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How and why does achebe highlight igbo culture
Short essays on the nigerian civil war
How and why does achebe highlight igbo culture
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In the short story “Civil Peace” by Chinua Achebe, Jonathan Iwegbu, portrays many positive and negative character traits, including these: He is grateful, optimistic, but also self-serving or defiant. Jonathan Iwegbu, his wife, and 3 of 4 of his children were survivors of the Nigerian Civil War and considered themselves extremely lucky; their home and other valuable items were salvaged and still-standing. Through Jonathan, the author is trying to communicate a theme or central point, which is that materialistic items don’t compare in importance to family or your state of being. One strength that Jonathan portrays is that he remains grateful and optimistic of the many advantages he received. For example he shows that he was grateful when he said that the colossal blessing of finding his house in liveable conditions which added to the blessing of having the majority of his family present with him. (4) Here, Jonathan cannot contain his excitement to discover his …show more content…
Although Jonathan had been privileged with the money his bike and bar provided and with their house, he still faced adversity that tested his character and personality. After Jonathan had no option but to give up his hard earned money, and while his neighbors came to sympathize with him, he instead shrugged off the situation and responded by explaining that losing the reward money cannot compare to what he had lost during the war. He says, “I count it as nothing...did I depend on it last week?” (42). In other words, Jonathan helped his family move forward from the robbery and claims that money doesn’t have an effect on their lives. He realized that the money they had before does not have an effect on their state of being or on how they decide to live which shows that he was being optimistic because he was focusing more on his family's future rather than being stuck on their past
A Separate Peace is a coming of age novel in which Gene, the main character, revisits his high school and his traumatic teen years. When Gene was a teen-ager his best friend and roommate Phineas (Finny) was the star athlete of the school.
A Separate Peace is a coming-of-age novel about two boys at boarding school and their friendship during World War II. There are three significant scenes of violence that occur in the novel; however, the core of the plot is based upon one. The first and most poignant is the incident where Gene, the narrator, jiggles the tree branch while he and Phineas, his best friend, are preparing to jump, causing Phineas to fall and break his leg. The next scene of violence is when Quackenbush calls Gene a lame and Gene pushes him into the water. Lastly, Gene pushes Leper out of his chair while visiting him after he is accused of causing Phineas’ injury. All of these occurrences contribute to the overall meaning of the work.
Throughout the novel, A Separate Peace, the author John Knowles conveys many messages of symbolism. The symbolism can be found in an array of ways, ranging from internal war, to the theme of human aggression, and a variety of religious principles. The main characters, Gene and Phineas, and their story could be paralleled to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. The similarities can be seen in the way in which in both of the stories, everyone is living in perfect harmony and peace until something comes along to disrupt it. Also in how the main characters do something out of jealousy, greed, and selfishness; and in addition, how Finny's fall out of a tree relates to the “Fall of Mankind.”
In John Knowle’s, A Separate Peace, there is a transformation in all the key elements in the book, from the rivers to the tree to the seasons to the characters. The transformation is specifically seen in Leper, Gene, and Phineas. These three young men experience a change not just because of the transitions through adolescence. These changes also come about because of the war, the school, and an injury.
The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a story that opens the reader's mind to an entirely different way of living in a Nigerian village. Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930, perhaps this is why he writes a whole book on a Nigerian village and introduces to us the ways of life for the Nigerian people. From the first page of the book to the last, Achebe allows the reader to enter the mind of the main character Okonkwo. Okonkwo is the leader of his village and is very respected for his many achievements. Although Okonkwo means well for his village, the novel invites the reader to see him has a flawed character who eventually suffers from the consequences of bad "masculine" decisions he makes throughout the book.
Through out the book A Separate Peace, Gene, his growth and harmony seem to change. His opinions, and outlook on life also seem to change as his relationship with Phineas does likewise. Gene’s self-perception changes from insecurity to imitation to independence as his relationship with Phineas changes.
In John Knowles novel A Separate Peace the quote "Everything has to evolve or else it perishes" (125), serves as a realization that instead of dwelling in the past, everything needs to move forward or else it will be left behind to be forgotten. This quote refers to the boys. Throughout the book they have to be able to deal with all that is thrown at them including all of the changes that are occurring during the war. Each boy has evolved in some way. Gene is finally learning to except his emotions, Finny is admitting the bad, and Leper the person you would least expect to be in the war joined the war.
John Knowles tells the story of a young adolescent approaching adulthood and the war he must fight in. The main character, Gene, has a nonexistent rivalry with his best friend, Finny. Throughout the beginning of the novel, Gene tries to compete with everything Finny does, and then assumes that Finny was jealous of him. However, as the viewers saw Finny get injured and then die, they also saw Gene mature and develop as an adult. In my opinion, this tells the story of two boys growing up, and the struggles that come with it. Finny’s changing outlook, Gene’s loss of innocence, and their friendship symbolizes the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Dealing with enemies has been a problem since the beginning of time. “I never killed anybody,” Gene had commented later in his life, “And I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform, I was on active duty all my time at Devon; I killed my enemy there.” In A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the value of dealing with enemies is shown by Gene, who was dealing with few human enemies, but his emotions created far greater rivals than any human could ever posses.
A Separate Peace sustains several different conflicts throughout the novel, both internally and externally. The emotions are constantly on a rollercoaster ride, going from happy, sad, then to resentment. Gene and Finny both have conflicting emotions about each other, resulting in diverse thoughts on one another, and issues within the friendship. The internal and external conflict by Gene and Finny are created through jealousy, insecurity, and friendship.
Albert Gallatin Brown, U.S. Senator from Mississippi, speaking with regard to the several filibuster expeditions to Central America: "I want Cuba . . . I want Tamaulipas, Potosi, and one or two other Mexican States; and I want them all for the same reason -- for the planting and spreading of slavery." [Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 106.]
With an easy explanation, it explains how having material possessions doesn’t matter, because the moments we have are more valuable. Even though Forrest Fenn had all of the money he could ever desire, he decided that a treasure hunt would be more valuable. He has brought hundreds of people and families together so they can discover the treasure he has hidden. He wrote a cryptic poem that had clues where to find the treasure and no one has found it. It said, “Anyone who dies with over $50 is a failure” which shows that wealth doesn’t make you a successful person, whereas leaving behind something other than wealth is
Many times in the world, differences have lead to hate. Think of Martin Luther King, for example, who stood for fighting against one of the largest differences. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is one of many examples of differences leading to hate. Gene and Finny, who somehow managed to become friends, have completely different views of each other. Finny wanted to be friends with Gene, but had trouble facing the reality that Gene felt differently. Gene became jealous over Finny’s difference to himself. Difference has led to hate, once more, and pain has again resulted, first mentally and emotionally, then finally physically.
“…It seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart.”
Chinua Achebe was an influential Nigerian author during the 1900’s who was credited with his three essays which have been fused together into the book “Home and Exile”. In his stories he discusses things such as his own Igbo people, the problems with colonialization, the strength that stories can have and many more topics. A big part of his essays are on his thoughts of colonialism, the impact it has had on his home of Nigeria, and how stories written by others either helped justify colonialism or rejected it. Chinua argues that stories have their own power to fight, and while stories themselves do not have the ability to directly fight colonialism; they do, however with their power of words, stories can motivate and encourage people to stand up against colonialism. In proving this thesis to be a true statement, I will be providing evidence of the how, why and the extent to which stories can fight colonialism.