Tragic Hero

In Things Fall Apart, the author Achebe purposely characterises Okonkwo as a tragic hero in order to reflect the collapsing Umuofia society and destruction of the whole Igbo culture. In the novel, Okonkwo’s hermatia includes his hyper masculinity, being too quick to action without thinking situations through, and being too quick to anger. Both being quick to action and quick to anger contradict Igbo value, which ultimately leads to his peripeteia and Okonkwo getting banished. Achebe did this on purpose in order to show what happens when one lives in a very unique culture, but does not follow its values. Even though he is a well respected man due to his many titles and wealth that he has been able to accumulate, his obsession for power and personal failures act as a barrier to greater things, and rather lead to his downfall. In the novel, his downfall begins when he kills Ogbuefi’s son by accident as Ogbuefi’s funeral. Similarly, the Igbo culture also experienced a downfall due to it being colonised. The society’s downfall can be clearly seen through the character Okonkwo when he returns from his seven year exile and finds Umuofia being colonised. His inability to accept change and being colonised ultimately leads to his downfall as he tries to resolve the problem the only way he knows, by fighting back, as he does not want to be seen as someone weak like his father. However the others do not believe that this should be solved with violence, and would rather accept the change. This finally leads to Okonkwo hanging himself as he is unable to adapt to change and looses faith in his community. This also reflects the downfall of the Igbo culture due to colonisation. Achebe characterises Okonkwo like this purposely, as this also reflects the Igbo culture prior and throughout its downfall. 

Visiting Igboland - Magazine Article

The Igboland is situated in Africa, with the Igbo people forming one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. About 15 million of the Igbo people live in Nigeria, with about another million living outside of Nigeria. Like the British culture, the Igbo culture is rooted in trade, as well as farming. Farming communities in the Igboland are mostly situated between the Niger River in the west and the Cross river in the east, stretching from the delta near the southern coast to the open grasslands of the north. Unlike the United Kingdoms society,  the Igbo world is based on an equalitarian principle, ensuring that no one person or group acquires too much control over the life of others. 

History:

The Igbo culture and language is very diverse, with the Igbo language consisting of many dozens of dialects due to the many self-contained villages and towns which were separated by dense bush. Before the twentieth century, it would have been incorrect to address the Igbo people as one as they were made up of 200 individual groups. Even though their culture was somewhat similar, each group could easily be identified as a separate society. Due to this, the concept of a common Igbo identity can be identified as a product of the Victorian Era. The British conquest of Igboland began in January 1900, resulting in a rapid spread of Christianity and western education throughout the Igboland. This was due to several reasons, such as the Igbo people’s value of accepting change as well as due to the Igbo people’s realisation of the importance of Western education in the new colonial structure. 

Belief Systems:

Like in Christianity, the Igbo People also believe in supreme god which created all things and demands obedience. Religion has been an integral part of Igbo life since a long time. In addition to this, the Igbo people also believe in life after death, where there is a constant interaction between the dead and the living. In the Igbo culture, death is personified as a powerful spirit which gains mastery over the life giving principle Ndo. Furthermore, there is a carryover of social status and other personal qualities from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Like the United Kingdom’s society, the Igbo people believe in a world of moving equilibrium, a world where change is expected and encouraged. This change in equilibrium is also seen as manipulatable for ones own purpose. When visiting the Igboland, one must remember to be social with the Igbo people, as being anti social is considered a sin and people doing so are held in contempt. 

Society’s Structure:

The Igbo people’s society structure contrasts the most to western societies. Whereas there is a clear hierarchy within western societies, the Igbo people believe in equality and equal opportunities for all, resulting in a lack of centralised political structure. The Igbo world is based on an equalitarian principle. No one person should acquire too much power and too much control over the life of others, even the leader of the Igbo people should be approachable by others. However true equality cannot be achieved in any society, which the Igbo people realise, and therefore believe that each citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success. In the Igbo world, a great emphasis is placed on success and achieving titles which are bought with money, thus only men which have greatly succeeded in making money ever achieve such titles. 

Overall the Igboland is a culture that shares some similarities and many differences with the western cultures, which can be seen in both societies by things such as trade which are a foundation to both cultures. However as one might expect, the Igbo culture is also very different, with the most extreme to a western person being that there is no central government to hold everything in order, yet the Igbo people still manage to successfully function without one. The Igbo world is a must see for anyone wanting to see a very unique culture with many traditions and values which only apply to the Igbo people. Through the friendliness, where socialising is encouraged, a visitor is sure to enjoy their stay and learn many new things. 

Most Meaningful Takeaway

In the last class, we had a shared inquiry discussion about a Interview with Chinua Achebe. During this shared inquiry discussion, very interesting topics were discussed. The question which resonated with me was “Does living in foreign countries shape the way you think about your home country?”. This question resonated with me as it applies to my own life since I have been constantly moving around the world, living in various different countries. By living in foreign countries, it has shaped to an extent the way I think about my home country. By constantly being around people from other countries, I have gained a deeper insight and a new perspective into how they view my home country, which in some cases greatly differs from my viewpoint. Through Interacting with others, I have learned that stereotypes play a big part of people’s understanding of Germany. This can also be seen in some cases, but not as often, in foreign literature. I believe that stereotypes don't play as big of a role in literature, as in order to write very much about a country, one has to have a somewhat good understanding of the culture, people, and values. This knowledge will however still be far off of what a native would have, which is also seen in the book Things Fall Apart, where it is clear that the author, Chinua Achebe, has a great understanding of the culture, values and people in which his book is set in. 

Paper 1 Commentary Practice

This text is Elizabeth Glaser’s speech to the Democratic National Convention in 1992. The text can be identified as an political speech, due to the many features and conventions of this text type. In the speech, Elizabeth Glaser uses rhetorical devices, memorable sayings and slogans in order to call the audience to action and to convince them of her viewpoint on the topic. Throughout the speech, Glaser uses various rhetorical and propaganda devices as well as ethos, pathos and logos in order to appeal to her wide target audience. Through the implementation of these various techniques and devices, Glaser effectively addresses the issue of AIDS to her target audience.

As the speech was delivered to the Democratic National Convention, one can conclude that the target audience of this speech are supporters of the Democratic Party in the United States. This is also evident in Glaser’s speech, where she solely uses American people in order to back up her claim on the matter of AIDS. Furthermore, she calls out the Democratic Party and asks for their help, making it clear who her target audience is. From the ideas that she is speaking for, one can also deduce cultural values of the time, such as equality for all which is seen when Glaser uses the rhetorical technique of Hypophora hen comparing the rich and the poor to say “Is their life any less valuable? Of course not.” Furthermore a better health care is also believed in and wanted, as health care at the time of this speech is “seriously under-funded”. This value of wanting a better health care is then also backed up by the example of AIDS care costs, stating that “someone without insurance can’t afford this” as it costs “over 40,000 dollars a year.” 

Glaser opens the speech with a summary of what happened to her, providing validation of her qualification and authority to speak in order to lecture, and call to action the target audience about this topic. She then continues on, stating the failed attempts of bringing attention to  the need of AIDS research and care to the Presidents Reagan and Bush, as well as her desire, and the nation’s need, for a leader. Glaser then mentions a variety of examples concerning the topic of AIDS, both from her personal life, as well as from what she heard happen elsewhere in the country. She the concludes her speech by calling her target audience to action, the Democratic Party, telling them to vote for the correct people and to make America great again by stating several things America once stood for, such as hope, freedom, justice and equality, challenging the Democratic party to restore these values. This is done by the use of pathos, where Glaser appeals to emotion, saying that “all our lives, not just mine, depend on it.” 

As previously established, the themes of this speech are in specific about AIDS, but also more generally about health care. This is established through her personal experiences as well as her word choice such as “We need health care for all”, which implies a change in the health care in the future. To further develop these themes thought the speech, Glaser uses multiple rhetorical devices. At the start, in order to establish her credibility, the rhetorical device of allusion is used as well as pathos within these first paragraphs, evoking feeling such as understanding and trust. Furthermore, to address the seriousness of this issue, Glaser talks about the death of her daughter and uses a metaphor to say that she is “in a race with the clock”, meaning that her time is limited and could soon be over. This once again also uses pathos, which helps her set the tone and mood for the rest of the speech. The tone of this political speech encouraging, as Glaser tries persuade and encourage the audience to act now on the problem of AIDS and health care. In addition to this, Glaser uses the rhetorical technique of Hypophora in order to make the target audience question and reflect on the discussed topic more. Furthermore, Glaser’s desire for a new leader with several qualities is prominent throughout the whole speech, where she uses a metaphor to say that the new leader should “talk straight”, meaning that they should say the truth and not divert around it in order to suit heir personal interests. Furthermore through the sentence beginning “I believe in an America”, which is also an Anaphora in order to emphasise the sentence beginning, it also implies that no president before has ever talked “straight” as they have always previously “play[ed] games with number”, meaning that they altered these numbers in order to suit them. Finally, in the last part of the speech, Glaser refers back to the rhetorical device of Allusion, talking about what her daughter taught her in the last year in which she was alive. This also uses the rhetorical technique of Tricolon and parallelism in order to emphasise these things which she had learnt from her daughter. Throughout this speech, rhetorical devices are often implemented in order to emphasise and evoke specific emotions, tone and mood. 

In conclusion, Glaser used a wide variety of rhetorical ad propaganda devices, slogans, and real-life events in order to appeal to her target audience and call them to action on the problem of AIDS and health care.