Girls at War, and Other Stories

What is the narrative technique involved in Girls at War, and Other Stories?

Tell me the narrative technique invovled

Asked by
Last updated by Jill W
1 Answers
Log in to answer

Most of the stories in this collection are told from the third-person and omniscient point-of-view. These stories have a narrator that is able to access the interior lives of the characters in the stories. What is notable about this is that in almost all of these stories, Achebe provides the reader with the thoughts and emotional reactions of numerous parties at the same time. For example, Akueke exists both in the title character's mind and in her brothers'.

Only Girls at War is a third-person story told with only one character's interior life in focus. Reginald is one of two main characters in the story, but the reader experiences all events through his eyes.

The two stories that are told in the first person are Uncle Ben's Choice and Sugar Baby. Uncle Ben's Choice takes the form of a soliloquy. There is nothing interior about the words; an actor could perform the full story as a dramatic monologue. Sugar Baby, on the other hand, is entirely thought. The story is told in the mind of Mike, who actively does not want to speak the story aloud.

Source(s)

Girls at War, and Other Stories