May82012
In my edition of Things Fall Apart I see this lovely cover art:
There is a dark-skinned head that is upside down on a contrasting white background and an orange stripe on the bottom. The cover is also made to look like it is original and handmade, as if to be like no other. The originality of the cover shows that Achebe’s story is not like any other. The upside-down head shows that things fall apart in the book and SPOILER ALERT: that Okonkwo’s life is turned completely around so much that he takes his own life. END SPOILER! The handmade look to the cover emphasizes the culture Umuofia and shows even more originality. Things Fall Apart is a genuinely unique story and that uniqueness is shown by the cover art and the writing.
-Kai
May62012
“Now he has won our borthers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (176).
I was intrigued by this statement that Obierika makes to Okonkwo. As I thought about it, I realized that the whole Ibo (Igbo) tribe was held together by their common beliefs in the religion and traditions if their tribe. Now that the white men have come into the Ibo tribe and forced many to begin questioning the traditions and religion of the tribe, the tribe is now “falling apart.” I have conflicting views about this notion, because I feel that it is a good thing to question society/authority, but at the same time, in this instance questioning society/culture has led to the unraveling of the Ibo tribe. Any thoughts?
COURTNEY
May42012
I wanted to address the song they sing when a woman dies on page 135:
“‘For whom is it well, for whom is it well?
There is no one for whom it is well.’”
We talked a lot in class today about the different views on women and the idea of the woman being valued as a mother and being the cornerstone of the family and being a nurturing figure. We saw a lot of this in Uchendu’s speech to Okonkwo: “when there is sorrow and bitterness [a man] finds refuge in his motherland. your mother is there to protect you… mother is supreme.” (134) I think the song really ties into this idea because it is sung when a woman dies, not when a man dies. With the phrase “there is no one for whom it is well” it suggests a sort of communal suffering. In the context of this being used as a lesson for Okonkwo to stop moping around the phrase can be taken to mean that everyone is suffering in some capacity so don’t mope around because everyone is dealing with something that is difficult for them. In a community context the song provides further evidence for why mother is so supreme. It suggests that when a woman dies everyone mourns and it is a huge loss that is not felt by just a single person. The interrogative syntax of the first line of the song as well as the repetition of “for whom is it well” further emphasizes that there really isn’t anyone who doesn’t suffer from the death of a woman. This provides a lens for us to see that the Ibo people clearly value women a lot more so than we initially saw with the frequent beating of women.
-Ashley
May12012
As we read through the lovely novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe I have come to realize that though we, as a class, may have some idea of what the Nigerian drum beats and trials are, our ideas may be foggy. So I did some searching and found the musically talented people of Nigeria singing, dancing, reenacting, and drumming to the tradition of the Nigerian culture. So F Block English and followers here is one of many Nigerian traditions.
-Kai
April272012
We discussed a lot in class today about the idea of weakness and what constitutes weakness. I think an interesting point that came up which spawned from this was that of there being two different ideas of weakness in the book. From an outside perspective the reader can see that Okonkwo internalizing all his emotions can’t possibly end up positively. I would argue that in the way he lashes out at his wives and even beats them is a demonstration of how he expresses all of his suppressed emotions. Okonkwo’s desire to suppress his emotions also comes from his fear of weakness, and that definition of weakness is based on everything that his father, Unoka, was. But driven by this fear of weakness, Okonkwo seems to have developed an obsession with stereotypical masculinity: strong and a leader of his house. What Okonkwo fails to realize, however, is that sometimes emotion can be seen as strength. For example, no one would’ve judged him if he had stayed home and not gone into the forest for when Ikemefuna was being killed. But no, he had to be all masculine so instead in a frenzied moment of showing his “strength” and ends up giving Ikemefuna the last blow instead. In that moment he had to chose between acting out of his love for Ikemefuna and his fear of appearing weak and he acted out of fear. To me, there is nothing weaker than basing one’s actions on fear rather than on rational moral principles. Another example where Okonkwo’s refusal to show emotion comes up is when he fails to admit the guilt he felt at breaking peace week after visiting the Oracle. As a result, people didn’t think as highly of him because they thought he disrespected the Gods. Supressing one’s emotions and acting out of a fear for appearing weak do nothing to reveal that Okonkwo is truly strong, they instead suggest the exact opposite. Thus, although Okonkwo tries so hard to appear strong, to the readers he appears quite weak and even pathetic.
-Ashley
