Civil Peace ( Chinua Achebe ) 70s
Jonathan Iwegbu has survived the Nigerian Civil War along with his wife and three of his four children, and thus considers himself “extraordinarily lucky”. He also treasures his still-working bicycle, which he buried during the war to ensure it would not be stolen. Another apparent miracle is his still-standing home, which he repairs and reoccupies after returning home to the capital city of Enugu. To explain both his good and bad fortune to himself and others, he often repeats a phrase: “Nothing puzzles God.” Jonathan works hard in the aftermath of the war, using his bicycle to start a taxi service and opening a bar for soldiers...One day, after turning over rebel currency, Jonathan is given an award of 20 pounds. He takes care not to be robbed, remembering a theft he observed several days earlier,.That night, a group of thieves knocks on his door demanding money. Frightened, the family calls for the neighbors and police, but nobody seemed to be caring. The thieves then mock them,.The thief leader demands 100 pounds, promising not to hurt Jonathan or his family if he cooperates. Eventually, It dawns on Jonathan that they have no options, and gives the thieves the 20 pounds of reward money so they will leave the family unharmed..The next morning, Jonathan and the family are back at work as the neighbors arrive.Jonathan explains to his neighbors that the reward money cannot compare to what he lost in the war. He chooses to focus on his work in the present rather than regret what has happened, since “Nothing puzzles God.”Half a Day ( Naguib Mahfouz ) published in 1989 As the story opens, the narrator is a young boy walking to his first day of school. The boy is delighted with the new clothes he is wearing for the occasion, but is worried about going to school. As he walks along, holding onto his father’s hand, he occasionally turns to ask his father why he must go; he feels that perhaps he is being sent away from home as a punishment.Although his father reassures him, he is not convinced.At the gate to the school, the boy hesitates again.The father explains that “today you truly begin life.” Penetrating school the boy sees the faces of the other boys and girls,but feels enstranged.One boy approaches and asks the narrator who brought him to school; when he replies that it was his father, the other boy states that his own father is dead.The narrator soon becomes one of the group of children,.”The narrator makes friends with some of the boys and falls in love with some of the girls..When the bell rings to announce the end of the day, the narrator steps outside the gate, but his father is not waiting for him as promised. He encounters a familiar middle-aged man; they greet one another and shake hands before the man moves along.The narrator finds that the street and surroundings have completely altered since the morning.( These changes are meant to be understood in allegorical terms ), as representing the effect of modernization and urbanization in changing city within the lifetime of one man.He is unable to cross the street because of heavy traffic. Finally, a “young lad” offers to help him across, addressing him as “Grandpa”—the little boy has passed an entire life time in what seemed like only half a day.He is now an old man at the end of his life. | ’ Looking for a Rain God ’’ Bessie Head it is about an African family’s desperate struggle against a drought that results in tragic outcome.An African village is plagued by a 7-year drought. The villagers, who are mainly farmers, suffer from starvation as they are dependent on the rain to grow their crop. The rain finally comes and many families rush out to resume farming. Mokgobja and his family are one of the first to clear and plough their land. Their hopes are dashed when the rain only lasts for 2 weeks. Fearing the starvation that they have to face the following year, Mokgobja’s daughter-in-law and her sister, become hysterical. Mokgobja remembers an ancient rain-making ceremony which involves the ritual sacrifice of young children to appease Rain God. Mokgobja and his son Ramadi, sacrifice Ramadi’s two young daughters. Unfortunately, the rain does not come. Eventually, Mokgobja and his family return to the village, filled with despair, guilt and fear. The other villagers become suspicious about the missing children. Soon the police arrive and Tiro, the children’s mother, breaks down and confesses. Finally, Mokgobja and his son are sentenced to death. “Snapshots of a Wedding” Bessie Head deals with the story of a wedding day of Kegoletile and Neo, a young man and woman who live in a small African village.The story begins with a description of the dawn of the wedding day.The wedding is unusually going to be a modern one.Many courtesies will be left out of the planning.Kegoletile, rich in catle man, has fathered children with two women, Neo and Mathata. Neo is a cocky young woman, educated and anxious to make a good living.She never fails to dwell on the fact that she is educated and always being condescending toward others, for which they secretly dislike her. Mathata, on the other hand,a down-to-earth woman,she is not educated but is content with the monthly stipend Kegoletile provides for the care of their child.Kegoletile chooses to marry Neo, but continues to bring gifts to Mathata and to spend time with her when he has completed his daily work in preparation for the wedding. He still has feelings for Mathata,Others notice that Kegoletile continues to spend much time with Mathata. On a visit one day to her aunt, Neo learns how others in the village feel about her. Her aunt tells her that Kegoletile “would be far better off if he married a girl like Mathata, who though uneducated, still treats people with respect.” This stuns Neo, and she quickly becomes pregnant again to cement her hold on Kegoletile.The narration then turns again to the wedding day, describing the rituals performed by the families of the groom and bride. The story ends with the reappearance of Neo’s aunt, who falls at Neo’s feet, exhorting her to “Be a good wife!” | Dead Men's Path ( Chinua Achebe )
Michael Obi’s ambition is fulfilled when, at age twenty-six, he is appointed to whip into shape an unprogressive secondary school. outspoken in his denigration of “the narrow views” and ways of “superannuated people in the teaching field,” he expects to show people how a school should be run. He plans to institute modern methods and demand high standards of teaching, while his wife, Nancy—who looks forward to being the admired wife of the headmaster—plants her “dream gardens” of beautiful hibiscus and allamanda hedges.One day Obi spots a village woman cutting across the school gardens on a footpath that links the village shrine with the cemetery. Scandalized by her trespassing, Obi gets the sacred ancestral footpath fenced off with barbed wire. The local priest tries to remind Obi of the path’s historical and spiritual significance as the sacred link between the villagers, their dead ancestors.The young headmaster derides the priest’s explanation explaining that “dead men do not require footpaths.” Two days later the hedge surrounding the school, its flower beds, and one of its buildings lie trampled and in ruins—the result of the villagers’ attempt to propitiate the ancestors whom Obi’s fence has insulted. After his supervisor issues a report on this incident, Obi is dismissed,and this can be chalked up to his extravagant zeal. "A Sunrise on the Veld" Doris Lessing It tells the story of a boy who is filled with the excitement and wonder of life and the world around him. However, he soon discovers the darker side of reality.At the beginning of the story, the boy awakens early in the morning and feels like he has control over himself and his environment. He has trained himself to wake at half-past four without the use of his alarm clock. He thought of staying in his warm bed awhile longerAfter getting dressed in the cold of the early morning, the boy crept quietly through the house so as not to wake his parents. He took his gun and went outdoors, taking his dogs with him. He was aware of every sensation he felt.While in his state of exuberance, his celebration of life was interrupted by the small cries of a creature in pain. As the boy went to investigate the source of the cries, he saw a buck in the grass dying, and covered in black ants. He realized there was nothing he could do for the poor animal. He had no control over this.After the buck’s skeleton had been stripped clean by the ants, the boy went over to examine it closely. He thought about how it looked when it was alive. Perhaps it was running and romping in the veld earlier that morning, just as he had.The boy discovered that the buck’s leg had been broken. Trying to think of how it could have happened to a young and sure-footed animal as this, The boy came face to face with death, and knew it happens to all living creatures. He also realized that even though he could control what he does to some extent, there were things in this world that no one can control. The knowledge of fatality | ’ The Life of the Imagination ‘’ Nadine Gordimer She had been the fearless, imaginative child of orderly, unimaginative parents. After leaving the University, and working in an art gallery, she had married Arthur, a prosperous young architect and had eventually settled in Pretoria with her husband and children. She loved solitude and spent a week of every year alone in her shack on the Crocodile River. She and her husband were slightly remote, but content, and the children were happy. One night, when her eldest son was ill, Dr. Usher, the family doctor's substitute, paid a house call. She was intrigued by him, but annoyed by his conventional taste. On his third visit, they began an affair. They met surreptitiously, either at his flat or at his office, and, planning their meetings, they began to know each other's separate lives. He had a wife and 3 daughters, and she fantasized his very ordinary home life. One night when Arthur was away, they arranged to meet at her house. When the doctor had left, she lay in the dark, listening to the periodic banging of the door he had accidentally left open. She began to imagine that black men would enter the house and kill her. She was empty, possessed solely by this stale fantasy, shared by the whole white population. Upon awakening, the first sounds she heard were her sons playing in the very early morning. |