The role of names in the development of plot and theme in ndumba's chiwano kuphili yakayimbwe(1994) and Mukwato's Kwato's Kwatokuna Mukwenu (1959)

Names in African societies are not only mere identifiers of entities, but do carry connotative meanings in most cases. Coming from an oral tradition, significant events such as droughts, death, and famine are documented and preserved through naming. The art of naming has become prominent in literary works as characters and places are named to serve certain purposes among them being maintaining the status quo of the name-giver. This present research examines the role of names of characters and places in the development of theme and plot in Ndumba’s Chiwano Kuphili Yakayimbwe (1994) and Mukwato’s Kwatoku Na Mukwenu (1959). The names of characters are carefully chosen to explore the theme of the texts under scrutiny. It has been established that there is a direct relationship between a name of a character and the role he or she plays. The names of the characters are descriptive of what they are and do throughout the text as the story unfolds. The titles of the books are descriptive of what transpires in both texts and so are the place names