In Okey Ndibe’s novel Foreign Gods, Inc., readers are introduced to Ike Uzondu, a struggling Nigerian failing to live up to the expectations he sets for himself. Though Ike graduates cum laude from Amherst with a degree in Economics, he is ironically never given any opportunities in the “land of opportunity” because of his accent. Because of his lack of economic success, Ike falls into a repetitious cycle of indulging his wife Queen B, gambling, and drinking. However, he is prompted to action when he learns about Foreign Gods, Inc., a store that buys and sells statues of foreign gods for large sums of money. As Ike embarks on a quest to return to his hometown in Nigeria and steal a statue of the god Ngene, his motives and actions are constantly
Through a Nigerian cultural standpoint, Ngene plays an important role of linking the past to the present and preserving a unique cultural identity that many in Utonki still hold strongly to. This becomes painfully personal and obvious to Ike when his mother is hospitalized after he steals Ngene: “On finding out that Ngene had disappeared, Pastor Uka had proclaimed it an act of the God he served…Uka and his congregants were in the delirium of celebration when, just after midnight, an army of idol worshippers stormed in. Pastor Uka was beaten to a near-comatose state. Ike’s mother, after taking several blows and slaps to the face, had dashed to the low-lying window and lifted herself over. She had broken a leg and badly bruised her hip in the jump.” (309). Clearly, the commercialization of foreign gods benefits a culture centered around commerce more than a culture of tradition. However, because Ike adamantly holds to his misconceptions of the cultures that he is caught in between, he applies the American cultural view of foreign gods as a source of commerce to Ngene. Though “Mark Gruels had argued that, in a postmodern world, a god that didn’t travel was dead. There was a ring of truth to it, perhaps a chic kind of ring, but he found it comforting enough. In an age
The cultural inconsistency that Ike experiences as a Nigerian in America is also evident in Utonki, most notably when Ike visits Tony Iba. At Tony Iba’s mansion, Ike notices that many of the young boys have a skewed perception of how money is made in America. For example, when they are watching a basketball game, the native Nigerians tended to oversimplify things and instead, focus on the money. “‘I hear its enough money to fill a large room like this one,’ said the gray-haired man. Ike nodded again. ‘And all they have to do is drop a ball in a hole?’ the man asked, his tone wistful. Ike chuckled. It looks easy, but its not.’ ‘What’s so difficult in it?’ asked one of the boys. ‘I can do it’” (239). The views that the young people of Nigeria share are similar to those of Ike, as both seem to have an exaggerated perception of the American Dream. To them, the American Dream only symbolizes great financial success. Ironically, Ike’s observations of these boys shed insight on his own life: “Ike suspected that they were not moved by the spectacle of nimble men slicing, gliding, feinting, flying. They hardly cared for the dunks, the pump fakes, the cross-over dribbles, the fade-away jump shots dropped from impossible angles. It was not the grunts and hard fouls or the fluidity of movement that astonished them.
Your dreams of being someone may not turn out the way you think they will. The documentary Hoop Dreams is a story about two boys from the ghetto that want to play in the NBA. Arthur ¨Man”Agee goes to Marshalls and William Gates goes to St. Joseph’s which are both situated in Illinois, where their dreams of becoming a pro basketball player vanished. Both of the boys face obstacles that are outside of themselves. Arthur´s family struggled with money, education, and pressure from others hurts him. Also, William struggled with balancing his family with basketball, the pressure from others, and education.
Walter LeFeber's book serves as a cornerstone of reference for its content as it relates to race, black business and the expansion of global capitalism since the late 20th century. With regard to race, it shows how race effected middle-class Michael Jordan at a young age and how he grew in the star he became, yet still could not es...
Joes High School’s total enrollment consisted of sixteen girls, and twenty boys. Ten of the boys that had enrolled there played basketball. All of the boys were over six feet tall. Lane Sullivan, the new coach of the basketball team, had never even touched a basketball before he started coaching. Sullivan had never coached anything at all before he started coaching the Joes basketball team. In order to gain knowledge about the sport, he got a book about it. He started coaching in 1927, but before the 1928 basketball season, Joes High School didn’t even have a gym. Instead, they’d practice outside on a dirt court, and two times a week they’d take a bus to the nearest gym, which was ten miles away. In order to play home games, the boys had to play in the local dance hall. The “court” was nowhere near regulation size, and the ceiling was so short that the boys couldn’t shoot an arched shot. The people who attended these basketball games had no place to sit and watch the game, the all stood around the edges of the court and on the small stage. Joes High School finally got their own gym around Christmas time because the people of Joes donated their time and material in order to make it happen.
Nathan Price is the epitome of opposition in regard to cultural ignorance and global injustice. When Anatole is first introduced, he is invited to dinner with the Price family. At dinner Anatole tries to explain to Reverend Price that “Tata Ndu is concerned about the moral decline of his village”(127) because of the introduction of Christianity that is causing many Congolese to disregard their traditional religious duties. Anatole also tells Nathan that the villagers are carefully watching to see whether the Price’s god is capable of bringing them better luck than their local gods. In trying to explain this situation to Nathan, Anatole explains that most, if not all, of the congregation present in the Reverend’s church are known as “the lenzuka”(128). These are the people who have either shamed themselves or have had very bad luck. Such bad luck in fact, that many of the peo...
There is an astonishing lack of positive Anglo-American role models in the NBA. An overwhelming majority of celebrity basketball players are African-Americans. Such names as Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnston, Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Scotty Pippin, and Charles Barkley evoke visions of success and greatness in the minds of many young people, but can Anglo-American youngsters really be expected to identify with these African-American cultural icons? Similarly, almost all contemporary movies about basketball center around African-American rather than Anglo-American characters. Shockingly, many basketball themed movies which feature Anglo-Americans portray them in a negative light, perpetuating a derogatory stereotype of Anglo-American basketball players, and further reducing the likelihood of their success. Some films even have titles which mock the challenges faced by Anglo-Americans in the basketball industry; a popular film from the early nineteen nineties was titled White Men Can't Jump.
In the collegiate world of sports, basketball has become an increasingly recognized sport among African Americans, predominantly males. The hope of any young basketball player is that one day a scout will come and recruit them into stardom The question that presents itself as a problem to the lucky few who are chosen to go professional, is whether or not an education is more important than a million dollar shoe deal, “The NCAA's (1998) annual six-year study reported that only 33% of Black male basketball players graduated, (Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999). Individually, basketball reported the lowest graduation rate in all divisions,” (Robinson, 2004:1). Basketball players have become so idolized in the eyes of young Black male basketball athletes, that the value of education appear to be less important in the development of these young men, “According to Sailes (1997), there is an over-representation of Black males in particular sports and an under-representation in other segments of American society. He provides the example of percentages of Black males competing in the NBA (77%), NFL (65%), MLB (15%), and MLS (16%) in comparison to the fact that fewer than 2% of doctors, lawyers, architects, college professors, or business executives are Black males.”, (Robinson, 2004:1). The idea of the attainment of a professional basketball player’s salary in the NBA, without even having to go to school for the time it takes to earn a degree is very appealing to some players. Those with a wealthy, or even upper-middle class upbringing may not view material assets as a priority. In the Black community, we have theorized that money and success play a more important role than education in most households. Although these two seem to go together, one resulting from the other, this does not apply in the sports world. Our research will examine the role that the family value system plays in influencing Black vs. White male athletes to turn professional, as opposed to obtaining a college degree before turning professional.
I had a clear mind of what a life could be like Okonkwo’s when I read Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo was an angry man in front of his Nigerian tribe and changed when Christian missionaries came to the Ibo village; also, I responded to the book, and my personal applications to a different culture were related to a missionary trip that was a powerful one back in 1956 in Ecuador. With the question that I looked at on four pages of the novel, I answered that I understood the cultural field of the book. Christian missionaries would do activities in a different culture that the natives will believe in the Word of God.
Set in Africa in the 1890s, Chinua Achebe's ‘Things Fall Apart’ is about the tragedy of Okonkwo during the time Christian missionaries arrived and polluted the culture and traditions of many African tribes. Okonkwo is a self-made man who values culture, tradition, and, above all else, masculinity. Okonkwo’s attachment to the Igbo culture and tradition, and his own extreme emphasis on manliness, is the cause of his fall from grace and eventual death.
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is set towards the offset of the 1800s. The protagonist goes by the name Okonkwo. He has lived all his life resenting the poverty that his father represented and the man he was. In his adult life, Okonkwo becomes, extremely wealthy, but is strict and withdrawn from his wives and children. He commits a crime by killing a boy who was under his care during the non – violence week of peace. As a result, he is banished from the community. During the period of exile, white missionaries come to his village and spread the Christian gospel. Okonkwo is shocked by this conversion upon his return because his son is amongst those that were converted (Achebe, 179). Okonkwo constantly battles with the missionaries to the point where he murders one of them. His struggle with all the mixed emotions he goes through causes him to take his own life.
This is a gripping novel about the problem of European colonialism in Africa. The story relates the cultural collision that occurs when Christian English missionaries arrive among the Ibos of Nigeria, bringing along their European ways of life and religion.
Culture makes us who we are. Each individual has their own culture from their experiences in life and is developed from societal influences. The various cultures around the world influence us in different ways which we experience at least once in our lifetime. There are occasions, especially in history, where cultures clash with one another. For instance, the English colonization in Africa changed their culture. Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, portrayed this change in the Igbo people’s society, especially through the character Okonkwo in the village of Umuofia; the introduction of Western ideas challenged him. In the novel Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe introduces to us Okonkwo whose character’s response to the
Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart is a narrative story that follows the life of an African man called Okonkwo. The setting of the book is in eastern Nigeria, on the eve of British colonialism in Africa. The novel illustrates Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs, and his eventual downfall, all of which basically coincide with the Igbo?s society?s struggle with the Christian religion and British government. In this essay I will give a biographical account of Okonwo, which will serve to help understand that social, political, and economic institutions of the Igbos.
When you think of the word “culture” what comes to mind? Many elements can contribute to
Throughout history we have learned that different societies are accompanied by different customs. Amongst these customs are the rules, morality, ethnic norms and others that make a society unique.Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel that describes a Nigerian community Ibo, that has its own set or rules, norms and traditions. In this novel we are exposed to a community that goes through struggles between change and tradition when Christianity is introduced to the society through British colonization. The novel remains ambivalent about the courses of action that officials and missionaries used to enact Christianity in the Ibo culture.
Chinua Achebe’s short story “The sacrificial Egg” illustrates the life of a young African native Julius Obi, and the arising conflicts between two cultures. This short story takes place in a very small village in Africa, called Umuru in the mid 1900’s. This young African Native, although no native of Umuru finds himself trapped between his own culture, beliefs and the westernized culture. Although Julius has embraced the western culture, after certain events he eventually finds himself coming back to his own beliefs. Achebe, uses these two very different cultures to demonstrate the clash it produces in this young men’s life and, how no matter how hard he has embraced the western culture he was always going to go back to his own beliefs.