Maybe Dr. Dyer Can Help (Reader Response)

Achebe’s novel was a very easy reading, easy to pick-up, and easy to finish story. I did not find myself dreading the assignment at night as I did with Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness. The story line was easy to follow and after I conquered the names of the numerous members of the Ibo, I thoroughly enjoyed the composition. Had I not known any better, Achebe’s novel did not seem as though the point of it was to criticize Conrad. I almost believe that I would have enjoyed the story itself more if I had not known. I spent a lot of my reading time searching the pages for a poke at Conrad. Although I definitely enjoyed Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and read it with ease, the novel brought too many questions to my attention. I finished the assignment with many unsettled feelings and was not sure where to take them.

One unanswered question I had with this novel is one that deals with the point of accountability and the missionaries. The point of missionaries is to minister the Christian faith to individuals and groups that do not know the Lord. It seems that the beginning missionaries’ attempt was to help the tribes to see a better life, yet this new life shown to the tribe by the missionaries really was not a life that sounded appealing. The question that this left me with was does the point of accountability come in here? The tribe did not know of the Lord, it takes time and explaining to fully understand the importance of having Christ in our lives. Even those that have been educated since day one about the saving grace of the Lord do not completely comprehend the importance of having Christ in their lives everyday. Are these people truly going to hell because they do not know the Lord? In the church where I was raised we learned that a child does not go to hell because they do not have the advanced relationship with Christ that an adult has. Therefore, why would members of the tribe go to hell because they do not know the Lord, when a child would not? It seems to me that they are very similar situations, neither group truly knows the importance of the Lord, nor can they understand it without the correct education about the faith. I have toyed with this idea in my mind and I have a hard time justifying the fact that these individuals will go to hell because they do not know the Lord in the way that the missionaries do, what about children then?

Why, also, did the English come in and try to change the lives of the Ibo completely? The Ibo had a way of life that was working, that was understood by all members of the tribe and accepted. The English came in with the missionaries and forced their government on the tribe. I understand that part of Colonialism is to impose a country’s government on that of another, but why one a government system that IS working? The Ibo had understood rules about the way life should be lived and all that were members of the tribe knew these rules, they followed them without asking questions. It seemed as though the Ibo had a better governing system than the English did, and I truly think this is because the center of the tribe’s government was the gods and the English government is not. I just don’t quite understand why the missionaries imposed terrible ideas about Christianity and the English government on the tribe by their actions and expected them to understand, to want to be a part of this government and faith.

A novel that leaves me with questions is not my ideal story. I liked the way the storyline flowed smoothly and was very easy to follow. I enjoy a novel more when I finish the story and feel like I learned something. A feeling of accomplishment always leads me to want to read the novel again, but this story left me so uneasy I can not read it again until I have answered the questions and confusions I was left with.

They are people

After much reading I was beginning to wonder how Things Fall Apart was a shoutout to Conrad. Chapters 8 through 13 are the shoutout. Conrad created a picture of the natives depicting them as things, possessions, or even animals. Achebe points out that the rituals may seem slightly off, the natives are human beings with morals nad values. In Chapter 8, there are true rituals as to the engagement ritual. This ritual almost reminded me of the engagement process in our culture. Typically the young man asks the father for his daughter's hand in marriage, other than paying for the bride, this is what the men of the Ibo do. Chapter 9 discusses all the superstitions of birthing. These superstitions are a bit odd, yet the funny part of this is our culture has our own weird superstitions. How reliable is dangling a needle from a piece of thread and depending on the way it sways determines the sex of the child? Chapter 10 is the legal system. Instead of assigning blame to the person on trial, there is a resolution. Maybe America should look at the Ibo's legal sytem. Chapter 11 looks at the parental concerns, these people are human beings; they have cares and fears just like we do. Chapter 12 is the wedding. Granted the wedding ceremonies do not last days in our culture they do last a whole day and admittedly the planning takes months and months. So really our celebration lasts almost longer than the Ibo's. Chapter 13 visits the funeral aspect of their culture. This chapter shows that they do show remorse for those that have passed on and they do believe that they go on to a better life. These chapters show that the Ibo do have odd beliefs. These chapters also show how odd our own customs and rituals can be. The Ibo are humans too!

Do We Really Need To Fight So Hard?

Women have been fighting for rights for decades. I, being one of these women, want to be recognized as strong and independent. I tend to look at women's roles in history as degrading but not very often do I really look at the importance of women in the world. Women's roles are very low in the tribal society. Agbala means woman. Agbala is the name of the oracle. The oracle is the prophet of the tribe, a very strong voice. Why if women are so low and dirty is the oracle's name Agbala? Looking at this all a little closer, did the men realize that women are strong? Did the men see that without women, the tribe would be nothing? I understand that beating wives was customary in the tribe, but women were very important to the men. Without the wives I think the men would starve. The women did all of the cooking and all of the preparing for ceremonies, I do believe that the tribe would be very weak without women. Do women really need to fight so hard for an image of a strong individual or are they already viewed that way?

Veni, Vidi, Vici (Reader Response)

Although Joseph Conrad’s novella, The Heart of Darkness, is not a story that a student would be dying to open up again just to see where the plot is going, there are so many deeper messages hidden in the text. Conrad’s novella is not the type of story that holds a students attention for more than a few minutes and I know that I had a very difficult time remember what I read the line before, but I decided I had to take a different approach to finish the novel. After adjusting to the overly descriptive, slow-moving story line of The Heart of Darkness I found that there are a number of great ideas and theories that are definitely worth reading.

The first great idea brought forward by Conrad is, “We live as we dream- alone.” Conrad was addressing a number of issues when he said this. This line meant a lot to me. Maybe I read it wrong, but Conrad made it sound as though each person has the choice to make their life. “You’ve made your bed, so lie in it.” Only I can live my life and make of it what I want it to be. Addressing the theories on imperialism, it’s every man for himself. If a business man wants to get ahead he must strive to be a better man, better than all of the rest of civilization. Mr. Kurtz believed he was doing this by having somewhat of a monopoly over the ivory industry in the Congo. Mr. Kurtz knew in order to get ahead he had to make something of himself, even if it meant stepping on a few toes, so that is what he did. Mr. Kurtz was very prosperous. “We live as we dream-alone.” Kurtz made the decision to be successful, not anyone else and in doing that he became something bigger and better than the other ivory hunters.

Other ivory hunters were not the only toes Kurtz stepped on to get ahead in the business. Kurtz also forced the natives to do the labor in his camp with no pay and they were treated as though they were criminals. Marlowe described the natives as having “iron collars around the neck.” Conrad pointed this out to show man’s inhumanity to each other. Man has no problem treating those that are “below him” as a slave. It seems as though humanity has kind of disappeared from the business world. What happened to the days where people received advice from others about a business and not criticism? Conrad pointed out that often a person is treated differently because of a physical difference, (“…a flatter nose or a darker complexion…”) but I do not fully believe that is the only reason man treats others as a possession. I think that the morals of a once close-knit world have been forgotten and moved aside to become bigger and better. I believe Conrad was addressing these concerns as well in his novella.

Another important issue that Conrad discussed is the fact that man has forgotten how beautiful nature is. Man has in a sense stomped all over nature to make his business bigger and better. Nature is the one true beauty in the world and the one true element left in the world. Conrad addressed the fact that in the event of harvesting as much ivory as possible, the hunters have forgotten the surroundings around them. This is shown today. Driving down the highway I often see a McDonald’s bag in the ditch because somebody could not wait until they arrived home to throw the trash away. The beauty of nature has been forgotten and Conrad wanted to point that out.

Conrad’s novella was difficult for me at first, but as I came to the end of the story I realized that I just needed to be more open about the plot line the whole time. I needed to appreciate Conrad’s grueling and boring details to thoroughly enjoy the story. My goal was to finish the story and gain some knowledge from it. “Veni, Vidi, Vici.” As Julius Caesar stated, I came, I saw, I conquered.

The Nature of Humanity

The Heart of Darkness addresses numerous themes, but there was one theme that seemed to stick out in my reading more than the others. Man's inhumanity to man seems to be very dominant in this novel. It seems that the nature of humanity is selfish and demeaning. The men in this novel had one care in the world and that was finding ivory. There was a part in the reading discussing the collars around the necks of the natives, I found that degrading. I realize that this really happened, but was it necessary. I have a real problem with the nature of humanity, if someone is slightly different than another does not make them subject to abuse and mistreatment. John Merrick, main character of The Elephant Man, made this powerful and truthful statement, "People are frightened by what they don't understand."

I am...

I am
a white
female
Christian
student
wife
mother
19 year old
very liberal
Norwegian.
I was raised in small-town South Dakota and find myself struggling to accept other's differences. I tend to be close minded and almost too stubborn. My liberal views tend to get me into trouble with Christians, but I am too stubborn to change them. My 19 year old wants sometimes conflict with family life, there is a happy medium. My Norwegian upbringing runs into my Dutch husband. My beliefs are my stronghold. My beliefs and dreams are what get me through the day.

Times are changing...

Both Wolf's and W.E.B. DuBois's pieces hit some very important points. As Wolf said, had Shakespeare had a sister with the same qualities she would have never made it as an artist becuase of the beliefs in that time period. Du Bois also made that point about being an African American, "How does it feel to be a problem?" Although these are very important points to be made about the history of our great nation, these two points are not valid in this day and age.

There are numerous great female authors that are being published, times have changed. Although women went through a very long struggle to gain equal rights and still are, it is not such a fight to find acting roles, jobs, or a publisher. Women are given opportunities now that they never had before. I understand that in Shakespeare's era women weren't given a half of a chance unless they disguised themselves as males, but this is not Shakespeare's time. Women are independent now and are not sent off to marry as soon as they could walk. Women are given a chance at being someone they never could be before. Wolf made a great point and I am very relieved that times have changed. DuBois also stated that the other races made it seem as though they were more of a problem than a human being. But now African-Americans are famous for the awesome tasks they have accomplished. I'm proud of our nation for growing up and realizing that you don't have to be a middle-aged white male to be somebody.

The Canon

After reading both handouts for class ("Defining the Canon" by Harold H. Kolb Jr and "Canon to the Right of Me" by Katha Pollitt,) I have decided that I agree with the more liberal view. Without diversity a unique personality would not exist. Without diversity society could just as well remove the arts from any academic institution. Richard Ohman stated that literature in society is chosen by a society's values and interests. Ohman was correct in saying that. I know as a student, I would prefer to read a piece that I can relate to; if I can not become part of the piece that I am reading I begin to just read and not absorb. I too believe that there should be diversity in choosing a canon. There should be a canon but it should not be limited to Western Literature and pieces written while this nation was still a young one. Contemporary pieces and minority writers should also be included in the canon. It seems to be easier to relate to a minority writer because of the every day struggles they describe, life is not perfect for anyone and it's nice to see that you are not the only one struggling from day to day. Like Kolb stated, "...a list of great books cannot exist by itself, seperate from convictions about greatness. A canon is a cultural mirror, imaging our notions of who we are."