Dramatization of Agency and Ecological Consciousness in How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue and Oil on Water by Hellon Habila

Abstract

This paper interrogates how authors deploy characters to represent ecological consciousness. The paper draws illustrations from Imbolo Mbue’s How Beautiful We Were and Hellon Habila’s Oil on Water to examine how agency is dramatized through characterization. The paper explores character agency within the subversive space of Bakhtin’s carnival laughter to represent their ecological consciousness. To ground the paper into an analytical perspective, the discussion identifies and discusses the distinct characterizations the two texts' authors employ to represent the characters’ ecological consciousness. The article argues that the writers of the chosen texts effectively use characterisation to create compelling ecological narratives that teach about the need to address environmental degradation. Additionally, the discussion reveals how the two writers depict ecological awareness via the characteristics of carnival shown by the characters. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that characters have a crucial role in delivering sermons about the gruesome consequences of environmental degradation. As a result, the components of carnival, such as craziness, clowns, and heroic characterizations, are used to undermine and challenge the impact of environmental degradation