A COMPARATIVE STYLISTICS ANALYSIS OF WOLE SOYINKA’S THE STRONG BREED AND FEMI OSOFISAN’S NO MORE THE WASTED BREED

Abstract

This research was designed to make a stylistic comparative analysis of two texts —Wole Soyinka’s The Strong Breed and Femi Osofisan’s No More The Wasted Breed. The study was inspired by the need to comparatively analyze the two literary works from a stylist’s perspective. Functionalism theory and speech act theory were applied during the research to arrive at the desired results. The study in comparative analysis discovered that both authors' writing styles converge on a higher level while diverging on a more profound or lower level. This implies that both authors believe in cultural practices such as sacrificing a carrier for the rejuvenation of the people but digress on a lower level because one author believes a carrier can decide to serve such roles. In contrast, the other believes it is a destiny that can never be escaped. The research discovered that the generation of each born author greatly influences their writing styles. Wole Soyinka is identified as a classical writer, while Femi Osofisan has a revolutionary ideology which affects each author’s writing style. The research further applied speech act theory to find stylistic features prevalent in both works. In both plays, the study identified Locutionary, Illocutionary, and Perlocutionary acts in the texts. The study also analyzed the Omniscient Third Person Pronouns from selected scenes of both plays. Finally, the study presented the scenery and characters in both plays.