A Pragmatic Analysis of Wole Soyinka’s The Beatification Of Area Boy: A Lagosian Kaleidoscope

Abstract

Wole Soyinka is one of the Nigerian writers whose works satirize the socio-cultural, political and religious experiences of Nigeria. Extant works have been done on Wole Soyinka’s The Beatification of Area Boy: A Lagosian Kaleidoscope, especially from artistic perspectives. However, the stratification of Nigerian society has not been sufficiently investigated in the text from a pragmatic lens. This study, therefore, investigates the prominent pragmatic acts in the text to show their context as well as the prominent pragmatic functions inherent in the text. Data were purposively selected and analysed using Jacob Mey’s pragmatic act theory. Two major issues were revealed in the analysis namely: ruling-class or privileged-related activities and masses or underprivileged-related functions. The former was foregrounded through the practs of discriminating and ordering while the later was revealed through the practs of complaining, criticising and protesting. The study is a call to the ruling class to discharge their governmental roles fairly and understand that government positions are not to be used to amass personal virtues. The study concludes that literary works are not written in a vacuum but are made to reveal the realities of society.