This study b·aces the development of the Shona clctective story as a genre different from rhe mainstream Shona novel. The Shona detective story emerges from the non-detective traditional folktale and develops into rhree types, namely, the rudimentary form. the pure 'whoduniC, and the detectivethriller. An attempt is made to show that when the Shona detective story first appeared it was quite elementary and showed signs of me influence of Shona traditional folklore. But later on authors developed the detective narrative into pure 'whodunits' and detective-mrillers which showed influence of Western ftlms and English detective stories. The study ends with the argument that although at its highest level of development the Shona detective story manifests characteristics that make it a unique genre different from other Shona novels its treatment of female characters is not very different from their treatment in the mainstream Shona novel. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

The world we live in is full of material objects that serve as signs and thus are an important tool in literary texts. The purpose of the present essay is to illustrate how material objects are used to portray personalities of female characters, their inner world and attitudes, their ways of life and position in society. It is especially interesting in the context of the 20th century in the Western world, when the culture of consumption was gaining momentum and the role of a woman was gradually changing. The short stories analysed in the essay are written in the Western context in the 20th century, which are “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” by J.D. Salinger, “Moments of Being: ‘Slater’s Pins Have no Points’” by V. Woolf and “The Bottom Line and the Sharp End” by F. Weldon. The material objects mentioned in the texts are classified and analysed due to their role and purpose in the short stories.

isiZulu text / Esahlukweni sokuqala, besingenisa ucwaningo lonkana futhi sethula nenjongo yalolu cwaningo ukuze ofundayo asheshe abe nesithombe ngokuzolandela ezahlukweni ezilandelayo. Sizamile ukuveza isisekelo nokubaluleka kwalolu cwaningo njengoba sivezile ukuthi isicwaningwe kakhulu imibhalo yabesilisa ngakho-ke sizoke sibheke eyabesifazane neyabesilisa sicubungula ukuthi yibaphi abethula abalingiswa besifazane kangcono kunabanye. Sibe sesibheka nezindlela zokuhluza imibhalo. Kuso lesi sahluko sethule isakhiwo socwaningo lapho siveze zonke izahluko nokuthi yini umongo wesahluko ngasinye. Esahlukweni sesibili, bese singena-ke sigxila kuzo izindlela zokucubungula imibhalo ezikhethelwe lolu cwaningo. Kulolu cwaningo sigxile kakhulu kuyiwumanizimu nesemiyothikhi. Sizichazile-ke lezi zindlela zokucubungula imibhalo. Isemiyothikhi inezimpawu eziningi ezithinta abalingiswa emibhalweni esiyivezile sayichaza kafuphi. Esahlukweni sesithathu, sibe sesiqala wona umshikashika wokucubungula imibhalo engamanoveli ebhalwe ngabesifazane. Kuningi ebe kade singakubheka emanovelini kodwa ngoba injongo yalolu cwaningo lwethu ukubheka ukuthi abesifazane bethulwe kanjani nezinto ezibathintayo sisebenzise izimpawu ezimbalwa. Sibone kuzosiza ukuqale siyifingqe indaba yonke bese sidingida lezo zinto esizibone zithinta abesifazane enovelini. Esahlukweni sesine, sicubungule amanoveli abhalwe ngabesilisa ngenhloso yokuthola ukuthi bavezwe kanjani abesifazane ngababhali besilisa. Besifisa ukubona ukuthi ukonakala okuye kuvezwe ngabesilisa emibhalweni ngabesifazane kukuliphi izinga. Esahlukweni sesihlanu, bese sisonga, sincoma sibuka esikwenzile esahlukweni ngasinye. Kubuye kwabaluleka ukuba sibheke ukuthi empeleni yibaphi ababhali phakathi kwabesifazane nabesilisa abaveza abalingiswa besifazane kangcono sisho nezizathu ezenza sithi uhlobo lwababhali oluthize lubethula kangcono abalingiswa besifazane. Ake sijeqeze kancane khona ukwethulwa kwabalingiswa sesisonga lolu cwaningo lwethu. / Chapter 1 is introducing the research and introduces its aim so that it could be easy for the reader to depict what the whole study will be about. This chapter has also laid the background to the study as it has been said that lot of research has been done with books written by males. The focus will be on both male and female writers trying to find out who portrays female characters better. We therefore looked at the ways of analyzing literature and the structure and the gist of each chapters. Chapter 2 we engaged in theory or the ways of analyzing literature that is used in this research. The study will mostly embark on womanism and semiotics which have been described. Chapter 3 focuses on analyzing novels written by female writers Msimang Nelisile, Shange Maphili, Langa Zakithi and Zulu Nelisiwe. The focus is on the women portrayal. The chapter starts with a summary. Chapter 4 has its focus on analyzing novels written by male writers Molefe Lawrence and Wanda Mjajisi. The aim was also to find out how women are portrayed by male authors. We wanted to find out the extent of the corruption of female characters as portrayed by males in their literature. Chapter 5 this chapter summarizes and appreciates what has been done in other chapters. There was also a need to compare between the male and female writers, who portrayed females better than the other and give reasons for that judgment. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

This study b·aces the development of the Shona clctective story as a genre different from rhe mainstream Shona novel. The Shona detective story emerges from the non-detective traditional folktale and develops into rhree types, namely, the rudimentary form. the pure 'whoduniC, and the detectivethriller. An attempt is made to show that when the Shona detective story first appeared it was quite elementary and showed signs of me influence of Shona traditional folklore. But later on authors developed the detective narrative into pure 'whodunits' and detective-mrillers which showed influence of Western ftlms and English detective stories. The study ends with the argument that although at its highest level of development the Shona detective story manifests characteristics that make it a unique genre different from other Shona novels its treatment of female characters is not very different from their treatment in the mainstream Shona novel. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Cette thèse porte sur l’évolution du personnage féminin, des points de vue physique, psychologique et social, dans vingt-deux romans publiés entre 1924 et 2012, par dix-neuf écrivaines issues des Caraïbes francophones, soit, de la Guadeloupe, d’Haïti et de la Martinique. Le corpus est divisé en trois tranches chronologiques, à savoir, les romans qui ont été publiés entre 1924 et 1959 (c’est-à-dire, la période qui correspond plus ou moins aux mouvements littéraires de l’Indigénisme et de la Négritude), puis les romans publiés entre 1960 et 1989 (ou la période qui coïncide avec la littérature de la dictature, la littérature de l’exil, et l’Antillanité) et, en dernier lieu, les romans qui ont été publiés entre 1990 et 2012 (durant la période qui équivaut à la littérature post-dictature, à la littérature migrante, et à la Créolité). Après avoir situé les œuvres de notre corpus dans leur contexte historique, nous avons analysé celles qui tombent dans la catégorie des récits de soi, puisque plus du tiers des textes à l’étude, neuf sur vingt-deux, ont recours à cette stratégie narrative. En nous appuyant sur les théories de l’autobiographie et de l’autofiction, nous constatons qu’à travers les récits et le « je » subjectif des protagonistes, les écrivaines réécrivent en quelque sorte l’histoire d’un point de vue endogène. Les récits se transforment en terreaux fertiles qui donnent aux écrivaines l’occasion de contourner à loisir les règles du pacte autobiographique et de franchir allègrement la frontière entre le fictif et le réel, en utilisant diverses ruses auctoriales par l’entremise desquelles elles représentent la femme noire, dans une perspective qui se veut valorisante, tout en lui redonnant, de manière symbolique, la voix qui lui a été usurpée pendant la période esclavagiste. L’analyse du personnage féminin démontre que la composante raciale demeure un facteur incontournable dans l’univers romanesque féminin des Caraïbes francophones. À l’appui des théories du personnage et d’études qui portent sur l’écriture des femmes, nous remarquons que, sur le plan physique, les écrivaines de la première génération ont surtout créé des héroïnes à la carnation pale, alors que les personnages féminins noirs sont secondaires, du point de vue actantiel. Cette tendance change progressivement dans les romans des écrivaines de la seconde génération qui incluent de plus en plus de protagonistes noires ou à la peau foncée qui sont au cœur de l’action. Au fil des ans, les écrivaines mettent davantage en scène des protagonistes qui illustrent avec acuité l’aspect multiethnique et multiracial des îles. Nous avons procédé à l’analyse psychologique du personnage féminin en nous basant sur les théories féministes. Si les héroïnes romanesques de la première génération d’écrivaines ont tendance à accepter leur sort avec résignation, celles de la seconde génération se battent avec acharnement pour s’émanciper des influences néfastes qui minent leur existence. Les héroïnes des romans contemporains vont encore plus loin dans leur lutte pour faire valoir leurs droits, en commettant souvent des actes qui sont jugés contraires à la norme. Sur le plan social, force est de constater que la race et la situation familiale des protagonistes durant leur enfance déterminent en grande partie la place qu’elles occuperont plus tard dans l’échelle sociale. Les éléments racial, physique, psychologique et social influent l’un sur l’autre et ont un grand impact sur l’issue de l’intrigue. Notre étude porte également sur la nature des rapports du personnage féminin avec les personnages masculins. Une fois de plus, à l’appui d’éléments se rapportant, entre autres, à la théorie du personnage et aux théories féministes, nous avons classé les personnages masculins selon les catégories : du bon, de la brute, de l’infâme et du criminel, en fonction de leurs interactions avec les héroïnes romanesques. Au facteur racial, s’ajoute le lieu de l’intrigue comme déterminant de l’issue de l’histoire. Pour ce qui est des relations entre les personnages féminins, nous constatons qu’au cours des cent dernières années, ces relations évoluent d’une dynamique individuelle (alors que les héroïnes romanesques comptent exclusivement sur la loyauté de leur confidente), à une dynamique collective, alors que l’on constate de plus en plus l’emploi du topos de l’espace clos comme stratégie pour assurer, a priori, la protection (physique, psychologique, sociale) des personnages féminins en question. Notre analyse des substituts maternels démontre, entre autres, l’évolution de la figure grand-maternelle qui passe progressivement du statut d’aïeule mythique à celui d’éducatrice subversive, et à celui de protagoniste qui occupe une place prépondérante dans l’intrigue et au sein de son entourage. / This thesis focuses on the physical, psychological and social evolution of female characters, in twenty-two novels that were published between 1924 and 2012, by nineteen women writers from the French Caribbean, namely from Guadeloupe, Haiti and Martinique. The corpus is divided into three chronological brackets. The first chronological bracket consists of the novels that were published between 1924 and 1959 (or the period that more or less corresponds to the Indigenism and Négritude literary movements). The second chronological bracket consists of novels that were published between 1960 and 1989 (that is, the period corresponding to Dictatorship Literature, Exile Literature and Antillanité). The third and last chronological bracket comprises novels that were published between 1990 and 2012 (namely, during the period that corresponds to Post-Dictatorship Literature, Migrant Literature and Créolité). After situating the novels in their historical context, we analyzed those that fall in the first-person narrative category, since over a third of the novels we are studying (nine out of twenty-two) use this narrative strategy. Drawing on autobiographical and autofiction theories, we find that through the subjective “I” of the protagonists’ stories, the women writers somehow rewrite history from an endogenous perspective. The narratives then become fertile grounds that allow the writers to subvert the rules of the autobiographical pact at their will, while merrily crossing the boundaries between truth and fiction. The women writers use various auctorial ruses through which they aim to represent the Black woman in a positive manner and symbolically give her back her voice, which was silenced during slavery. Analyzing female characters demonstrates that race remains an inescapable factor in the French Caribbean fiction world. Using theories pertaining to fiction characters and women’s writing, we notice that from a physical standpoint, the women writers from the first generation mainly created fair-skinned heroines, while Black female characters were mostly represented as secondary personages. This practice progressively changed as women writers from the second generation created more dark-skinned and Black female characters that are front and center in the plots. Throughout the years, women writers showcase more and more protagonists which keenly illustrate the multiethnic and multicultural aspects of the islands. We proceeded with the psychological analysis of female characters, by using feminist theories. If the heroines created by the first generation of women writers tend to accept their fate with resignation, those created by the second generation of women writers relentlessly fight to free themselves from the negative influences that undermine their lives. The protagonists of contemporary novels go even further when they fight for their rights, and often act in ways that are considered to be against the norm. On the social front, the race and the family situation of the protagonists during their childhood will play a great part in the position they will hold in the socioeconomic ladder, later on. The racial, physical, psychological and social components intersect and have a certain influence over one another, as they also play a significant role in the ending of the story. Our study also focuses on the nature of the interactions of female characters with male characters. Once again, using elements pertaining to the theories of fiction characters, we ranked the male characters in the following four categories: the good male characters, the bullies, the wicked and the criminals, with respect to the types of relations they sustain with the heroines. Along with the race factor, the location of the plot also has an impact on the ending of the story. When focusing on the types of relations that occur strictly among female characters, we note that these relations have evolved from an individual standpoint in the early-years novels (while the heroines exclusively relied on the loyalty of their confident), to a collective one, as women writers increasingly rely on the use of the topos of the closed space, as a strategy that a priori ensures the (physical, psychological, social) safety of female characters. Among other things, our analysis of mother substitutes shows the evolution of the grand-mother figure, which progressively transitions from mythical ancestor to subversive educator, then to a leading character who takes centre stage in the plot, and has a good standing among the members of her entourage

The current paper is a study of the male characters Simon and Jace from Cassandra Clare's City of Bones (2010), and the characters Tamlin and Rhysand from Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015). The main aim is to examine whether the characters in these fantasy novels for young adults have traits and functions that previously have been used to describe and portray female characters. The study discovered among other things that vulnerability and sensitivity could be found in all the characters, especially when danger was upon them or their loved ones. Simon was also the only character that was not portrayed with skills in combat, which was mocked by the other male characters but not by the female protagonist. The two male characters in A Court of Thorns and Roses were also portraited as sexual objects in the novel, and Rhysand was exposed to sexual abuse by the novel’s antagonist, which can be seen as stereotypical female trait. The male character’s function in the novels was to have a folie function to each other, and be a love interest, a confidant, and a choir to the female protagonist. The male characters in the novels were also the ones who needed to be rescued by the female characters, and thereby found themselves in a female position.

La violence faite aux femmes est une réalité encore très présente, surtout dans les sociétés patriarcales, même après des décennies de lutte féministe. C’est aussi un thème privilégié en littérature. La présente thèse propose justement une analyse de ce thème à travers deux romans assez récents qui mettent tous deux de l’avant des aspects particuliers de la question : Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali de Gil Courtemanche et Je m’appelle Bosnia de Madeleine Gagnon. Nous tenterons de cerner les différentes formes de violences à l’œuvre dans les deux narrations : la violence faite aux filles, celle faite aux femmes, et enfin la violence spécifique qu’engendrent les conflits armés avec le viol comme arme de guerre. Nous proposerons une analyse intersectionnelle de ces formes de violences afin de mesurer les représentations et les répercussions des notions de classe et de race eu égard aux toiles de fond différentes des deux romans : le génocide chez Courtemanche, le nettoyage ethnique chez Gagnon. Nous aborderons aussi les narrations sous l’angle de l’agentivité. Dans des sociétés fondamentalement patriarcales, quel pouvoir peuvent espérer avoir les personnages féminins sur leur destin personnel et collectif? Y a-t-il pour ces femmes fictives des stratégies possibles pour atteindre une liberté d’action, si mince soit-elle?