Chaka in fact, in mystery, and in fiction

Abstract

The present study analyses the use of fact, mystery, and fiction as portrayed in the novel Chaka. The study employed a secondary data method for data collection and the data was collected from the documented sources. The findings of the study revealed that the factual events employed in the novel about the affairs of Chaka's life let the message of the book stay close to factual history. The fictional events are used to produce the desired effect and to suit Mofolo's purpose in writing the novel Chaka. Mofolo uses the mysterious events to overstate the factual events and to produce comic effect. All these three factors are employed to create dramatic tension, to generate intensity, and also to suit Mofolo's purpose in writing Chaka. The study concludes that not all events depicted in the novel should be taken as literal representations of facts. Instead, readers ought to recognise that certain events depicted in the novel are fictional, even bordering on the mystical.