| dc.description.abstract | This thesis is a study of allegory in Shaaban Robert's
Adili na Nduguze, kusadikika, kufikirika, Utubora Mkulima
and Siku ya Watenzi wote. The term allegory is described
in general. Typical allegorical texts from the Greek
antiquity to the present are traced and analyzed. Allegory
is a technique of creating, translating or interpreting
literary works so that they convey more than one level of
meaning simultaneously.
Allegory operates at four levels of analysis in
Shaaban Roberts prose. These are the personification,
narrative, metaphorical and fabulous levels. Personification
allegory is the use of proper-nouns in a descriptive
way. In normal practice, proper-nouns lack literary semantic
content. Most proper-nouns in Shaaban Robert's texts are
used to describe qualities of persons and places. They do
not necessarily work as labels that make those persons and
places different from one another. At the level of narration,
Robert portrays allegory as a symbolic story that serves as a
disguised representation for meanings other than literal
ones. it is, therefore, a study of the ways in which
various elements combine in Shaaban Robert's )rose to
sustain their logic both at the literal and literary levels.
Extended metaphors are used sparingly. They are also
allegorical because their form is narrative. Lastly, the
profusion of fabulous characters and situations helps the
writer to evoke a typically allegorical world.
As in all figurative language, allegory depends on.
the transference of meaning from one object or idea to
another due to similarities between them. A hint of tenor
created by the author helps to interpret an allegorical
work. Allegory is also a para-linguistic literary device.
Consequently, the identification and comprehension of the
various ramifications of its context is important in
interpreting and appreciating it.
This study reveals that the use of allegory leads to
a deep inslght into the author's work and wolde v iew
Shaaban Robert's use of the mode is at its best in his
early works, Adili na Nduguze, Kusadikika and Kufikirika,
in which all aspects of allegory already identified are
exhibited. Here, the author predicates the mode to his
religious beliefs and uses it to preach an ethic based on
his Islamic faith. Within this frame of reference,
Shaaban Robert moulds flat characters who are representations
of ideas in a society in which values are stable and
static.
This trend changes in Utubora Mkulima and siku ya
Watenzi Wote. In these works, the writer gradually but
firmly moves away from allegorical characters whose driving
force is automation, to more realistic characters. While
the ultimate 'articles of credo' of these realistic characters
subscribe to the writer's idealist vision, they are
immediately motivated and guided by their free-will to act
the way they do. The change of Shaaban Robert's mode of
presentation is consonant with his changing perspectives
of the world. As he faces new and greater challenges
wrought by the grim reality of his society, he questions
more radically the morality on which his society is based | en |
