Language and Style Blog Post

‘A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.’  This quote by Mahatma Ghandi is the quote that resides with me when I look back at the novel of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. For the sole reason that I believe what Achebe was trying to do, was to portray his culture in a more realistic and less ‘ideal’ way. He wanted to stay true to his culture, traditions and nations beliefs. Even though the novel was originally written in English he uses poems, myths and stories to really display to the reader’s what the Igbo culture was really all about. For people from other parts of the world, where they might not have heard of the Igbo culture, they need tools for help in which they can further comprehend what is trying to be portrayed. Which is where Achebe’s unique style of writing with myths, traditions and stories come in to action.

The ‘oral tradition’ as it is called, is manifested in this novel through many aspects. For example: Song use. Achebe includes traditional songs in his novel. These songs are distributed throughout and give the novel a much more traditional African feel. Achebe uses both translated and un-translated songs in the novel which is quite compelling and interesting in the eyes of the reader considering that the entire novel was written originally in English. Therefore to have that mix between both languages shows the differentiation and diversity that Achebe has and uses in his writing. The first song that comes up in the novel is a children’s song: “The rain is falling, the sun is shining, / Alone Nnadi is cooking and eating”. The song combines cultural themes and traditions with imagery that helps the reader picture the story. The context of the song is “Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent, and earth and sky once again became separate. The rain fell in thin, slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze”. There are other songs which are sung by people in the village and they have something to do with village traditions of wrestling, marriage, work, and even death.

Lastly, Achebe uses many folk tales in his novel to mainly exemplify the personality traits of the different characters. There are instances where folk tales are used to give complexity to certain characters’ inner thought process and psyche. In chapter seven, Okonkwo is defined as telling stories to his sons. He told them stories of the land—masculine stories for that matter, of violence and bloodshed. This is another example of how traditions are so highly worshipped in the Igbo culture, because this is clear evidence showing how stories were being passed down from generation to generation. Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories his mother used to tell, and which she no doubt still told to her younger children (here we see again the story telling through generations). This tales show both the traits of Okonkwo and Nwoye, and sets them up for the rest of the story, and supports the differences that these two main characters had.

In conclusion these are just a few samples of how Achebe makes use of myth, legend or other stories and tales, in the novel Things Fall Apart.

Obierika Memoir

I was so stupid, so ignorant and so blind, to not have been able to see what was happening to our culture, traditions, and land. I let the curious side of me explore, and adapt to the changes that were taking place because of the white men. Where did that get me? The one man that challenged these men is now dead hanging from a tree. And I am still alive, the roles should be reversed. I let this happen, while Okonkwo was the only one who questioned what was happening, and he did this rightfully so.  Okonkwo came to me wanting to start a rebellion against them, but I rejected his idea. He was my best friend, and I could not stand by him when he needed me the most, what does that make me? They distracted us with their religion, new ideas, their new culture, and new traditions, but for what price? To scavenge and take our resources from our land, to destroy our culture, our traditions, our religion and again who was the only one able to see this and want to do something about it…Okonkwo. You should be ashamed of yourself letting your best friend go like that. You’re a coward. Where do my Igbo people go from here? Well, they don’t. Younger generations will grow up learning in the education systems of the white men, learning their traditions, their cultures, and their religion. Unless we rise together and take back our land that is rightfully ours. This is for you Okonkwo, sorry I didn't help. R.I.P. 

Paper 2 Practice

1- To what extent has an awareness of context enriched or enhanced your understanding of Things Fall Apart?

Achebe’s first novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ is a novel that may stir up several reactions. What is meant by this is that due to people’s cultures and traditions, they will react to other people’s cultures in different ways. For example: In class we read this article that showed how a western girl viewed things fall apart, which was that she said it was ‘sexist’ due to the fact that in the novel there is a lot of domestic violence against women in the Igbo culture. However, in that same article a girl from Nigeria said that it is part of her culture. Which is where I stand due to the fact of the deeper understanding of the text that I have, as a result it is clear to see why things are the way they are in the novel.

               The novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ revolves around the character ‘Okonkwo’. Throughout his life Okonkwo has strived to be compared to anything but a woman. This is because of the influence his father ‘Unoka’ left on him. Which was that he was: lazy, poor, and a thief. This left the impression on Okonkwo that his father was very feminine. Consequently Okonkwo worked hard to be the complete opposite of his father, because to him Unoka was represented as a coward that couldn’t fend for himself.

               Coming from an international school where viewing different cultures is vital, I didn’t judge what was happening in the book as a ‘bad’ thing. Just because from the get go it was clear to see that what they were doing and what was happening was enriched in their culture. I also understood that this book was not up to date with where their society could be now, because the novel is set in the 1890’s. A lot could have changed from that time to this day and age, and even if it hasn’t in my perception what they believe in and what they do is part of their culture, and shouldn’t be for others to judge. Since the Igbo culture is a very strong believer (as a community) in their religion, I do not believe they should be judged for following it. For example: With killing the twins in the evil forest, it might not seem normal to westernized people, however to them it is very much like a law. It’s embedded in their culture, tradition, ways and life for that matter. I do see and understand here the European and Western side are coming from because to them killing children is barbaric and not allowed to say the last, but I do also understand the Igbo side which is that it is part of their culture.

               To truly grasp why Okonkwo beat women though, we have to remind ourselves of his father Unoka. Unoka being portrayed as gentle and feminine, he was evidently nice and respectful to women and other beings. Therefore Okonkwo (as mentioned before), saw everything his father did as feminine. Which is why he did everything vice versa of what his father did, in this case if his father was nice to women he decided to be mean, if his father was weak he would be strong etc.

               In conclusion by fully understanding things fall apart it has changed my view on how I see the Igbo people. Considering that it has opened me up to the understanding, that they do everything based off what their traditions, culture, ancestors, and religion has taught them. That is very relatable to me because same like them we learn a lot form our culture, traditions, ancestors and our chosen religions.

Thank you for reading! 

Chinua Achebe: Okonkwo Cahracterization

One of the reasons why the novel Things Fall Apart is a tragedy and can be related to so many other tragic works is because the main character, Okonkwo, fits the classic example of a tragic hero. A tragic hero is, by short definition, is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction.One of the major themes that develops throughout the story because Okonkwo is a tragic hero is the theme of ‘Culture vs Tradition’. This theme focuses on the clashing of the traditions that Okonkwo wants to uphold by the Igbo people, with the culture and religion of the colonists. Since Okonkwo goes against everything he considers to be weak and feminine, he decides to retaliate against the ‘white man’ because he does not want to seem girly. To some extent Okonkwo’s defiance of cultural change is also appointed to his fear of losing societal position and rank. Because his sense of self-respect is reliant upon the traditional criteria by which society judges him. He develops this theme as a tragic hero because if he were to adjust his ways and find compromise with the missionaries, it would not have led to his decision to commit suicide. I believe the reason Chinua Achebe chose a tragic hero as a protagonist is because he wanted to impact his readers by not making it the typical fairy tale ending, but where it ended with Okonkwo’s death in the end. To show that colonizers really affected people, and to basically give a voice to everyone that went through the same situation. Chinua Achebe wanted people to feel for Okonkwo in the end, since throughout the entire novel he was the focus for nearly the whole book. Therefore he wanted the reader to get attached and then snap them out of reality by showing it did not end well, and there really were no winners. 

Abraham Lincoln: Gettysburg Adress

In a speech that was comprised of only 10 sentences and 272 words, Abraham Lincoln was able to shine light on something that would resonate not only with his audience, but one that would echo through time. Why is this short speech so notable?

First, it is vital to recall the context. America was in the middle of a bloody civil war. Union troops had only four months earlier defeated Confederate troops at the Battle of Gettysburg (which is widely recognized as the turning point in the war). Thus, I believe the stated purpose of Lincoln’s speech was to bestow a plot of land that would become Soldier’s National Cemetery to honour the deceased. However, the Civil War still raged on and Lincoln comprehended that he also had to encourage and inspire the people to continue the fight. Therefore the speech is mainly a mix between motivating people to keep fighting and also honouring the fallen. I believe that Lincoln had one main audience which was the country in general, however he had a bigger purpose with this speech. I believe he made it short and easy to follow so that it could impact future generation, a speech to resonate in the ears and minds of generations to come.

(In italics and bold are going to be the words of Abraham Lincoln during the speech and under them are going to be my thoughts and views on the speech itself.)

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

§  “Four score and seven” is much more poetic, much more elegant, and noble than “Eighty-seven”. This is appropriate, because 87 years prior, the United States had won its freedom from Britain and thus embarked on the “Great Experiment”.

§  Lincoln reminisces to the audience about the basis on which the country was founded: liberty and equality. This is a perfect set up to the next sentence.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

§  Here, Lincoln signals the task. The values on which the nation was founded are under attack.

§  He encompasses the importance of the fight beyond the borders of the United States. It is not just a question of whether America could survive, but instead a question of whether any nation established on the same principles could live. Thus does the war — and the significance of winning it — take on an even greater importance.

We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

§  Lincoln turns to distinguish those who have fallen for their country.

§  He uses contrast well. By stating “those who here gave their lives that this nation might live” Lincoln makes what is possibly the ultimate contrast: life vs death. This has an immediate impact on the audience because the use of contrast is persuasive in a speech because it directly proves the persons point, showing the good that come out of their side.

§  He uses consonance — the repetition of the same consonant in short sequence — through words with the letter “f”: battlefield; field; final; for; fitting. This has an effect on the audience because it makes the speech seem more impressive and appealing and add certain amount of intensity and beauty to them.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground.

§  Notice the use of a “triple” sort of repetition: “can not dedicate … can not consecrate … can not hallow”. Triples are a influential public speaking technique that can add authority to your words and make them notable.

§  Say the sentence out loud and hear the powerful cadence and rhythm.

The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

§  This sentence is full of sincere respect for those who fought. It is an expressive way of saying that their actions speak much greater value than Lincoln’s words. This pulls on the audiences pathos and really put the situation in perspective.

§  There is an alliteration as well: “poor power”. The function of alliteration in speeches is to be both attention getting and memorable.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

§  There is a double contrast here, in this sentence: “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here” / “but it can never forget what they did here.”

§  Note the appeal to something greater. It is not the United States that will never forget, but the whole world.

§  Ironically, Lincoln was wrong with this statement. Not only have his words been remembered to this day, they will carry on to continue to be remembered in the future. Which as stated before was the reason I believe he made his speech this way, for it to be remembered later on.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

§  The final two sentences of the address signal a call to action, a resolution to complete “the unfinished work”.

§  They are packed with inspiring words such as “dedicated”, “nobly”, “great”, “honoured”, “devotion”, “highly resolve”, “God”, “birth” and “freedom”. To inspire the audience to do the great task he asks of them.

§  There are a couple of contrasts here: “the living” with “the honoured dead”; and “these dead shall not have died in vain” with “this nation … shall have a new birth of freedom”.

§  Prior to this, Lincoln said that, in a sense, they could not bestow the ground. Here, he tells the audience that to which they must be dedicated: “the unfinished work” and “the great task remaining before us”.

§  He finishes with a powerful triple repetition (as mentioned before) that has become famous throughout the world: “of the people, by the people, for the people”. This repetition displays authority when being said. 

The Most Meaningful Takeaway: How to Tame a Wild Tongue

In class today we were asked to get in groups and discuss what we read (in depth) over the winter break. It was asked of us to read “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” and “Woman Warrior”. After reading them both and having the group discussion in class, there was a question that Mohammad asked that really stuck with me; ‘does using multiple languages in the author’s writing exclude or include other people who do not speak the languages written?’  

In my opinion it includes people more than excludes people. What I mean by this is that people who speak Chicano Spanish can read this as well as people who speak English. Thus it can relate to both English and Spanish speakers. However I believe that the author didn’t really care about everyone else who was reading this. This was for her, who she was, and how she’s able to show herself through her writing. And people who do not speak any of the languages that were written should not feel excluded because they do not know the language. For instance: I do not feel excluded that I cannot read the Spanish parts of the text because I understand that this is for the author and how she wants to use writing as a creative outlet to express herself. Much like I do not feel excluded that I can’t read texts in Swedish or French, because I do not know the language. 

However I understand why this question could be asked often, and that’s brings us to language and power. Because English is such a world renowned language nowadays, I understand why people might feel excluded that they can’t speak or understand it. Because in reality English is one of the most spoken languages in the world right now and it is only progressing in terms of it growing. 

Another way that this text shows language and power in my opinion, if she truly wants to show that she is a proud Chicano Spanish speaker and “she really is her language”, why is she writing most of text in English? This is definitely a form of linguistic imperialism. This is because it shows the author’s language as being dominated by a more powerful one (Chicano being dominated by English). This is an utter portrayal of aspects of the dominant language being transferred along with the culture that the person(s) are in. For the reason that since the author is living in the United States it appears to be that the culture and language have rubbed off on her. Not saying that she doesn’t relate back to her culture, and language but more of the fact that she could be drifting away from it due to the location she is in. 

In conclusion in How to Tame a Wild Tongue the relationship between language and power is portrayed through the author’s writing (whilst writing mostly in English), and how since English is so popular nowadays people might feel excluded or discriminated against in places where this aspect of the country’s culture is shown (displaying linguistic imperialism). 

Food Crisis in Sahel

 “The Food Crisis in Sahel” is an article made by “Oxfam International”. Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries, with the sole purpose of ending hunger and poverty. The main aim for this organisation is to persuade people to join it and contribute to help these people in need. Where it is very noticeable “Oxfam is targeting to reach one million people across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and  Senegal with humanitarian aid”. The article simply starts off with the logistics aspect of the cause, by giving the audience factual numbers of what’s happening in terms of the food crisis and the aftermath (to capture the audience’s attention). And this idea of using logos to attract people’s attention and thus turning into pathos as well (because it would affect people’s emotions to see the ones more needy suffering), is shown throughout the entire  article.

As said earlier this article is to persuade people to join the cause of helping the people in need in Sahel. However it’s more than that as well, it is also to inform and educate people about the problems there. More than that the clear target audience is anybody who is interested and willing to help the ones in need and the ones that are less fortunate. By (as said before) their use of continuous data of numbers in their writing, to affect people’s emotions (turning logos into pathos). This article also outlines what Oxfam is doing to try and stop this crisis, and what they as an organisation and community intend to do as well. Furthermore the author tries to convey the message that these people in Sahel need help, and it is in Oxfam’s interest to do so. Thus I believe the way that the author tried targeting their audience is by making the readers feel sad and bad about the people in Sahel, so that they can get more people to join the cause and jump on the bandwagon. To do this the author uses mainly logos to attract the people’s attention. Such as where it states: “Recent evaluations suggest 12 million people across West and Central Africa are facing a food crisis”. Or when it claims that: “Recent reports said over 5.4 million people in (35% of the population in Niger, some 1.7 million people in Mali, 1.67 million in Burkina Faso and 700,000 people (over one-quarter of the population) in Mauritania are estimated to be vulnerable to food insecurity.” This makes the reader’s think and realize how good they have it compared to others, hence, making them feel bad about these people and hopefully join the organisation.   

The tone of this article is very eye catching and serious, considering that just by looking at the title there’s already a situations “Food Crises in Sahel”. In addition their use of vocabulary, how they do not sugar coat it they go straight to the point which is: There is a food crisis in Sahel and people are going to die if we do not help them. They are able to say these things and really catch the audience’s attention through the use of statistics and numbers of causalities and people in need of food etc. For example: “In Chad 13 out of 22 regions could be affected by this food crisis: some 2.4 million don’t have always enough to eat. There are key words in there that also make set the tone of seriousness such as: ‘serious’, ‘crisis’, ‘causing serious problems’ etc. This makes people really feel for the people in Sahel and in Africa in general, thus altering the mood to a sad one (as said before).

In this article although it is discussing a serious matter it uses the informal approach of using pronouns. But why? As said before since Oxfam is trying to persuade people to join their organisation (as this is their clear goal), I assume that they use pronouns to try to already convince the reader that they are part of this action taking society, by including them. They do this by using words such as: ‘We’re’, or ‘we’ etc. The whole article engages the reader because it portrays a problem and includes the reader to find a way to solve it. As well as that the main sentence structure is for the whole article is declarative, because it declares that ‘there is a food crisis in Sahel’, it declares the number of people who are suffering from this crisis etc.

In conclusion this article was created to get people more aware of the situation happening in Sahel and what Oxfam is trying to do to help. It is also there to inform and educate the people that do not know what’s happening in Sahel, thus meaning to raise awareness to this serious cause. This has been explained in the text, by explaining how they use the vocabulary, who their target audience is, how they use statistics to attract people’s attention and what tone and mood they try to give off with the article itself.