Essay on the Use of Third Person and Innocence of...

Use of Third Person andnbsp;Innocence of Language in Akeacute;nbsp;nbsp; The Nigerian novelist Wole Soyinkas memoir, Akeacute;, is a story told through the eyes of a child. Many incidents and the dialogues within these incidents are written in a tone which is suggestive of the innocence and actions which would only be performed by someone in a child-like state of mind. Soyinkas masterful use of this tone, and the primary use of first person in story telling combine to form a realistic childhood picture. In the third chapter we find young Wole describing a sort of parade which is passing before the walls of his home compound. This point in time seems to be when Wole first discovers the world beyond his front door. This†¦show more content†¦The dialogue is comical as are most involving intelligent children of this age and is as follows: nbsp; I want to go home. ...And where is home? ...I told him that I lived in Akeacute;. It has a big church, I added, Just outside our walls. Ah-ah, near the church. Tell me, whaznname? I guessed that he was asking what my name was, so I told him, My name is Wole. Wonlay. Good. And your fathers name? My fathers name is Headmaster. What? My fathers name is Headmaster. Sometimes his name is Essay. (46-47) The same kind of humor can be found in a short dialogue between Wole and the same officer involved in the previous excerpt. In this dialogue, Wole sees a newspaper on the officers desk. In the same way that some children have trouble understanding the concept of one radio station broadcasting a signal to hundreds of radios, Wole mistakes many newspapers as one, singular entity. nbsp; You are reading my fathers paper. You mean he is the editor? He has one every week.(48) nbsp; In chapter nine, we find Wole being subjected to one of the rituals performed on the youth. The significance of the ritual is never stated and so it can only be assumed that the purpose is both to ward off evil and to serve as a coming of age ceremony. This event can be