Author(s): Balogun Folasade

Abstract: Contemporary African writers have addressed their countries' social, political and economic problems using satire to crystallise the malaises and irregularities affecting their societies. Satire is seen as a tool for expressing their disillusionment on the burgeoning prevalence of political, economic, religious and social abnormalities in the dysfunctional setting of African countries. One of such African writers is Abubakar Adams Ibrahim who uses his novel, Season of Crimson Blossoms to expose not just the societal maladies but also the follies and ineptitudes of mankind, and religion hypocrisies. This study critically scrutinizes the place of satire in achieving the aforementioned in the writer's fictional rendering. Emphasis is laid on political irregularities, cultural dissonances and hypocrisies associated with religion and the effects they have on characters and the society at large. The groundwork for these are squeezed out of the psychological make-up of characters, characters' conversation with one another, actions and inactions of characters. The aforementioned will be considered using satire as a tool to demystify the aspects that the writer advocate for change. Inadvertently, in the study of satire as a tool for viewing a work of art, sociological approach or criticism is inevitable as a framework because the society that gave rise to the book must be thoroughly understood before satire can come in to advocate for social transformation and revitalization.

Keywords: Satire, African Writers, Societal ills, malaises, Political ills

Article Info: Received: 21 Jul 2023; Received in revised form: 20 Sep 2023; Accepted: 25 Apr 2024; Available online: 08 May, 2024

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.93.1