under the frangipani

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Thesis: The 12 aspects from the prose wheel are the guide lines that help the reader to explore the tone, theme and setting of the story.

Under the frangipani by Mia Couto is a very fascinating story. This is because the story is rare and very fictious. It talks about the dead being alive i.e. the dead’s soul goes into a living body hence one body accommodates two souls. The main idea of the story is about a murder that takes place and upon interrogation each of person present at that place takes the blame upon himself or herself with a pretty rigid reason. Mia Couto takes us across many different people having strange behaviors, life styles and abilities. Couto uses a wide range of styles to make his novel interesting.

The most crucial tool Couto used in developing his story was characters. He used a number of characters in his story each very different from another. First of all was the dead man himself i.e. Ermelindo Mucanga. This man is actually dead yet narrating to us his story. This character plays an important role in the book because he is the one the novel is based upon. It’s his life’s sad part that he wasn’t buried with proper ceremonies and so his soul didn’t attain salvation.

Another horrifying character is Navai Cetano. He is a man who was cursed by an evil spirit and so he grew old the moment he was born. In other words, he was an old-man-child. This character is rather a weird one; I mean how often you come across a child who grows up the second he was born. He has been placed with a very heavy curse, this is seen on page 22"I suffer the illness of premature age… I’m forbidden to tell my own story. When I finish my tale, I shall be dead.” Couto uses such vivid sentences like” do you see these wrinkles on my arm?” they are new, I didn’t have them before I started talking to you”; which make his readers sink into the characters’ tale and be sympathetic to him.

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Little Miss No is also a character of the same novel. She is very old nearly 90’s yet her name is ‘little’ Miss No. she has the ability to turn herself into water. With the aid of this extra ordinary ability of hers she is able to transform and escape under any circumstances. All the people in her neighbour-hood think of her as a witch. People blame her for any event that occurred in their area. This is seen on page 76,” I too was unfairly accused. I was blamed for deaths that bad happed in our family. I was ...

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