Blog Post #22: Tragic Hero

In many ways, Things Fall Apart is considered a tragedy. Why would Achebe, taking into account the cultural context, choose to characterize Okonkwo using the tragic hero archetype? 

I think the choice of characterizing Okonkwo using the tragic hero archetype has many many reasons relating to the compositional context, the plot development and the intention of the novel. Depicting the main character as a tragic hero forces the reader to pay closer attention to events and characters while getting invested in the plot and its developments. He characterizes him as a tragic hero to express how this mighty man was self-destructive with his hamartia destroying him. This hamartia is internally based, however, it is heavily driven by external cultural factors and changes which expose the reader to the ideology of the Igbo people.   

The tragic hero archetype not only allows for the audience to analyze the plot unconsciously, in this case, the hamartia of the tragic hero forces the audience the analyze the cultural context as well as the cultural norms of the Igbo people. Okonkwo's hamartia was sparked by his father due to his laziness and lack of success, this made Okonkwo motivated to avoid being like him. This simple concept educates the readers on the goals of the Igbo society as they are extremely collaborative and success driven. It is reinforced by the entire village looking down on his father rather than just Okonkwo. The ideology of this society is what spark his hamartia and his hubris behavior which is what causes his peripeteia. Even the turn of events with his peripeteia of Ikemefuna reveal aspects of the society with him being advised not to take part in the execution. From an audience's standpoint, we know that Igbo people are success and title driven but with this simple request, they extend on how they are collaborative and compassionate people. This development of the plot also develops the understanding of the culture which aids the dramatic transition of the missionaries arrival. 

This understanding of the cultural composition is furthered through the tragic hero archetype as the deaths fulfills plots associated with the archetype. However, the death also delves into the death of the Igbo culture as I believe his death is symbolic of the death of their traditions when the missionaries came. He killed himself because he could not comprehend why his peers weren't fighting hard enough for their village expressing his will to maintain the culture while showing how he was different from the customs of his culture. His lack of collaboration was unlike their mindset but that's because he embodied the hubris of his culture and traditions symbolically killing of them like the missionaries did. 

Blog Post #21: The Royal Colonial Institute Speech

Good evening, I'm here the discuss, on behalf of the Igbo culture of Nigeria, the supposed toast of "Prosperity to the Royal Colonial Institute", there is no doubt that this colonialism will help the world and humanity with countless valuable lives sacrificing themselves for the cause. However, I want to prevent these lives from being in vein, I want to prevent the necessity of these lives as there is no point wasting humanity with each human being as important as the next. The importance of every human is why we honour the colonial developments as we have obligations as the British Empire to spread our advanced civilisation, but with great power comes great responsibility. We should fear to become "wicked men" with this power.

We colonise countries like Nigeria to bring a prosperity to the people providing them with security, peace and civilisation. Except we admire the valuable lives that have been sacrificed in the process, to strive for peace, security and civilisation lives have been taken away which seems ironic. Why did these people have to die for unquestionable advancement? This should be making us question our methods, but instead, we question the actions of the Igbo people. A form of humanity which has different almost barbaric traditions but are more similar and welcoming than perceived. Due to their transparent culture, they are willing to cooperate and compromise no matter the differences, in fact there culture revolves around cooperation. So why did valuable men have to die?

We are so patriotic of our great British Empire that we want to share it with the world so humanity has a chance. Imagine if there "barbaric" culture or form of civilisation were to attempt to colonise us, we would not take it! There would be countless bloodshed for their disrespect as they tried to take away our culture. Now, what happened when we colonised them? They gave us land, traded with us, communicated and explained their religion, traditions and culture to us. Then, why did valuable men have to die? Perhaps it is because we sewed the seeds too hard and forcefully, yams cannot grow from an overworked crop. They opened their country and culture to us while we came with civilisation and ripped their heart out. You do not invite someone to your house to disrespect your environment, you invite them to learn about themselves and that is what they attempted to do through their cooperation and compromises. Their compromising nature reveals how they are open to change due to their duality mindset so why did the men have to die?

As we fulfil this mission that has been sprung upon us to advance humanities civilisations, humans need to remember to retain their humanity and not become the "wicked men". We are great Britain not barbarians and these people strive for equalism so if we were more open in our methods they will change natural. Then, would men have to die? 

Blog Post #20: Achebe Interview

From our in class discussion on the Achebe interview, I believe one of the most important takeaways was the writer's intentions. The interview goes into great detail about his mindsets and opinions of certain subjects which express the context of composition learned about. The context of the composition is heavily influenced the book and his realisations and hatred held for the single story drove him to shed light on African tribes and the Igbo people.

"The last four or five hundred years of European contact with Africa produced a body of literature that presented Africa in a very bad light and Africans in very lurid terms. The reason for this had to do with the need to justify the slave trade and slavery. The cruelties of this trade gradually began to trouble many people in Europe. Some people began to question it. But it was a profitable business, and so those who were engaged in it began to defend it -- a lobby of people supporting it, justifying it, and excusing it. It was difficult to excuse and justify, and so the steps that were taken to justify it were rather extreme. You had people saying, for instance, that these people weren't really human, they're not like us. Or, that the slave trade was in fact a good thing for them, because the alternative to it was more brutal by far." 

With these meaningful takeaways in mind, I think that Achebe explaining why European literature exposed them in a vulgar light is possibly the most enlightening part. His reasoning of their work is eye opening as he assesses this behaviour and exposes the inhuman intention of brutish depictions of the African people. At that time they had to justify slavery and did not want it to die out as it provided economic benefit. With more people questioning the labour they separated the races and divided people, this division was through the barbaric descriptions which created the illusion that trade would improve their life. This illusion relinquished guilt left in Europeans who were a part of slave labour, as the one story spread civilisation did not question it as it was the only depiction provided. It put Africans below western society giving them a sense of power and justification, these actions preyed on the different nature of their race exhibiting them as oddities in which need help or are barbaric. In many ways, this literature could have exaggerated racism at that time, furthering stereotypes and beginning the trend of single or one sided stories. The mention of this in the interview further establishes Achebe's intention as his story was a chance to expose the injustices of single stories while providing another light to his people coming from a more "culturally authentic" perspective. 

Blog POst #19: Paper 1

The given text is an extract from “The Ballot or The Bullet” speech by Malcom X in 1964 who was a civil rights activist. It can be considered a political and civil rights speech due to the content and themes presented through common conventions of the text type. X implements a variety of persuasive techniques like rhetoric devices and figurative language as well as manipulating the structure of the speech as a call to action to his fellow African Americans within the U.S.  

His continuous direct language combined with the specific subject establishes a target audience of African Americans within the United States. The extract focuses on black nationalism which institutes the main racial subject of the speech identifying the targeted race. Direct language follows with continuous features of “you” accompanied by “they”, immediately directing his speech while simultaneously dividing the races. This division of races creates an inclusive environment for his intended audience, extending his original intent and purpose.

From the beginning of the speech X makes his motives clear of wanting equality within politics and the society of the United States but, more specifically, he desires his race to fight for this equality. Slogans and context specific language is used in the hopes to ignite a self-responsibility within his ow race. “Black nationalism is a self-help philosophy,” instantly he presents the audience with a political and racial statement which will lead them to political success. This “black nationalism” is aided by “self-help” evoking a sense of responsibility in the audience that is extended by ruling it as a “philosophy” as it is seen as a way of life. Furthermore, emphasis on his purpose of a call to action takes place within the second and third paragraphs as he is seen using logos to provide historical evidence to help his audience envision the power they hold. A power in which is extended by the slogan of “the ballot or the bullet” which gives his community a choice in these racial concerns.  

Malcom X builds his plea throughout the speech utilizing a variety of themes. Many themes present within his speech are colonialism, black nationalism, self-responsibility, societal equality as well as political equality.  Black nationalism is used in the first paragraph as a form of hope that has the ability to empower his ethnicity of any religion, it inspires his audience providing them with the power that has been taken away. He follows this opportunity of a reinstatement of power with the repetitive imagery of sitting which implementing the reoccurring idea of self-help giving them (his audience) the responsibility of expressing black nationalism. This theme of nationalism and equality develops the previously mentioned purpose of the speech and is heightened by the political themes spoken about in the following paragraphs. He uses logos of other colonized countries and their journeys to empowerment to support his point of black nationalism. However, his continuation of political context when discussing second class citizenship combines logos and pathos reiterating the social and political divides within the United States.

Overall, his tone in the speech is quite blunt and objective which leads to a commanding encouragement of his people that is exaggerated by an expression of urgency. Intense direct language allows for him to speak with his race openly placing the blame on their lack of action embedding a sense of guilt. This evoked guilt is manipulated in his commanding and encouraging lines, “Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action.”  A responsibility is set in while inspiration in his speech aspires his race to act and start “standing”. His urgency extends in the last paragraph as he reissues the slogan of “the ballot or the bullet” throughout. This slogan encourages the audience to take a political stand in this issue as if they continue sitting then they will have no power. These commands continue with the honest discussion of the march revealing how they have been made fools with the repetitive and slandering “you” igniting a sense of deception caused by “he” embodying the white men. Tone choices engages with the target audience forming a bandwagon appeal causing the audience to want to join him with his goals which is heightened by the pathos elements and personal language. His tone implements a serious mood reflected by the themes and content which allows an inspirational atmosphere to spread across the audience.

X employs a variety of persuasive techniques, rhetoric devices and direct language in order to communicate to the audience and impose his call to action. He constantly includes logos in his speech to use evidence to support his main ideas such as the discussion on the colonization of Asia and Africa. These logos devices are then followed by emotional appeals associated with power as a form of pathos to encourage his race to rise. The combination of pathos and logos at the end of the second paragraph exaggerates the power his race has, “… it’ll take black nationalism today to re-move colonialism from the blacks and the minds of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country.” Statistics are used to visualize their numerical power within the population if they were to accept this black philosophy in their life. His use of African American vernacular aids this argument as he does not shy away from the black philosophy himself displaying the power “you” could have if you changed your philosophy and stood up. Their potential power is further discussed using a metaphor, “…that makes the black community more explosive than all of the atomic bombs the Russians can ever invent.” This figurative language states that if they harness their anger and right than they would be more powerful than any man-made bomb which ignites the audiences purpose in this issue feeding off the previously evoked responsibility.

The execution of the structure of his speech is perhaps what develops his purpose the most.  Manipulation of the structure creatures an identifiable pattern of repetition which allows a buildup of the main ideas and points to heighten the call to action evoking the sense of responsibility in the audience making them want to act. This specific structure consists of him repeating a certain point to lead into a main idea or argument in which dramatizes the overall concept of black nationalism. This use of repetition is prevalent within all the paragraphs but especially noticeable in the first and second. In the first paragraph the consistent use of “change” leads to the empowerment of his audience with their ability to make a change. It is followed by further repetition of “sit” accompanied with imagery which is followed by the encouraging idea of “standing” to fight back. X incorporates the reoccurring phrases “he made” and “you” to spark a fury in his audience furthering their motivation to implement the black nationalism philosophy in their life and follows this repetition, again, with slogan of “the ballot or the bullet.” Which forces the audience to evaluate their course of action in relation to this issue.

Malcom X chose specific literary devices and conventions associated with speeches in order to demand action from audition which consisted mainly of members of his own race. He used black nationalism alongside other political and racial themes in order to evoke a sense of responsibility in his race. This self-responsibility was manipulated using his tone, rhetoric devices and structural patterns to motivate his listeners to take a stance within these racial issues in the United States politically.  He empowered them urging them to take a political stance so that they too could control the governing of their country like their white counterparts.