Features and functions of Dilemma Narratives
Definition of Dilemma stories A dilemma story is a story in which at the end, the audience is presented with two or more choices/options to choose from and none of them is easy to choose from. The audience is thus left with a rhetorical question that evokes them to discuss possible solutions. An example of a dilemma narrative A young man borrowed a spear from a friend who said he could have it as a gift. He went to the war with it and drove it through an enemy chief. The enemy chief fled with the spear in his body. The young man was honoured and rewarded by his people, but his friend who had given him the spear became jealous and demanded back his spear. The young man set out to retrieve the spear accompanied by his girlfriend who said that if he was to die, she would die with him. They met the enemy chief’s eldest daughter who stole the spear from her father and gave it to the young man, declaring love for him. The young man fled with the two girls. On reaching a river, the boatman refuse…
