A Contextual Semantic Study of Similes in Olu Obafemi’s Wheels and Razinat T. Mohammed’s The Travails of a First Wife

Figures of Speech are among the variety of stylistic devices literary writers use for embellishment, decoration and ornamentation in their works. The purpose of using them is to make what is said more vivid, purposeful and memorable. They spur the reader’s imagination making it leap from one idea to another. Against this backdrop, this paper, using Firth’s (1957) Contextual Theory, examines the use of similes (one of the predominantly deployed figures of speech by literary artists) in Olu Obafemi’s Wheels and Razinat Mohammmed’s The Travails of a First Wife. As a text-based study, qualitative method is applied. Precisely, one hundred and ten similes are identified in the two texts. The finding shows that the two writers deploy them not just as style but also to depict their main contextual, thematic preoccupations. While Olu Obafemi uses them to treat issues ranging from social injustice, class distinction, abject poverty to role of youth in peace making and conflict resolution in postcolonial Nigeria, Razinat Mohammed, on the other hand, uses them to discuss the themes of love, marriage, betrayal and intra-gender conflict and victimization, among others, thus making their texts uniquely poetic.

Keywords: Similes Wheels Travails of a First Wife

Authors

• Adamu, Isah Babura
  Department of English and Literary Studies, Bayero University, Kano
  aibabura.eng@buk.edu.ng
  Tel: 08060300368
• Inuwa, Mahmud
  Department of English and Literary Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
  Ibnmahmud00@gmail.com
  Tel: 07085566884