A comparative analysis of Firebrands and The Wicked Walk A thematic perspective
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article analysed and compared two novels: Sahlesilasse Birhanemeskel’s Firebrands and W.E Mkufya’s The Wicked Walk following a thematic analytical framework. The article tries to explore the major themes of the two novels. The novels were selected from two different African counters: Firebrands from Ethiopia and The Wicked Walk from Tanzania. The study followed a qualitative research design. A content analysis checklist was followed as the main analytical tool. Common themes portrayed by the two East African novelists have often been misunderstood as the authors lived in two different counties facing colonialism and liberation differently. Tanzania was a British colony and Ethiopia remained a free country. Readers often expect the two authors present a negative presentation of social class in each society. Living into two different worlds, the two authors are expected to depict entirely different images of women in the two Eastern Africa societies. Several thematic analyses have been conducted on African literature by several researchers. Such studies also contributed a lot to the development of literature in the Africa.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
References
Anna, P. (2011). The end of a single story? The post-colonial African novel and society [Doctoral thesis, Universidade de Coimbra]. https://cabodostrabalhos.ces.uc.pt/n6/documentos/01-AnnaPoysa.pdf
Burik, S. (2009). The end of comparative philosophy and the task of comparative thinking: Heidegger, Derrida, and Daoism. SUNY Press.
Cao, S. (2013). The variation theory of comparative literature. Springer.
Caroline, R. (2000). African literature, animism and politics: Routledge.
Christopher, O. (2001). Post-Colonial Literature. Cambridge University Press.
Dagne, A. (2010). Post-independence disillusionment in Petals of Blood and Devil on the Cross. Addis Ababa.
Dunn, R. (2010). Minority studies. https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Sociology/Cultural_Sociology_and_Social_Problems/Minority_Studies_(Dunn)
Harrison, S. (2012). What is Postcolonial Literature? https://www.erhsnyc.org/ourpages/auto/2017/9/15/52420148/Handout%20Postcolonial_Postmodern%20Lit.pdf
Kehinde, A. (2004). Post-independence disillusionment in contemporary African fiction: The example of Meja Mwangi’s kill me quick.
Nordic Journal of African Studies, 13(2), 228-241. https://doi.org/10.53228/njas.v13i2.301
Linda, Y. (2012). A postcolonial look at African literature: Case study of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s works. Addis Ababa.
McClinton-Temple, J. (2011). Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature. Facts on File.
Ten Kortenaar, N. (2011). Postcolonial literature and the impact of literacy reading and writing in African and Caribbean fiction. Cambridge University Press.
Stratton, F. (1994). Contemporary African literature and the politics of gender. Routledge.
Wa Thiong'o, N. (1986). Decolonizing the mind: The politics of language in African literature. James Currey Ltd / Heinemann.