Browsing by Author "Charles Nelson Okumu"

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    Gender Stereotype in Tess of The D’urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    (East African Journal of Education Studies, 2024) Ketty Auma; Charles Nelson Okumu
    This study focused on gender stereotypes in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891) and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925). The objectives of the study were to: examine the portrayal of masculinityfemininity stereotype; examine the language used in gender stereotype and analyse the impact of traditional gender stereotype on female characters. The study used the feminist theory to examine gender stereotype in the two maleauthored novels to show how they have positioned and portrayed women in their literature in the Victorian period both in England and America The literary analysis was to ascertain whether or not the gender stereotype was a global notion in literature or a misrepresentation of the women not as persons but as sexualized figures. Gender stereotype in these novels was examined using the descriptive research design and data was collected using literary analysis. The findings indicated that both novels portrayed the female gender with discrimination, injustice, dishonesty and exploitatively. This was done with the use of symbolism, imagery, similes and metaphor. The conclusion drawn points to the fact that the quest for a masculine identity is a common theme as male characters are seen struggling to become real men with traits such as: power, strength and robustness whereas female characters were portrayed as sexualized figure used for social status in the male dominated societies. With regard to language stereotype, the male characters employed language to paint negative image in line with the accepted image in the male dominated society. The researchers recommend that detailed and comprehensive studies be conducted in the area of gender and culture and gender and literature in the novel as a genre generally.
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    INTERTEXT BETWEEN OKOT’S SONG OF LAWINO AND ACOLI ORAL SONGS
    (postcolonial.org, 2021) Charles Nelson Okumu
    As Cloete and Madadzhe observe, “a cursory glance at some of the oral poetry exposes the close connection between the past and present as revealed in, for example, some of Okot p’Bitek’s poetry. The late p’Bitek may be regarded as one of the most important literary figures in the field of oral literature … and its inclusion in African literature in general and his poetry in particular.” (Cloete and Madadzhe 31, emphasis mine). This article explores how Okot creatively used Acoli oral songs as intertext in his poetry, particularly in Song of Lawino. Since the publication of Song of Lawino in 1966, a number of scholarly studies and publications of Okot’s poetry were published, beginning with a full study of Okot’s poetry, The Poetry of Okot p’Bitek (George Heron 1976); scholarly articles such as “The Tradition and Modern Influences in Okot p’Bitek’s Poetry” (Ogo Ofuani 1985); “The Form of Okot p’Bitek’s Poetry: Literary Borrowings from Acoli Oral Poetry” (Okumu 1992). More recent studies include “Lateral texts and circuits of value: Okot p’Bitek’s Song of Lawino and Wer pa Lawino” (Garuba and Benge-Okot 2017) and “Okot p’Bitek Diagnostic Poetics and the Quest for African Revolution” (Kahyana 2017). Besides these examples, there are other important articles and theses on the poetry of Okot that establish Okot as an important African writer whose poetry is influenced by oral literature, as Cloete and Madadzhe note.