APPROBATION-POLLYANNA MAXIMS IN CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE’S, “A DIRGE AND IMAGINE STANDING PATIENTLY IN LINE”

Abstract

This paper examines the violations of the approbation and Pollyanna politeness maxims in Adichie’s “A Dirge and Imagine Standing Patiently in Line Waiting to Vote”. Thirty excerpts from the two poems generated through a random sampling technique constitute the data for analyzing the variables in the study. Leech’s (1983) Politeness maxims constitute the theoretical framework for data analysis. The findings reveal the predominant violations of both the approbation and Pollyanna politeness maxims to demonstrate the writer’s disillusionment at the manipulations of the mass’s votes in the 2023 Presidential election, the seek disagreement interrogative is fearlessly deployed with answers to indicate dissatisfaction. A critical examination of the lexical choices and maxims depicts a threat to national peace and unit as well as a collective sense of dissatisfaction with all electoral processes and political culture of corruption which can cause conflict. It is consequently recommended that the will of the masses should be considered as a common goal and their mandate, approved to avert conflict.