Depictions of School Life in Barbara Kimenye's Moses Series

Abstract

The study investigated how school life is depicted in selected texts authored by Barbara Kimenye in her Moses Series namely: Moses; Moses and Mildred; Moses in Trouble and Moses in a Muddle. The study’s justification was that despite the centrality of school life in shaping character and personality in society, little research has been done in this area using Barbara Kimenye’s works. The study’s major objective was to find out how school life is depicted in selected novellas written by Barbara Kimenye and how these depictions are realised in terms of language and style. The two specific objectives were: to explore the dynamics of student characterisation in Barbara Kimenye’s Moses series and to establish the relationship between the students and school administration as represented in Barbara Kimenye’s Moses series; and the implications of these relationships to the running of contemporary schools. The study adopted a qualitative research design in order to explain the character attributes of student characters and how these attributes contribute to their interactions among themselves and the school administration. Data was collected through close reading of the selected texts using selective tools developed or adapted for that purpose. The subject matter of each selected text was analysed using Reader Response Criticism, with the researcher playing the role of the actual reader, to establish the possible interpretation of the texts. The results indicate that Kimenye uses humour and empathy in first person narratology to raise serious issues of student welfare and school administration. The behaviour of the student characters is depicted as troublesome but not overtly violent. The relationship between students and school administration is depicted as unpleasant, judged from the reader’s point of view, with Mr. Karanja as the only model of good professional conduct and practice. Measured against the provisions of Basic Requirements and Minimum Standards, Mukibi’s Educational Institute for the Sons of African Gentlemen is depicted as lacking in most aspects and can be used as a case study of undesirable practices and situations in school. The study recommends that Barbara Kimenye’s Moses Series be included on the schools Literature set books for secondary schools to encourage as many students as possible to read the books so that they can be able to judge the impact of their own behaviour on their learning as well as appreciate the physical, human and learning environments that their schools are able to provide. It also recommends that Moses series be acted out into plays to benefit students who have a poor reading culture, and even those who are out of school.