Nowadays, we usually view the European colonization of Africa and the Americas as negative - it brought sickness to the natives, forced them out of their beliefs, and stifled their culture. But we never really think about how many Europeans truly thought that they were doing the right thing. Europe at the time, a highly religious continent as a whole, viewed the word of God as the salvation for all. They truly believed that converting the "pagans" to Christianity was saving their souls, but many still worked to preserve and respect the natives' culture (for example, Mr. Brown in Things Fall Apart). Many European colonists believed themselves to be bringing civilization and peace to a savage land. However mislead their impressions of the natives may have been, their intentions were still good.
The colonists did bring stable government and European civilization to the natives, but the thing that really makes people cringe is that the colonists didn't even think about the fact that the natives already had their own form of government; their own version of civilization. Just because it wasn't like the European ideology and government did not mean that it was savage or uncivilized. The natives had their own way of governing themselves; they had their own customs, beliefs, and levels of monarchy and rank. This did not make them heathen. The colonists obviously struggled with this fact, seeing as most of the time they tried to stamp out indigenous culture like a burnt-out cigarette.
Modernization was bound to happen to Africa at some point. But it would have been much more respectful to its original culture to just let it happen and not force it on them! Is that too much to ask? Let other people just BE? The way they want to be? Because you can't choose for other people what is right and what is wrong. Besides a few moral issues, it really depends on the person. It depends on where they came from, what they believe, how they were raised. Of course that's a controversial statement, and I'm not saying that if someone was brought up being taught that murder is right that they can just kill people because, hey, that's what they think is right! I'm saying that I firmly believe that as long as people live their lives in a way that is sufficient to them and respectful to those around them, we humans are in no position to tell other humans how to live their lives.
Now, moving on to the conversation we had about the writing style of Things Fall Apart. It all started when a bunch of my peers started complaining that they hadn't read the book because they found it boring. Of course, I can totally relate because the style of storytelling that is present in this book is very different from that of the stories we are used to. The teacher would not take "it's boring" as an answer, though. She wanted us to dig deeper and find out what was really repelling us from the book. Most of the other students weren't really able to articulate why they found it uninteresting, though, so I raised my hand and volunteered that bit about differences in style. Immediately, a boy who rarely talks in class raised his hand and added to my statement: "Achebe's writing is difficult and dull in a way because he is trying to combine two writing styles. The African style of many stories and the Western/European style of linear storytelling. So it's like he is trying to appeal to two different styles and cultures. It can be very confusing."
I thought he definitely had a point. Achebe's goal in writing Things Fall Apart was to correctly represent his people and explain the inner workings of Igbo culture to the rest of the world. However, I believe that in order to make his point effectively heard by western culture, Achebe felt that he needed to give his story a more western style. All of this is well and good, until you start mixing it with the traditional African style that Achebe is also trying to appeal to. With the seemingly random, story-within-a-story structure interrupted by awkward plot twists and tending to end abruptly, I can see how this book would be difficult for westerners to understand. Had it been written specifically in this style and for the people who are used to it, perhaps it would make more sense, but in an effort to appeal to the Western/European society, he mixed up the two styles in a sometimes awkward, and, yes, slightly boring and confusing way.
For some reason I feel like once we had figured out why we found the book uninteresting, it was much easier to understand it. Hopefully this discussion was as interesting and helpful to others as it was for me!!
Word of the Day:
quintessential (adjective) [Middle English]
of or pertaining to the most perfect embodiment of something
Example: For me, Tinkerbell is far from the quintessential embodiment of a fairy; I think more of tall, nymph-like, ethereal beings.
Love,
GlamingoGirl
Modernization was bound to happen to Africa at some point. But it would have been much more respectful to its original culture to just let it happen and not force it on them! Is that too much to ask? Let other people just BE? The way they want to be? Because you can't choose for other people what is right and what is wrong. Besides a few moral issues, it really depends on the person. It depends on where they came from, what they believe, how they were raised. Of course that's a controversial statement, and I'm not saying that if someone was brought up being taught that murder is right that they can just kill people because, hey, that's what they think is right! I'm saying that I firmly believe that as long as people live their lives in a way that is sufficient to them and respectful to those around them, we humans are in no position to tell other humans how to live their lives.
Now, moving on to the conversation we had about the writing style of Things Fall Apart. It all started when a bunch of my peers started complaining that they hadn't read the book because they found it boring. Of course, I can totally relate because the style of storytelling that is present in this book is very different from that of the stories we are used to. The teacher would not take "it's boring" as an answer, though. She wanted us to dig deeper and find out what was really repelling us from the book. Most of the other students weren't really able to articulate why they found it uninteresting, though, so I raised my hand and volunteered that bit about differences in style. Immediately, a boy who rarely talks in class raised his hand and added to my statement: "Achebe's writing is difficult and dull in a way because he is trying to combine two writing styles. The African style of many stories and the Western/European style of linear storytelling. So it's like he is trying to appeal to two different styles and cultures. It can be very confusing."
I thought he definitely had a point. Achebe's goal in writing Things Fall Apart was to correctly represent his people and explain the inner workings of Igbo culture to the rest of the world. However, I believe that in order to make his point effectively heard by western culture, Achebe felt that he needed to give his story a more western style. All of this is well and good, until you start mixing it with the traditional African style that Achebe is also trying to appeal to. With the seemingly random, story-within-a-story structure interrupted by awkward plot twists and tending to end abruptly, I can see how this book would be difficult for westerners to understand. Had it been written specifically in this style and for the people who are used to it, perhaps it would make more sense, but in an effort to appeal to the Western/European society, he mixed up the two styles in a sometimes awkward, and, yes, slightly boring and confusing way.
For some reason I feel like once we had figured out why we found the book uninteresting, it was much easier to understand it. Hopefully this discussion was as interesting and helpful to others as it was for me!!
Word of the Day:
quintessential (adjective) [Middle English]
of or pertaining to the most perfect embodiment of something
Example: For me, Tinkerbell is far from the quintessential embodiment of a fairy; I think more of tall, nymph-like, ethereal beings.
Love,
GlamingoGirl
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