This question is based on Literary Principles.
‘Standing on the veranda, I see my sons Alioune and Malick arriving in tears. They are in a pitiable state; torn clothes, bodies covered in dust from a fall, knees bleeding beneath the shorts. There is a larg hole in the right sleeve of Malick’s sweater; the arm on the same side hangs down limply. One of the boys supporting him explained to me:
‘A motorcyclist knocked down Malick and Alioune.
We were playing football”’
Mariama Ba, ‘So Long a Letter’
The use of the present tense in the passage
-
makes it dramatic
- heightens its objectivity
- captures the narrator's anger
- makes it farcical