Storytelling

The most notable feature of The Wrestling Match is the style in which it is told. Readers may feel as if they're in "an open clearing in which children and old people sat, telling stories and singing in the moonlight." Emecheta adopts an intimate tone, taking the reader in and telling the story as if the reader is sitting right there and knows all the people involved. In addition, she uses rhythm and repetition, as in the opening paragraph:

It was the time for the swishes of the fronds of the
coconut-palms to be heard; it was the time for the
fire-insects of the night to hiss through the still air.
It was the time for the frogs in the nearby ponds to
croak to their mates, as if to say that they should now
seek shelter because night was fast approaching.

The language of the book is...