Characterization and Language in Dambudzo Marechera’s "The House of Hunger"

Abstract

This paper engages with Marechera’s approach to characterization and language in “The House of Hunger”. It argues that the protagonists in these stories defy conventional modes of characterization; they are rather dislocated individuals whose fractured selves reflect the rupture in society. Through an analysis of Marechera’s stylistic decisions—such as the use of profanity, metaphor, surreal imagery, and syntactic fragmentation—the paper contends that these decisions are not merely aesthetic choices but necessary strategies for representing psychological and social disintegration in postcolonial Zimbabwe. It concludes that Marechera’s work cul-de-sacs the reader into a redefinition of literary commitment and the importance of privileging existential honesty over ideological conformity.