ECHOES OF POLITICAL LEADERSHIP FAILURE A STYLISTIC READING OF OLA ROTIMI’S HOPES OF THE LIVING DEAD

Abstract

The study examines the thematic foci of Ola Rotimi’s Hopes of the Living Dead. It identifies and analyses the lexico-semantic and syntactic features of the text. The study also relates the lexico-semantic and syntactic features of the text to the playwright’s engagement with issues of national interest. This is done with a view to explicating the stylistic features of the text, by paying attention to its form, content and social relevance. The data for the study are drawn from Ola Rotimi’s Hopes of the Living Dead. The text is closely read to discover its recurrent linguistic nuances and features at all levels of linguistic analysis. Certain strategic significant excerpts from text that depict the thematic foci of the text are purposively selected for analysis. The data are analysed using the principles of Stylistics by Bradford (1997). Findings show that themes, such as leadership failure, the need for purposeful leadership and ethnic solidarity/nationalism as probable practical solution to national rebirth enhance understanding of the central theme of political leadership failure in post independence Nigeria in the text. It reveals that lexico-semantic and syntactic features such as synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, terms of address, imagery, symbolism, metaphorisation, humour, simile, alliteration, contrast, modalities, negation, sentence types and passivisation are devices that account for meaning in the selected text. The study concludes that the lexico-semantic and syntactic features of Rotimi’s Hopes of the Living Dead underscore the potency of purposeful leadership as a practical tool required for pragmatic national development in Nigeria.