Garoui Mustapha - Bibliothèque Centrale Université de Ouargla

115 Pages·2003·0.51 MB·English

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
KASDI MERBAH UNIVERSITY -OUARGLA-

Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Department of Foreign Languages
English Division N° d'ordre :
N° de série :

Dissertation submitted for the fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of

MAGISTER

OPTION: COMPARATIVE STYLISTICS

By: Mr Mustapha GAROUI

Theme

ORAL FORMS IN ACHEBE’S

THINGS FALL APART: A STYLISTIC READING

th
Submitted publicly on January 30 , 2007
Before the Jury made up of:

Prof. Mohamed MILIANI Oran University Chairman
Dr Sidi Mohamed LAKHDAR-BARKA Oran University Supervisor
Dr. Fewzia BEDJAOUI Sidi Bel Abbes University Examiner

Academic Year : 2006– 2007
Contents

Page
Dedication i
Acknowledgement ii
Abstract iii

Introduction 2
Chapter one : Theoretical Background
1.1 Stylistics 11
1.2 Style 16
1.3 Oral Culture 25
1.4 Characteristics of Primary Oral Culture 28
1.5 African Traditions: Oral and Written 42

Chapter Two : Literary Forms
2.1 Proverbs 47
2.2 Folktales and Storytelling Situations 51
2.3 Poetry and Songs 63
2.4 Simile and Metaphor 68
2.5 Irony 72

Chapter Three : Linguistic Forms in Writing
3.1 The Use of “and”: Additive rather than Subordinative 77
3.2 Repetition 80
3.3 Code-switching and Ibo words 85
3.4 Apposition 91
3.5 Alliteration/assonance 93
3.6 Onomatopoeia 96
3.7 The Talking Drum 97
Conclusion 100

Bibliography 109
Glossary 111
Appendix 1 113
Appendix2 114
Abstract

This paper is a tentative critical reading of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart.
It is an attempt to determine whether the use of oral forms in a literary tradition can
help to better understand the underlying meaning of the novel without distorting its
form as a literary tradition. It tries also to demonstrate that the analysis of these oral
forms can help the reader to draw a stylistic interpretation.
Most African writers use orality in their writings. It constitutes the primary source
of literary creativity in Africa. Things Fall Apart is based on traditional African culture
and it is the foremost example where oral forms are overused .
This paper is divided into three chapters. Chapter one deals with a theoretical
background of orality and oral style.
The second chapter deals with literary analysis of oral forms such as proverbs,
stories, songs, similes, metaphors and irony.
The third chapter deals with linguistic analysis of oral forms such as repetition, code-
switching, the additive “and”, onomatopoeia and alliteration.
The conclusion will expose a few views on what may come out from a literary point
of view, when two literary traditions meet.

Key words : proverbs , stories, songs , similes, metaphors, repetition, additive “and”,
onomatopoeia and alliteration
RESUME
Ce travail est une lecture critique expérimentale du roman de Chinua Achebe,
Things Fall Apart. C'est une tentative de déterminer si l'utilisation des formes orales
dans une tradition littéraire peut mieux aider à comprendre la signification fondamentale
du roman sans tordre sa forme comme tradition littéraire. Il essaye également de
démontrer que l'analyse de ces formes orales peut aider le lecteur à dessiner une
interprétation stylistique.
La plupart des auteurs Africains emploient l' orality dans leurs écritures. Elle
constitue la source primaire de créativité littéraire en Afrique. Things Fall Apart est
basées sur la culture traditionnelle Africaine et c'est le premier exemple où les formes
orales sont surutilisées.
Ce travail est divisé en trois chapitres:
Le premier chapitre traite un fond théorique d'orality et du modèle oral.
Le deuxième chapitre traite l'analyse littéraire des formes orales telles que des
proverbes, histoires, chansons, comparaisons, métaphores et ironie.
Le troisième chapitre traite l'analyse linguistique des formes orales telles que la
répétition, code-commutation, l'additif "et ", onomatopoeia et allitération.
La conclusion exposera quelques vues sur ce qui peut venir dehors d'un point de vue
littéraire, quand deux traditions littéraires se réunissent.

Mots clés : proverbes, histoires, chansons, comparaisons, métaphores et ironie,
répétition, code-commutation, l'additif "et ", onomatopoeia et allitération
(cid:1)(cid:3)ّ (cid:4)(cid:5)

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(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)ا ا(cid:13)(cid:8)ه لُ و!(cid:9)(cid:18)ُ . *6دأ (cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:4)(cid:24)(cid:16)آ ?(cid:4)ِ"1 @(cid:18)(cid:15)(cid:9)(cid:22)َ نو(cid:23)6 AB+أ A"/6 (cid:19)ِ(cid:18)او(cid:15)(cid:4)(cid:11) * ِ (cid:16)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:11)ا 9(cid:31)(cid:17)3(cid:11)ا :-ْ .َ(cid:11) (cid:23)َ<!=(cid:18)ُ ْنأَ
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*(cid:8)هو (cid:19)ِ(cid:8)(cid:18)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:4)(cid:24)(cid:16)(cid:11)ا (cid:19)ِ(cid:8)(cid:20)(cid:24)(cid:18)(cid:15)+2ا (cid:19)ِ(cid:8)+!(cid:24)J(cid:11)ا 9(cid:4)< ة(cid:23)(cid:31)(cid:16)=(cid:5) Things Fall Apart (cid:19)(cid:18)اور .!(cid:20)(cid:24)(cid:18)(cid:15)+أ *+ *ِ 6د2ا عِ ا(cid:23)6Lا
.ل!3(cid:17)(cid:16)4Lا *+ (cid:19)N(cid:15)َ .(cid:5)ُ (cid:19)ُ(cid:20)-./(cid:11)ا لُ !"12ا(cid:15)(cid:10)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:22) 8(cid:18)أ لُ وّ 2ا لُ !J3(cid:11)ا
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.(cid:19)ِ(cid:18)(cid:15)(cid:3)=(cid:11)او ةِر!(cid:17)(cid:16)4Lا
"و" ،[ِ (cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:5)(cid:15)(cid:11)ا A(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:18)$(cid:9)(cid:22) ،رِ ا(cid:15)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)"(cid:16)(cid:11)ا A(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)J(cid:5) (cid:19)ِ(cid:20)-./(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:11)ا لِ !"(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)1S(cid:11) يِ $(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)Y(cid:4)(cid:11)ا Aِ (cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:20)(cid:4)(cid:9)(cid:16)(cid:11)ا Z(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:5) (cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:11)!J(cid:11)ا Aُ K(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8).(cid:11)ا ُA(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:5)!(cid:17)(cid:16)(cid:18)َ
.*(cid:11)P-(cid:16)4Lا س!(cid:31)(cid:21)(cid:11)او (cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:22)$K(cid:11)ا ة!آ!(cid:9)3(cid:11)ا،(cid:19)(cid:20)+!]Lا
.*-./(cid:11)ا بد2ا و *6!(cid:16)"(cid:11)ا بد2ا Z3(cid:16)(cid:21)(cid:18) !(cid:5)(cid:23)(cid:31)< b(cid:16)(cid:31)(cid:20)4 !(cid:5) ل$a (cid:15)R(cid:31)(cid:11)ا ت!-_و `(cid:17)6 ضُ (cid:15)(cid:17)ْ (cid:16)َ4َ (cid:19)3(cid:22)!(cid:3)(cid:11)ا

،[ِ (cid:5) (cid:15)(cid:11)ا A(cid:18)$(cid:9)(cid:22) ،رِ ا(cid:15)"(cid:16)(cid:11)ا ،(cid:19)ِ(cid:18)(cid:15)(cid:3)=(cid:11)ا و ةِر!(cid:17)(cid:16)4Lا ،تِ !-(cid:20)(cid:10)/(cid:16)(cid:11) ا، *(cid:25)!W2ا، (cid:1)ِ K(cid:24)(cid:11) ا، لِ !J(cid:5)2ا :(cid:19) a!(cid:16).(cid:5) ت!3(cid:4)آ
.*(cid:11)P-(cid:16)4Lا س!(cid:31)(cid:21)(cid:11)او (cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:22)$K(cid:11)ا ة!آ!(cid:9)3(cid:11)ا،(cid:19)(cid:20)+!]Lا "و"
Appendices

Appendix 1 : Characteristics of Primary Oral Cultures

Primary Oral Cultures Literate Cultures
Additive – Oral literature tends to build in Subordinative – Written literature tends to
structure by adding new events. This is often subsume subpoints under main points. It has a
called parataxis, where the author builds up large number of subplots.
idea after idea with and between them.
Aggregative – Oral literature relies on epithets Analytic – Written literature relies on more
and clustering. Heroes tend to have praise detailed distinction of parts.
names attached to them.
Copious/Redundant– Oral literature stresses Continuity– Written literature, because it
a fullness of expression that builds; one cannot makes visual retrieval possible, can go back
loop back to previous text. and resume previous developments.
Conservative/Traditionalist– Oral texts tend Potentially Subversive– Written texts can
to build on what has existed so far. more easily break from previous patterns.
Close to the human lifeworld– Oral literature More able to distance or denature the
tends to be concerned with human deeds, even world– Written texts tend to allow one to talk
the gods act like humans. Texts conceived in about philosophical ideals, principles, and
oral cultures do not focus on abstractions. scientific laws.
Agonistically toned– Oral literature tends to Calmer in tone– Written literature tends to be
be performed in a more combative style. Oral more objective because it is more abstract.
performers are contestants, so they must
compete for their audiences.
Empathetic, Participatory– Oral literature Objectively Distanced– Writing, and
tends to be more communal in reaction. especially print, encourages distance,
objectivity, and neutrality.
Homeostatic– Oral literature tends to treat the Historical– Written literature is less able to
past and the present as essentially the same. conflate the past with the present.
Situational Self– In oral societies, personhood Isolationist Self– Written societies tend to
is discovered in the communal; it is hard to make it possible for one to be more seperate
think of the self as existing outside community and private. Texts become owned property.
structures.
Appendix 2 : William Butler Yeats: "The Second Coming"

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand;
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
INTRODUCTION
Before the introduction of literacy into West Africa, traditional African
culture was mainly based on the spoken form. Much of the precolonial
African literature was oral. Oral literature (or orature ), including songs,
poems, and folk tales, was used to entertain children and to pass on histories
through generations. African oral literature also includes myth, storytelling
and legends. However, with the introduction of schools during 1930’s , there
has been a great change in the traditional societies and in their ways of
thinking. Many writers and journalists have used newspapers to air their
views. They denounced colonialism and proudly asserted the validity of the
cultures that the colonials had tried to crush. As Africans began demanding
their independence, more African writers were published. Such writers as, in
western Africa, Wole Soyinka , Chinua Achebe and, in eastern Africa, Ngugi
wa Thiong’o produced poetry, short stories, novels, essays, and plays. All
were writing in European languages, and often they shared the same themes:
the clash between indigenous and colonial cultures, condemnation of
European conquest, pride in the African past, and hope for the continent's
independent future. Many writers incorporate other arts into their work and
often weave oral conventions into their writing. Moreover, the use of English,
which is the language of the colonist, has opened the doors for the West
African Novel to emerge.
For example, Achebe’s first novels deal mainly with the impact of
Western culture on the traditional African culture which results from the
contact between indigenous people, missionaries and colonists. Indeed, under
the missions of civilization, and through colonialism, the Europeans
misunderstood the Africans and almost completely deformed the real history
of Africa . Besides, they considered Africa as a “Dark Continent” and its
3
inhabitants as cannibals and savage people. This European imagination, in
fact, was reinforced by many writers such as Conrad and Carry. Africa was
seen as barbaric , a prehistoric land in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness 1
and primitive in Joyce Carry’s Mister Johnson 2.Indeed, after reading Mister
Johnson, which is a novel about an African from a British prisoner-of-war
camp who begs to be killed by the white Englishman, Achebe decided this
characterization of Africans was ridiculous and ignorant.
Achebe is among the many African writers who encourages cultural
nationalism and decides to defend his traditional African culture through his
writings3. He has reacted against the European Novels and played an
important role in modern African literature.
Furthermore, he has become aware that the Africans now must write their
history by themselves. Therefore, Chinua Achebe has written his first novel,
Things Fall Apart, both as an affection to his past and as a recognition that
Africa’s story should be told not in such novels as Heart of Darkness or
Mister Johnson but only by African writers themselves. He states that he
became a writer in order to tell his story and the story of his people from his
own viewpoint. The narrative and linguistic strategies in the text help create a
new perspective and new story of Nigerian and African history. He lectured in
1964:
“ I would be quite satisfied if my novels - especially the ones I set in
the past – did no more than to teach their readers that their past –
with all its imperfections – was not one long night of savagery from
which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them ”.4

4