Read the two excerpts below.

Excerpt A: "The drumbeat rose like a heartbeat, echoing through the village as the elders gathered around the fire, each story weaving the past into the present, the words spilling like water from a calabash."

Excerpt B: "She entered the marble hall, her steps measured, the polished floors reflecting the austere symmetry of the columns, while the clock on the wall ticked with relentless precision, marking each moment of her solitary contemplation."

Identify which excerpt is an example of African prose and which is non‑African prose. Then, explain how the presence of oral‑storytelling elements in the African excerpt distinguishes it from the non‑African excerpt.

Question

Read the two excerpts below.

Excerpt A: "The drumbeat rose like a heartbeat, echoing through the village as the elders gathered around the fire, each story weaving the past into the present, the words spilling like water from a calabash."

Excerpt B: "She entered the marble hall, her steps measured, the polished floors reflecting the austere symmetry of the columns, while the clock on the wall ticked with relentless precision, marking each moment of her solitary contemplation."

Identify which excerpt is an example of African prose and which is non‑African prose. Then, explain how the presence of oral‑storytelling elements in the African excerpt distinguishes it from the non‑African excerpt.

Accepted Answer

Excerpt A is African prose; Excerpt B is non‑African prose. The African excerpt uses oral‑storytelling elements such as rhythmic drumbeats, communal elders, and fluid, water‑like imagery, which create a collective, oral narrative style, unlike the solitary, descriptive focus of the non‑African excerpt.

Neco 2022 Literature In English Question 46

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