MYTHS OF ETERNAL RETURN IN FRESHWATER AND HOUSE OF SYMBOLS: A MYTHOCRITIC COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi and House of Symbols by Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, the former mixing African and extraterritorial décor and the latter firmly African, elicit interest in what make humans believe that they are just meant to be marionettes in the service of gods or more significant entity here on earth. However, the generational gap between the two authors – Emezi was born in
the generation Z era leading to new millennium and Adimora-Ezeigbo in the 20th century – intensifies the widening gaps in the understanding of the so-called gods or more significant entity to an extent that Emezi narrative leads into seeing the entire humanity as embroiled in a collective “Ogbanje” trajectory as against that of Adimora-Ezeigbo that is sectional or specifically identifiable in persons acting in consonance with their “chi”, or ignoring the dictates of destiny specifics, or that of virtual Ezenwayi, like all diviners, well connected to the imagery discoveries of symbols and in position to interpret them for the obedient humans. Obedient humans and how they relate to diviners in search of meaning to life is one of the objectives of this work. It explores how one is born, grows, loves or hates or is loved or hated and reincarnates. Using mythocritic approach of analysis, our findings show that the two works present different views of myth of eternal return, and create sub-sets of what regeneration or reincarnation mean.