UHAKIKI WA MAUDHUI, SIFA, ISHARA ZA MAZIMWI NA FANI KATIKA NGANO ZA MAZIMWI ZA JAMII YA GĨKŬYŬ

Abstract

The ogre narratives are common among many African communities. The Gῖkữyữ oral narratives employ complexsymbolism of ogres and stylistic devices and the area has not been researched on. This research therefore aimed at investigating the symbolism of ogres and the stylistic devicesused in Gῖkữyữ ogre oral narratives. The objectives of the study were to look at the symbolism of ogres in the Gῖkữyữ community as portrayed in the Gῖkữyữ oral narratives, examining the characteristics of these narratives based on the stylistic devices and their roles in the community.The research was guided by structuralism and post structural theory. The proponents of the theory includes: Roman Jacobson Rene Wellek and later influenced by Ferdinand de Saussure. The Post Structuralists are associated with Jacques Derrida among others. Structuralists mainly look at the different parts that form the whole structure. They argued that one symbol can have more than one meaning depending on the social context. The Post-Structuralists emphasized on the role of the language use in analyzing the social structure, meaning and their interpretations in terms of selfconsciousness where language is taken as the main axis in giving both the real meaning and the derived one. The data was collected in Nyandarua County. The Oral narratives were first collected from the field fromkey informantswho were elderlyand had experiencein narratingby Snowball sampling. The narratives were taperecordedusing a tape-recorder then transcribed for analysis. A purposeful sample of five narratives whose main characters are the ogre and those that were different from each other with and used various stylistic devices were then chosen from the collected narratives. The data collected finally was analyzed descriptively by studying the themes, character traits and symbols of ogres that they portray in the Gῖkữyữ oral narratives. Thefindings of the study will be usefulto the students, teachers and researchers of oral literature.They will also be useful in preserving oral narratives in literature and therefore contribute towards understanding of the significance of the ogre oral narratives.