...Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe gives a vivid portrayal of the African society before colonialism, during colonialism and after colonialism. It is centered on a tragic hero, Okonkwo, whose aim for success and fear of weakness drives his entire life and eventually leads to his fall. Achebe uses Umoufia, a land surrounded with strong traditions and culture as the case study to depict the effects of culture clash on a land where “Things Fall Apart; the center cannot hold” (Achebe, 2009). The title of this book is symbolic to the turnout of events in the story and foreshadows the inability of Umoufia to resist the pressures of change. In the novel, we see a clash between cultures and change that leads to the fall of the Igbo society, a clan that used to be strong and powerful before the white people came. The Igbo people face a dilemma on whether to accept the change, keep their way of life or better still balance both worlds in one. The way Achebe presents the arrival of the colonists and their imposition of change on the Igbo Society raises some thought to me on the true intention of colonialism i.e. did they come to spread Christianity or to acquire the land? The rapid unfold of events in the novel makes me harness the latter view; they took the stronghold of the Igbo society i.e. religion, turned it into a weakness, in the name of change, to enable them exploit the land. One thing that held the society together was their religion/tradition and once the colonists introduced...
Words: 1247 - Pages: 5
...3. Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart is a good portrayal of an African society in a pre-New Colonialism era. Focus your study on Okonkwo's relationship with his society, which formed his values and traditions. Compare those norms with the arrival of Christian missionaries and the introduction of the European laws and values. (In an essay explain with concrete examples the political, social, economic, judicial, and religious structures of the village of Umofia from Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart. Also, state why Europeans were so determined to bring changes to this society and what kind of action Okonkwo took to defend his village.) 4. Examine the decline of the Ottoman Empire. What factors explain this process? What attempts at reform did the Ottomans undertake? (Bentley & Ziegler, chap.31) 5. Learn how and why Japan became industrialized (make sure you review your notes on the movie; Meiji Transformation). Learn also about hollow modernization of the Latin American countries. (Also Bentley & Ziegler pp. 724-728, 634-636 & chapter 30) 6. Definition, causes, and geopolitical scope and the result of the New Imperialism. (Class notes and read also, Bentley & Ziegler, Chapter 32) 7. African and Asian responses to Western Imperialism: Armed resistance and modernizing efforts. (Class notes) 8. Learn about the causes of World War I. How was it a global and modern war? Major consequences of the war for both Europe and the wider world. (Class notes...
Words: 565 - Pages: 3
...World History Dr. Mahdavi History 101 Fall 2015 Study Guide For Final Examination The examination will consist of 6 essay questions of and you may choose any four questions to write about (25 points each.) You will receive both a numerical score and a letter grade. In reviewing for the examination, focus your study on the following general topics: 1. Examine the process and the transition from the more traditional "putting-out" system to the rise of the factory system (make sure you learn all about the spinning and weaving machines.) What would be the economic and social implications of this change? (Class notes and Bentley & Ziegler, chapter 29) 2. Discuss the population explosion, urbanization, and other demographic factors of the industrial Revolution. Also, discuss the growth of huge industrial cities during the 19th Century. (Bentley & Ziegler, chap.29) 3. Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart is a good portrayal of an African society in a pre-New Colonialism era. Focus your study on Okonkwo's relationship with his society, which formed his values and traditions. Compare those norms with the arrival of Christian missionaries and the introduction of the European laws and values. (In an essay explain with concrete examples the political, social, economic, judicial, and religious structures of the village of Umofia from Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart. Also, state why Europeans were so determined to bring changes to this...
Words: 1082 - Pages: 5
...Looking at literature that’s based off post-colonialism, it’s hard to find a point of view that is unbiased and lacking western Orientalism that taints writings about less civilized cultures. Two books paint both sides of the equation: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. In both novels, the author depicts a character going through both an internal and external struggle dealing with exile. The authors conclude in different variations that it’s after the alienation, or exile, of a character that lets black African Orientalism to cause change, not in the character’s enlightenment, but to change them into a sacrificial character for others’ enrichment. In these novels, it reveals how Africa faces...
Words: 1052 - Pages: 5
...“He does not understand our customs”: Narrating orality and empire in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Jarica Linn Watts To cite this article: Jarica Linn Watts (2010) “He does not understand our customs”: Narrating orality and empire in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart , Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 46:1, 65-75, DOI: 10.1080/17449850903478189 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17449850903478189 Published online: 27 Jan 2010. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 501 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rjpw20 Download by: [Indiana University Libraries] Date: 24 February 2016, At: 16:43 Journal of Postcolonial Writing Vol. 46, No. 1, February 2010, 65–75 “He does not understand our customs”: Narrating orality and empire in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Jarica Linn Watts* University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA Downloaded by [Indiana University Libraries] at 16:43 24 February 2016 jarica.watts@utah.edu Jarica 0 100000February 46 2010 &Article OriginalofFrancis 1744-9855 (print)/1744-9863 JournalandPostcolonial 10.1080/17449850903478189(online) RJPW_A_448194.sgm TaylorLinnWatts 2010 Writing Francis This article delineates different strains of Achebe’s narrative technique in Things Fall Apart, arguing that earlier critics have failed to account fully for two fundamental principles...
Words: 6891 - Pages: 28
...Teacher Name: | Heather Tabeek | Grade: | Grade 9 | Subject: | Literature | Topic: | African proverbs (in conjunction with the novel Things Fall Apart) | Content: | Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe African proverbs and how they are used to explain or teach | Goals: | Students will understand how proverbs are used by different cultures to simplify a philosophical belief or explain a basic life truth. Students will be able to compare sayings they're familiar with to some of the proverbs they will read. | Objectives: | TLW understand the meanings of selected African proverbs and their purpose. TLW plan and create an illustration of a chosen proverb. | Materials: | Several African proverbs (from textbook or Things Fall Apart) Poster board Markers, colored pencils, crayons (general arts supplies to be used at teacher's discretion) | Introduction: | Students have been introduced to the use of proverbs in Things Fall Apart. They will review by discussing the importance of proverbs in different cultures. | Development: | The teacher will read aloud a proverb, and then explain what the proverb means to him or her. Note that the proverb may be interpreted more than one way, but the class should try to come to a close agreement. | Practice: | Students should follow the teacher's example. Volunteers will read a proverb from the textbook aloud and offer their interpretations of the meaning. Several students should be given the chance to participate in this...
Words: 1307 - Pages: 6
...English Dr. Swaralipi Nandi 18-09-2014 Theme of Colonialism in ‘Things Fall Apart’ Introduction : Poet and novelist Chinua Achebe was one of the most important Africanwriters. He was also considered by many to be one of the most original literary artists writing in English during his lifetime. He is best known for his novel Things Fall Apart (1958). Born Albert Chinualumogo Achebe, Chinua Achebe was raised by Christian evangelical parents in the large village Ogidi, in Igboland, Eastern Nigeria. He received an early education in English, but grew up surrounded by a complex fusion of Igbo traditions and colonial legacy. He studied literature and medicine at the University of Ibadan; after graduating, he went to work for the Nigerian Broadcasting Company in Lagos and later studied at the British Broadcasting Corporation staff school in London. During this time, Achebe was developing work as a writer. Starting in the 1950s, he was central to a new Nigerian literary movement that drew on the oral traditions of Nigeria's indigenous tribes. Although Achebe wrote in English, he attempted to incorporate Igbo vocabulary and narratives. Things Fall Apart (1958) was his first novel, and remains his best-known work. It has been translated into at least forty-five languages, and has sold eight million copies worldwide. Chinua Achebe’s “African Trilogy” : Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God captures a society caught between...
Words: 6408 - Pages: 26
...do well. The strengths I have come to recognize are adapting, planning, and self-management. Management is the process of dealing with or controlling people or things, and with this, comes a lot of information. Having strong management skills furthers you not only in your career, but in your personal life as well. An organizational culture is related to organizational success. Adaptability falls under this category. “Adaptability is the ability to notice and respond to changes in the organization’s environment.”(Williams 104) Any culture can become dysfunctional if it doesn’t embrace change, because everything is constantly changing all the time whether we move with it or not. Ever since I was born, I’ve had to learn how to adapt in order to survive, so I believe this is one of my strongest management strengths. Being born three months early, moving more times then I know – including going to four different kinder gardens in different states, and doing my fair share of traveling out of the country has built a natural ability to change when the environment changes. An individual should be accepting of change in their personal life, and at the very least, a person has to be willing to undergo change from a business standpoint. One of the surest ways to go about this in business is to encourage open discussion. As the book explains, sometimes all you Lytle 2 need is a change of scenery to rejuvenate creativity within a company. It’s been stated that employees enjoy picking up ideas...
Words: 948 - Pages: 4
...San Diego State University Syllabus World History Fall 2015 History 101, Sec. 03 Dr. Mahdavi Student Learning Goals for Content and Skill Acquisition: This is a course in the history of the human community from approximately 1500 C.E. to the present. The course differs from the traditional Western Civilization class in that the entire world rather than Europe alone is the focus of study. The central questions the course will ask are these: What is Modernity, that is, what do we mean when we ask of "the modern world" in which we live? How have the political, social, cultural, and economic forces that we associate with modernity changed our world and its people during the past 500 years? Why has the intercommunication, interaction, and interdependence of the peoples of the world become so much more intense during the past 500 years than they were in earlier ages? How and why did western civilization rise to global domination in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and how has the challenge of western power and cultural prestige affected the course of history of all the World's people? Finally a question that we should be asking throughout the semester: how have the patterns of world history over the past 500 years determined or affected 1) the way we now live and think, and 2) our prospects for peace, prosperity, and the "pursuit of happiness" in the coming decades? This course is NOT primarily a narrative survey of civilizations, dynasties...
Words: 2042 - Pages: 9
...claim apostolic rank or mention a kinship with James, but church tradition Identifies him as the person whom the apostle Paul calls” “James the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19) the principal leader of Palestine Jewish Christianity between about 20 and 62 C.E. He was devout respecter of the Mosaic Torah and was known to his fellow Israelites as “James the righteous”. Despite his high reputation among both Jews and Christians, however, a violent mob killed him about 62 C.E. Two qualities of the Epistle of James give general clues about background. Besides being written in excellent Greek (not something a Galilean nature would likely be capable of), it repeatedly echoes Greek editions of the Hebrew Bible, especially the Book of Proverbs and later Hellenistic wisdom books like Ecclesiastics and the wisdom of Solomon. Forms and Organization Except for the brief opening salutation, the work bears no similarity to a letter. It is instead a collection of Proverbs, commentaries, scriptural paraphrases and moral advice. As a literary genre, James is the only New Testament resembling the compilation of wise counsel found in the Hebrew Bible. Lacking any principle of coherence, James leaps from topic to topic and then back again. The only...
Words: 1824 - Pages: 8
...reaction is very negative towards Ben. Forman describes what Cody feels for him by writing, “[...] I make the mistake of turning around to throw one last death-ray at the cocksure, shallow, pretty-boy poser, Ben McCallister” (I Was Here 35). As the story goes on, Cody has a bad encounter with her father and Ben’s reaction proves that the two have a friendship brewing. Forman writes, “‘Oh, fuck, Cody,’ he says. And he opens his arms automatically, like hugging me is something he normally does” (I Was Here 242). When Forman was asked why she chose to focus on friendship, for this book in an interview with famous British online book critic, Zoella, she responded, “My friendships are deep and intense […] Over the years, I’ve had friendships fall apart, spectacularly, bloodily, painfully...they can be just as important, (as romantic relations) just as deep, and just as damaging when they fall apart” (“Review: Some Truths Discovered in the End Derived Headline”). With this statement, it can be inferred that to Forman, friends are always on her mind, therefore the idea of friendship is always in her...
Words: 1047 - Pages: 5
...Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary The Existence of God; Science As Justification Submitted to Dr. michael chiavone Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements For THEO 626 D02 By Daniel Martin Student ID: L25178504 New Orleans, LA December 12, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. Introduction 1 a. Thesis and introductory explanation b. Historical development of doctrine II. Arguments for the Existence of God 3 c. Cosmological Argument d. Teleological Argument e. Anthropological III. Atheism Versus Existence of God 11 f. Evidence used to disprove God’s existence g. The believers evidence to counter IV. Conclusion 13 h. Summary of the arguments i. Applications in the church today V. Introduction The existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, immutable, monotheistic God has come up against enormous resistance from the beginning of time. Early believers such as Moses, Elijah, Paul, and Peter all had to demonstrate that their God is the one true God at times. These believers even encountered persecution and ridicule for holding on to these beliefs at times. Nevertheless the challenges to these early believers tended to be demonstrating that their God was greater than their accuser’s god or gods. At times, it was through the words of men that the God of the Bible was shown to be greater, and other...
Words: 5137 - Pages: 21
...intellectual output at different scales, from Twitter and previews to e- books and online encyclopedias. Far from making us stupid these technologies are the only thing keeping us smart.”(Pinker). The constant updates that these devices are giving us are yes, more convenient but not making us stupid. Pinker believes that the technology is very much distracting, but not if the users have some self control. Pinker said “ Distraction is not a new phenomenon. The solution is not to bemoan technology but to develop strategies of self-control, as we do with every other temptation in life. Turn off email or Twitter when you work, put away your Blackberry at dinner time, ask your spouse to call you to bed at a designated hour.” He argues that although these devices can distract us and interfere sometimes, they can easily be shut off to allow full focus. It is the users of these devices who are at fault, not technologies. In the essay, Pinker is very much disagreeing with Carr. While Carr takes the other side and argues that technology is altering the way we think in a negative way causing us to skim through things and expect the obvious answers, Pinker believes that using technologies like PowerPoint and search engines are causing us to be smarter and gain more knowledge effectively faster. With every generation, it seems people are finding a way to say something is making us stupid for example: When comic books were accused of turning juveniles into delinquents in the 1950’s, crime...
Words: 1224 - Pages: 5
...of The Culture Map, on why memorizing a list of etiquette rules doesn’t work. For more, read the article, Navigating the Cultural Minefield. 14:47 SARAH GREEN: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Sarah Green. I’m talking today with Erin Meyer, an Affiliate Professor of Organizational Management at INSEAD. She’s the author of the book, The Culture Map, and of the HBR article, “Navigating the Cultural Minefield.” Erin, thanks so much for talking with us today. ERIN MEYER: Thank you, Sarah. SARAH GREEN: So let’s just start by tell us what The Culture Map is. And tell us a little bit about why you developed it, what’s the problem you’re trying to solve. ERIN MEYER: I became very interested in researching how cultural differences were impacting business people, because I found that, although the world has changed quite dramatically over the last 15 years, the discourse around management hasn’t kept up with it. So just to give you an example of this, I was just in a bookstore yesterday. And I picked up a book about negotiations, a new book written by an American author. And as I’m looking through it, I can tell that the implicit assumption by the author is that the people who are negotiating, who are reading the book, are going to be negotiating with people who come from their own culture. But this isn’t the case anymore. I mean, every year we’re working more and more with people all over the world. So the question, I think...
Words: 2396 - Pages: 10
...type of wrong or right thinking is a far cry from today's standard college student's ethic which is based on postmodern thought. In postmodernism there are no absolutes; wrong or right is arbitrary and your truth may very well not be my truth. With postmodernism as mainstream as it is on campus. It is no wonder colleges and universities are plagued by the problem of academic honesty (Sidorkin, 2011). No matter what one's personal ethic may be. It is imperative one adopt Kant's view when dealing with Northcenteral's Mission, Vision, and Values Statements. Thus, Kant's ethic will be the baseline I use when reflecting on Northcentral's Mission, Vision, and Values Statements. Mission Northcentral's Mission Statement is what sets it apart from its colleagues. While most every college and university strives to achieve a high amount of professionalism and academic achievement few find this success. This is...
Words: 1279 - Pages: 6
