Monologue - Mr.Kiaga

Young Nwoye, I am so proud of you and ecstatic that you have decided to abandon your ridiculous Igbo beliefs and decided to convert to Christianity. You will not regret this choice because God will now look after your well-being and protect you from harm. As the leader of the Christian church here in Mbanto, I will personally guide you to your destiny and to the light of salvation. You will be reborn with a new life, as a proper Christian, ready and willing to support Christianity to the end of time. Like yourself, I used to believe in the lies taught to us by our elders; but no, not anymore, not after I have seen the truth! I no longer believe in evil baby twins, or the lies of the Oracle, no! I am now a proud Christian! With endless support and belief in my religion. Throughout my years, I have obtained a vast knowledge of truths and stories about the creation of the world. I would like to share some with you sometime. But not now. Anyways, we have only established our Christian church here in Mbanto for only a short while. However, God has already taken notice and protects us. Why, just the other day, my converts informed me of an impending attack from your people, but none came. Why? Well, because God thwarted their violent attempt at tearing down the very walls of this church, saving me and the many other men, women and children I have converted over to righteousness. And soon you will become one of them, one of us. As for the other Igbos, let us hope they come to their senses quickly, or they will end up burning in hell. Now come, let us commence your journey on becoming a proud Christian!

To Be or Not To Be..... A Hero

My opinion of Okonkwo before spring break was that he was and was not a hero. In my essay, I talked about how Okonkwo is a hero to the Igbo people according to their culture. However, in modern times and with different views, Okonkwo is not a hero. After finishing the novel, my opinions have changed.

 I now think that Okonkwo is a hero to the Igbo people as well as in modern times. Since I have only read the beginning of the book when I wrote the essay, I thought he was a violent and angry person who mistreated his family. Although that still stands true, Okonkwo is a hero because he fought hard to protect his people and his culture from falling apart. When the missionaries came and challenged the Igbo culture and beliefs, Okonkwo tried his very best to prevent the Christian church and Europeans from taking over. However, despite Okonkwo’s best efforts and realizing the hopelessness of the situation, he commits suicide. Okonkwo is considered to be a hero by his people and by modern culture. To me, I also see a hero, fighting for what he believes in to the very end.  

Liesel's Mini Wars

There are two currently two conflicts the main character in the novel The Book Thief , Liesel Meminger, must deal with: man vs self, and man vs society.

Liesel Meminger’s conflicts with herself include being haunted by nightmares of her baby brother dead on the train, and the worry and thought of being disowned by her mother because of financial trouble. Liesel’s conflict with herself is helped by her foster father, Hans Hubermann. Whenever Liesel bolts upright from her nightmare of her dead baby brother, Hans Hubermann is always there to hold her hand and to comfort her. Liesel’s foster mother, Rosa Hubermann, also helps Liesel cope with her conflict of missing her mother by distracting her by throwing orders and yelling at Liesel.

Liesel Meminger’s other conflict of her vs society includes not being accepted at school. As a young girl growing up in a poor family, Liesel had no opportunity for a proper education. Therefore, after moving into her new city and foster home, Liesel now goes to school. Not knowing how to read or write, Liesel is forced to learn with children much younger than she. Eventually, Liesel was bumped up to her appropriate grade due to obnoxious behaviour. During class, the teacher called on all the children to read a short paragraph in front of the class but purposefully excludes Liesel. Distraught, Liesel picks up a book and attempts to read in front of the class. Failing miserably, she is then teased and picked upon by her classmates. At recess, after much bullying, Liesel snaps and beats up a boy. Liesel copes with this conflict by having her foster father read and teach her words and letters from books.

Liesel’s conflict with society reminds me of a video which has recently gone viral and been on the news. The video shows a crowd of scrawny young kids bulling a bigger kid. Apparently, the bigger kid has been bullied all his life. In the video, after a couple punches, the big kid snaps and attacks the bully. This is like what happened to Liesel when she was being constantly teased by her classmates.

Link to video àhttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhmc7v_bully-gets-owned_fun

*caution, video is graphic*

Seeing Through The Layers

Post colonialism: views or attitudes towards a specific race.

Back when the Europeans were fighting to expand their empires, many explorers landed in Africa to claim as much land as possible. While claiming land for the home country, many explorers met local inhabitants. The explorers traded and interacted with the Africans and told stories about them back in Europe. The explorers told stories that depicted the Africans poorly and caused the Europeans to have a negative image on them. Afterwards, Europeans then began to view everything European as good (e.g. being white) and everything African as bad (e.g. being black).

A recent example of post colonialism would be here -->http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/27393408/detail.html

In that article, a bar owner publically put up a racist message on his sign announcing how "hispanics are criminals". The bar owner is saying that all hispanics are criminals because they sneak into the United States illegally. This is racist because it is a stereotype and it does not apply to all hispanics living in the US.