When people read a work of literature many expect it to be a literary masterpiece. What makes a work of literature great is not through the approval of society, but by the author pushing his point out to the audience without regarding the disapproval from society he might receive. Although it is a controversial topic of whether Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn needs republishing due to the use of the word “nigger”, the novel teaches many lessons and reveals many truths that the world should know. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not have been republished because, simply put, it is not a racist novel. Adding on, Twain’s original publishing of his book promotes historical accuracy and legitimacy which would be not communicated
It makes it sound as though the Europeans used the African countries, left, and didn’t try to repay them in any way. This may be the case, but I just don’t agree with the statement that they did it “out of respect for the interests of the majority of Africans”. In the best interest of the Africans, I feel like the European nations mainly should’ve taken their governments out of the African colonies. This would fix the power distribution of the African countries because
Gender and Colonialism It was fascinating to see and be able to understand the comparison between Ferdinand Oyono’s Houseboy and Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. What was more intriguing was being able to understand Africa’s history a lot more. Both books are fictional literature primary sources. Although the novels are not true, they take the audience on a historic ride. Readers get an insight of how Africans actually feel, experience everyday life, and are finally able to read something not written by the Europeans.
The above assertion is obviously true, considering the affinity the African had with his natural environment, before the advent of colonialism. This relationship is captured by Achebe in his novel Things Fall Apart, where we see the natives struggling against the white settlers in an attempt to rescue their natural environment from desecration. And before the term Ecocritism was coined by William Rueckert in 1978, African writers had already started decrying the rape of their natural environment, by foreigners. For instance, “Okara‘s poem “Piano and Drums” is a subtle nostalgia of the primal life of Africa before foreign intervention, and the exploitation of Africa‘s natural environment” (Ayinuola 42). He also adds that, ““The Fisherman‘s Invocation” and “The Call of River Nun” are poems that have a leaning towards the purity of the natural environment of the Niger Delta before the
When African writers cannot adequately express African socio-cultural reality in a European language, they resort to the use of indigenous words and expressions.”(1996) Chinua Achebe expresses his concern about his failure in expressing his African experience through the use of pure English. He prefers a new variety of English – ‘still in communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new surroundings.’ (1965, 62) Vassanji has extensively used native words and expressions to substantiate the characters’ authentic ethnicity and cultural
Africa was like Heaven on Earth and they intended to move back here. They not only wanted to return to Africa, but they intended on building the continent whilst preserving its culture. With all this in mind, in this research paper, I intend to highlight that connection that exists between reggae music and the African continent whilst looking at the entry of reggae music into the Africa continent. I intend on doing this by linking one diasporic community and one African community; Jamaica and Zimbabwe. In his blog post, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe offends Jamaicans, Basil Wilson referred to the two countries as “two countries thousands of miles apart and yet somehow forever linked by cultural bonds.” Nigel Matongorere even goes the extra
The term myth has acquired a variety of meanings. In common parlance, it could be understood to denote that traditional expression of a people as seen in their proverbs, songs, tales, legends, folklores, and riddles. The myth and folklore in traditional African societies have a highly educative value and both are considered as a mean of educating the young. Emmanuel Obiechina an African writer writes; “the
Things Fall Apart incorporates English literature, but not slavishly. Achebe uses English literature for his own purpose and allows African culture to become present. However, this new-found voice of African culture is not made easily available to European readers. Meaning that African culture is not assimilated, therefore, European readers were not able to comprehend all the cultural aspects of the novel. Even so Achebe’s Things Fall Apart lets the reader know that
Linguicide The intense feeling and passion that permeates the book does not in any way blind the argument about the colonization of the mind which is laid with clarity and cogency. The work also mentions how the colonizer came armed with Bible and the gun. The speakers of local languages were made to feel ashamed of their own languages. However, to do this, they themselves became masters of African languages, reducing them to writing and authoring the first ever dictionaries and grammars in these languages. They talked to the colonies being oral culture and yet put the Christian Bible in unlimited quantities in even the tiniest African language.
I will discuss how this objective relates to the International Relations theory of Liberalism and justify the importance of finding African solutions for African problems below. Liberalism is a key theory in international relations, it argues that human beings act in their own self-interest but also act rationally and consider the interests of others (Steans, et al., 2010). This rational behavior opens the door to collective interests among people. This argument coincides with the goal of unity amongst Africans that the AU strives for. Another argument in liberalism suggests that due to the collective interests of people, it may be deduced that humans have no interest in engaging in wars or conflict.