Chimamanda Adichie "The Danger of a Single Story"

• ·       Adiche grew up in a university campus in Easter Nigeria
• ·       Early reader and writer
• ·       When she was young she associated with foreign people (“white/blue eyed”) in her writing
• ·       African writers saved her from “having a single story,” she learned that she could write about         her culture/realized she can write about aspects she recognized
• ·      Comes from a Nigerian family
• ·       Her family gave living domestic help from nearby rural villages
• ·       When she was a child her family gave shelter to a kid named Fede
• ·       When her writing career begin she began to see the world from different perspectives
• ·       Her roommate was ignorant towards Adiche’s culture
• ·       Automatically degraded Adiche’s homeland
• ·       These single stories ultimately come from Western literature, for example John Lock referring to Africans as beasts
• ·       Her teacher claimed that her work was not authentically African because her characters were middle class people that were not starving, insinuating that all Africans starve
• ·       Single story derives from stereotyping people
• ·       Immigrations became a synonyms with Mexicans
• ·       Single story: robs people of dignity, emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar
• ·       Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign but they are also to empower and humanize/break the dignity of people but can also repair that broken dignity
• ·       When we reject the single story we realize there is never a single story about anyone we regain a kind of paradise
• ·       Message she wanted to transmit to the audience/preconceived notions, different perspectives      

         Chimamanda Adiche is a storyteller whom portrayed a story to an audience in order to transmit to her listeners the many hardships and frustrations she has endured with when it came to her ethnic background. She was a girl that grew up in Nigeria with the ideology of a single story. However, after reading books from African writers, she was enlightened; she became conscious that she can write about her own culture rather than “blonde hair and blue eyes.” Her main point to the audience was to create a sense of awareness when in perspective of an ethnic culture, given that people are prone to be bias in any circumstance. A single story is a perspective on a matter, which derives from a stereotype. A couple examples Adiche used throughout her speech to depict of this issue was when she arrived to her university and was encountered with a woman that made the assumption that because she was black she didn’t know English, furthermore her professor alleged Adiche’s characters in her story were not authentically African because her characters were middle class people that were not starving, insinuating that all Africans starve.

France’s scramble for Africa/Social Attitudes (knowledge of the time, “liberalism,” religion, values)

            During the colonization of France in Africa, France influenced Africa positively through engraving constructive social attitudes to their culture. Africa contains a very diverse population, the reason being because of the history of the countries in the continent.

            Over the years the Europeans have brought their own culture and religion to the area as they colonized Africa. One of the goals of colonization was to introduce Christianity to the Africans. In large part West Africa was colonized by the French who tried to introduce Catholicism as well as their own culture. Other countries in the region where colonized by the British or Portuguese, these have completely different cultures. The differences are not just the result of the different cultures of the European nations but also because of the different ways in which they colonized them. The British were much more forceful than the French were for example.

            The West African nations have also experienced a large influence from Muslims coming from North Africa. In the early years this was just a trading arrangement but over time they settled in the region as well. This has brought and additional religion and culture that has affected these countries. In general the farther north you go in West Africa the larger the Muslim presence will be, in some cases they will represent nearly half the population. There are some exceptions however as the French were more accepting of the Muslims in their colonies than the other European nations so the former French colonies tend to have a larger Muslim influence.

Character Analysis: Nwoye

            Nwoye is Okwonko’s oldest son. Although, Nwoye is not given affection or attention by his father, Ikemefuna takes part in the family and compensates by standing a role model to Nwoye; Nwoye frequently strived to approach equality with Ikemefuna and this was of pleasure to Okwonkwo. The narrator stated, "Okonkwo was inwardly pleased with his son's development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna. He wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough man capable of running his father's household when he was dead and gone to join his ancestors." Overall, however Okwonkwo considered his son as “lazy,” therefore he characterizes him as feminine and takes for granted Nwoye is just like his father, Unoka.

            Nwoye is inoffensive to his surroundings but unfortunately, he has to tolerate an environment in which only violence and cruelty takes place. Nwoye possesses the distinctiveness of the rest of the clan members by being insightful with his feelings. These traits that Nwoye owns, seen as positive to modern society were seen as irrevocably inacceptable to Okwonko. A show of Nwoye’s sensitivity is when he is filled with puzzlement at the beginning of the book when he prefers to hear feminine oriented stories such as the tortoise or the bird Eneke, rather than the masculine stories involving aggression and carnage.

            When Okwonko broke one of the Igbo society laws which was taking part in the murder of Ikemefuna, Nwoye not only lost all respect and any feeling he had towards his father but also, he broke his commitment with the Igbo society and turned to the missionaries, taking part in the Christian religion. Due to this act of impulse that took place upon Nwoye, Okwonkwo disowned him by saying "you have all see the great abomination of your brother. Now he is no longer my son or your brother. I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people". Nwoye had lost all respect towards his father with the murder of Ikemefuna and vise versa, Okwonkwo lost the last bit of anything he felt for his son when he found out he had turned to the missionaries, transforming into Christianity. In one of the many conversations Obierika had with Nwoye, Nwoye told him “I am one of them.” He added, “He is not my father,” referring to Okwonkwo, of course. This section demonstrates the lack of affection and respect Nwoye has towards his father. Although, he once was startled by the sound of his father, now he was rebelling against him.

           Okwonko’s ideology remains strict throughout the story line; as he has no doubts upon the laws of the Igbo society, the superstitions and the traditions that ensue, characters such as Nwoye and Obierika do question this mythical tradition. 

Toni Morrison reads "English and the African Writer," by Chinua Achebe: Writing Frame:

           In his essay, "English and the African Writer" Chinua Achebe reflects on the role of language and power, focusing solely on the fact that it would be a disgrace to not develop linguistically using the English language and dwelling in what is precedent to modern society.

            Achebe's main purpose was to communicate the idea that African writers whom write in English or French should not be thought of as “unpatriotic smart alecks.” On the contrary, this is done because a “booming book” is characterized by having permeation of foreign cultures. By doing so, finding a sense of identity.

            Achebe’s view of the British/English language is that its today’s language and it will remain for an extensive time.  He asserts, “Today, for good or ill, that language is English. Tomorrow it may be something else, although I very much doubt it.” Also, he referred to “But let us not in rejecting the evil throw out the good with it,” which created the emotion/reaction of guilt within the reader for not giving the English language the credit it deserves.

             Achebe believes that the justification for using English as a means of communication in his novel is that by doing so he can communicate through his book with people across Nigeria (some of which are English speakers) given that they were granted with this language due to the Colonialism by the British. A further vindication of why he used a language other than his nation’s tongue is to allow his books to be read in the colonial ruling nations. As other writers such as, James Baldwin, struggle towards writing of their African experiences without the employment of their mother tongue, Achebe thinks, “English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience.”

             The influence of the British led to a high socio-political change, including, a language for the African population to communicate amongst each other; English, “the former colonial language, chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the country (in this case Nigeria).” 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 it was translated into English. Achebe bluntly challenges Shabann Robert to translate his work to English to obtain a larger range of audience.

             Writers, who choose to publish in the colonial languages of English and French, are not, Achebe believes, "unpatriotic smart-alecks," they are in fact, "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 disagreeing with Baldwin. As I stated before, Achebe dares to in a sense degrade Baldwin by stressing that he can “carry the weight” of his African experiences in the English language while Baldwin states that he cannot.

Key quotes

 "If it didn't give them a song, it gave them a tongue."

“Where am I to find the time to learn the half dozen or so Nigerian languages, each of which can sustain a literature?”

“Let us not in rejecting the evil throw out the good within.”

"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 new African surroundings."

“Today, for good or ill, that language is English. Tomorrow it may be something else, although I very much doubt it.”

“I do not see African literature as one unit but as a group of associated units—in fact the sum total of all the national and ethnic literatures of Africa.”

“African writers who have chosen to write in English or French are not unpatriotic smart 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.”

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

            The people of the Igbo society devote their self greatly towards the Oracle. The Oracle to the clan members is like God to the missionaries. However, their religious system accounts with many superstitions that they practice on a daily basis. Take for example the act of throwing away newborn twins or having to kill Ikemefuna because the Oracle ordered to do so. Of course to a Christian culture this might sound unethical, however to the people of the Igbo society these were socials norms.

            Whatever the Oracle orders, the group follows.  The people of the Igbo society see the Oracle as an overpowering being; therefore they see it as vital for their life to revolve around this authority they look up to. In the same way they make their life what the Oracle disposes of. Obstacles such as failure, success, death, eclipse, sickness, etc is all due to the Oracle. This ideology is considered as a mythical tradition given that their actions derive from manifestations of the natural world, including aspects such as water, sun, air, fire, etc. They fear that if they don’t follow the instructions and regulations of the omnipotent being they will endure vengeance from it.

            The Igbo people’s hierarchy is a controversial topic and when put into context, their believes must be recognizable given that they are from an agriculture society, consequently having all the reasons in favor to rely on the elements of nature.  

            The cosmology that the Igbo people devote to is separated into four constituents. The socio-environment in which the Igbo people reside in comprises in the following components: Okike, Alusi, Mmuo Uwa. Each of them stands individually as a significant supremacy. Okike means creation, Alusi means supernatural forces or deities, Mmuo means spirit and lastly, Uwa means world. These four aspects belong to a philosophy called Odinani in which the supreme God is Chukwu, which means great spirit.

            These cultural values predisposes the Igbo population to do as the Chukwu has commanded, if not other malevolent forces will meddle with the existence of their kind.  As the Igbo say: "I buru Chi gi uzo, i gbagbue onwe gi n'oso." [If you walk before your Chi, you will do the race of your life.]