One more reason to believe

One more reason to believe

Maria Fernanda Gonzalez

Group: 46

We live in a world full of catastrophes, full of corruption, rapes, murder, torture and children dying of hunger. Animals are killed cruelly in fights for money and entertainment. Car crashes are ripping lives of innocents apart. Drunken people are beating on their kids and their wives.  Yes, we are living a hard situation. But there are reasons to believe in a good world. There are still people out there willing to help people they don’t even know. There are still people are there willing to risk their lives to safe others.

I know a real life hero, and I live with her. She is my grandmother. She is always helping everyone, not to be seen as a good person, but to feel good with herself and because it is the right thing to do. Whenever she sees a man or women walking on the street she takes them inside the car and leaves them near where they live. She is always giving food to the police man of my school and to the ones of my house. She has paid surgery for our maids and she is always buying different stuff for their children.  But she is not the only one helping out there; they are millions of people out there risking their own life for some else’s.

I admire this kind of people.  This people are full of love, all they do is transmit love. These people are in peace with their self. They are conscious about humanity; they are willing to change the world with just one action. These people are full of empathy. They don’t do the right thing to get a benefit out of it, they do it just because they want to help every time they have the opportunity. These people don’t want to be famous for what they have done, they just want to feel happy with themselves.  

There are still reasons to believe in a better world, these people are one of those reasons.

Quote

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” - Mae West

What this quote wants to transmit us is: If you don’t live your life, who will?
A lot of people worry all the time about the feature, they don’t live their present and when they realize, their life is over. It´s true, we are not cats and we don’t have seven lives, we just have one, one life that passes in the blink of an eye. We came to this life to live it! To be happy, to do what we want, to be free.  Or did we came to suffer and worry about everything? Is that living for you?
At the end of our lives we will regret everything we didn’t did, we have do live the right way, we have to live the life we want to remember. If we do everything the right way, one life will be enough.

I relate this quote with my life because I start realizing that I only have one opportunity of being happy, until now. In this point, I value my life more than anything.  I had a very difficult life, a lot of personal problems, and those problems didn’t let me be happy. I was the kind of person who at night didn’t sleep because I spend all night thinking about how I wanted my life to be. But at this point I realized that instead of thinking, I had to take action and create the life I always dreamt about. I realize that if I keep regretting everything I did wrong I would get to nothing. Now, I´m living the life I want to remember, I make plans to make my future better. Of course I’m not perfect and sometimes I do worry about thing I shouldn’t. But at least, I’m in the progress of making my life worth it.

-Maria Fernanda Gonzalez.

Summary of Things Fall Apart Part III

Summary of Part III

Maria Fernanda Gonzalez

Group: 46

Okonkwo is planning to rebuild his compound, take two more wives and get titles for his sons. He asked Ezinma and Obiageli to wait to marry in Umuofia so he could attract interest. Umuofia changed a lot since Okonkwo left. The church has grown and the white are doing what they want with the villagers with their judicial system and government. Okonkwo cannot believe that. Obierika says it is too late to drive them out because many people are now on the white man’s side. They talk about Aneto; he was hanged by the government.

Many people of Umuofia are happy with the white men because money is flowing into the village. Mr. Brown restrains from antagonizing the clan. Akunna talks with Mr. Brown about their different gods. They did not agree with every idea, but they understood better other’s faith. Mr. Brown builds a hospital and a school. He said to all of them that if they do not go there, people who can read and write will come and rule them. Mr. Brown goes with Okonkwo and to tell him that Nwoye is training to be a teacher, Okonkwo told him to leave. Mr. Brown’s health starts to get worse. Okonkwo’s clan did not care when he return.

Reverend James Smith,replaces Mr. Brown. He is very strict and intolerant. Enoch unmask an egwugwu during a ceremony. Later, the egwugwu burn Enoch’s compound. They gather to confront Smith. Smith forbids them to touch the church, but they ignore Smithand burn the church.

The District Commissioner wants the leaders of Umuofia to meet with him. The commissioner says that they should discuss as friends. They where talking when the soldiers surprises them and handcuffed them. They put them in jail for several days. The court messengers tell Umuofia that they have to pay two hundred and fifty bags of cowries if they do not want to see  their leaders dead. Umofia decide to collect the cowries.

 The prisoners return to the village but the village is afraid to greet them. The village decides to make another meeting. Okonkwo has decided that he wants revange no matter what. During the meeting they where talking about the damage that the white man have done to the clan. But in the middle of the speech, five court messengers arrived. Okonkwo got so mad that he killed a messenger with his machete. Okonkwo finally understood that his clan will not go to war,and departs.

The District Commissioner arrives at Okonkwo’s compound and  asks for Okonkwo. The men tell him that he is not at home. The commissioner starts to get angry so Obierika agrees to lead him to Okonkwo. They went to a small bush where they find Okonkwo dangling from a tree. Obierika explains that suicide is a sin and they can not touch Okonkwo’s body, only strangers may touch it. Obierika is blaming the commissioner for Okonkwo’s death. The commissioner orders his messengers to take down Okonkwo´s body and he leaves. The commissioner is writing a book about Africa; “The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.”  He decided to write a paragraph or two about Okonkwo. At the end he didn’t care about Okonkwo, he didn’t considered it as important.

*Achebe, C.
Things Fall Apart
Achebe, C. (1958) Things Fall Apart. New York: Reed Consumer Books.

Summary of Things Fall Apart Part II

Summary of Part II

Maria Fernanda Gonzalez

Group: 46

 

Uchendu helped Okonkwo building new huts and lend him yams do he can start a farm. The possibility for Okonkwo to become one of the lords of the clan is gone. We see the participation of Okonkwo in Uchendu´s son´s wedding.
Uchendu advises Okonkwo to receive the comfort of the motherland. Uchendu reminds Okonkwo that some have been worse off.

In the second year of Okonkwo’s exile, Obierika brings some bags of cowries to him and tells him that Abame is destroyed. He tells him the story of the white man that arrived on an “iron horse”. The villagers killed the white man and tied his “horse” to a tree. Later, more men when to Abame’s market and killed a lot of people. It this chapter Uchendu tells the story of Mother Kite. Obierika sells Okonkwo’s yams and continue to bring Okonkwo the money from his yams every year.

Obierika visits Okonkwo because he has seen Nwoye with the Christians. The other converts have been men that are generally ignored by the clan. Okonkwo does not want talk about his son. Then we see the story of Nwoye’s conversion: 6 missionaries, headed by a white man who speaks to the village Mr. Kiaga. The way the interpreter talks makes everyone laugh (“my buttocks” - “myself.”) He tries to sell the idea that they are all brothers, sons of God, they have false gods and that they should leave them and accept the only true God. The villagers do not understand anything, starting with the fact that God have a son but not a wife. Okonkwo thinks they are crazy, but Nwoye is enchanted with this idea. This religion seems to answer his questions about the death of Ikemefuna and the twins.

The missionaries wanted a piece of land to build a church so the village leaders offer Evil Forest and the missionaries accept it. The elders believe that  they will die within days but nothing happens and the church wins lots of converts. Nneka is introduced in the story; She had twins. Okonkwo’s cousins sees Nwoye with the Christians and informs Okonkwo, he is very disappointed and he wonders how he could ever have such a weak son.

 One day, several outcasts, come to church. The osu soon become the most enthusiastic members of the church. Then, someone killed the sacred royal python. Okonkwo want Mbanta to take all the Christians out, but the elders decide to ignore them instead. Okonkwo said that this is a “womanly” clan. After, the elders learn that the man killed the python has died; they trust in their gods, and they stop to ignore the converts. Okonkwo’s seven years of exile are ending. He is grateful for these years but he also regretted every day of the exile. Okonkwo made a feast in which one man expresses concern for the younger generation.

 

*Achebe, C.
Things Fall Apart
Achebe, C. (1958) Things Fall Apart. New York: Reed Consumer Books.

 

The story of Mother Kite

“The story of Mother Kite”

Chapter 15

María Fernanda González Obregón

Group: 46

This is the story about mother Kite, once, she sent her daughter to bring her food. First, the daughter brought a duckling. “What did the mother of the duckling do when you took its child away? Asked Mother Kite.  “It said nothing” replied the baby kite. So Mother Kite told her daughter to return that baby and go for something else,  the daughter brought a chick. The daughter told her mom that the mother of the chick cried and raved when he tried to take it away.  “Then we can eat the chick” said the mother.

What we can learn about this story is that people are not what they seem to be. What I mean by this is that most of the times the people that look more inoffensive are the worst; sometimes the ones that are always quiet, are the ones that are planning something to hurt you, they have something weird inside of them. And the people that scream and shout won’t do anything to you,  it is just to get you scared.  “There is something ominous behind the silence” “There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts”

The lesson that Uchendu wants to teach with this story is to never kill a man who says nothing. He tells this story to illustrate his point about how Abame men were fools. He considered them fools because they were all killed by men that no one knew about, as if they were invisible. They were invisible because they were quiet…  We have no fear from someone who is quiet.

·         Achebe, C.

Things Fall Apart
Achebe, C. (1958) Things Fall Apart. New York: Reed Consumer Books.

Summary “Thing fall apart” Chapters 7-13

Summary “Thing fall apart”
Chapters: 7-13
Maria Fernanda Gonzalez Obregon
Group: 46

Thanks to Ikemefuna,  Nwoye becomes more masculine, he is like a big brother to him. Okonkwo is very proud of his son’s development, and he knows that is thanks to Ikemefuma. Okonkwo likes to invite both of them into his obi and tell them violent, masculine stories. But Nwoye likes better his mother’s stories.

Ogbuefi Ezeudu go and visits Okonkwo, he informs him that the Oracle ordered that Ikemefuna has to die. Even though Okonkwo loves the kid, he can’t save him from his dead. He lies to Ikemefuna, telling him that he is going back with his family.
Nwoye was very sad and disappointed.

During the walk home with the men of Umuofia, a man tries to kill Ikemefuna, the boy cries to Okonkwo so he saves him from his death. Unfortunately, Okonkwo did not help him, he cut him down.
Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna was dead. Something breaks inside of him, it was the second time that happened; the first time was when he heard a baby crying in the Evil Forest.

Okonkwo felt depressed. He did not taste any food for two days and could not sleep. In this chapter (8) we can see how Okonkwo wishes that Ezinma was a boy.
Later, he went to visit Obierika and congratulates Maduka for his wrestling. Obierika told him he was not 100% sure it was a good idea to take part in Ikemefuna’s death.

Okonkwo begins to feel better, later, someone arrives tells everyone about the death of the oldest man in a neighboring village but later, the old man’s wife died too.

Ekwefi wakes up Okonkwo because Enzima felt terrible. She had a fever so Okonkwo sets collecting medicine.
They are feeling very bad about Ezinma being sick because she is Ekwefi’s only child and the “center of her world.” Ekwefi had nine other children, but they died.

The village holds a ceremonial gathering for justice. The clan’s ancestral spirits (egwugwu, masked men) appear from a secret house, which no woman is allowed. Everyone suspects that Okonkwo is among the egwugwu.

 The first argument that comes before the egwugwu is about a husband and wife. The husband says that the brothers of his wife beated him and  took her and the children from his hut, but the woman’s brothers said that he is a cruel and bad man who is always beating their sister. They argue that the husband wants wife to return, if she agrees and he beats her again, her brothers will cut his genitals off.  At the end the egwugwu decide in favor of Mgbafo (The husband)

Ekwefi tells Ezinma a story about a tortoise. All of the birds have been invited to a feast in the sky and Tortoise abuses of the generosity of the birds. This story tell us a lot of how we should we treat people, and gives us a beautiful message.

 Chielo informs Ekwefi that Agbala  (Oracle of the hills and caves) wants to see Ezinma. Okonkwo and Ekwefi try to convince Chielo to wait until the next day, but Chielo takes Ezinma on her back and did not let anyone to follow them.
Later, Chielo goes back with Ezinma on her back. She takes Ezinma to her mother´s hut and puts her to sleep. Okonkwo was very worried but he did not show it, again, so everyone can think he is the strongest man.

Okonkwo’s family prepared for Obierika’s daughter’s uri (betrothal ceremony). The people of the village contribute with food and Obierika buys a goat to present to his future in-laws. The feast is a success.

Later, Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s death is announced. Okonkwko goes the big funeral. It is a tradition to beat drums and fire guns, but when Okonkwo do it, he accidentally kills Ezeudu’s sixteen-year-old son. This is considerate a crime against the earth goddess, so Okonkwo must take his family into exile for seven years.
 Obierika doesn’t understand why a man should suffer so much for something that was an accident.

 

*Achebe, C.
Things Fall Apart
Achebe, C. (1958) Things Fall Apart. New York: Reed Consumer Books.

Summary “Thing fall apart”

Summary “Thing fall apart”
Chapters: 1-6
Maria Fernanda Gonzalez Obregon
Group: 46

In this story we learn about the Ibo tribe. The main character, Okonkwo is a tall, huge and famous man. He is known throughout the nine villages. He has a lot of power, everyone respects him; he is a wealthy farmer and has 3 wives. He supports his three wives and eight children; each wife has her own hut.

But his father, Unoka, who died ten years ago, was a thin and a debtor man. Everyone laugh at him. He was very poor and had lots of debts. 
Unoka once visited an Oracle and the Oracle told him that he failed because of his laziness. Unoka died of a shameful illness. Those suffering from swelling stomachs and limbs are left in the Evil Forest to die.
Okonkwo hated everything that Unoka had loved; his had a lot of fear of being like his father, fear of failure and weakness.

Once, Ezeugo gives an announcement that someone from the village of Mbaino murdered the wife of an Umuofia tribesman when she went to the market. Okonkwo went to Mbaino and said that they have to give a virgin and a young man for what they did. When they give the fifteen-year-old boy, Ikemefuna they decided to turn him over to Okonkwo.  Ikemefuna is homesick and scared at first, but later he becomes popular with Okonkwo’s children, he even become like an older brother to Nwoye. Okonkwo really likes the kid,  Ikemefuna soon begins to call Okonkwo “father.”
It is shown how Okonkwo is extremely demanding of his family. He is starting to see that Nwoye, his son is becoming lazy. 

Okonkwo did not have the start in life that others had; Unoka was never able to have a successful harvest. Okonkwo asked wealthy clansman, Nwakibie, to give him 400 seed yams to start a farm, and he gave him eight hundred. Later, a friend of his father gave him another four hundred. Unfortunately Okonkwo just kept one third of the harvest. That year’s devastating harvest left a profound mark on Okonkwo.  

During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo sees that his youngest wife is not in the house and she did not prepare the afternoon meal. When she came back he beats her. It was the first time in many years that someone had broken the sacred peace, everyone was very surprised. The priest says to Okonkwo that he has to sacrifice a nanny goat and a hen and pay a fine.
After the Week of Peace, the villagers begin to clear the land in preparation for planting their farms.

The Feast of the New Yam is an occasion to give thanks to the earth goddess, Ani. Okonkwo never becomes very enthusiastic during this time.
Okonkwo becomes angry, and he beat his second wife, Ekwefi. Then he decides to go hunting, he is not a good hunter, so Ekwefi says something about guns that never shot. He gets angry, he shoots with the gun but he did not hurt her.
Here we can see how all the wives take care of each other.
The day after the feast is the annual wrestling contest; Ekwefi, in particular, enjoys the contest because Okonkwo won her heart when he defeated the Cat. Ezinma, Ekwefi’s only child, is Okonkwo´s favorite but rarely demonstrates his affection.

The wrestling match takes place on the village ilo. It was the first time people saw such a large crowd. The wrestling begins between boys of 15 or 16 years old. Maduka, wins one match. As the wrestling continues, Ekwefi speaks with Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves.  The last match was between the leaders of the teams: Okafo wins.

African Literature

The Beginnings of African Literature

   The first African literature was around 2300-2100, when the Egyptians begin using burial texts. This included de papyrus.  All of this starts in a oral way; proverbs and riddles, epic narratives, oration and personal testimony, praise poetry and songs, chants and rituals, stories, legends and folk tales. The traveling performers (griots) kept the oral tradition alive. 

Later, they started writing; they wrote a lot about religion and culture.
The earliest written Sub-Saharan Literature is very influenced by Islamic literature (the anonymous history of the city-state of Kilwa Kisiwani). The first African history (History of the Sudan) is written by Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi. In 1728 the earliest written Swahili work (Utendi wa Tambuka) is very influenced from Muslim tradition.

The Period of Colonization

Europeans arrived for the natural resources and tried to destroy the culture of the Africans, to make them slaves. The oral ytaditios and written works wew threatened fue to the Christian beliefs.

 But African Literature survived this attack. The narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustava Vassa was the first slave narrative that was published.  Achebe used his awesome narrative to stop  slavery. In Africa, Swahili poetry took off the influence of Islam and introduce native Bantu forms. The Europeans, brought journalism and government schools to Africa,  this helped a lot to the development of literature. Local newspapers had sections of local African poetry and short stories. Oliver Schreiner (Story of an African Farm) is considered the first African classic analysis of racial and sexual issues. Other notable writers, such as Samuel Mqhayi and Thomas Mofolo begin showing Africans as human characters.

   

The negritude movement

Developing in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. This movement was one of the premiere literary movements. The background of this movement was due to the rejections and desire of identity. They wanted to create consciousness of their black identity, their history, culture, etc…  In a 1967 interview, Cesaire explained: "We lived in an atmosphere of rejection, and we developed an inferiority complex." The desire to establish an identity begins with "a concrete consciousness of what we are--…that we are black . . . and have a history. . . there have been beautiful and important black civilizations…that  its values were values that could still make an important contribution to the world." Léopold Sédar Senghor was one of the prime thinkers of this movement. Later he  became president Senegal, creating a tradition of African writers becoming active political figures.

 "Things Fall Apart" This is the most read work of African Literature ever written.
Achebe opened the door  many Africans to have international recognition. One important event was that african women begin to let their voice be heard. African Literature is only gaining momentum as time marches onwards.

African iterature was very important, because thanks to this, the people that once were invisible, beacame known by everyone.

-Bibliography
*Unc.edu
African Literature
Unc.edu (1930) African Literature. [online] Available at: http://www.unc.edu/~hhalpin/ThingsFallApart/literature.html [Accessed: 21 Jan 2013].

Chinua Achebe Biography

Chinua Achebe (born 16 November 1930) is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. Widely acclaimed for his work in English Literature. Born to Christian evangelical parents he was raised in a town Ogidi,in Igboland, in Eastern Nigeria. He is best known for his first novel “Things Fall Apart”

Raised by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures.He got his early education in English and the Igbo traditions and colonial legacy played a great part in the growing years of his life. Thereafter, he went to University of Ibadan for further studies where he studied literature and medicine. Then he opted for teaching for a short period, but later on joined the Nigerian Broadcasting company in Lagos as Director of External Broadcasting.

In 1975, his lecture An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" became the focus of controversy. He wrote No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God in 1960, and A Man of the People in 1966. Another achievement was his novel, Anthills of the Savannah. He has also published a number of short stories, children's books, and essay collections.

He was also appointed the Editor of renowned Nigerian literary Magazine, Okike. One of his remarkable achievements includes Iwa ndi Ibo, a bilingual publication of Igbo cultural life. He was honored as Emeritus Professor at University of Nigeria. He also has twenty honorary doctorates to his name from universities all over the world.

Achebe writes his novels in English and has defended the use of English, a "language of colonisers", in African literature. Achebe is one writer who has always been involved in his country’s depicting the problems and difficulties faced by his countrymen in the post-colonial era.Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of Western and Traditional African values during and after the colonial era.

-Bibliography
*Famousauthors.org
Chinua Achebe | Biography, Books and Facts
Famousauthors.org (1958) Chinua Achebe | Biography, Books and Facts. [online] Available at: http://www.famousauthors.org/chinua-achebe [Accessed: 21 Jan 2013].

*Biografiasyvidas.com
Biografia de Chinua Achebe
Biografiasyvidas.com (1930) Biografia de Chinua Achebe. [online] Available at: http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/a/achebe.htm [Accessed: 21 Jan 2013].

"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become." - C.S. Lewis

Literature is a big part of history. Thanks to literature we can understand our past. We´ve learn so much about the people of the past thanks to literature.  We can learn how humans have changed, what they used to do in the past and how they used to think.  It’s like a prove we have of our past.  And people in the future will be able to see how we live now. They will be able to see how we changed our way of thinking and living. We are changing a lot and is important to keep on track of those changes.

Literature makes us understand everything that is around us. Trough literature we can learn what people think and the reason they think that way, trough literature, we can learn many things about different subjects.  
Thanks to literature people is able to open their mind and develop it. In this way, we can see the world in a different prospective, we can see the world with others people´s eyes.  

I think that to be able to grow up as a person, you have to be able to understand others and not be closed to your own ideas, and that is a door that literature has.
Without literature we wouldn’t be able to understand human nature.