Browsing by Author "Melsew Alemayehu"

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    Narrative Strategies in Selected Anglophone African Diaspora Novels
    (Addis Ababa University, 2025-02) Melsew Alemayehu; Berhanu Matthews (PhD)
    The study aims to explore the narrative strategies in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s Americanah (2013) and Dinaw Mengistu‗s The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2007) through the lens of contemporary narrative theory. Focusing on narrative theory, the study examines how narrative voice, narrative level and narrative time strategies are employed to shape the novels‘ thematic and emotional impact. Narrative strategy refers to the techniques used by the author to achieve specific effects. Relying on narrative theory, the study employs a qualitative research method, utilizing textual analysis. In Americanah, Adichie employs a heterodiegetic narrator, using an omniscient perspective to explore characters‘ internal conflicts, especially regarding ideological and social issues raised in the novel. Conversely, Mengistu‗s novel features a homodiegetic narrator, where the protagonist himself narrates the story. This intimate perspective allows readers to deeply engage with his emotional struggles about displacement and loneliness, shaping the novel‗s overall atmosphere. The distinction between covert and overt narration is notable: in Americanah, the narrator remains mostly unknown, while the narrator in Mengistu's novel is easily noticeable, contributing to a sense of personal reflection and introspection. The second major narrative strategy analyzed is narrative level. Both novels also employ narrative embedding as a strategy. In Americanah, blogging serves as an embedded narrative text to raise critical issues, particularly around race. In The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, the embedded narratives are limited, often relying on traditional forms like letters. The third major narrative strategy analyzed is narrative time. Both novels utilize a nonlinear structure, dominated by analepsis, beginning in medias res. Adichie‘s manipulation of time underscores themes of identity, migration, and belonging, illustrating how the past continually influences the present. Similarly, in The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, the interplay between past memories and present circumstances reflects the protagonist‗s feelings of alienation and longing. The fluid narrative time in both novels demonstrates how past experiences shape characters‘current identities and decisions. Additionally, Americanah makes strategic use of prolepsis to depict characters‘disrupted sense of self, which contrasts with its minimal use in Mengistu‗s novel. In both works, almost all kinds of frequency have been used, but singulative frequency is the dominant strategy, where events are recounted once as they occurred. Overall, narrative voice and time serve as essential interpretive tools, enabling readers to engage more deeply with the novels' thematic complexities and underlying meanings.