize the gap that can be created due to the limitations of both points of views. On the other hand, no relevant difference can be observed among the five novels in terms of narrative time, except the second novel ‘No Longer at Ease’. The story in this novel is presented in the form of a long flashback. Because of this, the reader might find him/her self, connecting pieces of information in the process of reading. There are also deviations from the chronological order in the other four novels. Similar presentations can be observed when we look at the five novels in terms of duration and frequency. 8 From the analysis of the five novels, it is concluded that considerable attention is not given to the way the stories in his first three novels are presented. On the other hand, in ‘A Man of the People’, the author used the limitations of the first person narrator to foreground the overall cynicism that existed in the country. In ‘Anthills of the Savannah’, the author succeeded in overcoming the limitations of the first person and the third person points of views by substituting the two points of views in presenting the story.