LAHUNG WAN - REFLECTION ON THINGS FALL APART

Things Fall Apart which was written by an African writer Chinua Achebe is a good novel for people to read as there are messages, ideas, values and cultures that it conveys to the reader. I have studied the novel and I found that the novel is an excellent work of literature that had been published. In the novel, Okonkwo was the main character or protagonist and he was an Igbo tribe man. The British came to the village and colonize the Igbo people; bringing the new culture, lifestyles and religion to the Igbo villages. The British had influenced the colonized villages in many aspects and the Igbo people are not expected to go against them. During the colonisation, although the Igbo people had shown the British people some rebellions, the people seem to allow some changes to happen to their culture indirectly. For example, after the British people came, the British promise them there will be development made and perhaps school will be provided for them. The Igbo people allow the changes to come in the aspects of their economy because they only depend on growing yams. Sarawak was once colonised by Rajah Brooke and I think the culture are not affected by the colonisation. This is because the cultures that are being practiced from the past are still being practiced now. Colonisation brings changes mainly in the economy of the natives but did not affect the cultures. This is because the people of Sarawak seem to welcome the colonist to rule them. As a whole, we can see that the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak changed a lot in the aspect of economy. This is because the land of the natives perhaps have a lot of resources for commerce and that is what the colonist take advantage of and indirectly change the system of economy of the people from barter or other traditional trading system to something bigger to import and export activity.

DARREL UNCHATT & MOHD IRWANDY & AFIQ AZMAN - REFLECTION ON THINGS FALL APART

Reflection on "Things Fall Apart": Your Thoughts on the Novel: I am sure by now you have completed reading the whole novel "Things Fall Apart". There are issues which you might find troubling. ...

Darrel Unchatt

In your respective blogs, think reflectively of the issues found in the novel. The following questions should help you in your analysis:

Based on your reading of “Things Fall Apart”, what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over?

The Igbo people were unaware of the outside forces. This is because they were not uniting with each of the tribes. So, it was easy for the coloniser to take advantage on them. Besides that, the Igbo culture is against the Christianity and their mission was to spread the new religion to uncivilised people.

Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, how has this affected aspect of culture in our society?

It was almost the same as what happened to the Igbo people in Nigeria but the locals seems to accept James Brooke as the Rajah or the ruler of Sarawak. The colonisation did not affect the locals’ culture because the ruler respected the locals’ culture in order the people’s heart so that they would continue support the Rajah.

Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak?

There are many changes that have been brought to their lives. The first one is the religion. Both of the tribes from Sarawak and Africa were converted to Christianity. From that way, their culture and lives were changed because some of them tended to leave their old culture and focus on the new religion. Secondly, the local people in Sarawak were given the education. Most of the people received the English educations that have been brought by the ruler at that time. 

Mohd Irwandy bin Mohammad Jali

In your respective blogs, think reflectively of the issues found in the novel. The following questions should help you in your analysis:

Based on your reading of “Things Fall Apart”, what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over?

One of the aspects is the oppression of the Igbo people towards the outcast of their culture. For example, the handful of people who converted to Christianity. These people support the British as they provide a shelter for these outcasts. Also, because of the promise of equal right by the British intrigued most of the Igbo people. The most important aspect is because the Igbo people are not united.

Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, how has this affected aspect of culture in our society?

   
      On the upside, much of the generation of that time in Sarawak speak fluent English. Also, the culture of depending only on agriculture changes when the British introduce oil drilling. In addition, multiculturalism steps into another level in Sarawak when Chinese immigrants were brought into Sarawak.

      Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa   and Sarawak?

   
      Yes, they are in fact many changes. First, both become more modernize in their use of technology. Secondly, the administration system changes and revolutionise the existed system. Lastly, the tribes or people are more open to social and academic changes which meant that they are more knowledgeable than before.

    
      Mohammad Afiq bin Azman

In your respective blogs, think reflectively of the issues found in the novel. The following questions should help you in your analysis:

Based on your reading of “Things Fall Apart”, what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over?

Based on what I have read in Things Fall Apart, the Igbo culture allows the British to take over through the aspect of openness. They allow the British to come to their land with nothing they do to stop them. Another aspect is they believe so much in their culture beliefs. They think that by letting the British build the church in the Evil Forest, all of them will get rid but they are wrong. Starting from that, the British slowly take over their land.

Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, how has this affected aspect of culture in our society?

Although I am not from Sarawak but I can see how the colonisation has affected the multiple tribes and culture in Sarawak. Firstly, it is about Christianity. Because of the colonisation by the British, most of the people of the tribes in Sarawak are Christian and I think this religion is the religion of highest number of followers in Sarawak. Not just that aspect, the consequence from the colonisation brings the English language to this land of hornbill. Old folks in this country can speak English fluently than the youngsters nowadays. So here it means that English came first before Bahasa Melayu. They master the English language first before they could master Bahasa Melayu.

Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak?

For this part I think it is a little bit hard. But what I can tell is they are slowly leaving the old culture because of the colonisation and globalisation. We can see that they understand about knowledge and how knowledge can bring them to a better future.

Short Story: The Open Windows by Saki

EST Tutorial 28.08.2012

Short Stories: The Open Window (eastoftheweb.com)

The Open Doors (based on Saki's The Open Windows)

*This short movie clip is just for the extra knowledge.

Questions:

1      Search for the Open Window by Saki on the internet. Read this short story thoroughly. Based on the short story

       a.       Identify 3 literary devices in the short story and their significant.

     Symbolism

     The most important symbol in “The Open Window” is the open window itself. When Mrs.  Sappleton’s niece tells Mr. Nuttel the story of the lost hunters, the open window comes to symbolize Mrs. Sappleton’s anguish and heartbreak at the loss of her husband and younger brother. When the truth is later revealed, the open window no longer symbolizes anguish but the very deceit itself. Saki uses the symbol ironically by having the open window, an object one might expect would imply honesty, as a symbol of deceit.

     Narration

     “The Open Window” is a third-person narrative, meaning that its action is presented by a narrator who is not himself involved in the story. This allows a narrator to portray events from a variety of points of view, conveying what all of the characters are doing and what they are feeling or thinking. For most of the story, until he runs from the house, the reader shares Mr. Nuttel’s point of view. Like Mr. Nuttel, the reader is at the mercy of Vera’s story. The reader remains, however, after Mr. Nuttel has fled and thus learns that Vera’s story was nothing but a tall tale.

     Tall Tale

     Vera’s story is essentially a tall tale. Tall tales are often found in folklore and legend and describe people or events in an exaggerated manner. Good examples are the story of John Henry and his hammer, and the story of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Vera exaggerates the significance of the open window by making it the centerpiece of a fabricated tale of tragic loss.

                 

b.      Where is the climax in the short story? How is this achieved?
                The climax of the story is when Mr. Sappleton and his brothers arrived through the  
                open window. This results in Mr. Nuttel running away from the house by thinking that 
                they are the ghosts. This climax is achieved when the deceit that Miss Vera played 
                onto Mr. Nuttel worked.


c.       Describe the setting of the short story?
                The story is set in the English countryside dated back on the early 1900s. Throughout 
                the story, most of the scenes happened in the living room. Besides that hunting was 
                so popular during that time. 


d.      What is the lesson that you can learned in this short story?
                 The lesson is do not be too naive and gullible in life. Don't be too easy to get cheated 
                 by other people.


e.      In the short story, does Vera shows hospitality to Frampton Nuttel? If Vera were Malaysia, 
      would she have in like manner?
                 She does. If she is were a Malaysian, she would't behave in this way. She would not      
                 tell her guest with the fake stories and would have a mild conversation only before 
                 Mrs. Sappleton attend to him.


f.        If you were Nuttel, would you trust every word Vera said? Why? 
                If I were Nuttel, I will not trust on what Vera had said and pretend I believe it. This is   
                because a ghost  will always be a ghost and we should not take it seriously. 
                Commonly, people will always tell ghost stories just to scare us out. Besides that, it is 
                impossible for the ghost to occur during the day.

hullooooooooooo.....

FLORENCE: Reading & Reacting

                                                                      FLORENCE

                                                                  by Alice Childress

DARREL


4. Florence is set in the South during the late 1940s.

• How might the play be different if it were set in the North?
• If it were set in the North, much likely the setting would be different because the North was liberated during that time. The people in the North are against the slavery in compare with the South.
• If it were set today?
• The racial segregation will be gone and perhaps Mrs. Whitney and Mrs. Carter will sit next to each other. This is because there are no more racial conflict happened compare to the 1940s.

5. In line 17, Marge tells Mama that she had better buy some food because sh "can't go to the diner". Then again in line 23, Marge says that Florence has "notion a Negro woman don't need."

What situation is Marge alluding to? Find other references to this "situation" in the play.

• Marge is alluding that the situation at that time that Negro have some places they are restricted to go to. Furthermore, the line "notions a Negro woman don't need" indicates that Marge is the follower of the concept racial segregation as she went low to even thought that her sister a Negro posses something that contractile their own race.

LAHUNG

6. Does Mrs. Carter think of herself as a racist? Do you agree with the assessment of herself?

• Mrs. Carter did not thinks of herself as a racist because she mirrored herself as a Northerner who are more liberated than the Southerner though she was born in the South. We can see the evidences that she thinks herself as non-racist white woman when she asked Mama not to call her 'Mam'. She did not want to be called 'Mam' by Mama because it is seemed too racist or discriminated. However, she is still a racist in her skin-deep although she did not mention it. It is proved when she told Mama about the book that her brother Jeff, wrote. Mrs. Carter said that the black people like the protagonist in the book cannot succeed because they are black. Other than that, she also offers to help Florence to get a job, but to be a maid and she did not have any intentions to help Florence to pursue her ambition.

7. What causes Mama to disagree with Mrs. Carter about her brother's book? What does this disagreement tell the audience about the characters?

• Mama disagree with Mrs. Carter about the plot of the book because she thought Zelma, the main character of the story, should not kill herself because she is a black woman. Zelma wanted to be a lawyer but unfortunately, she is black. She does not belong to the world where she quite fitted in. Mama thinks that black people also can have a good job and succeed like the white people and do not have to kill themselves. Mama proved what she had said by telling some of the black people that are success in the careers.

AFIQ

            8. Does Mama's view of Mrs. Carter change or remain the same as the plot develops? Why 

                does Mama ask Mrs. Carter to help Florence? What does she learn that causes her to reject   

                 the "help" that Mrs. Carter offers?

• Mrs. Carter advised Miss Whitney to stop her daughter, Florence, from pursuing her       ambition but Miss Whitney believed that her daughter would succeed. Mrs. Carter also said that the career which Florence pursued was not very profitable because if there’s a play then, the actors will be paid but if there’s not a single play, the actors would not be paid until there’s a play again. After that, Mrs. Carter offered a help to Miss Whitney. She said that she wanted to help Florence in pursuing her ambition but actually Mrs. Carter was trying to betray Miss Whitney. Miss Whitney was very overjoyed but while having the conversation about the “help”, Miss Whitney felt a sense of betray. Mrs. Carter wanted to make Florence as a maid for Melba Rugby by giving Miss Whitney Melba’s phone number. Then, Miss Whitney asked Mrs. Carter to help Florence to pay the rents and things. Miss Whitney refused the “help” from Mrs. Carter because she knew that her daughter could be anything she wanted rather than become a maid.

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