Cultural CLASH!

“His three wives”, “The New Yam Feast” and “drinking palm-wine from human heads”.

From my point of view: a young woman born and raised in Norway with iPhones, iPads, iPods and iDontknowwhatelse, there are a lot of the cultural characteristics from Africa in the 1950´s that seems strange to me.

First of all, the fact that most of the men I read about in the novel Things Fall Apart have several wives is unnatural to me. Every time I read “his third wife (…)” or “all of his wives (…)”, I feel uncomfortable. This is because of my cultural point of view (mixed with just a little bit of ethnocentrism). From someone else´s point of view this may not be one of the things they stumble over. In some cultures it it usual for men to have more than one wife. They may however stumble over something else.

For example The New Yam Feast is something I had never heard of
before, I have to admit I didn´t even know what a yam was… In case you are as lost as me, this is a yam –>

It is really just a root vegetable. After doing some research I have learned that this festival symbolizes the conclusion of a harvest and the beginning of the next work cycle. The festival is practiced throughout west-Africa and other African countries today! Here is another bizarre ritual I stumbled over in the beginning of the novel:

“In Umuofia´s latest war he was the first to bring home a human head. This was his fifth head; and he was not an old man yet. On great occasions such as the funeral of a village celebrity he drank his palm-wine from his first human head.”

This extract is about Okonkwo. It is supposed to illustrate that Okonkwo is a man of action, a man of war. It is hard to understand that this history is something that makes the people in the village look up to him, when to me it is absurd and really quite frightening.

Things Fall Apart is as well as very interesting and amusing, quite challenging. The cultural differences between me and the people I read about are immense and while I find it fascinating to learn about new cultures, it could also cause complications. For example I lose respect for the main character Okonkwo when I read about him beating his wives, but in the novel it is describes as “manly” to control your women. It has taught me to start letting go of my ethnocentrism even though there still are things I find troubling to accept. Do you think ethnocentrism can lead to me as a reader misunderstanding the purpose of the text? Would it be easier for me to read this novel if I bought into the concept of cultural relativism? Or is it okay for me to have my prejudices about for example beating women?

‘Did you know in some cultures it’s considered rude to lick your plate?’

Summary and Analysis: Ch 1-6

PART 1

Summary Ch 1-6:

Okonkwo is one of the greatest men in his time. He is wealthy and respected in the Umuofia clan. When he was young, he was also an excellent wrestler. His father, Unoka, on the other hand, was a shame to the village. He died 10 years ago, but when he lived he was lazy and poor. He never did anything productive and because he always borrowed money from friends and neighbors, he was in great dept. Okonkwo is ashamed to be his son and is determined not to be like his father. Okonkwo fears weakness and is therefore extremely demanding of his family. His family consists of his three wives and their children.

One night, a loud sound rung throughout the village. Then followed the message that all men were to meet in the market the next morning. Okonkwo was anxious to hear what had happened, no one ever breaks the silence of the night because it is said that evil spirits will  awake. The next morning thousands of men met and the message was this: someone had murdered a woman of Umuofia in Mbaino. Because neither the Umuofia clan nor the enemy clan in Mbaino wanted a war, they tried to find a peaceful solution. They therefore agreed to give the Umuofia clan a young man and a virgin. The young man´s name was Ikemefuna, little did he know that his father had taken a hand in the killing of a woman of Umuofia. Ikemefuna was placed in the household of Okonkwo and his three wives until his destiny was decided. The reason why he was given to Okonkwo for safekeeping and instruction is because Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected man in Umuofia.

However, Okonkwo did not have a great start in life. Because his father never was able to have a successful harvest, Okonkwo had to build his fortune on his own. Okonkwo had built a farm, but did not have any yams to grow. There was however a wealthy man in the village with nine wives and thirty children who owned thousands of yams. Okonkwo went over, drank palm-wine and ate kola nut. At the end of the night he asked Nwakibibie for yams. Nwakibibie answered that he saw a lot of potential in Okonkwo and gave him twice four hundred yams, more than Okonkwo had ever hoped for. Unfortunately, because of horrible droughts and relentless downpours, Okonkwo could keep only one third of the harvest. But Okonkwo kept working to keep the harvest he was left with.

Everyone knows that Okonkwo is a hardworking man, or else he would not have been able to work himself out of the poverty, and into the wealthy man he is today. Today he provides for his family in addition to Ikemefuna, who still lived in Okonkwo´s care. Ikemefuna and Okonkwo grow a closer relationship, they are like father and son to each other. But Okonkwo still does not show any affection because he considers it a sign of weakness. He is also known for being violent. He even beat one of his wives during the Week of Peace.

The Feast of the New Yam is approaching and the Umuofia clan is in a festival mood. The feast is held to give thanks to the earth goddess, Ani. The mothers and daughters cook food for the men and decorate their huts while they all wait for the big event of the feast: the wrestling matches. The wrestling match takes place on the village ilo, or common green.

 

Analysis:

We are introduced to the clan Umuofia with its complex laws and rituals. It is clear that they are committed to a harmonious living, they always try to find peaceful solutions instead of going to war. The peacefulness of the people is shown through the practice of sharing palm-wine and kola nut which is already repeated several times in the book.

Okonkwo is the main character of the book. He fears to become like his father, he is kind of driven by the hatred he has for Unoka. To avoid being like his father, he acts violently and rules his household with fear. To Okonkwo, showing affection is a sign of weakness. The only emotion he shows is anger.

The story about Ikemefuna (the young man whom was sacrificed to the Umuofia clan) gives us an insight in different subcultures in Africa. Even though Ikemefuna is from a village near by, he is constantly amazed by new things he learns in his new home. Achebe shows us that the European tendency to see all Africans as the same is wrong.

The relations between men and women are different from what I am used to. In the Umuofia clan it is normal to have more than one wife, and beating them is a sign of dominance. A man has to control his women, except in the Week of Peace, a sacred week where peace is in focus.

Life of Chinua Achebe and Background of the Novel

Life of Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe is the best-known writer of fiction in black Africa. His novels are read and studied all over the world with great reception.

He was born in Ogidi (Eastern-Nigeria) in 1930. He had five other siblings, and his father, Isaiah Okafor Achebe, was an evangelist and a teacher. Chinua Achebe attended to his father´s school and then later he started studying literature. He graduated in 1953 as one of Lbadan´s first graduates.

Chinua has expressed that he was awakened to the power of fiction for expressing the most profound ideas of human experience and for giving voice to the deeper feelings of the individual human spirit. He was also very interested in the history of Nigeria, and he was determined to express the spirit of his people and write about Africa from the inside. So he started researching and analyzing literature about African culture.

By the time he wrote his first novel, Things Fall Apart in 1958, his mind was filled with all the unique information he had gathered. The book was an immediate success and has won several prices as well as honors.

In his novels he sets a great importance on family and relationships. It is clear that he has had a happy childhood and careful upbringing.

The Background of the Novel

The novel explores the Ibo people. The Ibo people share a common culture with the same language, common beliefs and tradition. I have to warn you that in my blog I may mix the terms Ibo and Igbo. They prefer being called Igbo, but Ibo is the most common term. They are known for being peaceful, hardworking people. Ibo is a large nation of related tribes, now numbering around eleven million people.

Things Fall Apart shows us various social rituals as well as politics and how they interact with neighboring villages through a system of arrangements. The Ibo people loved speeches and consequently they settle everything by discussion.

The story is about the Ibo people in the nineteenth century who are faced with the first European interference. The Europeans´ motives were usually of trade even though they among other excuses, explained that their motives were to “bring light to the dark places of the world”. I have to say with great respect that Chinua Achebe has managed to describe the colonial Africa simple and strong, describing Africa as life-like as possible.

Source: York Notes on Things Fall Apart, Longman literature guides

Multicultural Literature

In my last post I wrote that Things Fall Apart is multicultural literature and I thought I would elaborate on that before I start telling you about the content of the book.

Multicultural literature describes how people live and features characters and themes from countries all over the world. It gives us an insight in foreign cultures that may be strange to us. Furthermore, multicultural literature is free from all stereotypes, it presents an accurate representation of cultures. In this book it is the culture of the lgbo people in Nigeria we get to explore.

What multicultural literature can help us with is understanding other cultures on a deeper level. To explain what I mean I would like to show you the iceberg-model of culture (look at picture below). If we for example travel, or meet people from other cultures, we may learn the tip of the iceberg about their culture, but reading about another culture in a novel, gives us a rare insight to other cultures´ values and beliefs.

I think multicultural literature is very valuable, especially for children. Literature is a powerful vehicle for helping children understand the world. To learn children not only to respect their own cultural groups, but also the cultural groups of others is vital. Therefore I think multicultural literature deserves a place in all classrooms.

The iceberg-model

If multicultural literature sounds interesting to you, you should check out this list of popular multicultural literature books! If you scroll down, you can see that Things Fall Apart is on the list. Enjoy! https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/multicultural-literature

First impression

Welcome to my blog! In the weeks forward I will write about the book “Things fall apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. So far, I have only read a little part of it, but it seems very interesting. The book explores the culture of the lbo people of Nigeria and consists of two twin dramas, one ancient, one modern, perfectly harmonized.

I have heard a lot of great things about the novel, it is very well known and many of my friends have already read it! I have always been interested in different cultures and learning about new ones. Earlier I have read different multicultural books like “the kite runner” and “thousand splendid suns” so I look forward to adding this to my list.

I am very exited for this book, I have already gotten to know the main characters, I will introduce you to them in a post later on! If you follow my blog in the next few weeks, I will (with the help of Chinua Achebe) give you an insight in a whole new culture, introduce you to interesting characters and teach you about conflicts between the individual and society, and between different cultures! 🙂