SIGN: A SCARLET THREAD IN THE REALISATION OF THEMES IN MICHAEL IGWEBUIKE UWAESEI'S THE TRAGEDY OF ADATA

The title of this paper is “Sign: a Scarlet Thread, in the Realization of Themes in the Tragedy of Adata.” The study espouses the concept of the sign, scarlet thread, theme, and tragedy. The purpose of the study is to unravel the various themes in the novel using a linguistic analysis of the sign, signifier, and the signified. In so doing, the study elaborates how and why the sign, is the scarlet thread that leads to the explication of the themes. The theory is interpretivism in the framework of semiotics. It emphasizes the understanding of social phenomena through the meaning individuals assign to their experiences. Interpretivism contrasts with positivism, which seeks objective measurement and generalization. It emerged in the early 20th century, influenced by phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. The proponents include Wilhelm Dilthey, Max Weber, and Martin Heidegger. Interpretivism is concerned with the subjective experiences of individuals and the context in which they occur, asserting that social reality is constructed through interactions and interpretations. The meaning of actions and events can only be understood within their specific social, cultural, and historical contexts. Interpretivism focuses on how individuals create and negotiate meaning through language, symbols, and interactions. The research method is the expose de facto, where existing primary and secondary data are used in the explication of the text. The following signs are encountered in the text – signs illustrating the beauty of the heroine, weather signs foreshadowing the progress of the plot and themes in the text, animal signs employed as totems, human signs as archetypes (representatives rather than individuals), and ethereal / supernatural signs indicative of the presence of evil, and colour / numerical signs which denote tragic elements. These signs espoused the themes of beauty and love, conflict within the society, tradition and culture, favoritism in the family; which engendered diabolical undoing in Nando's family. There is also the theme of innocence, group dance and insecurity