Journal Entry
June 22, 2007
#3
Page 44
What was different on this page was that each one of his wives had to cook him a meal, or give him part of their meal, why don't they eat together? If I were one of the wives, I don't see why I should have to make him a meal when some one else is, if he eats too much he may get fat, but if the rations are small that each wife is giving, then it could be a different story. Their meals seem to mostly revolve around yams, so does he always eat yams, but cooked a different way? If that is how it is, then they must have to get pretty creative.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Journal Entry
June 21, 2007
#2
Page 38
What stuck to me the most about this page is that Okonkwo just beat one of his wives for just taking some banana leaves off of his banana tree, he really needs to learn patience and kindness. There may have been bad things about his father, but there was good things about him too, like he was patient and kind, that is something that Okonkwo could have tried to learn instead of beating and striking fear into people. A bad thing though that his father did was be lazy and not pay off debts, and Okonkwo was right to not become lazy and have a goal in life. Just because his father lived an unsutable life doesn't mean that he was all bad, so I guess that means that Okonkwo is not all bad either, but we have yet to see the good.
June 21, 2007
#2
Page 38
What stuck to me the most about this page is that Okonkwo just beat one of his wives for just taking some banana leaves off of his banana tree, he really needs to learn patience and kindness. There may have been bad things about his father, but there was good things about him too, like he was patient and kind, that is something that Okonkwo could have tried to learn instead of beating and striking fear into people. A bad thing though that his father did was be lazy and not pay off debts, and Okonkwo was right to not become lazy and have a goal in life. Just because his father lived an unsutable life doesn't mean that he was all bad, so I guess that means that Okonkwo is not all bad either, but we have yet to see the good.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Part I, Chpt. 1-13 (pp. 3-88)
1.Describe Okonkwo, the protagonist of Things Fall Apart. Consider him as an Igbo (Ibo) heroic character: how does he work to achieve greatness as defined by his art and culture? How does he differ from Western heroes whom you are familiar with because of your Western community? What are strengths and weaknesses? Okonkwo is a man who was never really taught how to father his children and lovingly take care of his family and problems. Okonkwo seems to be a weird kind of heroic character because so far he hasn't done anything heroic, but if we have to think of him that way, I will. He works to achieve greatness as definined in his art and culture by keeping a firm hand, if his wifes of children do anything wrong they get beaten, they live in fear because that is what he wants them to live by. He is different from the western heroes because western heroes do good things, they don't go out and beat their wives and children, that is what the bad guys do, the heroes save the beaten. The strenth of the western community is their president and government as leaders, but the people provide the real support and strength and the weakness is that we are always giving stuff away, and we usually don't get anything back, and are losing money and people fighting amounst themselves, so that they are more conserned on what is just happening in their fight, then what is happening in the bigger picture, the world. The strength of the African people seems to be their leaders and their kings and queens, but the support and the heart of the strength comes from the people that are willing to fight and stand up for what is right, and their weakness is that they fight amoungst themselves(other towns and aficans) when they should be making each other alies for if another country tries to attack them.
2.Describe Unoka, Okonkwo’s father. What are Okonkwo’s feelings toward Unoka, and why? How does the (negative) example of his father shape Okonkwo’s character and actions? What do the early descriptions of Okonkwo’s success and Unoka’s failure tell us about Igbo society? How does one succeed in this cultural context? What do we learn from the system of the taking of titles? Who seems to be excluded from opportunities to gain such success?
Unoka is an elderly man (before he died), he is very lazy and doesn't like to work real hard at anything, he has so many debts, that he will never get them all paid off, and he is a man that never had a very successful crop/harvest. Okonkwo's feelings toward his father are discust and hate. He feels discusted because his father never really cared about his image or debts, and he felt hate because he never left anything for Okonkwo, Okonkwo had to earn everything that he has right now. Unoka's negative example shapes Okonkwo's character because Okonkwo didn't want to grow up to be like his father, so he became the exact opposite, cruel and unforgiving. Unoka's failure and Okonkwo's success shows you that in their culture that you can become rich because of how you work, not because of your relations, your fathers actions can't hold you down. One succeeds in this culture by working hard and being fair. We learned that in the system of taking titles, that to get titles, you actually have to do something and make something of yourself, you have to have a barn. The people that seem to be excluded from this seem to be the lazy people that do not work hard to earn money.
3.Describe the narrator of Things Fall Apart, the "voice" telling us the story of Okonkwo, Umuofia (Igbo/Ibo for "people of the forest," per Brians), and the Igbo world of the nine villages. How would you describe this narrative voice, its point of view, its values and perspectives?
The narrator of Things Fall Apart seems to be like Okonkwo, but it seems to have a little more simpathy for the people that are being beaten by Okonkwo. The narrative voice acts just as if it were Okonkwo, he acts like he were part of Okonkwo, like it was an out of body experience, like he was in Okonkwo's shoes. The values seem to be the same as Okonkwo's but he seems kinder about everything, like he can see what Okonkwo is doing wrong and should fix.
4.Describe the setting (time, place, culture) of the novel. Attend to Achebe’s presentation of the details of everyday village lifeways in Umuofia, the values and beliefs of the Igbo/Ibo people, and the importance of ritual, ceremony, social hierarchy, and personal achievement in Igbo culture. How is social life organized? What are the important celebrations? What is the role of war, of religion, and of the arts? What is the role of the individual in relation to the community of Umuofia? Compare /contrast Igbo lifeways, customs, perspectives, beliefs, and values to those of your own culture.
The setting of this story takes place when Okonkwo is about 40, and it would probably be in the 50's, the Place is in the Nine Villages in Africa, and the culture is African. Like most early religions, it focuses on praying to the gods and their personal chi. The village life seems to mostly revolve around the banging of the drums, it signals different things, like one if for death, another for war, and another for wrestling. The importance of rituals ,ceremony, social hierarchy, and personal achievement in the Igbo culture, is very important because as I said before their life kinda revolved around the gods and without praying to the gods, they would have no crops, and you needed the social stuff to have connections and if you made friends with people in hire status, they might have something you need someday. The role of war is to show how manly they are, the role of religion seems almost to be more of a taditional thing because they pray to the gods because that is what their ancestors did, and the arts keep the people entertained, and like when Okonkwo won the fight agaisnt, The Cat, it can get you noticed and looked highly upon. Okonkwo's religion and belief is way different than mine, he worships gods, I worship one god, he is superstitious, I am not, they think its alright to kill and marry more than one woman, I do not, you stay loyal and loyal to one person.
5.What effect does night have on the people in Ch. 2? What do they fear? How do they deal with their fear of snakes at night?
The effect night has on these people is that is spooks them out. They fear that things will come and get them if they speak too loudly on certain days, an they believe that if they don't call something by a certain name at a certain time of day that it will come and get them. They deal with their fear of snakes at night, by calling them a string.
6.What is the cause and nature of the conflict with Mbaino and keep Ch. 13 in mind when you read, where a serious incident has tragic consequences for Okonkwo, though it would be treated as an accidental manslaughter under our law.
The cause of the conflict with Mbaino is that acidents happen and sometimes things happen that you didn't mean to , but it will all turn out right in the end. Killing the boy would have been manslaughter in our law, but if it were and accident, he might just spend a lifetime in prison than being sentenced to death.
7.What are the important crops? What are the seasons? How does sharecropping work? What are the male and female designated crops, and why? What is the relationship of women to agriculture?
The important crops are yams, which you pant after the first rain, and coco-yams, beans, and cassava. The seasons seem to start around fall. Sharecropping works by you helping our another farming, you share his land and you grow food on it, you give some to the owner and save some for yourself. The male designated crop is yams, and the female designated crops are coco-yams, beans and cassava because yams are probably more popular. The relationship of women to agriculture is that women have to grow stuff just like men, but they can only grow stuff that aren't yams, they have to grow women's crops.
8.Family Life: Examine family life and living arrangements in Okonkwo’s home. Describe Okonkwo’s relationships to his wives and children, especially to Ekwefi, Ezinma, and Nwoye. What differing roles and functions do men and women have in Igbo society? Paul Brians points out "that it is women who are chiefly responsible for decorating the houses. In many African cultures they are also the chief domestic architects, and the mud walls are shaped by them into pleasing patterns." What is Okonkwo’s attitude toward women? In this polygamous culture, men may take more than one wife and each household is enclosed in a compound. Each wife lives in a hut with her children, and the husband visits each wife in turn, though he has his own hut as well.
Family life in Okonkwo's home is different than todays families, each wife lives in a separate house with her children, and the life style with their father is not very loving or positive and encouraging. Okonkwo likes his first wife the best, and his favorite children are Ekwefi, Ezinma, and Nwoye, he doesn't seem to really care about the other children, and he beats his wives a lot for dumb little things like forgetting to tell another wife to feed her kids. The men in the Igbo society go out and hunt, maintain the land, have the connections with people, and do a lot of the outside work. The women take care of the children and cook. Okonkwo really doesn't seem to care about women, unless they are special to him.
9.What is the crime that causes Okonkwo's to be reprimanded in Ch. 4? What does it tell you about the values of the culture? Why, according to Ezeani, is wife beating considered wrong even at times other than Peace Week?
The crime that causes Okonkwo to be reprimanded in Ch. 4 is when he beats his wife during the week of peace. It tells us that in the culture that if you screw up that people will talk about it and you could be shund and bad things can happen to you for consequences. It is considered wrong to beat your wife even in a time of peace because it is a time of peace and if you are beating some one it is not peaceful.
10.Describe your initial reading experience and response(s) to Things Fall Apart Part I as a cross-cultural encounter: how are you responding to this exposure to traditional Igbo/Ibo culture and people? Why do you think you are responding as you are? What seems most different and/or foreign to you? What seems most similar and/or familiar to you?
My initial reading experience is kinda strange, they have a different culture than ours, but that is expectes. I am getting used to the way that the Igbo culture responds to things, even though, I think a lot of it is cruel. I am responding like this because it is cruel to beat people for doing little things that are mistakes. Nothing really seems familiar to me that happens in their culture.
1.Describe Okonkwo, the protagonist of Things Fall Apart. Consider him as an Igbo (Ibo) heroic character: how does he work to achieve greatness as defined by his art and culture? How does he differ from Western heroes whom you are familiar with because of your Western community? What are strengths and weaknesses? Okonkwo is a man who was never really taught how to father his children and lovingly take care of his family and problems. Okonkwo seems to be a weird kind of heroic character because so far he hasn't done anything heroic, but if we have to think of him that way, I will. He works to achieve greatness as definined in his art and culture by keeping a firm hand, if his wifes of children do anything wrong they get beaten, they live in fear because that is what he wants them to live by. He is different from the western heroes because western heroes do good things, they don't go out and beat their wives and children, that is what the bad guys do, the heroes save the beaten. The strenth of the western community is their president and government as leaders, but the people provide the real support and strength and the weakness is that we are always giving stuff away, and we usually don't get anything back, and are losing money and people fighting amounst themselves, so that they are more conserned on what is just happening in their fight, then what is happening in the bigger picture, the world. The strength of the African people seems to be their leaders and their kings and queens, but the support and the heart of the strength comes from the people that are willing to fight and stand up for what is right, and their weakness is that they fight amoungst themselves(other towns and aficans) when they should be making each other alies for if another country tries to attack them.
2.Describe Unoka, Okonkwo’s father. What are Okonkwo’s feelings toward Unoka, and why? How does the (negative) example of his father shape Okonkwo’s character and actions? What do the early descriptions of Okonkwo’s success and Unoka’s failure tell us about Igbo society? How does one succeed in this cultural context? What do we learn from the system of the taking of titles? Who seems to be excluded from opportunities to gain such success?
Unoka is an elderly man (before he died), he is very lazy and doesn't like to work real hard at anything, he has so many debts, that he will never get them all paid off, and he is a man that never had a very successful crop/harvest. Okonkwo's feelings toward his father are discust and hate. He feels discusted because his father never really cared about his image or debts, and he felt hate because he never left anything for Okonkwo, Okonkwo had to earn everything that he has right now. Unoka's negative example shapes Okonkwo's character because Okonkwo didn't want to grow up to be like his father, so he became the exact opposite, cruel and unforgiving. Unoka's failure and Okonkwo's success shows you that in their culture that you can become rich because of how you work, not because of your relations, your fathers actions can't hold you down. One succeeds in this culture by working hard and being fair. We learned that in the system of taking titles, that to get titles, you actually have to do something and make something of yourself, you have to have a barn. The people that seem to be excluded from this seem to be the lazy people that do not work hard to earn money.
3.Describe the narrator of Things Fall Apart, the "voice" telling us the story of Okonkwo, Umuofia (Igbo/Ibo for "people of the forest," per Brians), and the Igbo world of the nine villages. How would you describe this narrative voice, its point of view, its values and perspectives?
The narrator of Things Fall Apart seems to be like Okonkwo, but it seems to have a little more simpathy for the people that are being beaten by Okonkwo. The narrative voice acts just as if it were Okonkwo, he acts like he were part of Okonkwo, like it was an out of body experience, like he was in Okonkwo's shoes. The values seem to be the same as Okonkwo's but he seems kinder about everything, like he can see what Okonkwo is doing wrong and should fix.
4.Describe the setting (time, place, culture) of the novel. Attend to Achebe’s presentation of the details of everyday village lifeways in Umuofia, the values and beliefs of the Igbo/Ibo people, and the importance of ritual, ceremony, social hierarchy, and personal achievement in Igbo culture. How is social life organized? What are the important celebrations? What is the role of war, of religion, and of the arts? What is the role of the individual in relation to the community of Umuofia? Compare /contrast Igbo lifeways, customs, perspectives, beliefs, and values to those of your own culture.
The setting of this story takes place when Okonkwo is about 40, and it would probably be in the 50's, the Place is in the Nine Villages in Africa, and the culture is African. Like most early religions, it focuses on praying to the gods and their personal chi. The village life seems to mostly revolve around the banging of the drums, it signals different things, like one if for death, another for war, and another for wrestling. The importance of rituals ,ceremony, social hierarchy, and personal achievement in the Igbo culture, is very important because as I said before their life kinda revolved around the gods and without praying to the gods, they would have no crops, and you needed the social stuff to have connections and if you made friends with people in hire status, they might have something you need someday. The role of war is to show how manly they are, the role of religion seems almost to be more of a taditional thing because they pray to the gods because that is what their ancestors did, and the arts keep the people entertained, and like when Okonkwo won the fight agaisnt, The Cat, it can get you noticed and looked highly upon. Okonkwo's religion and belief is way different than mine, he worships gods, I worship one god, he is superstitious, I am not, they think its alright to kill and marry more than one woman, I do not, you stay loyal and loyal to one person.
5.What effect does night have on the people in Ch. 2? What do they fear? How do they deal with their fear of snakes at night?
The effect night has on these people is that is spooks them out. They fear that things will come and get them if they speak too loudly on certain days, an they believe that if they don't call something by a certain name at a certain time of day that it will come and get them. They deal with their fear of snakes at night, by calling them a string.
6.What is the cause and nature of the conflict with Mbaino and keep Ch. 13 in mind when you read, where a serious incident has tragic consequences for Okonkwo, though it would be treated as an accidental manslaughter under our law.
The cause of the conflict with Mbaino is that acidents happen and sometimes things happen that you didn't mean to , but it will all turn out right in the end. Killing the boy would have been manslaughter in our law, but if it were and accident, he might just spend a lifetime in prison than being sentenced to death.
7.What are the important crops? What are the seasons? How does sharecropping work? What are the male and female designated crops, and why? What is the relationship of women to agriculture?
The important crops are yams, which you pant after the first rain, and coco-yams, beans, and cassava. The seasons seem to start around fall. Sharecropping works by you helping our another farming, you share his land and you grow food on it, you give some to the owner and save some for yourself. The male designated crop is yams, and the female designated crops are coco-yams, beans and cassava because yams are probably more popular. The relationship of women to agriculture is that women have to grow stuff just like men, but they can only grow stuff that aren't yams, they have to grow women's crops.
8.Family Life: Examine family life and living arrangements in Okonkwo’s home. Describe Okonkwo’s relationships to his wives and children, especially to Ekwefi, Ezinma, and Nwoye. What differing roles and functions do men and women have in Igbo society? Paul Brians points out "that it is women who are chiefly responsible for decorating the houses. In many African cultures they are also the chief domestic architects, and the mud walls are shaped by them into pleasing patterns." What is Okonkwo’s attitude toward women? In this polygamous culture, men may take more than one wife and each household is enclosed in a compound. Each wife lives in a hut with her children, and the husband visits each wife in turn, though he has his own hut as well.
Family life in Okonkwo's home is different than todays families, each wife lives in a separate house with her children, and the life style with their father is not very loving or positive and encouraging. Okonkwo likes his first wife the best, and his favorite children are Ekwefi, Ezinma, and Nwoye, he doesn't seem to really care about the other children, and he beats his wives a lot for dumb little things like forgetting to tell another wife to feed her kids. The men in the Igbo society go out and hunt, maintain the land, have the connections with people, and do a lot of the outside work. The women take care of the children and cook. Okonkwo really doesn't seem to care about women, unless they are special to him.
9.What is the crime that causes Okonkwo's to be reprimanded in Ch. 4? What does it tell you about the values of the culture? Why, according to Ezeani, is wife beating considered wrong even at times other than Peace Week?
The crime that causes Okonkwo to be reprimanded in Ch. 4 is when he beats his wife during the week of peace. It tells us that in the culture that if you screw up that people will talk about it and you could be shund and bad things can happen to you for consequences. It is considered wrong to beat your wife even in a time of peace because it is a time of peace and if you are beating some one it is not peaceful.
10.Describe your initial reading experience and response(s) to Things Fall Apart Part I as a cross-cultural encounter: how are you responding to this exposure to traditional Igbo/Ibo culture and people? Why do you think you are responding as you are? What seems most different and/or foreign to you? What seems most similar and/or familiar to you?
My initial reading experience is kinda strange, they have a different culture than ours, but that is expectes. I am getting used to the way that the Igbo culture responds to things, even though, I think a lot of it is cruel. I am responding like this because it is cruel to beat people for doing little things that are mistakes. Nothing really seems familiar to me that happens in their culture.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Journal Entery
June 17, 2007
#1
Page 8, Paragraph 2
Quote: " It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. Darkness held a vague terror for these people, even the bravest among them. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits. Dangerous animals became even more sisnister and uncanny in the dark."
It seems that in Africa, they have the same tecnique of getting kids to do things, like we do in America. I think all over the world small kids are afraid of the dark because there parents or people might have gone too far. And like it seemed to happen in the book, you tell it to people so many times, that you start to believe it. The parents told scary stories of things that happen at night, that they started to believe it too, so they are now scared of the dark too. So far things in Africa don't seem to be that different than those in America. I take it that the African's are very supersticious.
June 17, 2007
#1
Page 8, Paragraph 2
Quote: " It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. Darkness held a vague terror for these people, even the bravest among them. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits. Dangerous animals became even more sisnister and uncanny in the dark."
It seems that in Africa, they have the same tecnique of getting kids to do things, like we do in America. I think all over the world small kids are afraid of the dark because there parents or people might have gone too far. And like it seemed to happen in the book, you tell it to people so many times, that you start to believe it. The parents told scary stories of things that happen at night, that they started to believe it too, so they are now scared of the dark too. So far things in Africa don't seem to be that different than those in America. I take it that the African's are very supersticious.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
I checked in with Mrs. Bosch for the month of June. I have just figured out how to type/publish post so, sorry if its a little late.
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