For Popularity, Pleasure, or Other Reasons? The Treatment of Sex in The Novels of Ayi Kwei Armah

Abstract

Sex or the intimate relationship between or among characters is an act that is explicitly depicted in the novels of Ayi Kwei Armah for various purposes. The purpose of sex should not just be sex for the sake of sex, or for the sake of making a writer ‘popular’. The paper argues that the act of sex plays a number of literary functions in these relationships. The thematic as well as other literary relevance of sex is explored through literary concepts such as ‘linguistic foregrounding’ and ‘paradigmatic associations’. Through these literary concepts of stylistic analysis, it becomes clear that sex plays the following roles in Armah’s novels: serves as an avenue for characterization; establishes a relationship as loving or adrift; is a tool of oppression and also vengeance; creates suspense and retains readers’ interest; obscures the real story plot for a literary effect such as ‘to motivate but also shock his (Armah’s) audience into activity’ (Fubara 72); and cures characters’ negative emotions like loneliness and anguish, among other roles. The paper concludes that Armah’s treatment of sex in largely explicit terms in his novels is not gratuitous, but fundamental for the appreciation of his literary works.