Fatherland and Motherland: Things Fall Apart

 

How is the difference between the father land and the mother land described in Things Fall Apart?

Why is it that one of the commonest names we give our children is Nneka, or “Mother is Supreme?” We all know that a man is the head of the family and his wives do his bidding. A child belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family. A man belongs to his fatherland and not to his motherland. And yet we say Nneka—‘Mother is Supreme.’ Why is that?” Because Okonkwo had received nothing from his father,

As mentioned in the novel 

"Then listen to me,” he said and cleared his throat. “It’s true that a child belongs to its father. But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother’s hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme. Is it right that you, Okonkwo, should bring to your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead. Your duty is to comfort your wives and children and take them back to your fatherland after seven years. But if you allow sorrow to weigh you down and kill you, they will all die in exile.” He paused for a long while. ‘These are now your kinsmen.” He waved at his sons and daughters."

Igbo: The World of Spirits

 

 Write a brief note on Ibo people's belief in the world of spirits.

The Igbo people have a religious conception of the universe. They see their world as made up to two planes: the physical and the spiritual. Igbo worldview, however, abhors the tendency to a digital categorization of things. In this way, the understanding among the Igbo is that spiritual beings and cosmic forces are highly intermingled. The activities of spiritual beings and forces often directly impinge on the affairs of humans in the human world. The diagrammatic representation of Igbo Cosmology shown in Figure 1 adapted from Animalu (1990) would explain the Igbo outlook in a more detailed form.

In Igbo religious worldview, the human world is three dimensional – the sky; the earth, intricately woven with water; and the spirit/ancestral world. Each of the three dimensions operates as a viable reality or a place of habitation; with all three interconnected or contiguous and continuous in a non-hierarchical manner. This means that in such a worldview, although the Supreme Being is believed to live in the sky and major divinities such as Lightning, Thunder, Sun, and Moon are near Him, there is nothing to suggest that the ancestors who live in the ancestral world are inferior (Kalu and Kalu 1993). 

There is the sky above, Igwe, then, the earth, Ala, and finally, we have the under-world, Ime-Ala. Each of these layers is thought to be densely inhabited”. Perceiving the world in this way, Igbo cosmology understands the sky as the Supreme Being‟s (Chukwu‟s) palace. He is believed to dwell there with a host of powerful divinities and primordial beings like Anyanwu(the Sun god), Amadioha (the god of thunder), Igwe, (the sky god). In the same way, some local major divinities are equally believed to live in the sky as well. The earth-surface is seen as the abode of human beings, the earth Nwoye 307deity, minor divinities and personified nature forces. Finally ancestral spirits, myriads of disembodied spirits and other personified forces. One important characteristic of this spatial ordering of reality in Igbo worldview is the due recognition extended to the exalted position and power of the preternatural order and supersensible beings over humans and the material order. Yet, humans and their world are located at the center of the traditional Igbo cosmic structure. This is because human life, for the Igbo, although received from God, is the greatest good to be fostered. In this way, Igbo traditional world-view is seen as heavily anthropocentric. In it, the activities of the various categories of spirits as well as the happenings in the other realms of the universe are seen as meaningful insofar as they relate to human life and the general welfare of humans in the environment. Furthermore, in Igbo worldview, the human world is perceived as a mirror of the spirit world. In this way, the 

traditional Igbo cosmology inspires and sustains a religion that is this-worldly affirming (Nwoye, 2005). Seen in this way, and knowing that human life and the general welfare of the human world are the central focus of attention, the primary thrust of most religious activities among the Igbo, is geared towards the enhancement of human life and the promotion of human being‟s total well being. Thus influenced by such anthropocentric cosmology, slaves used to be buried alive with their masters so as to continue serving them in the spirit world. In such a cosmology the human world itself is seen as an alive or dynamic universe that humans share with a host of malevolent human spirits (such as witches and sorcerers); guardian spirits of various professions such as hunting, fishing, farming, and so on; animal spirits; evil spirits; and the Earth Goddess (Achebe, 1975; Ejizu, 1987; Kalu, 1992). In this perspective, a filial relationship is believed to exist between the Earth Goddess and the water spirits, called Mami Water. Such Igbo worldview further reflects the fact that Igbo deities are arranged spatially in four levels as follows:

(i) Sky – male

(ii) Earth – female

(iii) Water – female

(iv) Ancestral – male

The structure shows that in Igbo religious worldview, male deities predominate in the first and fourth levels while female deities dominate in the second and third levels as seen earlier. The deities in the sky, such as lightning, thunder, and sun, who live near the Supreme Being, are males while the earth and water under the purview of the Earth Goddess and Queen of the Coast are females. In addition, female ancestral rituals exist, but most rituals are male, as if the females lose their identity at death.In Igbo worldview, human existence is perceived as precarious in the effort to tap the resources of good spirits to ward off the machinations of evil spirits. In this way, the socio-political and economic aspects of life of 

the Igbo are predominated by a highly spiritualized and religious world. In it, relations to kin, neighbours, and spirits are seen as at once a source of security and often that of affliction and distress.

Concept of Chi: Things Fall Apart

 

Write a brief note on the concept of 'Chi' in Things Fall Apart?

The Umuofia clan believe in a personal god called chi in 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe. This lesson focuses on the effects of good and bad chi on the clan in the novel.

What Is Chi ?

Wouldn't it be nice to blame all our mistakes on some outside force? In some ways, this is how the chi, or personal god, is used by the Umuofia clan in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. They believe that if a person has a bad chi, he experiences misfortune. The opposite doesn't always hold true, however, for it's only human nature to claim responsibility for our own personal successes.

Bad Chi

Unoka is the father of Okonkwo, the main character in the novel. Unoka is said to have 'a bad chi or personal god, and evil fortune followed him to the grave, or rather to his death, for he had no grave.' Unoka actually brings about his own misfortune by spending his days drinking and relaxing rather than working.

Ekwefi, Okonkwo's second wife is also said to have a bad chi because she has given birth to many children, but only one has survived. At the celebration of a new birth, however, others speculate that Ekwefi 'did not blame others for their good fortune but her own evil chi who denied her any.'

Okonkwo, exiled from the clan and disappointed that his son has joined forces with the white missionaries, also blames his chi. 

'Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things. A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi. The saying of the elders was not true--that if a man said yes his chi also affirmed. Here was a man whose chi said nay despite his own affirmation.'

The Chi

Unoka leaves nothing behind for Okonkwo, and though Okonkwo is a self-made man, the clan thinks otherwise. They claim that Okonkwo's 'palm-kernels' had been cracked for him by a benevolent spirit when in reality he labored for his success. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very strongly; so his chi agreed. And not only his chi but his clan too, because it judged a man by the work of his hands.' The chi is also described as 'awake' in several passages of the novel. The chi seems to awaken to offer protection when a member of the tribe is endangered.

Thank you. ..

Significance of Title: Things Fall Apart

 

“Things Fall Apart” is actually a story about something devastating. Things Fall Apart is regarded as a milestone in African literature. It has come to be seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English and is read in Nigeria and throughout Africa. It is studied widely in Europe, India, and North America, where it has spawned numerous secondary and tertiary analytical works. We can hardly imagine any other meaning of this title. In simple words, the meaning of the title is a splinter of something and what is it? We can understand by reading the description of the novel. However, why has Chinua Achebe been selected for this title? Let’s spread some light on it.

Maybe Chinua Achebe has chosen this title, by minutely observing the theme of this novel as we can ensure that the main idea of the novel is flattering of Igbo culture.

The Title- A Literary Allusion:

The phrase "things fall apart" is taken from the poem, “The Second Coming” by W.B Yeats, which Achebe quotes more extensively in the epigraph. Achebe’s literary allusion to Yeats’ poem might deepen or extend—by comparison and/or contrast—the meaning(s) of Achebe’s title and his novel.  The beginning four lines of the poem are referred to as a preface of the novel.

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,”

"Things fall apart" can be said when something we believed would last forever, comes to an end. The title Things Fall Apart refers to the fact that without proper balance, things do fall apart. The notion of balance in the novel is an important theme throughout the book. Beginning with the excerpt from Yeats' poem, the concept of balance is stressed as important; for without balance, order is lost. In the novel, there is a system of balance, which the Igbo culture seems but at the end of the novel the society people can not listen to the leader, so a chaotic situation is created.

Historical Context of Things Fall Apart

 

Historical Context of Things Fall Apart 

What is the historical context of Things Fall Apart?

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is probably the most authentic narrative ever written about life in Nigeria at the turn of the twentieth century. Although the novel was first published in 1958  two years before Nigeria achieved its independence  thousands of copies are still sold every year in the United States alone. The novel takes its title from a verse in the poem "The Second Coming" by W. B. Yeats, an Irish poet, essayist, and dramatist:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

When Things Fall Apart was first published, Achebe announced that one of his purposes was to present a complex, dynamic society to a Western audience who perceived African society as primitive, simple, and backward. Unless Africans could tell their side of their story, Achebe believed that the African experience would forever be "mistold," even by such well-meaning authors as Joyce Cary in Mister Johnson. Cary worked in Nigeria as a colonial administrator and was sympathetic to the Nigerian people.

In Things Fall Apart, the Europeans' understanding of Africa is particularly exemplified in two characters: the Reverend James Smith and the unnamed District Commissioner. Mr. Smith sees no need to compromise on unquestionable religious doctrine or practices, even during their introduction to a society very different from his own. 

He simply does not recognize any benefit for allowing the Nigerians to retain elements of their heritage. The District Commissioner, on the other hand, prides himself on being a student of primitive customs and sees himself as a benevolent leader who has only the best intentions for pacifying the primitive tribes and bringing them into the modern era.

The life of the Igbo is romanticized and so distorted by the Europeans. But by presenting a view of pre-colonial Igbo society Achebe attempts to reclaim African history from an African perspective” (O’Reilly 2001: p. 34). Achebe receives early education in English, but grows up surrounded by the complex fusion of Igbo traditions and the colonial legacy. 

The invention of tradition and the narration of history are central to the nation. The nation has its own 

historical narrative that illustrates its origins and individual disposition. (McLeod 2007: p. 70).

In his essay “Named for Victoria, Queen of England”, Achebe expresses his moral responsibility to reassert the past. He says that Things Fall Apart “was an act of atonement with my past, a ritual return and homage of a prodigal son” (1995: p. 103). 

Things Fall Apart by Chinua-Achebe

 

Hello Friends, 

Warmly welcome to my blog post on the Things Fall Apart by Chinua-Achebe. Here I will discuss the issue, connection and questions related to the bridge of text. I hope you will get some new insight from this post. 

Things Fall Apart 

“A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.” —Barack Obama 

This sentence was asserted for Chinua-Achebe's literary works. Things Fall Apart is the debut novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, first published in 1958. It depicts pre-colonial life in the southeastern part of Nigeria and the arrival of Europeans during the late 19th century. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel was first published in the UK in 1962 by William Heinemann Ltd, and became the first work published in Heinemann's African Writers Series. Now in this blog we will discuss the various aspects of the novel,  having some questions related to the text as it was pondered below. Click on the question to perceive an answer. 

1. What is the historical context of Things Fall Apart?

2. What is the significance of the title?

3. Write a brief note on the concept of 'Chi' in Things Fall Apart?

4. What do you think about the incident of Ikemefuna? How does it help to understand the Ibo culture in more specific ways?

Okonkwo disobeys the authority and advice of a clan elder in killing Ikemefuna. His actions are too close to killing a kinsman, which is a grave sin in Igbo culture. Okonkwo is so afraid of looking weak that he is willing to come close to violating tribal law in order to prove otherwise. No one would have thought that Okonkwo was weak if he had stayed in the village. In fact, Obierika’s opinion on the matter suggests that doing so would have been considered the more appropriate action. Instead, Okonkwo’s actions seriously damaged both his relationship with Nwoye and Nwoye’s allegiance to Igbo society.

Nwoye shows promise because he voices chauvinist opinions, but his comments are really aimed at Okonkwo. In fact, Nwoye loves women’s stories and is pleased when his mother or Okonkwo’s other wives ask him to do things for them. He also seeks comfort in his mother’s hut after Ikemefuna’s death. Nwoye’s questioning of Ikemefuna’s death and of the practice of throwing away newborn twins is understandable: Obierika, too, frequently questions tradition. In fact, Obierika refused to accompany the other men to kill Ikemefuna, and Okonkwo points out that Obierika seems to question the Oracle. Obierika also has reservations about the village’s practice of tapping trees. Okonkwo, on the other hand, accepts all of his clan’s laws and traditions unquestioningly.

5. Write a brief note on Ibo people's belief in the world of spirits.

6. How is the difference between the father land and the mother land is described in Things Fall Apart?

7. Write a brief note on the concept of Nativism and Native identity in Things Fall Apart.

8. Point out the important points of Things Fall Apart which can be compared with Kanthapura by Raja Rao.

“African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison

Thank you.......😊

The Harry Ape

 The Harry Ape

The Hairy Ape, written in eight short, abrupt scenes, is an expressionistic Tragicomedy of modern industrial unrest. The protagonist of play is a mighty stoker called

'Yank' and we see him first , stripped to the waist, with the rest of his half necked

companions in their stoke hole. He can out course, out fight, out feel them all and he is proud of his job a stoker at the heart of the ship.

We next see the ultra-sophisticated Mildred Douglas, the daughter of the owner of the liner, lolling on the deck and pining for the sensation of going down into the stock hole to see how the other half lives. The play gives a realistic picture of contemporary American Society. It is a world where rich become richer and poor become poorer. On the one hand, there are the rich represented by Mildred Douglas and her aunt. On theother hand the poor are represented by Yank and the other stokers, who sweat and work hard, and who are exploited and insulted for their toil, trouble and tiredness. The curtain parts and out of the darkness gleam the rims of the boiler-doors. A bell clangs the door, swing open, a terrific red glare leaps out at the audience, and Yank and his mates heave in the coal. The bell clangs again, too soon, and Yank is cursing the engineer with terrific violence, when he turns to see the girl beside him. She almost faints at the sight of him cries out that he is a beast. Yank hurls his shovel after her with a horrid oath.

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Another change that is noticeable in the stoke-hole to see Yank completely upset by the incident, brooding over the depths of social difference revealed to him, burning with hatred, rage and revenge. He is no longer, steel, coal, speed, because hi is no longer sure of himself. To make sure of himself, he must go out on a mission of revenge. We see him next on Fifth Avenue. The passers by are strange unreal people. He makes no more impression on them than if they  were fart of dreams; all that happens is that a police-man beats him up and arrests him. Then we see him in a prison cell on Islands. Out of the darkness come the snarls and oaths and horrid howls of other prisoners. One prisoner reads from the New York Times an attack on the Industrial Workers of the World as a menace of civilization. The Hairy Ape resolves to join the I.W.W. When we next observe him, he is trying to join the society and he may plant a dynamo beneath the steel magnet's home, but is thrown out as an agent provocateur.

Finally, in his puzzled despair, he reaches the gorilla's cage in the zoo. Ah, a brother, the real Hairy Ape! He lets the gorilla loose, to go with him on a pilgrimage of destruction. But the gorilla silently seizes him in a deadly embrace and tosses him into the cage, where he dies behind the bars. Commenting on the play Clifford Leech writes;

“The Hairy Ape is a comedy of Ancient and modern life.”2 Expressionism is a term first used by painter Julian Auguste Harve in 1901, while trying to distinguish his paintings from Impressionism. Expressionist movement in art was initiated in Germany in early 20th century under the influence of Swedish Playwright

Strindberg. It was at it's height between 1910-1925, just before, during and after the

World War-I. Expressionism endeavored to express as intensely as possible. The author usually bitterly reacts to the world around him. Expressionistic writers are not optimistic due to their bitter experience in their art and literature. Expressionism art often depersonalizes and dehumanizes it's subject to convey the shock of unfortunately being alive in the cruel modern world. Instead of presenting the world as it is, an expressionist presents the world as it appears to his mind or to his literary character.  M.H.Abram remarks that:

The central feature of Expressionism is a radical revolt

against realism. Instead of representing the world as it objectively, the author undertakes to express inner experience by representing the world as it appears to his state of mind. Often the work implies that mental condition is representative of anxiety-ridden modern man in an industrial and technological society which is drifting toward chaos. (AGOLT) 3

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It is a radical revolt against the artistic and literary tradition of realism. The Expressionistic playwright undertakes to express a personal vision of human life and society. Drama was a prominent and widely influential form of expressionistic writing. Expressionism, the name itself suggests that the writer does not use more action on the stage but he uses minimum dialogues, and minimum characters to express his inner bent of mind. The action is less important but he believes in the expression in the expression of the characters. It is a dramatic technique which enables a playwright to depict the inner psyche or inner reality of a character. Basically, it is a very difficult task to portray someone's inner mind but through deft use of expressionism one can perform the task very meticulously. Instead of dramatic sequence of events, expressionists concentrate on portraying the inner mind are how it works. The prominent playwrights of Expressionism are George Kaiser (Gas, from Mourn to Midnight), Ernest Toller(Mass, Man) and in his earlier production of Bertolt Brecht, Eugene O'Neill and Elmer

Rice.

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The Bluest Eye

 

Identity, Race and Gender in Toni Morrison’s The 

Bluest Eye

Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, was written during the 1960s and published in 19702 .Through several layers of voices and different narrative 

techniques, the book tells us the shocking story of a black little girl named Pecola Breedlove, who descends into madness after being emotionally and physically abused on several occasions by the entire community around her, even–and especially–by her family. Eleven-year Pecola lives with her family in Lorain, Ohio. When her father, Cholly, burns down their house, she spends some days with the MacTeer family. Claudia, the youngest MacTeer, is one of the narrators who tells us Pecola’s story. In the years covered by the narrative, 1940 and 1941, the Breedlove girl is constantly bullied and mistreated by teachers, classmates, neighbors and family. Because she thinks of herself as ugly, she attributes their mistreatment of her to her physical appearance, as she believes that no one would behave badly in front of her if she were beautiful. One of the most traumatizing events in Pecola’s life is the moment when she is raped by her father, gets pregnant and loses her sanity. By telling her story, Claudia is trying to make sense of everything that happened to the youngest Breedlove and to 

their community.

Quite frequently when talking about The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison mentions the story that served as a source of inspiration for the book. As the author explains in the Toni Morrison Remembers: BBC Imagine Documentary 2015 and in the afterword of the novel, she was starting elementary school when she was first made consciously aware of the self-loathing feelings that beauty standards could cause. Morrison and a friend had been arguing over the existence of God, and the other little girl told her that she was sure that He wasn’t real: she had been praying for blue eyes for two years. Had God existed, he would have certainly granted her wish by then. Morrison says that, at the time, she had an epiphany, because she looked at her friend and thought it would have been awful if God had given her blue eyes. Right then, Morrison realized her friend was absolutely beautiful. As she tells Alan Yentob, her interviewer in the BBC documentary, And at ten, you don’t think in those terms. Somebody is cute, or, you know, whatever, but not beauty. And that was the first time I saw it. 

She was very dark, she had these wonderful almond eyes, high cheekbones, (…) I mean, you could go on. And she wanted something other. (Morrison Remembers)The author then proceeds to explain how they got little white dolls as toys in their childhood, and those were the images black little girls were supposed to admire. In the afterword to The Bluest Eye, Morrison dwells a little more on how shocking the experience of that conversation with her friend was. According to the writer, she was flabbergasted by how no one else recognized beauty (which was what her friend possessed in her eyes), even, and especially, the girl who held it

The Namesake: Book Review

 

The Namesake: Book Review 

This is certainly a novel that explores the concepts of cultural identity, of rootlessness, of tradition and familial expectation – as well as the way that names subtly (and not so subtly) alter our perceptions of ourselves – but it's very much to its credit that it never succumbs to the clichés those themes so often entail. Instead, Lahiri turns it into something both larger and simpler: the story of a man and his family, of his life and hopes, loves and sorrows … All Lahiri's observations jolt your heart with their freshness and truth. Her skill at deploying small physical details as a path into character is as exceptional as it is enjoyable.

Jhumpa Lahiri's quietly dazzling new novel, ''The Namesake,'' is that rare thing: an intimate, closely observed family portrait that effortlessly and discreetly unfolds to disclose a capacious social vision.

It is a novel about two generations of the Ganguli family, and at the same time it is a novel about exile and its discontents, a novel that is as affecting in its Chekhovian exploration of fathers and sons, parents and children, as it is resonant in its exploration of what is acquired and lost by immigrants and their children in pursuit of the American Dream.

It more than fulfills the promise of Ms. Lahiri's debut collection of stories, ''Interpreter of Maladies,'' which won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The novel begins in Boston in 1968, with the birth of a boy named Gogol Ganguli. Gogol comes by his name through a series of random accidents and misunderstandings that will come to represent for him the unexpected trajectory of his family's life.

And yet slowly, cautiously, the Gangulis make their way in America. Ashoke becomes a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ashima has a second child whom they name Sonali (soon to be called Sonia). And the family moves to the suburbs, buying a new house in a development.

''Their garage, like every other, contains shovels and pruning shears and a sled,'' Ms. Lahiri writes. ''They purchase a barbecue for tandoori on the porch in summer. Each step, each acquisition, no matter how small, involves deliberation, consultation with Bengali friends. Was there a difference between a plastic rake and a metal one? Which was preferable, a live Christmas tree or an artificial one? They learn to roast turkeys, albeit rubbed with garlic and cumin and cayenne, at Thanksgiving, to nail a wreath to their door in December, to wrap woolen scarves around snow men, to color boiled eggs violet and pink at Easter and hide them around the house.''

She uses her unerring eye for detail to annotate their emotional lives: Ashoke's hatred of waste, which makes him complain ''if a kettle had been filled with too much water;'' Ashima's meticulous upkeep of three address books, which contain the names of all the Bengalis she and her husband have known over the years.

In chronicling more than three decades in the Gangulis' lives, Ms. Lahiri has not only given us a wonderfully intimate and knowing family portrait, she has also taken the haunting chamber music of her first collection of stories and reorchestrated its themes of exile and identity to create a symphonic work, a debut novel that is as assured and eloquent as the work of a longtime master of the craft.

Presentation 4- Linguistic study of Language in Advertisement

 

Video of the Presentation

PowerPoint Presentation:- Mass Communication and Media Studies 

The Linguistic Study of Language in Advertisement from Dharti Makwana