Chuo Kikuu Cha Kenyatta Shule Ya Fani Na Sayansi Za Jamii Idara Ya Kiswahili

ABSTRACT

This research evaluated the use of ideology in S. A. Mohamed’s novels to find out whether it impacts his works over a period of time. The study was informed by the fact that many critics tend to assume that the attitudes, thoughts and views of the writer are the same and stable all the time. Since at specific times, these attitudes, thoughts and views are informed by a certain ideology it was important to evaluate the ideologies of a writer for a longer period to see whether they remained the same or they changed after a certain period and if so why the changes happened. It was found out that the ideologies of the writer changed to fulfil the needs of the writer’s audience, and reflect the changing aspects in society in relation to politics, economy, religion, traditions and general way of life. The researcher did this by analyzing ideologies in four novels written by S. A. Mohamed which were selected purposively to fulfil the needs of the research. These novels are Asali Chungu (1978), Kiza katika Nuru (1988), Dunia Yao (2006) and Mhanga Nafsi Yangu (2013). The researcher analysed the themes and characters in each novel and sought to analyse the changes reflected by the writer. Furthermore, the researcher investigated how the changes signalled the change of the writer’s ideology after a certain period of time and then sought to establish why the change occured. The theories that were used in this research were deconstruction theory which helped the researcher to demonstrate why ideology is not constant and the moral theory which guided the researcher to focus on the society and the audience that the writer aimed to reach in his works. The researcher used the library and field work method to conduct the research. In the library the main texts under analysis were read, the plots, themes, characters and style were analysed. Other texts written by the writer were read and they enriched our understanding of the issues under investigation. In addition, all texts related to the topic were read and they gave the researcher a thorough understanding of the research area. The researcher also went to the field and held discussions with the writer S. A. Mohamed and got his personal views on his works in general and specifically on the works under evaluation. A questionnaire was also used to ask the writer questions in relation to his work.The critics’ views were included by the use of a questionnaire and discussions in order to get their insights into the works under investigation. It is our conviction that by doing all this, we were able to show that the ideologies of the writer kept changing after every period of time to the point of contradicting himself. This is in an effort to fulfill the needs of his society in general and his responsibility in particular.Thus the ideology of a writer keeps changing to reflect the changes in the society.