A Comparative Analysis of Muhammad and Oe’s Novels

Abstract

This is a comparative analysis of two novels entitled “The Son of Mad Mat Lela,” which is written by Ishak Hadji Muhammad, a famous Malaysian writer and the other one is “Teach us to Outgrow our Madness,” by a Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Oe. This study compared the literary styles of Muhammad and Oe through the lens of their vocabulary and language use. Muhammad’s literary styles is simple, clear and vivid. One reads the story with delight because the words that strung together sound on the air like music. He does not use metaphor; his style is still striking in his own way. Many readers still notice his style no matter how plain it is. This is to say that Muhammad could write lucidly, simply and lively by observing grammar rules in writing. He uses common phrases of the day not with artificially but with naturalness. While, Oe’s literary style is more of long and complex sentences or two that occupy a paragraph. Most of his passages convey strong emotion describing an intimate knowledge of the lives of the characters.