Essay 2

Cheyanne Barba
Mrs. Bosch
Honors English 10
15 August 2007

Me
A person’s family history is usually very important to them, it tells them who they are and people should be proud of that. Not only does your family history shape you into being the person that you are, your memories from living with your family and celebrating different events shapes you too. These events can be everything from old stories that are passed down from generation to generation or from experiences that happen in your lifetime. Though, these experiences vary from one person to another since everyone is so diverse and has their own traditions. Not everyone has just one ethnicity so more than likely they will celebrate many traditions and holidays.
I have many different ethnicities and I am proud to be each one. I am Mexican, Spaniard, German, Swedish, French, and Native American. So I have a broad respect for all races and I don’t like to discriminate against any. Even though some people tend to judge me before they understand that no, I am not lying about being Mexican and Spanish, even though I am lighter skinned and do not speak the language. Those accusations tend to irritate me just because I don’t see why anyone would lie about being some other ethnicity. No race is better than the other; everyone is equal in my eyes. Since I am a combination of so many cultures, I get to experience many different stories from all sides of my family and also take part in many traditions. This knowledge of so many various ethnicities has shaped me to be unreligious, not racist, I know only one language, and I was a variety of different friends who are from different cultures.
Religion is a huge and very controversial subject in the world, especially America since it is so diverse and contains people from all over the world. There are so many different religions out there that it can be confusing to understand all of them. One of the most popular religions in America is probably Christianity (but what do I know, I’m only fourteen). Although, in my house my grandparents are both Catholic and I think both of my parents are too. My other grandparents I’m not positive what beliefs they have but they’re probably Catholic too. Me and my brother, that’s a different story. My mom and dad never pushed a religion on either of us, we went to church only a few times, and we were never baptized. It’s not that my parents are heathens or regular church goers; they’re more in the middle. So how could you expect children to become very religious in a household that tells you to be anything you want? You can’t really and neither my brother nor I have a strong faith in any religion. Some people think it’s sad, others just get angry with me (I don’t really know what my brother has to go through), and some don’t care at all. Personally, I don’t mind religions, you can believe whatever you want, it does not affect me, as long as you don’t try and push anything on me we will become great friends. Then again, life isn’t a piece of cake and there are those out there that judge too soon and consider me a dirty sinner who has no morals and will go to hell. Well, I’m not hurting anyone, I try not to voice my opinion on religion openly, since I’ve learned at a young age that it just back fires and I end up feeling like a disgusting person. I can’t help these beliefs, and some people don’t believe me, but it’s hard for a person who asks too many questions and grew up in a semi religious childhood to become the next Pope. Please excuse me if I have offended you in any way.
Racism has been around since the dawn of time and will most likely never go away; some people just have no respect towards others. There have been wars, mass murders, and discrimination all over the world. This is one reason why many people deny that their families are from different countries and also why people are ashamed of whom they are. Being racist I think depends on how your parents raise you, I’m not saying that’s the only reason, but it is a large part of it. Since I am so many cultures mixed into one it’s hard for me to understand why people are so racist against others who are different from them. I am a very open minded person so I try and be considerate of others and respect their beliefs and race, that’s just how I was raised and what I learned from books and television. I myself have been discriminated against and I know it hurts so I try to be open to everyone and I do not like to use discriminating words or actions. I can share the credit with my parents since they are both from different backgrounds and have never been racist towards other people. My very diverse background has given me a respect for many cultures and made me understand that everyone is different, and it’s a beautiful thing.
Language is a way of expressing yourself and to give people the sense that you are proud of your culture and that you respect it. There are many different languages in the world and we learn the language by others and by our families. A language is passed down from generation to generation and people can be bilingual or even know more than two languages. You would think since I’m a mix of different ethnicities that I would be able to speak a language other than English, but you thought wrong. My father speaks fluent Spanish but never taught my brother or me and my mother does not speak fluently in any language other than English. It makes me angry how my father never taught me how to speak Spanish; it would help out so much now, especially with school, my future careers, and the fact that some of my good friend’s parents only speak Spanish. It would probably help me to prove the fact that I actually am Mexican/Spanish if I spoke the language, since it’s a popular saying around people who I meet that I am lying about my ethnicity. In California it’s such a benefit to be bilingual. It’s also a helpful trait when you are trying to find a job, since there are so many people in California that are from different countries that have not yet learned English yet, so it you are bilingual the business rate will increase since you have a employee who can talk to a broad range of people. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky in the bilingual department and I don’t know any fluent languages other than English.
Some people believe that a person should only be friends with people that are their own race. This is truly a hard rule to follow since everyone is so diverse and no one really believes that anymore, since the younger generations embrace being different. Again, since I myself am diverse I have many friends who are of different races than me. I have many friends who are Mexican, Caucasian, Indian, Filipino, the list goes on I assure you and I really enjoy having all these different people in my life. Back in my grandparents day I don’t think having friends of different races was a popular thing, even in my parents day people were still getting used to the fact that you can have friends who are different from you. My uncle has friends who he’s been friends with since high school and they are all different races. One is Japanese, another Caucasian, and the other is Italian. Along with him both of my parents grew up having African American friends who they are still close to. They themselves are married and are from different cultures. They have raised my brother and me to respect everyone and to have as many friends as we can and who are from different cultures. We did too; we each have many friends who are from different races. I believe that a person can be friends with anyone from a different race mostly because my memories with so many diverse people has taught me that I can be friends with people outside my culture. My family also plays an important role in this because they are the ones that raised me and taught me to be respectful to everyone.
A person’s family history is every aspect of themselves, along with their family’s traditions and memories. These traits are what make everyone in the world different and people should emphasize this more. There are so many different ethnicities and beliefs that people have it can be overwhelming, especially in America since almost anyone can live here. There are also people like me whose family comes from many different backgrounds and beliefs. I mostly consider myself Mexican and Caucasian since I am mostly both of these, but I also have other ethnicities. Altogether I am German, Swedish, Native American, Spaniard, Mexican, and French. Since I am such a cornucopia of ethnicities I have learned to respect other people who are of different races them myself. I may not be able to speak any of the languages other than English but I am still proud of being so different. Many of the cultures that my parents are have different religions but I do not, this does not make me a complete heathen, it just means that I don’t believe in the same faiths as others. I am still very respectful to everyone whether they are of a different religion or race than me; I believe that everyone is equal no matter what. I consider the credit for all my knowledge to go to my parents and grandparents since they are the ones that raised me to be like this. I am very proud of who I am and of my many cultures, beliefs, language, my respect towards others, and of my many diverse friends that have accumulated over the years. All of these traits have shaped me into the person I have become and I believe continue to shape me.

Essay

Cheyanne Barba
Mrs. Bosch
English 10 honors
5 August 2007

Things Fall Apart

Everyone has some kind of pride in them about the kind of individual that they have shaped into or the reasons why they have developed the characteristics that make them, them. This feeling of pride is usually connected to the way that a person is raised and the history of their heritage. As a rule many people take a certain pride in their family’s traditions and passing them onto the different generations even though each generation is very different than the last. There are many ways in expresses this pride too, like learning one’s ancestral language, whether it is just one or many different languages. Although this pride is very strong among certain people, sometimes it can be lost within the growth of some families new generations. This is somewhat true in the case of Okonkwo, a character in the book Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo was a proud man, even though he strove to be nothing like his father, who was considered a failure in their hometown of Umuofia. Okonkwo tried as best he could do be a honorable man who was considered strong and appreciative of his ancestors and this is what he tried to pass down to his children and other’s who were not like him. The book describes Okonkwo’s life, from his childhood up until his death. Throughout the book he struggles with the impression he has of what a man, such as himself, should act like, all the while trying to sustain an imagery of a strong Igbo man that was no worries and no emotional war fighting inside of him. He never strays away from his heritage’s traditions and beliefs, even when the white man comes to their village and takes over, Okonkwo stands strong and proud of his family, heritage, language, memories, and life that he has.
Family is a major role in a child’s life; people’s families teach them how to be an individual and how to act in society. The people with the biggest roles in teaching a child are the parents. They try to be positive role models for their children and teach them how to respect others and be responsible. If the child is a girl her mother is the prime role model, for a boy it is his father. Okonkwo’s father was a poor role model, “…he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow” (4). Although Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, was a poor model on what kind of man to become when Okonkwo grew up, he became a model in what not to be like. Okonkwo grew up to believe that laziness and being cowardly were traits that he should not have and that his children should not inherit. Okonkwo’s children, from what Achebe describes, are proud of their father and their beliefs, except for the oldest son, Nwoye, who in the last parts of the book decides to leave his family and join the Christian missionaries. Okonkwo is of course very ashamed of his son and is hurt by the fact that Nwoye gave in so easily to the new religion. Achebe stresses the fact that family is very important to the Igbo people and that a person should always be proud of their family.
Heritage is very important to people, it tells them who they are and it gives them the traditions of their forefathers. Achebe illustrates in his book that everyone should be proud of their heritage by having Okonkwo follow his ancestors’ beliefs, traditions, and lifestyle very closely. In many families there are stories that are passed down from each generation and in Umuofia there are many stories of animals and people whose stories teach people about morals. Okonkwo, however, does not enjoy these stories as much as the women and some other men do. He does not prohibit his wives from telling their children these stories though, but he does mind that his wives tell the young boys who are supposed to grow up like men and not listen to “…foolish…women’s stories” (54). He tells stories too but only of bloodshed and violence not sincere like “…stories of the tortoise and his wily ways, and of the bird eneke-nti-oba who challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and was finally thrown by the cat” (53). Achebe also shows the bond between family and heritage when Okonkwo gets exiled from his fatherland for accidentally killing a young man and he moves to his motherland for seven years. His oldest living relative on his mother’s side is his uncle, Uchendu, who actually lectures Okonkwo about being sorrowful because he had to live in his motherland. Achebe tries to illustrate the fact that a person’s heritage is all of them and that they should be proud of who they are and the traditions that they celebrate.
Everyone has memories from when they were children, wonderful memories or the kind that people wish they did not remember. Okonkwo has the kind of memories of his childhood that he is not so proud of having. His father has a very lazy man who did not represent a strong Igbo man who took good care of his family. “If any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-whine, called round his neighbors and made merry” (4). He owed many neighbors large sums of money and never seemed to pay them back. By having Okonkwo’s father so irresponsible it shows that anyone can have memories but it’s a strong and proud person who can learn from others and their own mistakes and better themselves.
When people speak a foreign language other than their native tongue it shows others how proud they are of their cultural background. It also gives people an idea of where you come from and a little bit of your history. In Things Fall Apart Achebe does not translate all of the words that the characters speak. Like when Achebe is telling his readers about the “…egwugwu…” he could easily translate it to an ancestral spirit but he chooses to leave it in the African language. Towards the end of the novel the Commissioner comments on how he “…did not understand what Obierika meant when he said, “Perhaps your men will help is.” One of the most infuriating habits of these people was their love of superfluous words, he thought” (206). This ignorance of the Commissioner shows the readers how judgmental people can be if they do not understand a person’s customs, it also shows that he is slightly frightened by the clansmen because they are not as barbaric as he thought. Achebe gives his readers the sense that he is proud of his African cultural and shows it by keeping the language of his family throughout the book.
Life is such a beautiful thing, whatever way you look at it. Some people have the benefit of accomplishing many goals in their lifetime and others accomplish smaller ambitions. Some people take life for granite and others take the time to stop and smell the roses. Okonkwo had accomplished a lot in his lifetime, he rose from being a poor child with barely anything to eat, to a strong man who was respected all around the nine villages and who had three wives and many children. “At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land” (27). He had very large yam fields and smaller vegetable fields for his wives; he “…deserved his success…” (27). Despite all these accomplishments Okonkwo could not handle all the changes that were happening around him, like the white man coming and taking over, and he hung himself. Some men of the clan had found him at his compound suspended from a tree and asked the Commissioner’s messengers to take Okonkwo’s body down. Obierika, Okonkwo’s close friend, did most of the talking and blamed the Commissioner and his men for Okonkwo’s death. “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog…” (208). Okonkwo’s body could not be taken down by his fellow clansmen because committing suicide is an offense against the Earth and the only way to get him down was for strangers to do it. Then the clansmen would have the other men bury Okonkwo and the villagers would perform “…sacrifices to cleanse the desecrated land” (208). The novel ends with the Commissioner thinking about his new book and how he is going to include Okonkwo’s death in it, but he decides that Okonkwo’s incident is only significant enough to write one paragraph. The ironic thing is that Achebe had written a whole novel on Okonkwo’s life and this clash of thoughts shows that the Commissioner portrays Okonkwo as an unimportant man who did not have any respect for his clan. In reality Okonkwo valued his life and tried so hard to be what he thought a man should be, but in the end his strive to be perfect was conquered by his fears of being perceived just like his father. Achebe shows us how proud he is of life by writing this story about Okonkwo and how he went through so many ups and downs throughout his life.
Through his main character Okonkwo, with the support of many other characters, Chinua Achebe illustrated his pride in family, heritage, memories, language, and lives. Achebe had Okonkwo take pride in his family by always giving them fresh food and by protecting them from dangers, he did not show his kindness very well but his family knew it was in him. He demonstrated his pride for heritage by having Okonkwo standing by his ancestors’ beliefs and traditions instead of giving in to the white man’s new religion. He also took pride in his memories by knowing that he was not a failure like his father and that he was his own man who was very well respected. Achebe also shows his pride in his native language which is reoccurring throughout the novel. His pride in life is manifested by Okonkwo’s entire life and how he strove to be a courageous enduring man who was looked upon as a great warrior, strong, and a man who achieved many titles, although he did commit suicide these descriptions were what he was considered even though Okonkwo could not entirely see it.


Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Heinemann Educational Books, 1959.

Part 3 Questions

1. I think that Achebe brought in the European colonists during the last part of the novel because it ties in why things actually fell apart. For instance, Nwoye left his family to join the Christians, but he would have never done that as a child so it would be logical of Achebe to wait until Nwoye was old enough to disobey his father.
2. Umuofia has changed because during those seven years that Okonkwo had been gone the church had expanded and many left their forefathers beliefs and joined the Christians. Many of these converts were not only lower class people, but men of titles, such as Ogbuefi Ugonna who had two titles and had cut the anklet that showed that he was a man of rank. The white man had also brought a government where the District Commissioner judged cases. The District Commissioner sent court messengers to retrieve men that were to be put on trial for him. These men were from Umuru, where the white men had first came, therefore the court messengers were all believing in the white mans ways. So these men were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were so haughty. They also received the name kotma because of their ash colored shorts and were called Ashy-Buttocks.

3. The kotma are assigned to do many acts in the new society, but all are for the white man. One duty that they have is to guard the prison, which consisted of men who had somehow disobeyed the white man’s law. The white man’s system of justice is much more abusive and controlling than that of the Umuofia society’s ways. The white men have jails in which the prisoners are treated horribly for acts that are traditional in their own society, such as throwing away twins. The white man convicts the people concerning their own laws, not those of the people.
4. Obierika states that it is too late for their people to fight the white men and drive them out because so many of their people had converted to the white man’s beliefs that they would have no chance to win. Obierika says that the white man is very clever because he came in peace and all the people were amused by his strange and foolish ways that they had let him stay. Now the white man has converted many of their people and the people of Umuofia are no longer one. Obierika might be the transitional figure of the old and new Igbo societies because he is upset about the white man coming in and taking over their people and land but knows well enough that they can’t do anything about it. Unlike Okonkwo who thinks like the old Igbo society would.
5. Mr. Brown is a highly respected man of the Igbo society because he does not pressure the people into believing his religion and respects their beliefs, somewhat. Mr. Smith on the other hand was different; he saw things as all or nothing and did not respect the clan at all. From reading Akunna and Mr. Brown’s we learn that both religions are somewhat the same. They both have one supreme God, but the beliefs of the clan have many lower gods. An event that had set off a confrontation between the church and clan was that Enoch had boasted that none of the egwugwu would not dare touch a Christian, and with that said one of the egwugwu hit Enoch with a cane and Enoch retorted back by ripping away the mask that the egwugwu was wearing. This led to a mass confusion in Umuofia and the masked egwugwu from all over the neighboring villages came together and burned down Enoch’s home, then the church. These conflicts occur I think because the white man cannot understand the native people’s language and customs and just assume that their way is the best. There will never be a truce between the two cultures until they both understand to except each others customs and to try and not change their beliefs.
6. Many people feel differently than Okonkwo about the new laws because the white men had built a trading store and an abundance of money came into Umuofia. I think that since the white man is teaching the people how to read and write that they are gaining the trust of the Igbo people. Therefore, the more trust that the white man gains the stronger he becomes.
7. The District Commissioner tricked the six leaders into jail by asking them to explain how Enoch had murdered an egwugwu and had twelve men come in and handcuff them. Okonkwo is very angry that the men are imprisoned and are treated so badly, he holds the grudge that they should have killed the District Commissioner when they had the chance. I think that Okonkwo kills the messenger because he is so fed up with everything around him. The white men coming and converting the village, and most importantly his eldest son, the fact that they went to jail, and what had triggered the murder was that the messenger had wanted the meeting to stop. The meetings that they have are traditional and to have someone who is ordering you to do what you don’t want to do is just over the top for Okonkwo. I think that Okonkwo committed suicide because he would rather be dead than to spend the rest of his life in a white man’s jail and I think he couldn’t take the changing ways of Umuofia anymore. Okonkwo is isolated because he committed suicide and that is an offense against the Earth. I consider Okonkwo a tragic hero because he tried so hard throughout his like to achieve his dreams and tried to support his family the best that he could, but unfortunately he did not achieve some of his dreams.
8. I think that the District Commissioner would write Okonkwo’s story totally wrong, Okonkwo would be made out to be a bad man instead of a respectable one. The District Commissioner does not care that Okonkwo had worked hard to where he was and that it was the white man’s fault that such a great man had taken his own life. I believe that Achebe has made Okonkwo’s story into a whole novel because Achebe has an understanding of the Igbo culture and the District Commissioner sees the Igbo people as ignorant and won’t give them the respect that they deserve.
9. Things fell apart because the white man had discovered Africa and the people who lived there and conquered them. I think that as humans we are generally curious of new things and this is why the white man had the upper hand, they drew in many of the African people and turned them against their own kind. The messages that were shown in the book were that you need to stay strong and defend what you believe in and to
10. The effects of the combination of African and Western literary is that the people who read the book get to learn more about their own culture and another’s. I think it shows the fact that even though the characters in the book and everyone that you know are from so many different cultures that we do share some of the same beliefs, traditions, and routines that you do on a daily basis. It makes you feel closer to a culture in which you might have known nothing about and gained a newfound respect for.