Throughout History there has been a desire for main stream white culture
to explore and expand to new areas with many different objetives in mind.
Many were looking for new lands that had untold riches while others were
spreading cultural or religious beliefs in an attemped to gain support for
their beliefs. Some times this was a welcomed addiction to foreign
societies bring them new technologies and ideas to improve there life. But
it was just as likely that these new additions to their culture and
society would have a negative effect causing many peoples lives to be
changed for ever. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe was a perfect example
of what effect new ideas and technology can have on societies that have
been isolated for generations and have created a unique culture and
society because of it. There were many changes that occured when white
explores came to Niger.
Umuofia Mbantu and the other local clans have been living in an isolated
society and culture for generations giving them plenty of time to adapted
and live in there envornment efficently. They had developed many
different religious beliefs that were different from the white Christian
culture that settled the area.
"You say that there is one supreme God who made heaven and earth," said
Akunna on one of Mr. Brown's visits. " We also believe in Him and call
Him Chukwu. He made all the world and the other gods." (Achebe, 179).
Even when trying to understand the Christian faith their religious
beliefs are so ingrained that they create cominalities that are not
really there. Akunna continues to talk about how the many gods they
worship are helpers of Chukwu because he can not do everything alone. But
that is were the problem is. By creating these gods to help Chukwu they
are creating false ideals to worship witch is against the christian faith
because they strictly believe in one God. " There are no other gods,"
saud Mr. Brown. " Chukwu is the only God and all others are false. You
carve a piece of wood-like that one and you call it a god. But it is
still a piece of wood." (Achebe 179). I find this conversation in the
book to be very interesting and can show many differences in their
culture. First Mr. Brown keeps trying to explain Akunna how their
realigion is wrong and not logical. But Akunna keeps trying to explain
how even though they are different they have things in common.
In her essay, “Momma, the Dentist, and me” Maya Angelou describe her insight in remembering an incident of racism. The incident refer to a time when a white dentist named Lincoln did not treat her tooth ace just for being colored “Niggah.” In America no one should be allowed to be a form of prisoner, because of their native skin color. Americans should be held accountable for their actions whenever a color person are in need of help their social life. There should be laws ordinances to prohibit persons from confronting -either verbally or physically -color people for not being a Caucasian person. This conflict in rights between those held by color people and the American people those held by, because American refused freedom rights, endanger lives, and economic issues.
Reunion, by John Cheever, is a story told through the eyes of a young boy, Charlie, who is recalling a meeting with his father who he hasn’t seen for more than three years. It is set in New York where Charlie’s father lives. He meets up with his father during a stop over between trains.
Have you ever heard the expression money isn’t everything? Well it’s true and in Langston Hughes short story, “Why, You reckon,” Hughes reveals his theme of how people aren’t always as happy as they seem when they have lots of money.
In the book, Things Fall Apart, there are a couple of folktales that are extended throughout the book. These folktales contributes to and comments on the central narrative of the story. Animals and folktales were important to the Igbo people. They used animals in fables and stories to demonstrate their beliefs and rituals. With all rituals, animals and symbols play a crucial role in Igbo society. The fable of the Tortoise and the Birds has uncanny similarities with Okonkwo and his rise and fall. The tortoise’s strength and cunningness eventually gets to be too much, which ends up crushing him. And Okonkwo’s inability to adapt to change leads to his demise. Both the tortoise and Okonkwo’s seek to be strong in society and they both want to be known as important. That is why I believe that the fable, The Tortoise and the Birds, is the closest fable to the central narrative of the story.
The nature of an ideology is completely personal; one’s interpretation may vary greatly from another’s interpretation. This is demonstrated in the two poems, “America” by Claude McKay and “Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes. Both of these poems emerge from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, and though these two poems each describe an ideological viewpoint of America as a place and a concept, the two speakers view the subject differently from one another. Both poets employ similar sound devices, yet the tones and themes vary between the two works.
Culture makes us who we are. Each individual has their own culture from their experiences in life and is developed from societal influences. The various cultures around the world influence us in different ways which we experience at least once in our lifetime. There are occasions, especially in history, where cultures clash with one another. For instance, the English colonization in Africa changed their culture. Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, portrayed this change in the Igbo people’s society, especially through the character Okonkwo in the village of Umuofia; the introduction of Western ideas challenged him. In the novel Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe introduces to us Okonkwo whose character’s response to the
“Dead Men’s Path” by Chinua Achebe. In this short story “Dead Men’s Path,” Chinua Achebe gives the protagonist an exciting chance to fulfill his dream. Michael Obi was officially headmaster of Ndume Central School, which was backward in every sense. He had to turn the school into a progressive one, however the school received a bad report when the supervisor came to inspect.
The novel, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other (2011) written by Sherry Turkle, presents many controversial views, and demonstrating numerous examples of how technology is replacing complex pieces and relationships in our life. The book is slightly divided into two parts with the first focused on social robots and their relationships with people. The second half is much different, focusing on the online world and it’s presence in society. Overall, Turkle makes many personally agreeable and disagreeable points in the book that bring it together as a whole.
Here, Taylor envisions a different kind of God, not one who waved his hand, uttered some magic words, and pulled the universe from his Godly top hat (p.151). Taylor’s God is a working God surrounded by wood and iron, soot
Simone de Beauvoir, the author of the novel The Second Sex, was a writer and a philosopher as well as a political activist and feminist. She was born in 1908 in Paris, France to an upper-middle class family. Although as a child Beauvoir was extremely religious, mostly due to training from her mother as well as from her education, at the age of fourteen she decided that there was no God, and remained an atheist until she died. While attending her postgraduate school she met Jean Paul Sartre who encouraged her to write a book. In 1949 she wrote her most popular book, The Second Sex. This book would become a powerful guide for modern feminism. Before writing this book de Beauvoir did not believe herself to be a feminist. Originally she believed that “women were largely responsible for much of their own situation”. Eventually her views changed and she began to believe that people were in fact products of their upbringing. Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris in 1986 at the age of 78.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tells the story of how one unified Umuofian community falls due to its own inner conflicts, as well as to the arrival of Christian missionaries. Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart to change the brutish image of Africa, for the Western world. The use of changing perspectives greatly aided Achebe in accurately portraying Africa as colorful, diverse and complex. For Westerners, viewing Africans as more than tribal and barbaric was a new concept, of which Achebe helped usher in. The story is told through the eyes of many Umuofians, which gives the reader a personal sense for the individuals within the tribe. When all the individual pieces of the story are brought together, the sifting perspectives creates a vast overview of the community, while also deepening the readers since for the tribe by allowing personal details to show through. Achebe captures the complexity of the Umuofia community by changing the perspective from which the story is being told frequently.
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good. (Psalms 14.1)
In our lives, there are always intentions to justify our actions. Simply put, why do we have to attend English classes when we can already speak and write? Obviously, the reason is to master the skills of writing a good argument, which we expect to learn in English classes. The bottom line here is that everything we do has a purpose. This applies even to different genres of literature; in the ghost stories genre, authors attempt to scare, teach moral lessons or entertain through their writings. Every ghost story has its own significant purpose. As for the ghost story, “The Open Window”, Saki deliberately replaces ghosts with a human character, who manipulates truths in order to prove the ultimate danger of the unpredictability of human behavior.
...roofs of God’s existence are basically the same in that they are all, essentially, examples of cause and effect. This cause and effect does not neccesarily prove there is a God but it does lead one to wonder what may be the highest cause, and for this there is no proof.
People Fall Apart in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Karl Marx believed that all of history could be reduced to two tiny words: class struggle. In any period of time, a dominant class exploits a weaker class. Marx defines a dominant class as one who owns or controls the means of production. The weaker class consists of those who don't. In Marx's day, the age of Almighty Industry, the means of production were factories.