Suspense in Nyembezi's moral story ‘Mntanami! Mntanami!’

Abstract

Nyembezi's moral story ‘Mntanami! Mntanami!’ displays diverse techniques with regard to suspense. These techniques can broadly be divided into two categories: those relating to the relationship between events on story level and plot level of a narrative, namely repetition/order and rhythm; and other techniques. Events on story level are manipulated on plot level, and together with other techniques like symbolism of time and place, conflict between good and bad (especially with regard to the protagonist), and the introduction of secondary and arbitrary/superfluous characters, successfully lead ‘Mntanami! Mntanami!’ to its ‘destination’, the climax.