Prepared by : Ravi Bhaliya

Paper : The African Literature

Roll No : 24

Email : ravibhaliya5@gmail.comSubmitted To

Smt.S.B . Gardi Department of EnglishMaharaja Krishnakumarsinhji

Bhavnagar University

Flashback Technique in Grain of Wheat

The use of a flashback is to convey to the readers information regarding the character’s background and give them an idea of the characters motives for doing certain things later in the story.

Another function of flashbacks in a narrative is to increase tension.

Significance of the Flashback In Literature

Examples

The novel is told by an omniscient narrator, who exposes the point of view of different characters at different times, revealing their inside.

Though the subject matter is dense, the author freely opens the character‛s mind. Several events from the past are examined in flashback revealing the points of view from different characters.

  The narrator only occasionally uses

the first person, leaving the majority of the novel to be told in third person. In addition to the narrator revealing characters inner thoughts, the characters also tell their stories to each other.

Point of View

Plot

When authors employ flashback as a literary device, they break with the traditional, chronological storytelling narrative.

Therefore, when the flashback is included, it will likely bring information that had not been produced previously.

There will be new details and facts that may help in the events taking place as part of the plot.

The novel is divided into fourteen numbered chapters plus four short named chapters at the end.

The four named chapters at the end wrap up the stories of the main chapters.

The novel shortly begins before the Kenyan Uhuru celebration, and it climaxes at the celebration itself.

In between, it travels back in time and then returns to Uhuru, filling in all the events that lead up to the day of independence.

Each character‛s story is revealed in bits and pieces, throughout the novel.

Structure

• The novel is not told chronologically. It begins shortly before the Kenyan Uhuru celebration, and it climaxes at the celebration itself. In between, it travels back in time and then returns to Uhuru, filling in all the events that lead up to the day of independence. Each character's story is revealed, in bits and pieces, throughout the novel.

Reaviling Stories in Flashback The stories are intertwined, making a complex story with many

threads. The two main story lines are there in the novel.

There are some other stories- the story of the Thompsons, the story of Kihika, the story of Wambuku and the story of Njeri.

Throughout the novel the flashback stories run parallel with the present story of the celebration of Uhuru.

Dr. Lynd, Mumbi, Gikonyo all felt the need of telling their past experience and connect themselves to the present. He had no peace of mind. The guilt of Kihika‛s death made him restless. This way, many characters of the story are related to the past through flashback.

 

Ngugi, has effectively used the device of flashback technique. We find something missing in the present. The anxiety is aroused, and s past cannot be ignored, we find the characters revealing the responsible past that lead they present suffering. This device hits the right aim. It works for the author.

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