Titles of books usually have a close relationship to the main ideas/messages found in them
Titles of books usually have a close relationship to the main ideas/messages found in them. Use two novels you have read to show how the titles of those books have a relationship to the message given. |
The titles of the books usually have a great connection to the main content or message of the book. The authors select titles that summarise the main content. This can be verified by using the novel “The Interview by P. Ngugi” and “Passed Like A shadow” by B. Mapalala.
To start with “The Interview” the author has shown the following interviews:
Job interview at the City Soap Industry. The major interview in the novel is the job interview which Joe has to attend but unfortunately he misses it because of volunteering to save cucu. We are also told that a lot of candidates have attended the same job interview at the CITY SOAP INDUSTRY including Gladwell.
Police interview with Joe. The second interview is held by the police (Chief Inspector Margaret Kinyua) to interview Joe how the accident occurred and if he can recognize the plate number of the matatu that had knocked the old woman. These interviews are common as part of police investigations.
Hospital interview with Joe. At the hospital the doctors interview Joe by asking him questions whether he knows the old woman or his relationship to the old woman he saved. Of course Joe knows nothing about this woman with exception that he saved her from a fatal accident.
Njogu’s interview with Joe. Njogu asks Joe several questions after inviting him to his home. In that interview they come to find out that they are related and Joe is Njogu’s nephew. This helped Joe to be reunited to his long lost family relatives.
Joe’s life interview. Joe’s life is an interview by itself. From the way he sacrifices his job interview, to save cucu’s life, then keeps on visiting her at the hospital, and helps to finds her relatives. All these are series of actions that later reward him the job he wanted plus other benefits.
Also the book “Passed like a shadow” highlights the following relationship between the title and the content.
Living a worthless life on earth that leaves no any memorable mark is having passed on this earth like a shadow. It is like you never existed because no one will remember you. You become like a shadow that vanishes away when the sun disappears in the clouds.
Referring to the song sung by Kinyamasika pupils on Parents day. The author shows that people pass like a shadow if they did nothing for which to be remembered.
Adyeri’s family, passes like a shadow. The book presents the fact that AIDS pandemic has invaded the whole of Uganda and washes people away in large numbers and within a very short time.
Adyeri’s family vanishes within a short time leaving only one family member (Abooki) who is HIV free. Adyeri dies followed by Amoti. Although Atwoki is still alive at the end of the book it is obvious that he is also going to die as he is HIV positive.
David’s family also passes like a shadow. Within a very short time also David’s family members die of the pandemic. David, his father his mother and their house girl all fall victims of HIV and it is suspected that it is the house girl who infected them all.
This is compared to the shadow that disappears quickly when the sun disappears in the clouds.
Aliganyira’s family passes like a shadow. Aliganyira and Vick are also on their deathbed. They are infected due to their belief in superstition. When Vick is unable to conceive they go to the witchdoctor instead of going to the hospital.
Vicky gets the disease and passes it over to the husband. Both are going to pass like a shadow.
Apart from these families the whole society in Uganda and Tanzania people are passing like a shadow. AIDS is killing people so quickly and in large numbers. Many people have acquired the disease unawares and ignorantly spread it unknowingly.
For example Birungi, and the sick people in the Witchdoctors hut are a case in point. The whole community is passing away like a shadow.
Generally, the authors of literary works select the titles carefully to carry the message across and to provide a clue of what the book is about. However we are cautioned not to rely much on the titles when judging the book since some books contain ironical titles (the opposite of what actually happens in the book).
