FLASHBACK: In narrative, flashback is a stylistic technique in which a writer interrupts the

chronological sequence of event to reflect upon experiences, events or incidents that had
earlier occurred in the past. However, writers use flashback as a means of adding background
information in the present event of the story. This provides the reader with information about a
character’s past, secrets, inner/external conflict, and significant event that has affected or
shaped his/her life. In other words, by employing flashback, writers allow the reader to get an
insight into character’s motives and actions which usually deepen the intensity of the plot and
provide a better understanding of the present action. Thus, the use of flashback also enables
the writer to start a story from a point of high interest by avoiding the monotony of
chronological exposition. Flashbacks are often introduced in narrative with the help of various
methods ranging from series of dreams, memories, sudden remembrance or past stories told
by the character.

Asika Ikechukwu’s Tears on the Mountain is characterized by series of flashbacks. The

playwright made effective use of flashback to relate the past incidents and events with the
present action of the story. Through flashback, the playwright was able to disclose to the reader
the history of Mrs. Agudosi which was revealed at the shrine of the prophetess. In the quest to
exploit the woman religiously, the prophetess had to make her believe her by disclosing
information that Mrs. Agudosi thought was only known to her.

First, the prophet asked her if she was the daughter “of the great Dibia Omenka” (47), and
when she affirmed, she proceeded to tell her a historical story that may not be true but, in that
circumstance, enough to make the poor, desperate woman pay. The prophetess said “Your
father, Omenka, was a great Dibia before he died and so was his father before him, you came
from a lineage of great medicine men” (47). To this, the woman, now overwhelmed said “Yes
holy mother, yes holy mother” (47)

This was Asika Ikechukwu telling us a little bit of the woman’s past and perhaps
making us understand why the woman acts the way she does. She is the daughter
of a medicine man and was probably brough up believing in magic hence her
total faith in miracle workers and reluctance to visit the hospital.
Furthermore, the use of flashback could be identified in the play when Mr. Agudosi went
to consult the medicine man, Okanumee. He too revealed a bit of Mr. Agudosi’s history after
asserting the fact that the man had been to the Omambala river, he proceeds to
novel when the writer told of Timi Sotonye's travel to slavery and all he saw while being a slave,
his fight to liberate his people from the shackles of the Whiteman and his victory over the
Whiteman which made it possible that he arrived America with the rest of the slaves as free
men rather than slaves.

“When the west African Brigade came aboard the

Hispaniola, they saw unfettered slaves and captured
crew members. Their job was already done..... within
hours, Timi and his group stepped on the soil of
Georgia as the first Africans to arrive America as free
people.”(236).

Moreover, Ngozi Chuma Udeh carefully utilized the tool of flashback to disclose how the
families of Dekina and Sotonye were absorbed into the American society with a change of
name, hence, the family name that Nina bears and that of her Uncle that lives near their
apartment;
“Timi Sotonye, the warrior prince of Odua Kingdom
had his name spelled as Tim Sortorne and Abosa
Dekina was written as Ambrose Darcorn.”(236).

From the foregoing, Ngozi Chuma Udeh’s Forlorn Fate is a good example of narrative
which used flashback very skilfully and nicely. In many ways, the writer achieved a better level
of narrative and also attracts more attention from the reader through proper use of flashback.
Thus, flashback is one of the most common stylistic devices used in literary writing. Hence,
Ngozi Chuma Udeh utilized flashback to enhance the appeal of the plot and create a sense of
variability of time in the story.

SUSPENSE: Suspense is the sense of anticipation, feeling of curiosity or uncertainty about the

outcome of a given action in a literary work. It is the lack of certainty the writer creates that

leaves the reader to wonder about the outcome of a given action. Hence, suspense basically

leaves readers holding their breath and wanting to know more. In narrative, writers usually
employ suspense to captivate interest and maintain reader’s attention. It draws the reader

deep into the story and creates a sense of drive to the plot

Suspense is one of the dominant devices used by Ngozi Chuma Udeh in Forlorn Fate. The

writer utilized suspense to heighten the anxiety of the reader. As with the story, She started the

story by telling us about the First ever Seismic explosion that occured in Odua Community, she

narrated to the reader how peaceful the place used to be and by so doing, she leaves the

reader wondering how the people of Odua came in contact with such chaos and darkness, how

a once peaceful environment suddenly turned into one of explosions and deaths. This

technique only meant that the readers where glued to the novel, scanning through each page

with curiosity to know how the People of Odua came in contact with this darkness that is meant

to kill them all.

Another instance of suspense in the novel was the use of a female soldier when

everyone thought it would be a male soldier that will be assigned the duty of rescuing Sir Bois

from the depths of Africa as it was the normal thing to do, However, the writer was bent on

taking her readers to a ride, so instead of choosing a male soldier, she chose a female one, a

beautiful female one with a light hearted sister, leaving the reader’s with a harder nut to crack.

Everyone who read Forlorn Fate will want to know how a beautiful female American soldier

thrived in the depths and uncertainty of Africa. The result of this is that the readers becomes

more curious with each page and with each page, suspense builds up, it’s like watching a child

taking on a giant.
 However, all narratives are built around the structuring of information; therefore,

suspense plays a vital role to how writers control audience access to narrative outcome.

Perhaps, suspense has emerged as a technique as well as a way of using literary frame to create

a more interesting narrative. In Forlorn Fate, Ngozi Chuma Udeh greatly explored the use of

suspense to design and hold the reader’s interest, thereby making the story more engaging.

Therefore proving, stories that carefully utilize suspense can succeed in engaging reader’s

interest the more.

FORESHADOWING: In Literature, foreshadowing is a literary device used by writers to hint

about future event in the story. It is generally used to give insight of future event within the

confinement of a given narrative. By presaging about an event that will happen later in the

story, the writer allows the reader to predict how the event would turn out; this carries the

reader along and makes the narrative more arousing.

There are several instances of foreshadowing in Ngozi Chuma Udeh’s Forlorn Fate. The

writer presaged doom and death in the land of Odua, through the death of Birinyo, she foretells

of more death in the land of Odua. Birinyo was the First, but according to the writers words, he

was not going to be the last The writer foreshadows:

“Fourteen year Old Birinyo became one of the very first victims of oil

exploration in Odua ancient Kingdom of the Niger Delta”(9).

 However, while the first instance of Foreshadowing predicted doom, the following

instances of foreshadowing gives the reader some optimism that ultimately things would turn

out well, of which she eventually reflected in

the story, saying:

“it means I will survive this ordeal after all. I have a reason to believe that

I will not die in this jail. The oracles said that I would bring salvation to my

people......I have confidence that I will still live to help my people out of

their quagmire”(86).

Another instance of foreshadowing could be identified when Nina was taken on a walk

through the factory of Mr. Murray, it was rather a kind of spiritual walk and vision where she

was shown her way around the factory so that when they attacked, it was easier for her to

navigate through the factory because Murray was not ready to comply.

Though the use of foreshadowing in narrative allows the writer to give a preview of the future,

it adds tension and leads to certain expectation on the part of the reader. In Forlorn Fate,

Ngozi Chuma Udeh previewed some of the events in the story through prophesies and used

stylistic technique of foreshadowing to add depth to the story which makes the narrative more

effective and intriguing.

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES USED IN FORLORN FATE

Narrative techniques are methods writers use in narrating their story.

Adopting a particular method usually depends on the writer’s choice or based on the story

being narrated. In Forlorn Fate, Ngozi Chuma Udeh used different techniques to achieve

effective narration. The writer adopts the third person point of view, in which she narrates

events using the third person pronoun “He”, “They” and “It”. This gave her the ample

opportunity to air his view either through a character or in a philosophical reflective form.

Some examples of third person narration in the novel are as follows:

“Nina shook her head vigorously, too many things

happening at the same time are threatening to throw her off

balance. No...she would not allow that. She was a

combatant officer”(87

The third person point of view was employed here to tell us how Nina felt and

even tell us her thought at a particular moment, we were able to know how she

felt and what she was thinking because the reader chose to tell us about her

characters from a “god” perspective. Other instances of third person point of view

includes;

“At the centre of the Village, Dipreye, the aged macho war

veteran who ran the village hot spot with his pretty wide

was about to drag a pot from under the bed when the
 thunderous explosions broke the silence of the

afternoon”(9)

Another instance where third person point of view is used to full effect is;

“The little boy saw the snake lying immobile and smiled

broadly. The smile briefly lifted the veil of sadness on his

young face. It had been long since he had a cause to smile

at anything.”(223).

The author also utilized stream of consciousness method in which he depicted the multiple

thoughts and feelings that pass through the minds of the characters. Thus, he exemplified

below:

“The sight of the snake however brought the scarce smile because of

relief. He was going home to face the father's tirade but chancing on the

dead reptile had saved him”(223)

Such narration allows the writer to gain authorial presence in the novel. Thus, the

narration of the story is non-chronological in that it is frequently distorted with different

methods. The writer adopted multiple techniques to avoid monotonous approach of exposition.
 LANGUAGE USE IN “FORLONE FATE”

Literary language refers to the use of language defined mainly by its figurative meaning

which ultimately conveys ideas from imaginary point of view. Literarily, writers often use

language to effect the desired expression which is achieved only when words are carefully

combined in both clear and concise manner. Thus, literary language relies mostly on imaginary

and figurative descriptions by means of which writers can artistically express ideas. Therefore,

the hallmark of effective expression in literature is in the stylistic manifestation of literary

language. Hence, language use in Forlorn Fate manifested to a great extent elements of literary

language such as the use of imagery, figurative expressions as well as descriptive language so as

to realize the desirable artistic effect in the text.

The language used in Forlorn Fate is simple, clear and concise. In the narrative, Ngozi

Chuma Udeh achieved a great stylistic effect through the use of both aesthetic and figurative

language which gives a better comprehension of the novel.

FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS IN “FORLON FATE”

METHAPHOR: Metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a direct or applied comparison

between two dissimilar things. According to Wales (1989) metaphor is a phrase or expression
that in literary usage denotes something different from its kind. In Forlorn Fate, there are

various depictions of metaphors which include:

“This ass of a man”(41).

“Hei, not so fast bear face”(56).

“I am ready Daughter of Olokun”(93).

“You jackal!”(118).

“Shut the Gorilla up”(194)

“...they are evil”(121).

SIMILE: Similes are figurative expressions that compare two things; it is a figure of speech

that makes comparison between two different things, explicitly indicated with words such as

“like” or “as”. The following similes are identified as used by Ngozi Chuma Udeh in Forlorn

Fate:

“Why do you always squabble like women”(119).

“it was as a rat race for Life in the Animal kingdom and beyond”(2).

“He sailed effortlessly in the air like a kite towards the left wing of the room”(241)

“She was more like someone holidaying than a soldier on a mission”(249).

 “The Amanyanabo that enthrones himself is like a wall gecko that calls himself lizard”.

(156).

RHETORICAL QUESTION: According to M.H Abrams (2005), arhetorical question is a

question to which no answer is expected and often used for rhetorical effect. In other words,

it’s a question usually asked to produce an effect or to make an assertion and not to elicit a

reply.

Rhetorical questions in Forlorn Fate include:

“Omoreghe, Shey you well so?(248)

“Hei Chief Priest, did you just call us women”(119)

“What signal and where”(71).

“Who am I to blaspheme against our amiable queen of the

river”(114).

“Timi Sotonye, you call me a wall gecko?, How dare you?, Are

you trying to insinuate that I am unworthy of my father’s

throne”(156).
PERSONIFICATION: Personification is another form of figurative

expression in literature. It is the attribution of human qualities or nature to inanimate, animals,

or abstract ideas especially as a rhetorical figure. Personification usually inscribes human

qualities to non-human subjects to give a sense of life to it. Examples of such expressions in

Forlorn Fate are:

“You will soon understand that rivers harbour more than life”(88)

“I am listening Daughter of the River”(88).

There was also a generation personification of the snakes of Olokun, these snakes could think

and act in their own, they could decide to attack or not and they could speak too.

The River was also personified severally, many times we hear people being addressed as the

sons and daughters of the River and many times we saw the people of Odua refer to the River

like it was an entity.

ALLITERATION: According to Stylistic Dictionary (Second Edition),

alliteration is a literary device identified by the repeated sound of the first consonant in a series

of multiple words, or the repetition of same sound at the beginning of words in a stressed

syllable of a phrase. Ngozi Chuma Udeh explores several instances of alliteration in the novel

such as:

“Birinyo Birinyo”(7).

“Waka waka people”(19)

“The flora and Fauna”(32).

“A frightened rat ran into the reptile”(36)

HYPERBOLE: Hyperbole is a figure of speech used to exaggerate or make deliberate

overstatement for either emphasis or comic effect. They are generally used to convey actions or

feelings that are realistically or practically not possible but help emphasize an emotion. The

instances of such expressions identified in the novel include:

“Her face had a natural radiance that glistened even without makeup”(55)

“When the smoke eventually cleared, the villagers could not recognise

themselves. They all turned black, everything and everyone turned black,

like then Devil's messengers”(293).

“She actually saw Skeleton rip the flesh off human beings as if they were

Bananas. She saw him skinning people alive like a man eating

cougar”(337)

“Timi’s heart sank at the look on the white man’s face”(208)