THE SEMIOTICS OF DRESS IN ELECHI AMADI’S RURAL NOVELS
Abstract:The Erekwi Clan features repeatedly in Elechi Amadi’s writing. Of Amadi’s four main works of fiction, three are set entirely in rural communities and they evoke deep cultural significations. The novels are The Concubine (1966), The Great Ponds (1969), and The Slave (1978). This paper examines how Amadi “casts” his characters in situations that reveal the significance of dresses and dressing in their lives. The paper examines the meanings that are embedded in the articles of clothing. To explicate the fashion signs in the texts, this paper rests its interpretation on the plinth of semiotics.