THEME AND LANGUAGE USE IN CLEMENT ODIA’S COLLECTION NIGHT OF INTRUDERS AND OTHERS STORIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study       

1.2     Statement of the Problem

1.4     Aim and Objectives of the Study

1.4     Research Questions

1.6     Significance of the Study

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.0     Introduction

2.1     Conceptual Review

2.3     Theoretical framework

2.3.1 The Moralist Theory

2.4     Empirical Review

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

3.1     Research Design

3.2     Area of Study

3.3     Method of Data Collection and Analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.0     Introduction

4.1     Data Analysis

4.1.1 Themes in three Stories from the novel Night of Intruders and Other Stories

4.1.1.1 Themes in “The King’s Man”

The Theme of Wisdom

          The Theme of Poverty

The Theme of Reincarnation

The Theme of Retrocognition, Foresight and Forgiveness

The Theme of Friendship

4.1.1.2 The Themes in Clement Odia’s “The Burden Bearer”

The Theme of Poverty

The Theme of Burden Bearing

The Theme of Love end Jealousy

The Theme of Prodigal

The Theme of Cheating and Human Sacrifice

4.1.1.3 The Themes in “Night of Intruders”

The Theme of Love

The Theme of Friendship

The Theme of Anarchy and Brutality

The Theme of Causation

4.1.2 Language Use

          Proverbs

          Diction

Diction of “Night of Intruders”

Figurative Language

Figurative Language in “The King’s Man”

Paradox

Personification

Figurative language in “The Burden Bearer”

Personification

Metaphor

Synecdoche

Euphemism

Figurative Language in “Night of Intruders”

Metaphor

Personification

Euphemism

4.2     Findings

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1     Summary of Findings

5.2     Conclusion

5.3     Recommendation

Works Cited

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study        

                 Ezra Pound, in ABC of Reading (28), states that great literature is ‘language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree’. Great writers use language with originality, mastery, and ingenuity. Some writers have little originality when writing which is beyond their individual voice while the language use of great writers is charged with meaning of a greater degree giving their work greater content and value.  Winifred Nowottny, in The Language Poets Use (25), writes that ‘some poets in weighing words, are consciously vigilant of the effects which may be produced by use of their corporeal characteristics as they are of their conceptual meanings’ he cites Paul Valéry as an example of archetypal poet creating a literary work by virtue of ‘looking for one word which has to satisfy at least six conditions’. It is this conscious charging of language with meaning that contributes to the difference between a great and an ordinary writer.

Clement Odia, in his selected stories, show great skills in his use of language. He weaves them into complete literary work. From the standing point of formalist idea, a true literature must be considered and evaluated without bringing additional meaning from the outside world. Every literary work is a complete world of itself. Odia’s Night of Intruders and Other Stories, displays great mastery with thought provoking themes through language. The stories have complete worlds of themselves.

In every literary text, according to the consequentialist moralist theorist as propounded by G. E. M. Anscombe choices are made by characters these choices often come with consequences which could sometime end well while at other time, ends bad. Although every character makes choices which they expect to benefit them in the long run but sometimes the unpredictability of the future could make these choices diary. Every choice is made with the intention of a better outcome.

                    In contemporary literary studies, a theme is a central topic, subject, or message within a narrative. This can often be summed in a single word (for example, love, death, betrayal). Typical examples of themes of this type are conflict between the individual and society; coming of age; humans in conflict with technology; nostalgia; and the dangers of unchecked ambition. A theme may be exemplified by the actions, utterances, or thoughts of a character in a novel. A story may have several themes. Themes often explore historically common or cross-culturally recognizable ideas, such as ethical questions, and are usually implied rather than stated explicitly. An example of this would be whether one should live a seemingly better life, at the price of giving up parts of one's humanity. Along with plot, character, setting, and style, theme is considered one of the components of fiction.

                     Language analysis in literature also called literary analysis is the process of breaking details down into smaller parts to examine the author's use of language. The author makes use of different devices in building a literary work. These devices include symbolism, allusions, diction, syntax, figurative language, metaphors, tone, themes, and foreshadowing among others.  Punctuations such as full stop, comma, question mark, apostrophe, and colon are also crafted into a beautiful literary writing.

Clement Odia  Night of Intruders and Other Stories provides us the primary source with which to analyze the connection between themes and language use. Thus this study shall be centered on the themes and language in the text from the standpoint of consequentialist moralist theory.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

                   Every literary work is a masterpiece of craftsmanship. The mastery of each piece makes it a mastery because according to Northrop Frye (19), a good literary work cannot be exhausted but gives rise to endless thought. Therefore, this project seeks to bring out the themes and language use in some selected stories in clement Odia’s Night of Intruders and Other Stories using G.E.M Anscombe’s consequentialist moralist theory

1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this research work is to critically analyze the themes and language use in Clement Odia’s Night of Intruders and Other Stories using the consequentialist moralist theory

. It investigates the language use by the writer and how characters within the work use this language to enrich the plot structure.

This study has the following objectives:

1.         To find the themes within the different short stories and how they make up the story.

2.         To show how the language use of the writer enriches the work, bringing out the morals behind them.

1.4 Research Questions

The research raises two research questions namely;   

1. To what extent has the language of the various stories contributed to their development?

2. How does the language use build up the themes in those short stories?

1.5 Scope of Study

                The research will examine the themes and language use in “The King’s Man”, “The Burden Bearer” and “Night of the Intruders” all within Clement Odia’s Night of Intruders andOther Stories. The researcher will examine the language of the stories such as the use of diction, proverbs and the mechanics of writing which include full stop, comma, question mark and others.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This research shall contribute largely to scholarship on literary discourse. It will be relevant to the student of literature in knowing how literary language operates and how it shed light on themes of a literary piece

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