The use of English
Achebe presents the complexities and depths of an african culture to readers of other cultures as well as to readers of his own culture.
This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.
Paper 14 The African Literature......Language study of The African literature
1. Topic: Language study of
The African literature
Roll No : 09
Paper No : 14
Subject : African Literature. Course: M.A.
Semester: 4.
Submitted to : Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji
Bhavnagar University. (Department of English).
7. Title of the Things Fall Apart
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart, the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
– W.B Yeats, "The Second Coming“
Things Fall Apart
The phrase “things fall apart” is from a poem by W.B Yeats
The novel documents the falling apart of the Igbo tribe due to the
coming of the Christian missionaries and the rule of the English
government.
Colonial aspect can be visible here that though he was interesting in
writing in his native language but he has taken a title of his novel
from this above poem which is in English poem so no can be stay
far away from colonial effect of mind.
8. Pronunciation of Igbo Names and
Words
for example, Achebe describes how the missionary's
translator, though an Igbo, can not pronounce the
Mbanto Igbo dialect: "Instead of saying 'myself' he
always said 'my buttocks.‘ "Igbo names usually
represent meanings — often entire ideas. Some
names reflect the qualities that a parent wishes to
bestow on a child; for example, Ikemefuna means
my power should not be dispersed.
Other names reflect the time, area, or other
circumstances to which a child is born; for example,
Okoye means man born on Oye Day, the second
day of the Igbo week. And Nneka means mother is
supreme.
9. Other names reflect the time, area, or other
circumstances to which a child is born; for example,
Okoye means man born on Oye Day, the second day of
the Igbo week. And Igbo parents also give names to
honor someone or something else; for instance, Nneka
means mother is supreme.
When Achebe writes about Okonkwo's father, he
writes,
" Even as a little boy he had resented his father's failure
and weakness, and even now he still remembered how
he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his
father was agbala." A reader may not know what agbala
means first hand, but then Achebe goes on to say that
agbala is a word for " a man who had taken no title.“
10. Strong religion, morals, and
culture of the country
The novel contains native sayings that represents the
strong religion, morals, and culture of the country.
An example is seen early on in the novel when Achebe
writes,
"If a child washed his hands he could eat with kings,"
referring to Okonkwo, who "washed his hands" of his
bad reputation which came because of his father's
lifestyle.This is parallel to Nigeria's circumstances, and
implies that if Nigeria " washed their hands" the country
could be just as important as Britain.
11. The strong religious beliefs of the tribe are clearly seen
when Achebe writes,
" Those whose palm kernels were cracked for them by a
benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble,"
showing that they try to be thankful for everything that
they have. Also,
Achebe goes on to write,
" when a person says yes, his Chi( personal God) says
yes to him,"
This implying that the natives believed that if you
humble yourself to your God he will not say no to you.
12. Finally, he also uses the proverb
"A man that makes trouble for others also makes
trouble for himself,“
This being similar to the Golden Rule that the British
knew and were very familiar with. These proverbs say
the exact opposite of the European opinion, providing
evidence that this highly religous , moral culture is
civlized.
13. BOOKER'S SEVEN BASIC PLOTS
ANALYSIS
Christopher Booker is a scholar who wrote that every story
falls into one of seven basic plot structures: Overcoming
the Monster, Rags to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return,
Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Shmoop explores which of
these structures fits this story like Cinderella’s slipper.
1.Anticipation Stage
Okonkwo sets out to make his own reputation and fortune.
2.Dream Stage
Okonkwo becomes one of the top dogs in Umuofia.
3.Frustration Stage
Okonkwo’s luck is running out. Big time.
14. 4.Nightmare Stage
Okonkwo sees his clan falling apart but can do nothing to
prevent it.
5.Destruction or Death Stage
Okonkwo has a death wish…And he acts on it.
15. Waiting for the Barbarians
In Coetzee’s words Waiting for the Barbarians is a novel
about “the impact of the torture chamber on the life of a
man of conscience”
In this novel language is seems to be in sense of fear
,torture ,silence of a barbarian girl and power of Empire.
16. “I cast my mind back, trying to recover an image of her
as she was before. I must believe that I saw her on the
day she was brought in by soldiers roped neck to
neck with the other barbarian prisoners. I know that
my gaze has passed over her when together with others
(…). My eye passed over her; but I have no memory of
that passage. On that day she was still unmarked; but I
must believe she was unmarked as I must believe she
was once a child (…). Strain as I will, my first image
remains of the kneeling beggar-girl. (Coetzee, 1982:
33).”
In this quote we found that Magistrate was recalling his
memories when he saw a barbarian girl for the first time
and she was so innocent and pure.
17. But now she was changed she was carring a tag of the
‘other ‘and other means she was not a part of them and
now she was carring a scares of the Empire . Her
otherness is carried to her body by the novelist.
Her deformed tortured body actually visualizes the
deformed ideology of imperialism which perceives her
other because of her “barbarian” identity.
So, now the language is to study from her “body” means
now the the scares will speak rather than the words.
Magistrate’s dream of children playing. Snow and a
faceless child. He doesn’t know about her origin,
identity, and culture.He feels guilty and he want to help
her to come out from torcher room’s painful memories
which she has faced.
18. According to Coetzee, torture room is a metaphor
“for relations between authoritarianism and its victims.
He questions: How do you find it possible to eat
afterwards, after you have been working with people?
(...) I have imagined that one would want to wash one’s
hands. But no ordinary washing would be enough, one
would require priestly intervention, a ceremonial of
cleansing, don’t you think? Some kind of purging of
one’s soul too – that is how I imagined it. Otherwise how
would it be possible to return to everyday life- to sit
down a table, for instance, and break bread with one’s
family or one’s comrades? (Coetzee, 1982: 126)
19. Washing the traces away from the girl’s body which the
torturer has left is impossible, but it is impossible too, to
wash away the responsibility from the torturer’s hand.
