Analysis of Literary Techniques Employed in the Novel The Revelation: Flashback in Focus

This study mainly focused on a critical analysis of flashback employed in the novel The Revelation. Descriptive research design with qualitative data analysis approach was employed. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select the novel under scrutiny. In addition, the researcher used document analysis as data gathering tool. The novelist employed different past events in the novel to reflect different life lessons or experiences. This helped the leading character Blen to learn various life experiences; for instance, she shared the wedding tradition of her grandparents, what traditions they were practicing, the life journey of her parents and this, in turn, helped her to be conscious about her stand, especially on her education and it also helped Blen to know her parents’ and grandparents’ background very well. Inculcating the past events in the novel had in short motivated Blen to be dynamic in everything. In addition, the author inserted these past events to create tension in the readers mind especially when Hiwot narrated how her husband or father of Blen, Alemayehu escaped from death and left his homeland to a new country. Finally, Conclusions and recommendations have been drawn


Introduction
In a piece of literary work, writers employ different literary devices so as to make their works effective and meaningful. Among literary devices, narrative techniques or literary techniques are vital devices. Some of them are flashback and foreshadowing. Let us see what flashback is and its functions in literature.
A flashback, according to J. A. Cuddon (2013), is a term which probably derives from the cinema, and which is now also used to describe any scene or episode in a play, novel, story or poem which is inserted to show events that happened at an earlier time. It is, on the other hand, an interruption in the present of a vivid memory set in the past. There are a variety of things that can cause a flashback to occur, which include songs, food, people, places, or similar events to those in the past. Through flashbacks, we are able to reflect upon experiences we have had in life, both positive and negative, and apply them to the present. A flashback is an interruption in the chronological narrative of a literary work to relate events from an earlier time. Cuddon (1979) adds that flashback reminds the reader of past events; reveals and develops themes of a text; and supplies background information of characters and events. Mafela (1997) also supports it as flashback is the technique mostly used by authors to supply background information of characters and events. The author waits until things are moving and then goes back to fill in the necessary background information. According to Mafela (1997) and Baldick (1990) flashback infers the narrator's interruption of the chronological sequence of events in a literary work. By inserting past events while facing new ones, the narrator relates both sets of events.
Authors use flashbacks to give readers necessary background information or to create tension or contrast. It is an interruption that writers use to move the audience from the present moment to the past via inserting events in order to provide background or context to the current events of a narrative. Authors use flashbacks as a means of adding background information in the present events of their story. They interrupt a specific event within their story by using events that have already occurred or that have not been presented. This gives the reader added information about a character's past, including his or her secrets, inner or external conflicts, or significant events that affected his or her life. If the author is able to do this well, the reader will begin to convey reasoning for the actions of the characters throughout the story and develop a better understanding of present events. This also helps the author create a theme for the story and increase the emotional impact it will have on the reader'' (Sedillob, n.d as cited in Hadj Yahia Hadj Mahammed, (2016)). Authors use flashbacks in their works for many different reasons. One key reason is to fill in elements of one or more characters' backstories. Flashbacks can help the reader understand certain motivations that were otherwise unclear, or provide characterization in other ways; it can also create suspense or add structure to a story; it breaks the present action of the story to reveal an event from an earlier time; it provides background information to help readers understand the story, and often contributes to the mood, characters, theme, or setting of the story.
A flashback is a way of presenting events that happened prior to the current action taking place (Littlehale, n.d. as cited in Hadj Yahia Hadj Mahammed, (2016)). The use of a flashback is to convey information to the readers regarding the character's background and give them an idea of the characters motives for doing certain things later in the story. Therefore, it deepens inner conflict. It provides stimulus for the conflict deepens the touching effects and allows the reader to sympathize even with the villain. Flashbacks also increase tension. A mere mention of the past event makes readers wish to know the secrets. So, he/she reads on to find out what the secret is, and how terrible is the secret that it provides the motivation for the conflict in the story. It is a popular literary technique for writers to use when starting a story in the middle of things, to add suspense, or to provide the reader with important information.
A flashback typically is implemented when the narrator tells another character about past events, the narrator has a dream about past events, the narrator thinks back to past events, revealing the information only to the reader and the narrator reads a letter that prompts back to an earlier time. Flashbacks are a useful way to start a story at the end, and then fill the reader in on the events that got the characters at a certain point. It also mirrors the way our minds work, as we often think back to past events or people as the result of triggers we may see throughout a normal day.
In literature, flashbacks are incredibly useful for different objectives it is linked to the author's purpose. The writer may opt for various aims, understanding characters' relationships and background, understanding a character's motivations and perspective, disrupting the chronological linear order of a narrative for more depth and complexity, creating surprise or suspense, giving clues or hints to remember which foreshadow future events, enhancing understanding of an important theme or idea. In order to use flashback, it is important to be aware of why the flashback is necessary to the story. The flashback must reveal something intriguing which propels the plot forward or supplies essential information for the reader's understanding of the story. To use flashback, the writer has first to write the story in the present situation and then insert the necessary information using flashback.
Doing researches on different literary devices helps to add something in the readers mind. It may deliver hints or clues how to conduct a research paper on this regard. It also adds a knowledge regarding to literary analysis. Therefore, this research focused on the analysis of flashback events employed in Kibrom's novel The Revelation. The novel "The Revelation" is written by Kibrom Gebremedihn. It is written with 125 pages and 20 chapters. It is winner of 2013 Burt Award for African Literature which recognizes excellence in young adult fiction from African countries.

Objectives of the Study
The general objective of this study basically aimed at analyzing and interpreting flashback events used in Kibrom's novel The Revelation. In addition, this study attempted to achieve the following specific objectives.
 To scrutinize the relevancies of the past events or flashbacks employed in the novel  To appreciate the writer and his utilization of flashback events.

Research Methodology
This study was designed on library research and used documentation method in collecting data. The researcher also used qualitative data analysis approach to analyze the data since words, phrases and statements were used in expressing the collected data. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select the novel and the title under scrutiny. This is because the novel is written in English language and the events related to the flashback are highly used in the novel. The researcher utilized different documents, theses, dissertations, journals, articles, and books as sources of data. These sources can be labeled as primary and secondary sources. The primary source involves the actual literary text that is Kibrom Gebremedihn's novel The Revelation. On the other hand, the secondary sources include any materials, published and unpublished, related to the study under scrutiny. Document analysis was used as a research tool to collect valuable data for the study at hand. The novel "The Revelation" is written by Kibrom Gebremedihn. It is written with 125 pages and 20 chapters. It is winner of 2013 Burt Award for African Literature which recognizes excellence in young adult fiction from African countries. The researcher, in conducting the study, followed procedures to collect the relevant data for the study. Firstly, the novel was read repeatedly and critically to understand what is depicted in it. Secondly, underlying the important word, phrases and sentences and then taking important extracts related to the study was done. Thirdly, the researcher arranged, and verified the data identified or the extracts selected related to the study. Fourthly, the researcher selected the most relevant data which can go in line with the topic under study. Lastly, conclusions and recommendations were drawn.

Analysis of Flashback in Kibrom's novel The Revelation
This part focuses on analyzing and interpreting the collected extracts related to flashback. Brief explanations and justifications are given below.
The following extract addresses background information about the grand parents of Blen or parents of Hiwot. It helps Blen to share the indigenous cultural wedding tradition of her grandparents had before.
"Hiwot narrates as "My mother was six years old when she married my father who was nine. Their parents were farmers. At the wedding, the children wore special clothes and sat on wooden chairs. After the guests ate, drank and danced, they received gifts from both families. From that day on they were declared husband and wife" (The Revelation: 11) The above incident narrates the actions that have already happened but important in the actual narration in the novel. It delivers background information about the wedding ceremony of the parents of Hiwot. The importance of inculcating this flashback is that it shares the tradition of the traditional or earlier marriage ceremony of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. In the earlier time, Ethiopians, especially people of rural Ethiopia, were forced to engage in to marriage their children in their infancy age. This extract also reflects some cultural habits conducted during marriage ceremony. Cultural habits like special clothes, wooden chairs, eating, drinking and dancing aspects and giving gifts purposely for the wedding ceremony are represented in the novel The Revelation. The relevance of inserting these past events in the novel is to share the life lesson the parents of Hiwot enjoyed and what cultural habits were held in marriage ceremony and how the couples spent their lives with their infancy age marriage. Blen shared these traditions because of the inclusion of such past events. The following flashback also depicts how the parents of Hiwot spent their childhood time and grew up after their marriage.
They made them live together in the house of the boy's family as children. So they grew together looking after their own herds in the mountainous village. They flourished all the same soil like twin corncobs of lonely maize. They grew up playing similar games, hunting the same birds, swimming and basking. But the children eventually grew; and it was from this family that I was born. (The Revelation: 11) The above incidents portray the childhood practices that the parents of Hiwot spent after their marriage. They lived together at the boy's family; they look after herds; they flourished soil together, they play similar games, they hunt the same birds, they swim and bask together. Their childhood triggered them to do things freely without any shy. However, when they grew, they may not act like what they did in their childhood. In addition, we can understand that the boy's families, culturally, are responsible to take care off the daughter as she departed from her families. The author employed this flashback so as to share some cultural aspects of the wedding ceremony of Ethiopians. Hiwot narrated it for Blen to let her learn from the life experiences of her parents. In other words, the author inserts this event to show the love affair of the couples and their intimacies.
" She departed her father because of the political disorder of the period. She lived in a problematic situation in a barrack. The extract also justifies the political system of the period. It depicts the clash between the Dergue regime and the other revolutionist group. Lots of people were conscripted forcefully to participate in the tension created in the between groups. The following extract delivers evidence how the father of Hiwot was forced.
"No solider or officer was allowed to move his family with him. We were told to stay where we were. It was naturally a very difficult time for my mother who could not even receive letters from my father regularly. She lay awoke most of the nights worrying about him. She sensed a danger looming. (The Revelation: 12) The above excerpt reflects the life lessons of being a soldier and family members of a soldier. It portrays the negative impact of being a soldier on the life of family members. It is depicted that the family members (Hiwot and Hiwot's mother) did not go with the soldier or father of Hiwot. The mother of Hiwot was in difficult to get a chance of meeting her husband even via exchange of letter. Generally, military life is not as such comfortable for family members and also it helps Blen to know how Hiwot grew up and gives her strength in the upcoming journey of her life.
What I cannot still forget is my mother's love for the coffee ceremony. She often did it twice a day, but always differently. carefully the color of the beans. When satisfied, she put the beans with unsteady hands into a mortar and crushed them with a pestle. The sweet aroma of the powdered coffee filled the room. She put the powder into the pot of boiling water. She then put the pot on the glowing fire. She picked it up and stirred it for just a while perching. When ready, she placed the pot on the 'matot' slightly titled, until the roaring pot of coffee would settle and be ready to be poured in minutes. She did all the process fully focused. After she scattered around a handful of popcorn in every direction mother started expressing gratitude to the lord. I remember the words she murmured. She said almighty god we thank you for everything! Do not forsake us. May good news reach us? Bless our country. Bless this house and the ceremony. Let the thirsty get drink and the starved bread. Let the sick heal, the pregnant deliver safely. Let the elders speak wisely and the leaders follow your path. Give us peace and let us know its taste. Concluding her prayer, mother raised the pot with its handle and began pouring the coffee into the demitasses. At that moment, the pot exploded. She sat frozen holding the handle of the coffee pot…." (The Revelation: 12-13) The above extract reflects different issues. Firstly, it depicts some cultural activities followed in preparing Ethiopian coffee. From this, we can understand that the writer played a role in portraying the cultural aspects of coffee preparing. The process of Ethiopian coffee preparation is introduced. This past event was used to make Blen to know and respect her own culture and who her grandmother was in preparing coffee. On the other hand, the author wants to reflect the coffee ceremony of Ethiopia. Secondly, the writer incorporated some material cultures in narrating events happened before. These are the black coffee pot, the white demitasses, adey flower, rekebot (it is a thing in which the demitasses put on), matot (a thing in which the pot is put on and prepared either grass or…,). In addition, Blen is informed of to keep in mind her indigenous cultural habits. This is evidenced in her struggle with the antagonist character Eden who is habited with foreign cultures and ignores her own home land and her own traditions.
"  : 13-14) The excerpt quoted above reveals different issues; firstly, it depicts the feeling of both Hiwot and her mother felt when they departed each other. The feeling of crying and weeping, searching the eyes of her mother, the need of Hiwot's mother to tell Hiwot something and the gush of her tears are some feelings that we can understand from the above extract. This extract, in other words, clearly reflects the close relationship between mother and daughter. All the feelings stated above showed the strong intimacy between Hiwot and her mother. This in turn helps Blen to think in this way. The second incident reflected in the above quotation is the relationship Hiwot and her families had with the villagers. Though the villagers/neighbors helped Hiwot by taking her mother to hospital, they did not have a close relationship. In Ethiopia, when people suffer difficulties, people can help each other even they are in conflict of each other. The third event inculcated in the above extract is about how Hiwot became to an orphanage. As indicated, Hiwot departed her mother who helped her in every aspect. She had also missed her father. No one who can help her was with her. Hiwot departed from her mother; the officers took her to an orphanage at the age of nine. The relevance of inserting this flashback is to Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8435 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.63, 2019 5 share Blen how her mother Hiwot spent a very difficult life passage. It helps Blen to understand the feeling of her parents more particularly her mother. This is seen when Blen came back to home from university to visit her mother. It increased the intimacy they had.
Oh yes, I knew later that they institutionalized her in the Amanuel mental hospital; she died after a few months. I once met a woman whom I knew when we were in the barracks. She told me that my father died on the same day the coffee pot exploded and my mother became ill. My mother knew at that moment he was killed. This is amazing. The above extract reflects the opportunities and challenges that Hiwot, mother of Blen, came across in her educational journey. At the first stance, she was a hardworking and competent student in her education. She was treated optimistically in the school because of her education. She gained different prizes and gifts from the director of the school. She was allowed to use the director's library and helped to improve her language skills. However, Hiwot unexpectedly get confused when the director of the school and the orphanage was forced to leave the country. During this time, Hiwot felt loneliness, wilderness and hopelessness. She is obliged to taste another life journey as she was given some money and vocational training. She learned sewing and embroidery. She had a wonderful work habit that she was working day and night and led her life in good manner. Though she had a dream of being a nurse, she was not successful because of the demanding situations happened on the director of them and the school. Her dream was in the hand of the school she was learning and the director of the school too. However, things fall together and made her dream dark.
Generally, this flashback was inserted by the author to reflect how life is full of ups and downs. Hiwot narrated the problematic life experiences she had had for her daughter Blen to inform her how she grew and passed challenging obstacles. In addition, this past event was employed to let Blen recognize the efforts her mother devoted to win troubles in her life journey. It also gives a glimpse for Blen to be strong in her mentality or to be confident enough in winning tough situations just like what her mother did. The author has also represented Hiwot as a strong lady who can win cumbrous situations. This is evidenced in the novel in various ways. Firstly, Hiwot was born from a lower class family and they died at her early age. This led her to taste a bitter life. She sent to an orphan school and of course she was an excellent student. Secondly, though she was very good student in the school, another hardship came to her. The school director was obliged to leave the country and as a result, hiwot became in the hand of difficulties. Thirdly, hiwot was felt loneliness, hopelessness and wilderness. However, the way she committed to win the struggle was appreciable. She became hard worker and led her life properly. In addition, her husband after giving a birth to Blen that is after five years left his homeland lived in a strange land. During this time, Hiwot was treating her daughter Blen with difficulties with the aid of her husband. These all hardships were happened on Hiwot but she won all. This on the other hand gives a strong lesson for Blen to go in line with the strong sides of her mother.
"….you know Blen, your father was a good man. He was a selfless man who always put

Conclusions and Recommendations Conclusions
This study was conducted basically on critical analysis of flashbacks employed in the novel The Revelation written by Kibrom Gebremedihn. All the flashbacks utilized in the novel revolve around building the personality of Blen. The following are prominent among the basic relevancies of the flashbacks employed.
 Blen was informed to know her own cultural traditions. She learnt traditional way of coffee preparation of Ethiopians and the material cultures used in the process, traditional wedding ceremony of Ethiopians and the material cultures and folk customs employed in the process, cooperative working habits of Ethiopians and so on. She was curious enough her own identity and herself; this may emanate from the past event narrated by her mother.  Blen was assembled excellently in her education because of her mother's past life on education. Hiowt was excellent student at her early age and this in turn led Blen to be excellent in her academic performance especially at Addis Ababa University. She was a voracious reader just like her mother Hiwot.  Blen was put up morally strong when difficulties happened on her. She learnt it from the past events of her mother. She escaped lots of demanding challenges; for instance, she kept going excellently in her education though Eden was her big obstacle; she felt strong about searching her father.  Blen was also introduced different issues about her country just like the weak political scenario and absence of rule of law as shown on the life of Alemayehu. He left his country and lived in a strange land because of the criminals' wrong act on him.

Recommendations
The researcher wants to recommend other researchers to conduct another study on other literary devices or techniques of the novel under study or other novels. Literary works and writers should be appreciated. This will be done when we professionals of literature conduct researches on this regard. Ethiopian literature in English in general and novels in English in particular are at their infancy stage. Therefore, researchers should appreciate them by conducting researches and then sharing the messages depicted in the novels by publishing it.