DIDACTICISM AND FOIL TECHNIQUES IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S FICTION: REVISITING PAIR CHARACTERS IN THINGS FALL APART AND A MAN OF THE PEOPLE

This study is confined to African fiction. The researchers explore Chinua Achebe’s genius narrative techniques as reflected in his two novels. The study gyrates round two fictional elements of literature viz didacticism and foil technique with particular interest in Things Fall Apart and A Man of the People. Literary analysis of the two novels was carried out in light of main literary elements such as literary devices, characters and themes. Foil characters and themes affecting them for each were thoroughly examined to compare and contrast them. Discussion revealed that through foil technique, authors of prose fictional works deftly demonstrate that literature gives readers not only a room to understand human strengths and weaknesses but also how to live with others morally and ethically. Findings highlight all in all that fiction nurtures human intra and inter communal or social values on a par with human virtues against vices in all the time.