Ekwefi and Ezinme

In the last few chapters of Part One,  Achebe gives the reader a lot  interesting insight into Okonkwo's  life, from family life to tribal commitments. However, Achebe also gives the reader deep insight into Ekwefi's life. Ekwefi is Okonkwo's second wife. Together they share a daughter named Ezinma. Okonkwo attitude towards her gives the reader the impression that he is very fond of her. At one point in the first part, he even talks about how he wished his first son, Nwoye,  was more like Ezinma. While this sort of relationship is unique for Igbo people, Ezinma's relationship with Ekwefi is even more unique. Ezinma and her mother share a very informal connect. Instead of referring to her mother as mother, she refers to her by her first name. In a society where age demands respect, this is very strange.  It is very likely that this odd behavior is due to Ekwefi's multiple miscarriages and the deaths of all her previous children at young ages. Because Ezinma is Ekwefi's only child to have survived childhood, it is likely Ekwefi does this as a way of not identifying Ezinma as her child in case she dies. However, Ekewefi does not let this kind of mentality affect her feelings for Ezinma. Her feelings come to the readers full attention in the last chapter of Part One when she follows Chielo, a priestess who has taken Ezinma to her shrine, through the night. Ekewefi only relaxes once she knows Ezinma is safe, which is when Okonkwo arrives at her side

Post one on Things fall apart

Things Fall Apart is very different when compared to the other books we have read this year in AP Literature. The book centers around a man named Okonkwo through his life in a traditional African village, traditional in the sense that there has been very little European influence on village life. In the beginning section of this book, Okonkwo makes it abundantly clear that he has no desire to be like his father, who the author, Achebe, describes as a lazy spendthrift. Okonkwo is a driven and productive young man. Okonkwo's relationship with his father is not a typical father-son relationship. Other than their bloodline, they appear to have nothing in common. This sort of relationship reminds me of the father-son relationship Huckleberry Finn and his father share. In Twain's novel, Huck and his father are two incredible different people. Huck is a carefree young boy, while his father is a dead beat alcoholic. Both Okonkwo's father and Huck's father have huge impacts on their son's lives; however, the way in which the two boys cope with their dysfunctional fathers is different. Okonkwo uses this affect to his advantage and becomes a determined young man, while Huck simply runs away from his fears and his father. I am looking froward to reading Things Fall Apart. It gives a new view on the colonization of Africa which I haven't yet seen before. Having read books on the affects of the colonization (Power of One) and from the point of view of Europeans (Heart of Darkness), I am very excited to read this book because  I think it will be very interesting because of its unique point of view. 

1/25 - Article on Heart of Darkness

I found the essay discussing racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness very interesting. Having read the book, I understood a lot of the points the author discussed. However, this article also made me realize how much of the underlying details I missed. The first aspect I missed is at the beginning of Conrad's novel. The similarities and differences between the Thames and the Congo provides a very general overview of the book's argument about the civilized versus the uncivilized. The Thames is symbolic of the modern, civilized European, while the Congo represents the chaotic, uncivilized African. The author of the essay points out how both rivers are very similar in that both contain dark histories and causes the reader to question how civilized the European prospective truly is. The other aspect that the author of the article that discussed that I never realized was how Conrad does have the tendency to focus on whether or not a character is in their right place. The article uses two Africans from Heart of Darkness to defend this statement. The first is a man who is working on the steamship with the narrator, Marlow. Conrad goes into very little  detail discussing the man other than why does not belong on the ship. The second is Mr. Kurtz mistress. Conrad puts a lot of focus into this woman's description in a way that depicts her as a wild African savage and is thus in her ideal "place". This article made me realize that I missed a lot of the deeper meanings in  Heart of Darkness.