The language of a child-soldier-narrator as the voice of truth: A critical study of Ahmadou Kourouma’s Allah n’est pas obligé

Abstract

One major characteristic of the artistry of Ahmadou Kourouma as a renowned African novelist is his linguistic dexterity. In an attempt to realise the didactic function of literary works, Kourouma creates rare harmony between fiction and reality through a language that is generally representative of the socio-cultural background of the characters and the thematic orientation of his novels. Kourouma’s characters are therefore always equipped with a language that reflects the socio-cultural and historical realities of the setting in which they evolve in the novels. This study focuses on Birahima, the twelve years old child-soldier, narrator of the story of Allah n’est pas obligé, the last novel of Kourouma published in his life time in 2000, barely three years before his death in Lyon (France) in December 2003. Through a combination of the theories of utilitarianism, superiority and realism, the study critically examines the language of this child-soldier narrator in relation to the historical realities which inform the background of the story in the novel. The study reveals that the choice of the child-soldier helps the novelist to expose the crude reality of a senseless fratricidal war in Liberian. That is, defying all diplomacy, all social taboos, all linguistic norms, Kourouma’s child-soldier-narrator lays bare the unbridled truth of the atrocities and carnage that characterized the Liberian civil war and thus puts to shame the perpetrators. Combining subtle naivety with humour and sarcasm, Kourouma employs the child-soldier-narrator’s language to satirize the architects of civil strife and armed conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone