DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITEATURE

This study examines how societal maladies are depicted and understood in Nigerian society. It does so by comparing two well-known Nigerian literary works: Frank Ogbeche's Harvest of Corruption and Femi Osofisan's Midnight Hotel. Instead of focusing on specific details, the study takes a thematic approach to explore the various aspects of these societal issues as presented in the two narratives. By closely analyzing the characters, plot developments, and socio-political contexts, the project aims to reveal the authors' criticisms and observations of the current realities in Nigeria. Additionally, by comparing the treatment of these themes in the two works, the study provides insights into the unique perspectives and storytelling techniques employed by the authors. Ultimately, this project enhances our understanding of the complex dynamics surrounding political corruption, sexual immorality, and religious bigotry in contemporary Nigerian literature. It also emphasizes the role of literature as a reflection of societal norms, challenges, and aspirations.

This study presents a stylistic analysis of Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities, focusing on his use of language, proverbs, characterisation, imagery and symbolism, narrative structure. Obioma’s blending of English, Igbo, and Nigerian Pidgin through code- switching and code-mixing serves as a means of revealing the cultural and social Identity of the characters. Obioma’s deployment of proverbial expression helps to position his narrative within Igbo traditional storytelling method and serves to impart moral lessons, exploring theme such as destiny, communal bonds, and spirituality. The characters, especially, Chinonso and his spiritual guide(Chi) are rendered with considerable depth. The narrative is rich in symbolism which are derived from Igbo beliefs to illustrate core themes such as fate, suffering, and resilience. The narrative developes through non-linear structure, narrated by Chinonso’s Chi. This narrative choice provides a unique point surpassing the constraints of linear time. The novel is set in Nigeria and Cyprus which highlights the contrasting changes between tradition and modernity. This analysis demonstrates how Obioma’s distinct style is not merely aesthetic but inherently linked to the narrative’s central themes which presents the novel’s significance within contemporary African literature. It further emphasises the value placed on traditional storytelling within a postcolonial context

This study establishes Odia Ofeimun as a consummate satirist through an analysis of his poetry collection, The Poet Lied. Employing the sociological theory of literature, this study examines how Ofeimun uses satire to critique three key sectors of Nigerian society: the clergy, for promoting a false religion in “Paradise for the Aladuras”; the political class, for their empty promises and false messianism in “A Serious Matter” and “The Messiahs”; and the privileged elite, for their brutal and futile greed in “After the News.” The study concludes that Ofeimun’s poetry serves as a powerful mirror, using sharp irony and vivid imagery to expose societal failings and affirm his standing as a critical voice in African literature.

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This study explored the psychological dimensions of identity and social demarcation in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives through the lens of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. The research investigated how gender, religion, culture, and trauma interact to shape and suppress individual identity within patriarchal Nigerian societies. Using a qualitative analytical method, the study interpreted both novels as narratives of psychological repression and gradual self-recovery, where silence became both a symptom of trauma and a path toward liberation. In Purple Hibiscus, Kambili Achike’s identity is fractured by her father Eugene’s religious authoritarianism, forcing her into silence, fear, and repression. Freud’s theory elucidates her internal conflict between the id’s desire for freedom and the superego’s moral constraints . In contrast, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives presented Bolanle, an educated woman trapped in a polygamous household, whose infertility and trauma symbolized the intersection of psychological pain and social exclusion. Her repression, rooted in sexual violence and patriarchal expectations, evolved into defiance as she reclaims agency through self-awareness and truth-telling. The analyses demonstrated that both Kambili and Bolanle navigated identity crises shaped by familial control, gendered oppression, silence, and trauma, yet both achieved psychological rebirth through acts of resistance and voice reclamation. The study concluded that identity in these texts is not static but continually reconstructed through the negotiation between inner desire and societal constraint. Using Freudian psychoanalytic perspectives, this research contributes a new interpretive model to African feminist and postcolonial literary studies—revealing how silence, repression, and trauma operated not merely as forms of subjugation, but also as precursors to self-realization and liberation in contemporary Nigerian fiction.