A Study of Context and Figurative Language in Buchi Emecheta’s “The Rape of Shavi”: A Pragmatic Approach

Abstract

This article is a pragmatic analysis of the figurative language used by the Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta in her novel " The Rape of Shavi " published in 1983. It is an attempt of interpretation of the implied meaning she conveys to her readers through allusions, metaphors, similes and symbols. The analyzed data were collected through a selection of some important instances of figurative language during the proofreading of the novel. The interpretations were made with the integration of references and presuppositions relating to the author's sociocultural and educational background that constitutes the contextual makeup of the novel. The analysis of the figurative language instances reveals that more is being communicated than written and that the intended message can only be uncovered by reaching beyond the bare linguistic structure. I concluded that the novel is a multiple layer literary work that requires from the reader, the possession of a shared knowledge with the author in order to reach an efficient interpretation that discloses the very message that lies beyond the words.