Young Adults’ Problems in the Social Prose of Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani and Doreen Baingana: A Study of I Do Not Come to You by Chance and Tropical Fish: Tales From Entebbe

Abstract

This paper is a study of young adults‟ problems in the social novels of Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani and Doreen Baingana. The specific texts under study are Nwaubani‟s I Do Not Come To You By Chance (2009) and Baingana‟s Tropical Fish: Tales From Entebbe (2005). The aforementioned texts are the first works of prose for both authors and indeed expose the problems of young adults in the society. The problems of young adults in these texts pose as challenges to Nationhood in the 21st century because young adults are the leaders of tomorrow. If they are not disposed to take this responsibility, then the future is bleak indeed for the nation(s). The Theoretical Framework for this paper is the Reader-response Criticism. The paper‟s emphasis is not only on the content of literary prose but also on the reader‟s interpretation and how it conditions his behavior to positive ends-a necessity for nation building in the 21st Century. Other key issues in the paper include identifying the “Young Adult” and the “Social Novel”. Whatever the interpretation is in the context of the books listed above, it bothers on problems which need to be addressed in order to sustain the nation.