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Themes of culture conflict in chinua achebe's
Themes of culture conflict in chinua achebe's
Traditional African religion and culture
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Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God
Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God is set in the 1920's, before secularism became dominant. It begins with the image of a mask, when he tells his son not to carve the mask of a god for the white man. The mask is a symbol of change. The whole world is changing, and the people who do not change will not survive. The old priest, Ezeulu, desires change, but he cannot do it. He cannot force himself to leave the old ways behind and adopt the new ways. Thus, he sends one of his sons to learn from the white man. He cannot do it himself.
This novel shows the life and death of an Igbo priest in a battle between traditional tribal religion and missionary Christianity. The ways in which this confrontation is played out also repeat. A Christian church is set up in a traditional village. The Christians have two attitudes regarding traditional religion. John Goodcountry's enthusiasm inspires Oduche, the Christian son of Chief Priest Ezeulu, to capture the sacred python. Goodcountry is opposed by Moses Unachukwu, who may be open to both cultures out of pragmatic motives, since he appreciates the religious and economic power of the white man, and he hopes to profit from that power.
Ezeulu has mixed feelings. He sends Oduche to the missionaries in order to gain access to their wisdom, but he fears the aggressiveness of the new religion. However, his devotion to his god, Ulu, is unquestionable, as is seen in his participation in the New Yam festival. Ezeulu, the main character of the novel, is sincere when he refuses to obey Winterbottom's summons to Okperi because such behavior does not befit his sacred role. Ezeulu stands up for what he believes is right, as his god reveals it to him, even when there is no profit in it for himself. He even loses much by saying the truth. Thus, he is like a saint.
Ezeulu has a negative side too. He wonders if he is merely the tool of Ulu. Does he have any personal power, himself? Could he refuse to authorize the New Yam Harvest Festival? At the other extreme, he has bad dreams about being dishonored together with his god. As the story proceeds, Ezeulu feels more and more alienated from his community. They do not support him, and they do not even admit that he was right when they get bad effects from their headstrong actions. They go against Ezeulu's advice, and things go bad...
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...orld of change, the old priest is not flexible enough to adapt, so he is swept aside.
The story of the old priest is actually the story of all his people in all the six villages. They forget their religion, and they accept the religion of their conquerors. Ezeulu forgets first, and then the people forget. The people created the god Ulu when they united the six villages to form Umuaro. Ezeulu wrestles with the people on behalf of the god Ulu, since he forgets that Ulu was made to serve the people. They were not made to serve Ulu. The priest fails to understand his relationship to the god and the community. He is supposed to serve the community, but he is trying to force them to serve his god. This is the source of his downfall.
When Ezeulu is released from prison, it is raining, and he feels like it is healing and restoring him. But his pride will make him do the wrong thing again. He has suffered, and now he wants revenge, but he will only destroy himself and those he loves. He sees that others suffer because of their own actions, but he does not take responsibility for his own suffering. He just goes insane.
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Arrow of God, by Chinua Achebe
Eliezer was a strict Jew who practiced religion and observed all Jewish holidays. As a child he was very devoted and focused all his energy to study Judaism. He grew up loving God with the belief that God is more powerful than anything else in this universe. He believed that with all the power God has, he is capable to put an end to all this awful suffering. Living and witnessing all this misery and have God not do anything about it makes him questions God.
Elie seems to lose faith in God. “"Yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba…May His name be celebrated and sanctified…" whispered my father. For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?” (33) The God Elie once prayed and cried out to before was allowing his people to die in horrible ways. God, a being who is supposed to be loving and merciful was allowing them to die alongside millions of other
There is a connection between the death Ezeudu (the one who warned him not to kill Ikemefuna) and the violent crime committed by Okonkwo. During Ezeudu’s death, Okonkwo kills his son which is a sign of evil in return to Okonkwo’s ignorance (not listening to Ezeudu and killing Ikemefuna). When Okonkwo kills Ezeudu’s son it is said he “could return to the clan after seven years” (pg.124), this was one of the evil sins that lead to some kind of connection between Ezeudu’s warning and Okonkwo’s accidental killing. Another reason was that when Ezeudu warned Okonkwo about not attending Ikemefuna’s killing was that he did not want to be seen as a woman for his act. This is a very significant
Sarafino, Edward P. "Substance Use and Abuse." Health Psychology: Biopsychosocial Interactions. 7th ed. New York: Wiley, 2012. 182-214. Print.
middle of paper ... ... ant power struggles and Equiano is in the middle as he notices the problems and discourses. Olaudah Equiano’s spiritual autobiography follows him across his remarkable journey. His narrative follows his spiritual and physical period of enslavement, conversion to Christianity and ultimate escape from the life as a slave. Also, it succeeds with a spiritual rebirth and ultimately, his physical freedom and independence.
The men that come to Umuofia destroy the cultural balance of faith and religion that encompasses the native people in Africa. People in Umuofia depend strongly on the ancestors and gods in their culture. It is their tradition and their beginning, from which they govern their lives. Even the priestess that serves the god Agbala, "...was full of the power of her god, and she was greatly feared" (16). Without the stronghold of customs and traditions, only chaos exists. Peace, trust, and knowledge are thrown off when the new religion of Christianity is introduced. When the missionary explains that:
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has been used for decades as a guidebook for the diagnosis of mental disorders in clinical settings. As disorders and diagnoses evolve, new versions of the manual are published. This tends to happen every 10 years or so with the first manual (DSM-I) having been published in 1952. For the purpose of this discussion, we will look at the DSM-IV, which was published originally in 1994, and the latest version, DSM-5, that was published in May of 2013. Each version of the DSM contains “three major components: the diagnostic classification, the diagnostic criteria sets, and the descriptive text” (American Psychiatric Association, 2012). Within the diagnostic classification you will find a list of disorders and codes which professionals in the health care field use when a diagnosis is made. The diagnostic criteria will list symptoms of disorders and inform practitioners how long a patient should display those symptoms in order to meet the criteria for diagnosis of a disorder. Lastly, the descriptive text will describe disorders in detail, including topics such as “Prevalence” and “Differential Diagnosis” (APA, 2012). The recent update of the DSM from version IV-TR to 5 has been controversial for many reasons. Some of these reasons include the overall structure of the DSM to the removal of certain disorders from the manual.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. NIDA InfoFacts: Understanding Drug Abuse and Addiction. NIDA. March, 2011. Web. 21 August 2011.
The Egwugwu from Things Fall Apart act like the chorus in a Greek Tragedy, such as Antigone. These figures, the elders of society who speak in behalf of the spirits, are present to provide background information and extra news It is imperative for the audience to know of this information for them to follow plot development. In both situations, these groups are the elders of the culture. A member of the Egwugwu tells Okonkwo to not take part in the killing of Ikemefuna, but Okonkwo disobeys the order and slays Ikemefuna himself. Just as the chorus of a Greek Tragedy relays the messages of the gods to the citizens of the town, during certain rituals, the Egwugwu convey the teachings of important spirits. Their influence is displayed when they hear the case of Uzowulu, who is soon forced to beg his wife to return to him. This shows that the orders of the Egwugwu are always followed, weather the citizens want to or not. These teachings and directions are not alterable, and must always be obeyed.
William Butler Yeats’s poem, “The Second Coming” represents the view of the African society by the Western Civilization. He and the Europeans renders the African society as a uncivilized, warlike, society comprised of barbaric and savage human beings. However, many people disagree with this, such as the author Chinua Achebe. His goal is to educate and inform the readers that the Africans are not primitive and savage but rather civilized. Achebe demonstrates his views in his book, Things Fall Apart, which shows the Igbo, an African civilization, being a civilized group. Chinua Achebe effectively educates his readers that the Igbo were not a primitive, savage, and uncivilized society, as viewed by the Western Europeans, but rather a civilized, peaceful, and
Perspective is used in Things Fall Apart to give high contrast to issues within the community, which brings out its inner complexity. When differences of opinion are highlighted, these differences show that internal pressure are causing the tribe to break down from within. Ikemefuna’s death is a point of stark disagreement among the Umuofians. Ezeudu tells Okonkwo, “I want you to have nothing to do with [Ikemefuna’s death]. He calls you his father” (57). Although Ezeudu warns Okonkwo about participating in the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo decides to kill Ikemefuna himself. Ezeudu’s oppinion that Okonkwo should not be involved with the boy’s death shows the reader a shade of the community that would not have been seen without highligh...
Throughout history, bullying has always been a serious problem in society. It can happen to anyone, ranging from children to even adults. In the past, bullying was thought of as a part of growing up, it was something that every child would have to go through in school. Bullying is defined as an act of aggressive behaviors that is intentionally done to cause someone pain or discomfort, this behavior is often repeated on a regular basis. Research have shown that bullying can have a strong negative affect to the development of physical, social, psychological skills of the victim. Despite the countless amount of research and “anti-bullying” campaign, bullying is still a national crisis that is happening in our lives and our schools. Bullying
The novel "Things Fall Apart" was set in the southeastern part of Nigeria where most Igbo’s live. I remember when I first saw the Novel "Things fall apart." I read the plot summary a sentence which, mislead me was "it is the story of a "strong" man whose life is dominated by fear and anger." I concluded this story is just going to be about a man who was like the James bond of his town. I read the content of the book and found out I was totally wrong. The author gave full insight to the readers which helps to unravel the culture of the Igbo’s and how the land of Umuofia was during the anti colonial era. The book focus on so many things but the main things are Gender,Culture and Religion. I always wanted to know what inspired Chinua Achebe
Bullying in schools is something that is currently on going and most likely never disappear on its own. Bullying is the unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance (stopbullying.gov). Although, bullying is not new it is becoming more prevalent today. Socially withdrawn, shy, and reserved children are prime targets of bullying (Juvonen, 2007). For many years bullying has been put off as a sort of rite of passage, everyone must go through it. Many adults today will say that they have been involved in bullying as child and it just faded. That was okay in the past, but today many children are hurting themselves as a result to bullying. To try to help with bullying one must know the
This obesity problem has been majorly affected by fast food restaurants. Since obesity is such a serious problem in America last year there was close to 300,000 deaths.(Is Obesity a Disease?) As the author for procon states “Obesity was the third leading cause of death in 2009”(Obesity.procon.org) This problem does not only kill people but it additionally affects many people in different ways.(Is Obesity a Disease?) In america all of the expenses for obesity add up to 147 billion dollars annually, plus the average human that is overweight ways 32.8 pounds more than the normal weight of a human being.(Is Obesity a Disease?) Also eating excessive amounts of fast food can seriously harm your body.(Is Obesity a Disease?) One way it can harm you is you can develop many varieties of diseases, as well as gaining numerous pounds of fat and weight.(Jaworowska) Fast food is bad for you because it is low density protein.(Jaworowska) This means you have to eat more food to gain energy, drawing you in to eat at a fast food restaurant.(Jaworowska) Even though these fast food restaurants are a huge factor in obesity, some of these restaurants are trying to fix the problem.(Jaworowska) For example Mcdonalds is being pressured into selling healthier foods and are required to post how many calories each food is on there