Tragic Hero

Achebe has intentionally adapted the conventions of the tragic hero archetype to Okonkwo, the main character in Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo reflects the downfall of the Igbo tribe when the missionaries came to Umoufia and took over their community. Things Fall Apart is considered a tragedy relative to the upsurge of Western expansion and colonization within the African continent. Throughout the novel, we experience how Okonkwo develops his sociopolitical position within Umuofia's tribal community. Their culture evolved a complex hierarchical structure which divides the Igbo people in distinct groups according to their wealth, age, gender and willpower. Okonkwo belonging to the top chiefs of Umoufia and having earned the highest title for his courage and arrogance, is the ultimate product of their society.

Guidebook Igboland

Exploration Igboland – Deepen into the beliefs of the Igbo and discover your benevolent chi

A land that appreciates the death as much as the living – Igboland

Today I am telling you the remarkable story of my latest encounter significant to our rich cultured globe; my discovery of Igboland along the Niger River. As a western, my curiosity and passion for the African continent and its diverse ethnic communities has brought to the Southeastern community named Igboland. Prior to my arrival, my understanding and perception of the cultural values and beliefs of the Igbo people was limited. To be truly accurate in your portrayal of a certain culture, one will have to have experienced their lifestyle to understand the traditions they share. It is my honor today to elaborate and educate those who will be visiting the land of the Igbo people regarding diplomatic purposes. The western world opposes the Igbo in many different cultural aspects; therefore I’ll be presenting this guidebook to evoke equal respect, greater understanding and appreciation for their way of living.

There are a few important factors to take into account of when it comes to establishing prosperous diplomatic relationships with the Igbo people. First of all it is inaccurate to speak of the Igbo as a single people; there are over two hundred distinct groups with slight variations in dialect and customs. Sociopolitical organization is very important to undertake any initiatives within an Igbo community. Further more, one should also be aware of their religious composition and practices in order to prevent cultural misinterpretations and future conflict.

The social and political situations within Igboland expose complex structures with a lack of centralized political constructions. The Igbo lived in autonomous villages and towns ruled by their elders. However, there were some exceptions too: the Igbo lived under the essence of patrilineages. Patrilineages are lineage groups organized along lines of descent from father to son. It is very important to acknowledge that relationships within the Igbo community are formed through blood ties, whereby each person traced his or her descent to three groups; the smallest social unit uno (natural family with a father, mother and children), then you have the umunna (a group of houses) and finally the highest territorial authority the obodo (a group of lineages forming a village). Without this comprehension it is unclear to a western democratic citizen - like me - to identify the headman (onyisi) of each town and thus recognize the division of power amongst each town or village. The many towns within Igboland did not interact amongst each other and wars often broke out when the towns failed to pay equal respect towards each other.

The government of the Igbo was based on the five most important cross-cutting institutions regulating the principles of direct participation in the government. The council of elders, the age-groups, the acquisition of titles and the council of chiefs, the women’s association and the secret societies form the essence of the Igbo society. As a diplomat you should be fully aware of these structural terms in order to approach the leader of an Igbo town or village and discuss any diplomatic matter.

Council of elders à Matters of dispute amongst lineage members were discussed at the meetings of its elders, ndisi, with the assistance of the adult members of the lineage. The elders obtained their authority due to their reputation as the oldest representative of the founding ancestors within each town. However, the elders would never act without the approval of lineage members and mutual consensus.

Age-groups à The age-group association, known as the ogbo, consisted of men and women all of the same age. If you were born within a few years of each other in a town you belonged to the same age-group, men and women associations were held separate. The age-groups had specific names significant to an event that occurred during their birth. They were also quite purposeful as it automatically formed a system to assign special duties and responsibilities to the different segments of the community, in accordance with the principle of seniority. Each age-group promoted respect to the once of above them, with the aim to earn the same respect once their age-group advanced to higher grades. In addition, age-groups were known to support life-long friendships and close bonds.

Acquisition of titles and the council of chiefs à Within the Igbo community personal achievement was highly rewarded though prestige titles. The men who earned these titles were then acknowledged as great men or chiefs and were expected to showcase their community to outsiders. Social advancement is a concept that is taught early to children so they could learn how to become a powerful chief. They were aware of the consequences if one failed to progress beyond junior titles; they were given a humiliating name such as agbala (meaning ‘woman’) and were buried without dignity. Status attainment was clearly linked to the acquisition of wealth through hard work. The highest title attainable was ozo and to acquire this position you have to take ownership of all the junior titles and discharge all the duties assigned to members of the junior title groups. Initially the Igbo people did not believe any man could inherit immortality, except for those who’ve earned the title ozo. With those came the gift immortality and that person was no longer an ordinary human but a god.

As a colonist, it was very important to be aware of these social hierarchies in order to attain the values of their culture. Each town contained an ozo and a agbala, which meant my knowledge upon the values of their culture became quite extensive.  

Women’s association à In addition to the title acquisitions within the male society, women also had their own age-group associations and title associations that complemented those of the men. Women were often given the possession of superior spiritual healing. And headed many of the traditional cults and shrines. Women were also rewarded wealth through trading, farming or weaving and were treated as ndi ogalanya (meaning a wealthy person). Like the men, women are also exposed to the concept of social advancement. However, they learned that marriage, hard work and membership of a certain association enables them to participate fully in the Igbo society. The most prestigious woman association is the omu; only those who had enough wealth to pay for the initiation ceremonies were admitted. The members of the omu were allowed to attend meetings of the councils of chiefs and participated in discussions affecting welfare of the citizens. “Igbo women’s associations upheld gender balance and equality. Their political and social activities were very useful, though men occasionally felt they were contentious.”

Secret societies à It was hard to explore the secret societies within Igboland as the women and men who joined them did not want to expose any information about this secretive organization. However, they do have an important function within the Igbo communities when it comes to judicial matters; masked ancestors might come forward to pronounce the verdict. As a diplomat it is very important to take into account of secret societies when you are approaching a sensitive topic amongst the chiefs of the towns. There will always be someone who is watching and observing you.

To seek mutual respect from the Igbo people, your awareness of religious customs and rituals is essential. Their beliefs regarding life, shines and gods differs noticeably from our western culture. The Igbo people have strong beliefs in the existence of multiple functioning gods and the Supreme Being (Chukwu). The Chukwu is the origin of all things and lives far away in the atmosphere.

• ·      The names of the Igbo people reflect the beliefs of there culture.
• ·      Everything is attributed to the will of god, nothing happens by chance.
• ·      Shrines of worship were used to represent Chukwu because no one knows what he looks like.
• ·      The Igbo also believed in the existence of Ekwensu; the equivalent of Satan.
• ·      Rivers, streams, lakes and rain had life-sustaining qualities, and symbolized purity, cleanness, coolness, freshness, fertility and longevity. These were called the water spirits.
• ·      They believed in a personal god; chi, which is similar to the Christian concept of a guardian angel.
• ·      Their entire religious system of the Igbo people revolved around the idea of birth, death and reincarnation.

Most Meaningful Takeaway | Chinua Achebe

In the interview with Chinue Achebe on the 2nd of August in 2000, he revealed various perspectives on a series of critical question which truly opened my eyes on the behalf of foreign literature with regards to the impacts of former colonized countries. It was a very insightful interview to read and to acknowledge Achebe's aim to give voice to the unheard African stories expressed in their native literature. He discusses the negative influences of American and European pop cultures in modern day literature in context of the danger of a single story; these cultures have the ability and power to publish books and stories in favor of their social status but also portray other cultures in a bad light. Africa still carries an adverse reputation due to the abiding spread of American and European stories concerning the harsh impacts of colonization to justify their imperial attitudes from the past. Achebe has made me realize that it is important to recognize the essence of multiple viewpoints and to disregard our shared prejudices, also to view a people as they are in full context to their derivation along with all their cultural beliefs. The following quote is significant to this realization and summarizes the substance of Achebe's objective to achieve a universal civilization: "And this is really what I personally wish this century to see -- a balance of stories where every people will be able to contribute to a definition of themselves, where we are not victims of other people's accounts."

'Quit India' Political Speech | Paper One

The preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British ruled-India Mahatma Gandhi presented the Quit India speech on the 8th of August in 1942 calling for abiding support in his case to resolve an Independent India. His speech, as most political speeches, contains decisive rhetoric reinforcing the message he is imposing onto his audience; gaining their votes in favor of his manifestation to achieve peace amongst the British and the Indians disregarding British Imperialism. Gandhi is able to persuade his audience by the use of various rhetorical devices influencing the urgency of the mood and tone of the speech, achieving a meaningful takeaway to his case by implementing allusions and metaphors, and lastly executing a strong consistent style and structure which enforces his audience to focus.

Gandhi intensifies the tone and mood of the speech by using highly personal diction and evokes a sense of urgency, which encourages his audience to undertake action and acknowledge the essence of shared responsibility and collaboration. The mood that is created through the imperative mode calls for urgency and undertaking. Gandhi uses the rhetorical device metanoia to express his respect towards the British people. He wants to accentuate the fact that British people are great friends to him and that this is completely irrelevant to the issue regarding British imperialism in India. Gandhi achieved this objective by recalling this statement in a stronger and more powerful manner to persuade his audience that peace and respect are the two key elements to attain the goal of a substantive India. He is hereby also able to stress the urgency in which he imposes his manifestation; he wants to resolve to peace as fast as possible. In addition, Gandhi uses anastrophe in his speech to lend emphasize on his aim to achieve freedom without the use of violence but with the ideal of achieving equal freedom.

Gandhi is also explicit when it comes to shaping meaning in his speech: he uses the rhetorical device metaphor to evoke empathy amongst his audience in his case to strive for non-violence, he said: ‘when the earth is being scorched by the flames of Himsa and crying for deliverance’. Gandhi is a historical phenomena due to his incredible mindset in which he promoted peace and equal respect. The second paragraph following the introduction, Gandhi uses the rhetorical device allusion provoking a sense of emotion amongst his audience, as he recalls his aspirations in life and reassures his audience that he strives harder in his case to peace. This emotional pull also derives from the device pathos, in which Gandhi is able to attract compassion from his audience in addressing his case to end all violence. Gandhi refers to the witty knowledge of God, which means he uses allusion to seek compassion from is audience. He implicates God as the holy father of Ahimsa and all the positive attributes in life, which is extremely useful in his attempt to free India: religion is very important in their culture and serves as the covenant between the Indians. Furthermore, Gandhi is a man who treats everyone in equal respect; he is not to befall as aggressive or unkind. He remains this reputation by implementing metaphors such as this one: ‘cutting off the friendly hand that is stretched out to help them’. Gandhi does not want to sound very harsh in his view points regarding India’s current struggle to become an independent nation, he does not want to place the British in a bad perspective.

The structure and style of the speech cleverly contributes to persuading the audience to treat each other with equal respect and eliminate hatred towards the British people to aim for an independent India. Gandhi implements the rhetorical device metabasis, which is originally used to lead in a transitional summary. However Gandhi uses metabasis in his introduction to exact the attention of his audience. He is also very conscious of his diction: he uses personal pronouns suggesting a direct connection to his audience, invoking a sense of collectivity and shared responsibility. Hereby we can identify his audience to be the people of India who stand by his side supporting non violence, as he says “Before you discuss the resolution” suggesting the addressed audience is eager to impose on possible resolutions after Gandhi has shared his point of view on the case. In context of Gandhi’s roots, he is encouraged to include traditional diction to provoke credibility (ethos) amongst his audience, especially considering his audience includes the population of India who praise him. Ahimsa means ‘do not harm’ and ‘compassion’, so by promoting this aspiration Gandhi is able to gain moral support and ethical appreciation to his attempt to restore peace amongst the Hindus and the Muslims but also strive for an independent India. Also, Gandhi is well aware of his word choice; he uses fancy words because audience has grown to global beholders meaning his speeches should carry a sense of sophistication. 

There is excessive use of conjunctive adverbs present within Gandhi’s speech to insert a break, which encourages the public to absorb his knowledge. In addition, the substantial use of punctuation, especially the comma, supports the pace of the speech: it causes the speech to be more rhythmic and dramatic. The content of the speech is very important in order to activate the audience in voting for a resolution. The pauses created due to conjunctive adverbs and commas enforce the audience to take note of the phrase previous and preceding lines.

In conclusion, Gandhi approached his audience in an urgent mood and tone to activate and motivate the Indians to strive for an independent India, acquiring this goal without the use of violence or hatred towards the opposition. At the same time, Gandhi also acquired sensibility and trigger emotion amongst his audience by using allusions and metaphors persuading them to vote for an independent India. Lastly he executed a strong and consistent style and structure which enforced his audience to focus on the message Gandhi send out.