EXPLORING NARRATIVE DISTANCE IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S HALF OF A YELLOW SUN

Abstract

Despite the growing attention given to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s works, especially Half of a Yellow Sun, criticisms about the structure and narrative techniques she adopts in this text are still marginal to the amount of critical review and assessment she has received over the years. For a number of reasons, the bulk of criticism on her works has focused on thematic and ideological issues to the neglect of other equally significant concerns like narrative technique. This study, therefore, explores her adroit use of narrative mood in her novel, Half of a Yellow Sun to highlight and intensify the diegesis of this narrative. By employing one of Genette’s (1980) narrative categories, mood (perspective and distance) as the analytical framework, the study explores the narrative’s particular use of distance and how this distance aids in realising a cohesive and coherent narrative. By examining the characteristics and other particulars of narrative distance, the authors clarify the mechanisms used in the narrative act and identify the methodological choices the author makes in order to present her story. The study contributes to theory by demonstrating the extent to which Genette’s theory of narratology is useful to the analysis of the African novel. The study is also significant in that it has pedagogical implications, as it will, among other things, serve as a material to facilitate the teaching of narrative analysis, especially narrative technique.