A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF AFRICAN NOVEL (A STUDY OF ISIDORE OKPEWHO’ “THE LAST DUTY AND THE VICTIMS”)

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A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF AFRICAN NOVEL (A STUDY OF ISIDORE OKPEWHO’ “THE LAST DUTY AND THE VICTIMS”)

ABSTRACT

This research work makes a a sociological analysis of African novel; a study of Isidore Okpewho’ “the last duty and the victims”. The framework of the analysis is based on style as a choice which is one of the six rubrics identified by Azuike (1992). In this case, an individual has the freedom to deviate from the normal way of writing to have a unique presentation. This exposes the stylistic idiosyncrasies embraced by Okpewho in passing his message. The writer uses individualistic narrative style. Dash and ellipsis are punctuation marks also used in special ways. Figures of speech like anaphora, litotes, and rhetorical questions among others are used to beautify the work. Varieties of sentences are also displayed in the novel.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Language is the supreme tool or means of communication among humans (Osundare 2003:36). Communication of whatever medium– verbal, written, gesturing, facial expression or sign is language. Language is got from the Latin word “lingua” through French langue – meaning “tongue” (Rob Pope 1998:49). It is synonymous with tongue as the tongue is the main organ for speech production and primarily spoken and heard (Quirk and Greenbaum 1990:21). Language is a “species-specific to man and species-uniform” (Syal and Jindal 2008: 4). It is the quintessence of human existence, making us unique and distinguishing us from other animals. According to Lewis Thomas in O‟Grady and Archibald (2009:1), “the gift of language is the single human trait that marks us all genetically, setting us apart from the rest of life”. Language serves diverse roles in our society. It serves as a medium of information, education, instruction, entertainment, and so on. It is used in different aspects of our society and this is responsible for its varieties which include: legalese, religionese, officialese, journalese, commercialese, and so on. Language in its myriad functions, is also used in literary works and language use in text is the concern of this research. Creative writers often use language in their own ways to achieve beauty and meaning. They break the rules or norms of the language for a particular stylistic effect, but in the canopy of the language.

Literary writers express their messages, feelings, attitudes, experiences and world-views by means of language. According to Northrop Frye (1970:74), “literature is a specialized form of language, as language is of communication”. Language is the tool or pillar of literature and each literary writer employs a particular mode of presentation to express himself. Every literary artist, in his creative enterprise brings innovations to the language. For instance, he uses structure or arrangement and specific choice of words in a specific way for ornamentation and captivation of readers‟ attentions. Language is open-ended in that it permits the generation of new meanings and new forms (Leech and Short 2007:97). This creative use of language and the specific patterns employed in creative works by creative writers bring about style and stylistics in language studies.

There is always a purpose for any piece of composition and style is a means of achieving that purpose. The purpose is usually enhanced by the resources of the language which encodes the impression of a writer. In other words, it is the resource of language that aids individual’s performance (Crystal 1994) rightly observes that style is any situational distinctive use of language and of the choices made by individuals and social groups. This subtly accounts for every aesthetic use of language in all domains. It is important to note that words have meaning only in context, and context reveals the writer’s ideas, intentions, perspective and disposition in each situation. The choice of appropriate words to convey or express an individual’s desires, motive and attitude becomes an element of style when the choice of words bears a direct relevance to the subject of discussion, transmits the intended message and is understood by the target audience. That is why Osgood (1960) views style as an individual’s deviation from norms for the situations in which he is encoding. These deviations become the statistical properties of those structural features that account for the degree of choice in his code. In recent times, language and gender are topical issues in linguistics. Lakoff (1975) in Language and woman’s place is widely recognized as the pioneer work in feminist research by European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (www.ea-journals.org) on the relationship between language and gender. And scholars of language and gender have debated and developed Lakoff’s initial observations which state that language is fundamental to gender inequality. Lakoff points out that there are areas in which inequalities can be found in the language used by men and women.

The source shows that the language used by women and about women reflects the way that women are treated and, by extension, shows powerlessness. There are some societal implications of the differences between men’s and women’s writing and speaking forms. Uduk (2012) observes that the speech of one sex may be judged a prestigious though the same evaluative criteria may be applied when considering the other. In other words, some features have been ‘recognized as the outstanding markers of sexes in some or various communities’ (Uduk 2012:1). Just as different people in different age groups speak and write differently using different forms of expressions that are peculiar to their group, linguistic research in different parts of the world have shown that the speech/writing of men and women differ. For this reason, this paper seeks to evaluate the reports written by a male and a female on the Nigerian civil war of 1966 – 1970.

The end of the Nigerian civil war gave rise to a multitude of civil war literary works, ranging from opportunistic writings to factual and fictional accounts of the war. Some of the writings approach the level of invaluable historical documents; others reflect conscious or unconscious distortions of reality. To date, many of these writings have been by members of the defunct Republic of Biafra, in particular by members of Igbo origin. More than any other group, novelists have been the most prolific producers of literary works on the civil war. While it is impractical to identify them all, they include Eddie Iroh, Chukwuemeka Ike, John Munonye, I. N. C. Aniebo, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, Elechi Amadi, Okechukwu Mezu, Phanuel Egejuru, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ossie Onuora Enekwe, Kalu Okpi, Kole Omotosho, Kalu Uka, and Ken Saro Wiwa. Of the novels published within ten years of the war, others that achieved an impact on par with Okpe-who’s The Last Duty are Chukwuemeka Ike’s Sunset at Dawn (1976) and Eddie Iroh’s Toads of War (1979). Ike’s Sunset at Dawn explores various dimensions of the war to reinforce the notion that such conflicts are created by the elite whose power plays turn others into innocent victims. Iroh’s Toads of War focuses on the moral decay inside Biafra brought about by greedy millionaires, self-proclaimed messiahs, and prodigals who looted the country. Common to these and other such novels is a focus on the political dimensions of the war and an almost exclusive concern for how and why the Biafran dream failed to materialize. In contrast, The Last Duty explores the psychological damage that any war does to the minds of people, high and low. Okpewho tries in the novel, to show his readers other aspects of the war rather than the shooting. In the face of fear, violence and corruption, there were individuals who still maintained their self respect and conducted themselves according to the dictates of their conscience by doing what honour and fair play demanded. (Emenyonu and Oguzie, p. 183). Physical devastation of life and property are the domains of most of the novels set at the same time and place as The Last Duty. What gives The Last Duty its distinct place is its profound exploration of “the internal conflicts within and among the characters which supply an even greater tension” (Obiechina, p. 270). Aside from the differences in content, there is a difference in setting. While most Nigerian war novels concern

1.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM

As language is a social phenomenon, linguistic varieties are expected to arise from who the man is and his unique artistic creations. These different personalities are usually identified through a perfect adaptation of one’s language to one’s ideas. The literary writers use language in a particular way for aesthetic effect and meaning. This is also applicable to Okpewho. The research will illuminate and explore what is peculiar or specific to their language, how and why Okpewho has employed the resources or tools of language in these aforementioned text in special ways. Some works have been done to explore the literary beauty of this work but much remains to be done in the area of linguistic investigation.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1. To examine the sociology of African novel.

2. To investigate the events in history at the time of the novel.

3. To examine the effects of the military rule and civil war to the Igbo nation.

4. To analysis the systemic features of the language used in the primary texts, revealing the copious structural sentence types and literary devices used in the novel.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will be relevant to students of English as it will help them appreciate the differences and similarities discovered in language use by both sexes. It will be an additional research material in the field of applied linguistics as well as stylistics.

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research attempts to make a sociological analysis of African novel ; a case study of Isidore Okpewho’ “the last duty and the victims”.

1.6 METHODOLOGY

The method adopted in this study includes the selection of prose texts that have a common field of discourse (civil war in Nigeria). Data relevant for analysis are drawn from the primary texts; Okpewho’s The Last Duty and victims. Other secondary sources shall also be consulted. Lexico-semantics, graphological and syntactic features will be analyzed through a systematic model.

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