The narrative technique adopted in Bayo Adebowale's Lonely Days is that of_________

Analyze the question: It asks about the narrative point of view in Bayo Adebowale's Lonely Days (1996), a novel about Yaremi, a widow who suffers at the hands of her in-laws after her husband Ajao's death.

Explain the concept: Narrative techniques include:

• First person: the narrator is a character who says "I" and tells the story from his or her own view.
• Second person: the narrator addresses "you." It is very rare in novels.
• Third person omniscient: an outside narrator knows the thoughts, feelings and actions of all the characters, and refers to them as "he," "she" and "they."

Show the solution:

1. Lonely Days is not told by Yaremi or any other character using "I."
2. The story is told by an outside voice, using "she" and "they." It describes Yaremi's thoughts and sufferings. It also gives us the scheming of Yaremi's brother-in-law, Pa Jimo, and the other relatives, and the happenings in the village.
3. The narrator moves freely between characters and places, and comments on events. That is the mark of the third person omniscient technique.
4. This rules out A (second person) and B (first person). D is wrong because the novel clearly has an identifiable technique.

Answer: The narrator is omniscient, which is option C.

Tip: In a Literature in English question on point of view, check the pronouns. If the story is told with "I," it is first person. If it uses "he/she/they" and the narrator knows what everyone is thinking, it is omniscient. Most Nigerian prose texts in the JAMB syllabus, like Lonely Days, use the omniscient narrator.