Journal of Education and Human Development

Exploring the Characterizationand the Literary Devices Used in the Narration of the GureneFolktale
Patrick Atanga Aduko, Eugene Naah Kogri

Abstract
The study is about the Guren? folktale which was narrated by the Farefari people of the Upper-East Region of Ghana. The study examined the Characterisation and the use ofliterary devices during storytelling. The purposive sampling technique was used. The design of the study was the ethnographic and qualitative research since the analyses of the data was descriptive. The sample size of the study population were two renowned storytellers and their groups of participants and the audience from two communities in Bongo. The instruments used for the data collection were an unstructured interview and a participatory observation.There are varied ways of characterising stories in thefolktale narration in Gurene. The use of animals to perform human roles such as farming and marrying were found to be the case with characterisation. All the major literary devices as exist in the English language were employed by the storytellers to narrate. The findings confirmed that the Guren? folktale has several socio-cultural significances. Apart from it being an effective source of entertainment to the youth, its otherimportance, such as imparting the values of respect, tolerance, truthfulness and the enhancement of knowledge and wisdom for educational purposes were found.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jehd.v11n2a4