An Exploaration of Aesthetic Elements in Kwakye’s The Clothes of Nakedness and Achebe’s A Man of The People

Abstract

This thesis explores the aesthetic elements in two literary texts: Kwakye's The Clothes of Nakedness and Achebe's A Man of the People. This study is situated within the context that the reading and interpretation of literary texts generally emphasizes the didactic value of the texts, often disregarding the aesthetic importance contained in the texts. The study is based on a qualitative research design. It uses a text-analytical approach to analyse the aesthetic elements and their significance in The Clothes of Nakedness and A Man of The People. The study, which employed Adorno’s aesthetic theory, argued that aesthetic values are an integral part of understanding and interpreting a literary piece. The main findings of this study revealed two aesthetic elements: the aesthetic character and the aesthetic setting. The aesthetic elements elicit two types of significance, which are aesthetic value and didactic value. The aesthetic value encourages individual interpretation of a literary work, elicits aesthetic taste/pleasure, and evokes emotional resonance, while the didactic values seek to inform or educate the reader on some of the post-colonial challenges, such as neglect of political duties among the political leaders, exposure of moral decay, and political ignorance, among others.