Amoolya's Blog

Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, was influenced by his personal history to an extent, being an African who valued his traditional roots, but at the same time embraced Christianity as his religion. Written in 1958, Things Fall Apart has a combination of both the Igbo values, and the colonizers’ advancements in order to satisfy and advocate for both the sides of European colonization. Unlike Achebe, who tries to justify both sides, the protagonist Okonkwo is a stubborn character that is completely resistant towards the oppressors and cannot adjust and evolve to the change brought to his village. Furthermore, Achebe tries to highlight his own religion  in a more positive side, despite it being brought into Africa forcefully,  by including soft characters such as Mr. Brown to support Christianity, and contrast the Igbo values.

Okonkwo’s character gives insight to the reader’s understanding by revealing his disability to see the balance between man and woman, unlike the conventions of his Igbo culture. His stubborn support for an anarchical society, turns him to be hyper masculine and dominant over women. This can be seen in his household where he shows his dominance over his wives, as well as his children. Furthermore, he encourages his older son, Nwoye, to follow on his footpath of being more masculine by working hard and doing manly chores around the house, rather than sit and listen to his mother’s silly fables, which he actually prefers. This is because Okonkwo found characteristics of his own father (Unoka), in his son’s personality, which is idleness and laziness. To Okonkwo, he categorizes these signs as weakness and failure because his father, who shared the same negative qualities, was called Agbala – a word that meant “woman”. His father was a failure who left a lot of debt in his life and there...

Okonkwo’s character is the main protagonist of the novel, Things Fall Apart. He is a character that despise any signs of weaknesses or feminine characteristics displayed, especially by a man. When his Ibo village decides to not go to war with the Christians, he was gravely disappointed and defined his people as weak and cowards like women. His hyper masculinity was one of his flaws that prevented this hero to end up being a tragic hero. Okonkwo’s character serves to be as a person who’s blind to new ideas and sticks to his routine. He doesn’t see the grey area in life but only sees the extremity of black and white. He’s not open- minded and doesn’t like the imbalance caused in his village by the colonizers. Even at this point, he wanted to wage war against them like they would usually do in order to display their masculinity and manliness but he was disappointed when this did not happen. He believed that the people had become too soft and that his chi isn’t supporting him even tho...

#1 The Missionaries arrive In Abame and mass murdered the villagers by shooting them down. This was an important scene to be noted in the novel because the Britishers claim to be peaceful and God loving, therefore, it would be least expected that they go and bring down a whole village. This incident reveals the Britishers’ true nature and their immense power that they would use (weaponry) when they are stopped from getting what they want. #2 When Ikemefuna got killed by Okonkwo, the scene characterizes Okonkwo’s personality itself. Although he did seem fond of the boy, he was not hesitant to kill him (he didn’t have to) when the time arrived, suggesting that he’s prepared to do anything. Later on, he was restless following the killing. Okonkwo’s mind set could be claimed to be complex as he is burdened by the nature of his “bold” and strong character, which he tries to maintain in fronat of everyone, so that he’s no seen like his failed father. But on the other hand, the pai...

Shakespeare’s Coriolanus is a political play that shows the early ages of transforming into a democracy after its monarchy style of ruling. Coriolanus in this play, symbolizes the old fashioned way of power, like the survival of the fittest. He believes that a person needs to strive and fight for himself, in order to go up the hierarchy. He is unable to adapt to the new democratic perspective, which, the Plebians represent. Rome now being a citizen driven country, enables the people to choose their government, which Coriolanus dislikes, since he thinks that the Plebians are too foolish and selfish to think of their State’s benefit and that they aren’t capable to recognize worthy people, nor their “defenders”. Aufidius, Rome’s enemy, on the other hand, adjusts to the situation and is an opportunist: taking advantage of every moment. This is seen when Coriolanus goes to him, accepting defeat, and Aufidius instead of killing him (like he previously said he would), he instead took him a...

Caius Martius is thoroughly characterized throughout Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. In terms of Act 1, Martius begins out in Scene 1 to be depicted as a cruel and vicious character by the Plebians, thus projecting a negative first impression on Martius by the audience. Later on, when he goes to fight for the Romans, he is first seen as a strong leader and helps encourage his soldiers to fight for their state whereas later when he enters Corioles city alone, he is seen weak and foolish by the other soldiers. They believed that he was sure to be slain while he remained in Coriole’s territories but he proved them all wrong and came out as a brave warrior. Though he doesn’t have the rhetorical tactics to speak his way and motivate his subjects through words, he encourages them through his brave actions and fighting skills. Further on, after he returns after conquering Corioles, he expresses his disdain towards the cowardly soldiers that sent him alone to battle. Though, his pride filled self ...

These days, media messages are carefully constructed by the people behind screen. For instance, the artists or cast members of a show are only mediums through which authoritarians of power and money, would spread their message through lyrics or dialogues. This just results in financial benefit for the producers or even a positive image given to a political group that are masked through the show at certain points. Certain symbols or actions may represent them and thus, helps the audience recognize it and end up supporting this group just because this message is conveyed through the movie or show they watched. These processes lead to the construction of synth culture, making the original version of pop culture – an express of individuals – fall apart. The modern generation through their frequent use of technology, are obviously exposed to media, especially social media. Since social media is an open platform for people to express their opinions and feelings and also they’re personal ...