Stylistic Analysis of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
This study aims at an identification of the predominant stylistic devices used in Chimamanda Adichie‟s Half Of A Yellow Sun and the effect these devices have in the over all evaluation of the novel.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
ORIGIN OF STYLISTICS
Stylistics as a study of style was originally known as “Elocutio” in “Rhetoric”. The study of modern stylistics in the twentieth century replaces and expands on the earlier study of Elocutio in Rhetoric, following the publication of a two – volume treatise on French stylistics (stylistique) by Bally in 1909.
Interest in stylistics gradually spread across Europe through the publications of Spitzer in (1928, 1948) respectively as well as other writers. It was in the 1960s that stylistics really began to flourish in Britain and the United States, given impetus from post – war developments in descriptive linguistics, especially in “Grammar”.
Stylistics in modern times came up through the work of linguists like Roman Jacobson, who applied the ideas of Saussure to the language of literature.
In many areas, however, stylistics is close to literary criticism and practical criticism. This is because the most commonly studied materials are literary and are also text oriented.
The term “Stylistics” since the 1950s, has been applied to a method of analyzing and interpreting works of literature which proposes to replace the subjectively and impressionism of standard criticism with an objective or scientific analysis and evaluation of the styles of literary texts. Stylistics has spread its wing over the years. It is a broad approach to the study of language variations especially in literary texts.
SCOPE OF STYLISTICS
Stylistics, as an approach to the study of language variations, is different from literary criticism because it involves a systematic study of features of style and variations in style at each level of language structure.
Hence, stylistics is an expansion of the traditional rhetoric in its study of features such as rhyme scheme, metre, diction and figures of speech which was done by literary scholars in ancient times. However, modern stylistics is broad and its scope involves:
A detailed description of each linguistic feature at each level. The phonological level which includes the combinations of individual sounds and the patterns of syllables that make up the metre, the level of syntax includes the ordering of items in the sentence and the length and complexity of clauses and phrases. Other levels includes diction which studies the choice of particular words and of synonyms, antonyms etc, the semantic level which deals with the extension and association of meaning through the use of ambiguity, substitution etc.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents an account of the methodology used by the researcher to collect her data and to analyse them.
RESEARCH DESIGN
This study is both descriptive and analytical. It described the method used for data collection and analysed the stylistic devices employed in the novel Half Of A Yellow Sun through the quantitative analysis. This entails counting and writing down the number of times each of the selected devices: Compound sentence, Compound complex sentence, Parenthetical expression, Italics, Code-mixing, and Transliteration occurred in each of the selected chapters of the novel using tables.
In the course of reading the novel, the researcher came across many stylistic devices used by Chimamanda Adichie such as personification, simile, bold sentences, loose sentences, periodic sentences, parallelism, complex sentence, simple sentence, capitalization, metaphor, code-mixing, compound sentence, transliteration, code-switching, compound complex sentence, parenthetical expression, italics and long sentences. But out of these devices, the researcher decided to select compound sentences, compound complex sentences, parenthetical expression, italics, code- mixing and transliteration which occurred more frequently for detailed analysis. Further more, one example of each of the selected stylistic devices is taken from each part of the novel for illustration.
Finally, the researcher used a Bar Chart to summarise the total frequency of occurrence of the selected devices in the selected 24 chapters.
THE POPULATION FOR THE STUDY
The population of the study was the whole chapters of the four parts that make up the novel. The novel has a total number of 37 chapters made up as follows:
PART ONE: The Early Sixties_ 6 Chapters. PART TWO: The Late Sixties_ 12 Chapters. PART THREE: The Early Sixties_ 6 Chapters. PART FOUR: The Late Sixties_ 13 Chapters.
Out of these 37 chapters the researcher analysed the entire six chapters in part one and part three respectively and then by random sampling selected six chapters each from parts two and four respectively since they both have uneven number of chapters. Total sample is 24 chapters of the novel.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND TEXTUALANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals with the presentation and the analysis of the stylistic devices identified in the novel. The researcher used tables in the presentation of data for clarity. A total of 24 chapters of the novel were selected out of the 37 chapters that make- up the four parts of the novel which the researcher analysed.
The 24 chapter chapters were selected to represent the 37 chapters and analysed for the frequency of occurrence of the selected stylistic device. The novel is divided into four parts, consequently, the tables of frequency were presented according to the four parts of the novel.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY
As mentioned earlier in this research work, stylistics is the study of linguistic features of a language and style is a pattern of writing that distinguishes one category of writing from another. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‟s novel is distinguished because of the following devices: compound sentence, compound complex sentence, italics, parenthetical expression, transliteration and code – mixing which she employs in her novel Half of A yellow sun.
By carefully manipulating these devices, she reveals the disastrous effects of the Nigerian civil war and the feelings of a group who have been maligned and disadvantaged in the Nigerian society.
According to Joyce Carol Oates, “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‟s Half of A yellow sun is a remarkable novel in its compassionate intelligence, as in its capacity for intimate portraiture. This novel is a worthy successor to such twentieth century classics as Chinua Achebe‟s Things Fall Apart.
Chimamanda‟s division of the novel into four parts could be to capture and explore vividly the different phases and events that led to the Nigerian civil war. The parts of the novel cover the early sixties and the late sixties which is from the period of independence to the coup d‟etat, the counter coup d‟etat and the subsequent secession which necessitated the civil war.
CONCLUSION
It is important to conclude that these stylistic devices; compound sentence, compound complex sentence, parenthetical expression, italics, transliteration and code – mixing used by Adichie served the purposes for which they were employed. They helped in portraying the author‟s feeling and the disastrous effect of the civil war in the post – colonial Nigeria society.
RECOMMENDATION
The researcher, therefore, recommends that more writers, especially young and developing writers should adopt this style of compiling their novels into four parts by breaking up a story into parts and concluding it at a later part. This heightens the effect of the narrative by creating suspense.
The variety of sentences used by Chimamanda Adichie is equally recommended because of the suspense it creates.
WORKS CITED
- Adichie, Chimamanda. Half of A Yellow Sun. Nigeria: Farafina 2006.
- Akmajian. A and others. An Introduction to Language and communication. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India, 2008
- Abrams M.H. and Harpham G. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Michael Rosenberg, 2009.
- Clark, Urzular. An introduction to Stylistics. United Kingdom: Stanley Thornes 1996.
- Dada, P.O. English and Literacy Stylistics. Markurdi: Abagom Press 2004.
- Ebeogu, Afam and Nwokocha, Uzoma. Issues in Humanities and Social Science. Enugu: fasman Communication 1998.
- Ezugu, Amadihe. Fundamentals of English Language and Literature for tertiary institution. Nigeria: Jamoe Enterprises 2011.
