Author
Patrick, C. A.
Abstract
The craft deployed by Chukwuemeka Ike in naming his comic characters and the impact that the names have on their behaviours and roles is the crux of this study. The study adopted qualitative research since the data involved is narrative data harvested from four novels and was subjected to content analysis using relational analytic tools to unveil the intricate synergy between the characters' grotesque names and their predilection for comic absurdities. The theoretical framework drew upon Martyna Gibka's work, "The Humorous Functions of Proper Names in the Literary Work of Art" (2015) and Henri Bergson's (1980) seminal work, Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of Comic. By employing these frameworks, the study elucidated Ike's naming pattern, which manifests in two distinct forms: the creation of onomastic names imbued with symbolism and the semantic process of fashioning names replete with linguistic peculiarities. The paper concluded that there is a harmonious interplay between the grotesque names of the characters and the cardinal roles that they play in the selected novels.
Keywords
politics, humour, fictional names, comic characterisation, Chukwuemeka Ike
Introduction
The phenomenon of names or naming has generated scholarly debates right from the time of Plato. It has continued to yield remarkable volumes of scholarship among literary onomasticians, linguistic and language scholars. Izevbaye reveals that “the controversy about names still has a universal and continuing importance and is still an important field for serious speculation and scholarship” (1981, p.162). In Cratylus for instance, which has attained the status of a theoretical masterpiece among scholars, Plato argues, “No name belongs to any particular thing by nature, but only by the habit and custom of those who employ it and who establish the usage” (1978, p.11); this implies that names are cultural constructs that acquire meaning and significance following the values attributed to them by the namers, bearers, or society at large, otherwise if “Taken out of this context of social reality, names remain in an atomistic state" (Plato, 1926, p.164). Thus, while names exist within the realm of language, they assume particular forms and possess value within the societal or contextual framework in which they are bestowed. Similarly, the act of naming holds tremendous significance within fictional narratives. Writers often dedicate ample time and effort to generate names that will enrich and accentuate the personas of their "homo fictus" (Foster, 1927), thereby shedding light on various aspects of their literary works, including themes, plots, and more. Izevbaye’s astute observation that naming is a creative process that not only shapes the personality within a sociocultural context but also involves the creation of a character within the literary realm (1981, p.169) reinforces Papantoniou and Konstantopoulos’s view that fictional character names are expressive vehicles conveying experiences, ethos, teleology, values, culture, ideology, and attitudes (2016, p.2154). Derived from realworld names, fictional names embody traditional and socio-cultural elements, reflecting their society's moral and cultural orientation. Thus, in this study, we shall scrutinise the intersection of the grotesque names of some characters in Ike’s works and their comic manifestations. The primary aim is to discern the nuanced impact of such distinctive names on the intricate fabric of the characters' personalities.
Content
Significant theoretical works have been carried out on naming fictional characters by literary onomasticians and Polish literary onomasticians carry out the bulk of the work.
Gibka who seems to have found proficient engagement in literary onomastics reveals:
The issue of the functions of literary proper names has been given the most
attention in Poland and it was there that the majority of works that
contributed to the development of the field were published. That is why three
out of four sections devoted to the aforementioned functions will present
Polish articles and monographs… (2019a, pp.13–14)
Numerous Polish scholars have made noteworthy contributions to literary onomastics, rendering it indispensable to explore the functions of fictional names in literature without being overshadowed by the extensive body of their scholarly works.
Conclusion
We have been able to show that in Ike’s novels, there is always a harmonious interplay
between the names and the roles played by the characters. Ike’s naming convention
manifests sterling ingenuity and illuminating logic evident in how his characters’ antics
and semantics reinforce the names they bear. It is obvious that for Ike, the art of naming
goes beyond merely identifying or differentiating characters; it performs additional
functions of enhancing characterisation, developing meaning and censoring awry
behaviour. Because Ike is an unapologetic satirist, characters bear names that accentuate
their behaviour, attitudes and attributes through which he makes moral statements.
Therefore, the synergy between the roles and names of characters in his works reveals
Ike to be a writer who is under the constant influence of imaginative brainwaves and
clairvoyant perceptiveness.
References
Papantoniou, K. and Stasinos K. (2016). Unravelling Names of Fictional Characters.
Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational
Linguistics; 2154–2163.
Rouillé, L. (2021). Anti-Realism about Fictional Names at Work: A New Theory for
Metafictional Sentences. Organon F 28 (1): 223–252.
https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2021.28110
Salis, F. (2021). The Meanings of Fictional Names. Organon F 28 (1) 2021: 9–43.
Solodkoff, T. V. (2019). Explaining Fictional Characters. Ergo, 6(22): 617 – 645
Stokke, A. (2021). Fictional names and individual concepts. Synthese, 198:7829 –7859.
Wamitila, K. W. (1999). “What is a Name? Towards Literary Onomastics in Kiswahili
Literature, in AAP 60: 35
Gibka, M. (2019a). Literary Onomastics: A Theory. Poland: Archae Graph.
-------. (2019b). Permanent Functions of Characters’ Proper Names in Harry Potter.
Journal of Literary Onomastics, 7(1):45 – 52.
-------. (2018a). The Humorous Function of the Characters’ Names in Terry Pratchett’s
Men at Arms.
-------. (2018b). The Functions of Characters’ Proper Names in Guards! Guards! by Terry
Pratchett. Onomastica Uralica, 203 – 264.
-------. (2016) The Humorous Function of Proper Names in Harry Potter. Integralia IV.
Wymiary studenckiej humanistyki. Ed. Aneta Lica and Marlena Kardasz. Elblag:
Wydawnictwo PWSZ w Elblagu, 139 – 145.
--------. (2015). The Functions of Proper Names in the Literary Work of Art. Symbolae
Europaeae; 8: 79 – 90.
Glavaničová, D. (2018). “Fictional Names and Semantics: Towards a Hybrid View.” In
Objects of Inquiry in Philosophy of Language and Literature. Studies in Philosophy of
Language and Linguistics59– 73. https://doi.org/10.3726/b14249
Ike, C. (1993). The Potter’s Wheel. Ibadan: University Press.
-------. (2008). Toads for Supper. Ibadan: University Press.
-------. (2009). The Bottled Leopard. Ibadan: University Press.
-------. (2009). The Naked Gods. Ibadan: University Press
Izevbaye, D. (1981). Naming and the Character of African Fiction. Research in African
Literatures. 12(2): 162-184
Kosterec, M. (2021). Some Further Remarks on Hybrid View of Fictional Characters.
Organon F 28 (2): 484–491.
Oguzie, B. E.C. (2004). “An Interview with Chukwuemeka Ike” in Goatskin Bags and
Wisdom: new critical perspectives on African literature. Ernest Emenyonu, ed. New
York: African World Press, 365-374.
Patrick, C. A. (2019). Chukwuemeka Ike: Humour and the Burden of Casual Criticism.
Israeli Journal for Humor Research, 8(2): 52-66.
------. (2024). The Dialectics of Setting and Humour in Chukwuemeka Ike’s Novels.
Nigerian Journal of Arts and Humanities, 4(2): 47- 52.
Plato. (1978). “Cratylus” in The Collected Dialogues of Plato. Edith Hamilton and
Huntington Cairns, (eds.) Princeton: Princeton University Press
Azuike, M. “Language and Style in The Bottled Leopard”. Chukwuemeka Ike: A Critical
Reader, Ugbabe Kanchana (ed.) Ibadan: Malthouse, 2001, pp.50-63.
Bergson, H. Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of Comic. New York: Public Domain
Books, 1980
Cieslikowa, A. (1990). Rodzaje ekspresji w tworzeniu nazw osobowych. Polonica, 15:
111 – 119
Coates, R. (2020). Linguistic aspects of literary name origination. Onoma: Journal of the
International Council of Onomatstic, 53, 11- 31. DOI:10.34158/ONOMA.53/2018/2
Cotoc, A. (2016). Fictional Names and Cybernames. BIBLIOTECA TÈCNICA DE
POLÍTICA LINGÜÍSTICA; 133 – 139
Currie, G. (1990). The Nature of Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ezenwa-Ohaeto. (2001). “Oral traditions in the Novels of Chukwuemeka Ike” in
Chukwuemeka Ike: A Critical Reader, Ugbabe Kanchana (ed.) Ibadan: Malthouse.
Forster, E. M. (1927). Aspects of the Novel. London: Penguin Books.