Reflection on Activity: "Village of Umuofia"

What did you learn about your character and other characters from participating in the role-play?

What I learn about my character and other characters from participating in the role-play was basically, an idea of how the character’s point of view could be present in all of the scenes that we have covered today. Thanks to the Village Crier, and all of the questions that he addressed to ours characters, I was able to look into my own character’s point of view and see what he would think about that situation if he were not present at that time. Personally, I was able to keep learning about the attitude of Reverend Smith, during the activity, like for example that he believed that there was only one god, and that the other gods, in Umuofia were just made from stones and woods. Furthermore, when the Village Crier talked about how Okonkwo was able to beat her wife during Peace Week, I suddenly, started looking for key quotes that would represent the attitude that Reverend Smith would have had if he had been present at that time. Another way to say this would be to see how the missionaries looked at women and their role in society. I also learned about the actions he had towards the African people and how he just wanted to please God by spreading out his word.

Additionally, I was able to learn about other character’s point of view like for example, Chielo’s point of view. I learned that she looked at every problem in terms of their god, Agbala. For example, when the Village Crier asked about what should be done with those people or social groups who do not conform? I totally, did not knew what Chielo would think at that moment, but thanks to this activity I was able to learn that the Oracle of the Hills and Caves was a really important factor in taking a decision and that everything should be consulted in order to decide a punishment. Also, thanks to having many characters at the same time answering the questions, I was able to see how other characters would actually think about a certain situation like for example the role that egwuwu have on the village and their decisions.

Thanks to the questions that were posted in the activity today, I was able to write down some pages that I could then use for concrete evidence on my essay.

Why did certain characters act the way they did during our experience in the Village of Umuofia?

      Certain characters acted the way they did during our experience in the Village of Umuofia because of their certain point of views. There is no character that has the same point of view because that would mean they would be identical people. This is impossible because our attitude and point of view in certain things allow us to be different. However, we could have same point of views towards a thing but at the end, we will react differently, some more violent and others more pacific. This can be seen with the missionaries versus the African People because of their different attitudes and their different cultures. Cultures are the ones that make us react differently on occasions because there is some things are not tolerated on specific cultures so the reactions are different. For example, when the Village Crier ask the villages about the incident when Okonkwo had beaten up her wife, people from Umuofia, the natives, reacted differently than the missionaries because of what their culture says about the role of the women in society. For the natives, beaten a women is normal because she has disrespected her husband, but for the Missionaries coming from Europe, an innocent women should not be punished that way. This means that based on what is good or not in a specific culture, then people will have different points of view and act different.

How was your experience similar to and different from the novel?

      My experience during this activity compared to the novel was similar in some ways and different on other ways. It was similar because in the activity, we always used the book looking for specific parts so I had to analyze that section and then try to comment how my character would react to that event. Basically, during the activity, we actually did keep the context of the book and the incidents that happened and from there; we tried to create our discussion. With having a reference like the book, it helps us because we do not have to create events in the novel because all of the ones that were chosen by the Village Crier were taken into consideration to fit all of the character’s point of view so that we could then share what we think of it in character.

      In terms of being different, I was able to get an extra glimpse from the novel because I had to think and see how would a missionary on that time have reacted to all of the incidents. It definitely tested my knowledge on the novel, but most importantly, the reading comprehension that I had about the character and the research that I did for my character analysis. For a moment, I was able to feel the superiority of the missionaries but also how did the natives felt from all of their actions. I believe that with the novel it is basically creating the character’s physical appearance and all of the background, but with this activity, I was able to get another idea out of the village, some thing more technological. I think this has helped me because now I don’t see the book as how I used to see it because I really liked the technological perspective of the village of Umuofia. I also believe that I am not the only one that has benefited from this activity because having two different perspectives on the same thing actually opens up your comprehension of it and you start to see it differently. By seeing it differently, you are able to get more in-depth knowledge from the novel because you have actually participated. This means that you have actually done something related to the novel, which I believe, is more entertaining than reading the novel.

How has your experience in the Village of Umuofia “virtual reality” changed or enhanced your understanding of the novel and the historical events on which it is based?

            

            My experience in the Village of Umuofia “virtual reality” has changed and enhanced my understanding of the novel and the historical events on which it is based on. I say enhanced because I have learn more perspectives from other characters that I really did not imagine how they would react to certain events. For example, I have a better understanding of Chielo and how she sees everything based on their god, Agbala. I also have a better understanding on Mr. Brown and his intentions on the African people by trying to become friends with the natives and then try to convince them to change religion. I think this is a good thing because before the activity, I had a vague idea about Mr. Brown and I thought all missionaries were like Reverend Smith, mean and cruel with the natives, but now I see that I was wrong and that there is a contrast between two different perspectives and intentions from the characters that belong to the same culture. I can also say that it has changed my understanding on Okonkwo because I first saw him as a cruel person but then when I was able to see the responses made by the students that had investigated him, I was able to see that I had judge him based on just some facts. I did not realized or thought about the different culture he was exposed to and how it was okay to do that. Now I believe in the idea that everyone does what is correct based on your previous knowledge, which happens to be the culture you are in at that time.

In terms of the historical events, I can say that it was really important to do this activity because I was able to do some research while we were actually doing the activity about the cultures and ideas that the Umuofian villagers are exposed to. This has helped me because now I understand how it seem to them some weird what the missionaries were telling them, because for them, there gods and actions were not prohibited and actually they were allowed. 

Igbo Society and Culture

What do they believe? Describe their religious system and the hierarchy of Igbo cosmology.

The Igbo people believe in one supreme god as well as other minor gods that are generally portrayed to be spirits. First, lets start to talk of the Igbo Cosmology and define what that is. Cosmology is a system of ideas, opinions and conceptions of nature, society, humans and their places in the world. The Igbo people belief that there are various beings in the universe. They belief that humans inhabit the earth, fmeanwhile, the supernatural beings inhabit the sky and lastly the spirits which include ancestors and other spirits inhabit under the earth. Also, they belief that Chineke, the almighty, lives in the sky along with other spirits like the sun, the moon, the sky, and the stars.  The supreme god is the one that has the highest powers and it is referred to as Chukwu so that it is not confused with other minor gods. The minor gods are subject to human passion and weaknesses because at one point they can either be kind or treacherous. These gods include: Ala, the earth goddess (has to do with the fertility of lands in Earth), Anyanwu is the sun god which makes crops and is responsible for the growth of plants, and finally Igwe is the god of the sky and is the source of rain. Furthermore, the Igbo society believes in the concept of the “Chi” which is thought to be a force of creation as everyone and everything has a Chi. It would be personal to every human but also it is perceived as a manifestation of Chukwu.

The hierarchy in the Igbo society consists of strength and skill. Titles are something that is required in the Igbo society and they are earned based on the success of the man. This means that if the man was a successful man with lots of strength and skill, then he had a title. Having a title was a sign of respect from other people in the community but it also a man with a tittle is placed higher in the social structure of Umuofia than someone like Okonkwo’s father who didn’t achieve anything. The egwugwu are signs of culture and independence in Umuofia because they are seen as ancestral gods, though they are just masked Umuofia elders. The primary role of the egwugwu is to listen to complaints and work as judges in the community to have some respect. 

Finally, there are 2 classes of people in Igbo society and those are: Nwadiala and Osu. The Nwadiala are the freeborn meanwhile, the Osu are the slaves and untouchables. There is no connection between both of them as the Osu are not permitted to party with the Nwadiala and that is why it could be said that they are considered inferior human beings.

Response to Chimamanda Adichie "The Danger of a Single Story"

In the TED talk done by Chimamanda Adichie, she informs the audience how she was able to find her authentic cultural voice. It is through the title of this video that we can realize the purpose of it; she tries to warn the audience about the danger there is to just listen one story about a person or country.  If that happens, then because of human nature, we use that piece of information to produce prejudices when we think about the person or the country. She uses a personal example to convey this idea. It is the story of how her family told her that the kid working on her house was really poor and then every time Adichie thought of the kid, she would only picture him as a poor kid. She also talks about how people just have one idea about Nigeria and Africa and all the time it is not true. Adichie tries to explain the reader that if we just listen to one story about a certain thing, we risk having a critical misunderstanding. This is seen throughout history and especially with Europeans when they invaded Africa and believe the natives there were totally different and didn’t have any rights.   The quote that explains the misunderstanding that people have about Africa happens to be: “After referring to the Black Africans as beasts that don’t have houses”. Just having one piece of information isn’t enough to start making some comments because we are never sure how good the information is. Learning and having more sources allow humans to have bigger background information about a certain topic and it doesn’t allow humans to have a misunderstanding concept. 

English and the African Writer

 In his essay, "English and the African Writer" Chinua Achebe reflects on the role of language and power, focusing on the motivation and purposes he had to write his novel we all know in the English language, Things Fall Apart. He also refers back to the idea that English is now part of the African culture and its superiority on top of any other African languages. This is even though the African community doesn’t want to accept that English is their official language. Using the following quotation, “"If it didn't give them a song, it gave them a tongue”, Achebe tries to prove to his fellow community that English language didn’t brought any negative effects on their culture, in fact, it allowed them to become more international and enabled them a new system of communication. Additionally, Achebe looks into the difference between African languages and how much they vary between locations of the continent, but also within the same country. If we realize something, there were a lot of languages spread throughout Africa in those times because of the vast amount of tribes and with this, it made it impossible for messages to be delivered in the continent. This is because no one had the time to actually learn that large amount of languages and even though someone tried to learn as much languages as possible, that is something not easy to do and it takes a lot of time.

Achebe's main purpose was to communicate the idea that the introduction of English language brought more positive actions and ideas than negative. With the introduction of the English language into African cultures, it enabled them to become more international as that was a worldwide language but it also provided them with a system for easy communication. Achebe mentions Joseph Kariuki, a famous Kenyan author, and he makes a point saying that he felt he had met and got to know him through his poems and publications. Unconsciously, he was alluding that the English language made all of this possible because it is through that language that it made the poem clear and expressive. We already know based on the novel of Achebe and history books that the English language arrived with the British missionaries as an imperialist language but it never brought any harm, in fact, it ended up being the main reason as to why the African tribes were able to unify and create the countries of Africa. Another positive action from the inclusion of the English language was that it helped them by giving them an international education. However, Achebe tries to get a distinction between Kariuki to a Swahili poet called Shabaan Robert, which writes all of his poems in Swahili and not English. He later then refutes his idea by criticizing that with this author, he didn’t feel any connection as suppose to Kariuki. One quote from the essay proves this when he states, “Where am I to find the time to learn the half dozen or so Nigerian languages, each of which can sustain a literature?” and this is where Achebe tries to criticize the use of language in the poems found because it is not normally used. With some many African languages, as it was stated above, Achebe believes it is really hard for an international person to understand all of this poems. Additionally, he believes that the languages have grown old because each time, less people are using them because now a days, in Africa only the imperialist languages where the ones to remain intact after the reform that Africa went through.

Achebe view of the English language is one that surprises many because he finds it has brought many positive things to his country and continent even though there was a strict imposition from the British when they came to conquer some lands. It was through this imposition and the positive effects that English language had on the African cultures, that it could be considered that they gained a new powerful language Achebe also tries to explain to his community that English has grown a lot in their cultures and it is now part of it, so he asks many of them to reason it out and believe in the effect that it has on the community. He wants his peers to accepted it because of the effective transmission purposes it fulfills in the community.  He asserts, “Let us not in rejecting the evil throw out the good within” and with this assertion he tries to refer to the idea that people must let go of the past and forget all of the harm that it brought with the inclusion of the English language, and now look at the positive aspects and not let go of this wonderful source of communication. Also, he referred to practice of English as the official language of the continent as it summarizes their present, which created the reaction of resentment within the reader, as they believe that one of their kind could only vote in favor of the English language.

Achebe believes that the justification for using English as a means of communication in his novel is that this language is part of their culture and they must respect that decision as nothing else has changed. With this statement, he tries to make the people that are against the inclusion of English to rethink all that has happened after the imperialistic period in their continent and they have to accept it, as is it part of their history. As it is part of their history, it would mean that all that has happened after this period, is new and that now all of the people are a complete reaction of this era in their history. Achebe tries to explain to his community that it is right to use English as way to communicate because it is the only tool that connect Africa with other continents as it has given them a new tongue. Moreover, due to the numerous amount of unused languages in Africa, Achebe makes a point by saying that it would be useless to continue with those languages as it will not give them anything productive in the future. With this being said, Achebe tries to make some people understand that Africa is no longer a continent with a vast number of unofficial languages and tribes, but in fact, it has reshape itself after the imperialistic period it suffered and that with the inclusion of the English language, it has brought many positive things like education and the unification of many tribes to form countries.

The influence of the British led to a high socio-political change, including, positive and negative aspects. First of all, due to the inclusion of the English language and the British Empire, it was able to teach the African communities about politics and now we see that many of the countries have a government instead of having a tribe leader as how they used to have that before. With the inclusion of the English language, as it is stated before, clans and tribes were able to unify and come together to create a powerful nation that will be ruled by a government in order to solve all of the problems that are presented to them. Achebe points to the irony at work when presented with work by authors such as Shabaan Robert, the Swahili poet of Tanganyika, as he could not understand his work, and would not, until he learned about the Swahili language and used this quote, “Where am I to find the time to learn the half dozen or so Nigerian languages, each of which can sustain a literature?” to create an imitation against these authors.

Writers who choose to publish in the colonial languages of English and French, are not, Achebe believes, "unpatriotic smart-alecs," they are in fact, " alecks with an eye on the main chance—outside their own countries. They are by-products of the same process that made the new nation-states of Africa."

Achebe draws to a conclusion by referring to the work of James Baldwin. He draws a parallel between this work and his own ideas by I recognize, of course, that Baldwin's problem is not exactly mine, but I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new African surroundings.

Character Analysis: Reverend Smith

- Key quotes with analysis

Quote 1: “We cannot offer physical resistance to them. Our strength lies in the Lord. They knelt down together and prayed to God for delivery. O Lord, save Thy people," cried Mr. Smith.” (Chapter 22)

Analysis: This quote represents how Mr. Smith is being portrayed in the novel as a religious fanatic and explains his behavior in the Igbo society. He is portrayed as a strict and intolerant man that doesn’t belief in the Igbo culture and just wants people of that society to believe in Christianity and nothing else. With the inclusion of a prayer, it is evident Mr. Smith doesn’t have bad intentions on the Igbo society as he is asking God to save them but the methods in which he implies Christianity are a bit harsh. As we know he is the successor of Mr. Brown and both of them had different approaches to get in contact with the Igbo society. We also see that they don’t look for any abusive efforts towards the egwuwu and leave everything to God so that he can solve everything. Achebe tries to show that missionaries in Umuofia didn’t always show the dark part of them but in fact they are demonstrating a caring side. This makes the novel more credible as it portrays different perspectives of the white people.

Quote 2: "All the gods you have named are not gods at all. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children. There is only one true God and He has the earth, the sky, you and me and all of us." "Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm," replied the white man. "They are pieces of wood and stone." (Chapter 16)

Analysis: On the other hand, with the quote that is shown above, we get the negative side of Reverend Smith as he threatens Igbo religion by denying the existence of their gods. This creates one of the biggest conflicts in the novel, which could be seen as the starting problem between the white people and the Igbo society. The intentions that Reverend Smith has are not bad at all, but the measures he is implying are not the best ones. In fact, these measures show the opposite intentions that the missionaries have. Achebe doesn’t want to create a bias towards the white man by just quoting the good intentions they had but he also wants to add credibility by pointing out the way that they did those things. We know that it was hard to convince people in those days and it is true that you don’t expect a society to voluntarily accept your religion. It is more complicated than that, and that is why Reverend Smith attacks the religion of the Igbo society. He believes that doing this, he is actually doing good things in the name of God.

- Relationship of character to others within the novel:

The relationship that Reverend Smith has with the clan or the Igbo society, happens to be bad because of the methods he did to get their attention. Coming right after Mr. Brown, everyone in the Igbo society was accustomed to Mr. Brown’s methods of telling stories and making new friends but with the inclusion of Reverend Smith into the society everything changed. Reverend Smith was not able to get many people to follow Christianity.

On one occasion, he suspended a young woman from the church because she had poured new wine into old bottles. In the book it states: “Mr. Smith was filled with wrath when he heard of this. He disbelieved the story which even some of the most faithful confirmed, the story of really evil children who were not deterred by mutilation, but came back with all the scars. He replied that such stories were spread in the world by the Devil to lead men astray. Those who believed such stories were unworthy of the Lord's table” (chapter 22). With this we can see that the relationship he had with the Igbo society was not that good because he did everything he could do to get more people into Christianity and he did not care how he did it.

He can be interpreted as the stereotypical white colonialist and his “behavior epitomizes the problems of colonialism” and even his name reflects it. It is also referred in the novel that he could only see black and white, which meant he only could see two perspectives. He could see good things and bad things but nothing in between. It was or one thing or the other but never in between or something else. It stated that white referred to colonialism and everything that was good but black was everything from race relations to the whole culture and religion of the Igbo society.

- Reaction/response of character to key events within the text:

Reverend Smith had a reaction to a key event within the text and that was when the egwuwu were going to the church in search for Enoch. Basically, what happened was that he believes that Enoch had to be protected from the egwuwu as he saw and heard that they were destroying Enoch’s compound and then went to the church. All of this happened because of the atrocity that Enoch did by unmasking an egwuwu and eventually “killing” it. Enoch did that basically from an unconscious action because of the way Reverend Smith was talking to the Igbo society about their gods not being alive.

Reverend Smith tries to protect the church but eventually he cannot do anything to stop it from burning because the egwuwu were to powerful. He could be considered a foil character to Mr. Brown as he comes right after him but with a totally different attitude towards the Igbo society and with different methods to persuade them. He thought that everything that had to do with the indigenous beliefs came from the devil and that they weren’t allowed in the table of God.

-       Visual representation of the character

"Reverend Picture." N.p., n.d. Web. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/StateLibQld_2_181211_Reverend_N._H._Grimmett_of_the_Maryborough_Wesleyan_Church,_1940-1944.jpg>.