Boo Eugene boo

I'm not a big fan of Kambili's father, Eugene. He's a horrible person. The past one hundred and so pages are chalk full of new reasons to dislike him. The biggest is that he hardly reacted to the death of his father. And when he did, all he was concerned about was whether or not his father had converted to Catholicism on his death bed. This kind of detachment from his own father causes me to see Eugene as a heartless monster. Another despicable aspect of Eugene that becomes apparent in this section is his willingness to abuse those he loves. From pouring boiling water on the soles of his children's feet to severely damaging on of Jaja's fingers, Eugene repeatedly shows the reader how he brutal a man he is. It's ironic how savage he acts, since he is meant to represent the modern, "civilized" Nigerian man. While he does show remorse for his actions, I still find it horrendous. He blames his actions on his Catholic ways, instead of taking responsibility for his actions. I find this very cowardly. However, Eugene and his sister, Auntie Ifeoma, work as great foils for each other. She highlights all of his negative features, and in return, he highlights all of her positive features. Eugene's strict, by-the-books life style is the polar opposite of Ifeoma's exciting, free life. I find the large difference between the two siblings very interesting since they come from the same background.  

Purple Hibiscus post 2

Purple Hibiscus is a very interesting book so far. It's portrayal of Nigerian culture in recent times is a side of history that literature often over looks. Having read Things Fall Apart, Purple Hibiscus shows how colonization and European influence have affect society in Nigeria. The largest ways that the colonization appear to have changed society are the spiritual and social structures of society. In the century or so since European influence arrived, the Nigerian people have seen a large shift in religion. While there still are people who still practice old clan rituals, like Kambili's grandfather, many people have given up these clan beliefs in order to follow the Catholic Church. This divide in religion can be seen clearly between Nigerian cities, where most of the population is Christian, and rural areas, where people still practice traditional Igbo ways. The social structure in Nigeria has also changed greatly since the arrival of Europeans. In Things Fall Apart, clans had social systems based on titles, where as in Purple Hibiscus one sees a more modern social system more based on wealth. However, in both time periods, males dominate society. It's really interesting to see how Nigeria has changed over the course of colonization and I think Purple Hibiscus does a great job at portraying modern society in the culture

Post 1 on purple hibiscus

Things Fall Apart and Purple Hibiscus are very similar in many aspects. The two novels share a number of strikingly similarities. The most obvious in my opinion is the resemblance of Okonkwo in Kambili's father, Eugene. Eugene is a devout Catholic (this is putting it lightly). He is so set on his Christian ways that he refuses to see his own father because his father is a "heathen". Eugene and his Catholic ideas are very dominating for Eugene's loved ones. This is similar to how Okonkwo acts in Things Fall Apart. Both men have very strong wills and enforce their ideals on others. However, the way in which they spread their ideas is different. While Okonkwo never thinks twice about physically harming others, Eugene attacks others through more refined methods. He uses others' guilt to win arguments, especially against his family members. For those not related to him, Eugene often uses his power and money as a way to convince others to agree with his point of view. Another similarity between Okonkwo and Eugene is their strong belief in an important trait. Where as Okonkwo sees honor as the most important thing in his life, Eugene sees education and success as the most important pillars in a person's character. This becomes increasingly apparent at the beginning of the book when Kambili is not the best in her class. He sees this a failure. Okonkwo and Eugene occupy strong, dominating male roles in their respective books

Final post on Things Fall Apart

I found the end of Things Fall Apart very odd. Having Okonkwo kill himself, the least honorable kind of death, is very out of character. Since his birth, he has always search for honor. This is one of the primary character traits for Okonkwo. I don't believe Achebe sticks to Okonkwo's personality by killing him off in such a way, especially because Okonkwo would have believed it was cowardly. I believe he would have made himself a type of martyr in which he died an honorable death. This sort of death would have suited Okonkwo's character much better (in my personal opinion). However, I do think Achebe made this decision for a reason. Looking at the passage where the Europeans discovered Okonkwo's body, I think Achebe placed the clansmen at the compound, even though they were simply standing around, for a symbolic reason.  I think he meant for the clansmen to symbolize the African race, while Okonkwo symbolized the African way of life. My thought here is that Achebe is trying to emphasize the death of the native African way of life, while the African race stood by silently watching. In the book when the clansmen were afraid to remove Okonkwo from the tree because of superstitious reasons, I believe Achebe is attempting to portray the fear Africans had at the time. I'm not exactly sure where this fear stems from, but the most probable cause for this fear comes from the Europeans.