A Study of Style in Adimora-Ezeigbo’s House of Symbols with comparisons to Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Abstract

This study analyses some linguistic and paralinguistic properties employed in the creation of text in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s House of Symbols (HOS) to find out how they contribute to the meaning and overall message of the work, with some reference to certain similar elements of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (TFA). A detailed description of the language used is undertaken and the linguistic and paralinguistic associations which the styles of both writers reveal as they relate to meaning and message in the works are brought to the fore. Whereas Achebe’s work represents a typical African traditional society, it is compared to one of the more contemporary female writers from a similar geographical and cultural background to bring to the fore certain stylistic features of their respective texts. The research shows that issues raised by the two authors on the subjects of colonialism, religious conflict, reincarnation and gender issues show certain similarities, which influenced linguistic and paralinguistic properties employed in the works under review.