The Representation of Child Soldiers in Contemporary African Fiction.

In the context of international concern about the exploitation of children for military purposes, this study explores the representation of African child soldiers in five contemporary novels by writers from Africa: Johnny Mad Dog ([2002]2005) by Emmanuel Dongala; Allah Is Not Obliged ([2000]2006) by Ahmadou Kourouma; Beasts of No Nation (2006) by Uzondinma Iweala; Half of a Yellow Sun (2007) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; and Song for Night (2007) by Chris Abani. Sociological and autobiographical accounts of actual child soldiers' lives are offered as a comparative basis for discussing their fictional counterparts' experiences, and in order to highlight the unique insights offered by the fiction. Overlapping foci of attention for both the actual and the fictional cases are: notions of childhood in Africa in relation to the child soldiers' particular political situations; the ways in which they became involved in war; the degree of moral corruption in the children and how far this affects their militia relationships; how they cope with their ordeals; what signs of humane impulses remain; to what extent rehabilitation for the children is possible; and to what extent they come to understand the implications of their experiences. More specific foci for the fictional explorations are: the forms of narration and language devices employed by the novelists; to what extent memories of the child soldiers' past provide a contrast to their war experience; how far such memories help in rehabilitation; and devices or strategies used as reminders of the outside world, or to convey less conscious experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]