Clemenciana Mukenge

Didacticism in Hove's Bones: Education Issues in Literature Clemenciana Mukenge

This study explores didacticism in Hove?s Bones. Didacticism refers to the notion of teaching, instructing or educating via the medium of literature. Most African writers seem to be didactic in approach. Hove?s Bones consciously draws attention to teaching about the evils of colonialism. The decision to study didacticism was motivated by the argument in literary circles about whether or not didacticism is a worthwhile academic exercise in literature. Some scholars say it is while others hold different views. So I decided to explore this topic by examining exactly what is being taught in Hove?s Bones. The analysis involved first determining the creative methods used by Hove and then determining whether or not these are useful in determining the pedagogical value of didacticism as a literary technique. In my analysis I showed that the creative methods used are useful in exploring the author?s lessons. In my observation, the title of the novel teaches the readers that the liberation war of the 1960s and 1970s was influenced by the first Chimurenga of the 1890s..