Research ArticleOpen AccessGoogle Scholar indexed
A Tool of Success: A Critical Content Analysis of Naana’s Character in Ayi Kwei Armah’s <i>Fragments</i>
Ola College of Education, Cape Coast, Ghana
Department of Languages Education, College of Technology Education, University of Education, Winneba, Kumasi, Ghana
Ola College of Education, Cape Coast, Ghana
Ola College of Education, Cape Coast, Ghana
- 1 Ola College of Education, Cape Coast, Ghana
- 2 Department of Languages Education, College of Technology Education, University of Education, Winneba, Kumasi, Ghana
- 3 Ola College of Education, Cape Coast, Ghana
- 4 Ola College of Education, Cape Coast, Ghana
Advances in Literary Study·Volume 08 (2019)·Pages 23–33·Published 19 November 2019·DOI10.4236/als.2020.81003
Copy link · social · email
Abstract
African Writers gave little importance to the role of women in their literary works. The likes of Chinua Achebe and Ayi kwei Armah gave prominence to women characters. This is seen in Ayi Kwei Armah’s text Fragments . This article therefore examines the important role given by the author of this novel to the woman character, Naana. A critical content analysis has been engaged in to ascertain her roles in the narrative and thematic developments of the story. That is, it studies how Naana is used as a tool to bring about the success of the novel. A study of this nature has to do with gender. Thus, the underlying theories of this paper are Marxist feminist criticism and feminist literary criticism.
KeywordsNaanaFeminismCharacterizationMarxismAyi Kwei Armah
- Aidoo, A. A. (1982). The Dilemma of a Ghost. Harlow: Longman Group Limited.
- Aidoo, A. A. (1984). Anowa. Ghana: Sedco Publishing Limited.
- Angmor, C. (1996). Contemporary Literature in Ghana 1911-1978: A Critical Evaluation. Ghana: Woeli Publishing Services.
- Armah, A. K. (1989). Fragments. Ghana: Heinemann Educational Books Limited.
- Awumbila, M. (2001). Women & Gender Equality in Ghana: A Situational Analysis. In D. Tsikata (Eds.), Gender Training in Ghana—Politics, Issues & Tools (pp. 33-59). Ghana: Woeli Publishing Services.
- Ba, M. (1989). So Long a Letter. Oxford: A Division of Reed Educational & Professional Publishing.
- Colmer, R. (1980). The Human and the Divine: Fragments and Why Are We So Blest? Kunapipi, 2, 77-90.
- Forster, E. M. (1927). Aspects of the Novel. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.
- Gikandi, S. (1987). Reading the African Novel. London: James Currey Ltd. Press.
- Guerin, W. L., Labor, E., Morgan, L., Reesman, J. C., & Willingham, J. R. (1992). A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Kramer, A. D. (1987). Cognition and Aging—The Emergence of a New Tradition. In The Elderly as Modern Pioneers (pp. 114-115). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
- Lyell, R. G. (1980). Middle Age, Old Age: Short Stories, Poems, Plays and Essays on Aging. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
- Manona, N. (1997). The Status of Women in the Traditional African Rites of Passage: The Religio-Cultural Roots of Violence against Women. In M. A. Oduyoye (Ed.), Transforming Power: Women in the Household of God (pp. 106-117). Ghana: Sam-Wood Ltd.
- Matlin, M. E. (1987). The Psychology of Women. Forth Worth, TX: Holt Reinchar & Winston, Inc.
- Mibenge, C. (2007). The Depiction of Women by African Women Writers: Culture, Education and Power. Gaborone: The University of Botswana.
- Rao, K. D. (1993). The Novels of Ayi Kwei Armah. New Delhi: Prestige Books East Patal Nugar.
- Richardson, J. (2006). Lotus Illustrated Dictionary of Literature. New Delhi: Lotus Press.
- Senanu, K. E. (1972). Creative Writing in Ghana. In A. W. Kayper-Mensah, & H. Wolff (Eds.), Ghanaian Writing (pp. 13-32). Tubingen: Horst Erdmann Verlag.