WEEK 5: MY THOUGHT ON 'THINGS FALL APART'

“People from different parts of the world can respond to the same story if it says something to them about their own history and their own experience.” The statement explains that even though we come from different parts of the world but we still can respond to the situation that happens to other country. In the novel Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe, the British takes over the Igbo’s society whereas the society experienced many changes in their life. One of the aspects that has changed is the Igbo’s belief and culture, the British government finds the society still believe in the superstitious belief which lead them to introduce the new religion. Before the colonisation happens, the Igbo society believes in many gods for example god of the sun, god of the forest and others. The new religion introduced by the British has changed some of the society’s belief and some of them accepted the new religion in their life. One of their beliefs that has been turned down by the British is a twin baby does not accepted in the Igbo culture because they belief that twin baby will bring bad omen to the family and even to their society. Thus, they will throw it to the Evil Forest. The Igbo society also believe in superstitious where they believe that there are many evils spirit live in the Evil Forest, thus, nobody would dare to go to the Evil Forest. But, as the new religion spread all over the Umofian village the superstitious belief slowly disappear from the village as many of them had embraced the new religion.

Sarawak also has undergone colonisation and resulting in some changes in the culture of the Sarawak society. 
One of the result of the colonization process is most of the people in Sarawak speak in English and some of the dialect in Sarawak still using English in their vocabulary. For example, Iban people still used the English name for the ‘book’ by using different spelling but with the same pronunciation.  After being colonised by the British, there are some changes brought in the indigenous people both in Africa and Sarawak. The most obvious changes has been made by the British is the introduction of education system. The British builds their school in Africa and Sarawak and teaches the society. Other than that the British colonizer introduces Christian religion to both Africa and Sarawak. Therefore, Africa and Sarawak no longer believe in the superstitious. Thus, the society in Africa and Sarawak become more civilized and most of them obey the religion obligations. All of the society have their own religion and believe in one God. There are many changes that the colonizer brings towards our nation which are both bring advantages and disadvantages to our nation. “The loss of national identity is the greatest defeat a nation can know, and it is inevitable under the contemporary form of colonization.”

BY: TRECY BARBARA JOHNIUS

finally WEEK 5 ~~~~~

REVIEW VERSION OF THE REFLECTION ON WEEK 1

so...COLONIZATION : YES or No?

BY CATHERINE JANET TIWI

Unity ties a bond of people together. Without unity, a community cannot stand. In fact, justice plays an important role and closely related to unity. If the rule is fair and the authority has integrity, people will without doubt standing together as one. In the novel “Things Fall Apart”, the unity of the Igbo community is tested when the British comes. The British introduces the equality among humans through the new faith, Christianity. Only then, the people in the tribe open their eyes and see that they are “colonized” by their own people. They have to follow the orders or instructions from their chief or leaders. The marginalized groups (women and slaves) have no right to speak out. Slowly, they start to break the tradition. By converting into Christianity, they experience the feeling of acceptance. All humans share the same right to live in a community. The bias approach practiced by the Igbo tribe makes the people choose their own way and forget about the unity spirit.

The colonization in Sarawak affects the traditional culture. Originally, the headman plays important role in making the decision for the people under him. For example, when punishing the wrongdoer. When the British came, they introduced the concept of government, law, act and punishment for the criminal. The concept is assimilated and today we can see that every crime needs to be tried according to the law before deciding on the punishment. It normally involves the civil crimes. Besides that, what the colonization has affected is the society’s mindset. In the olden days, the natives usually drew tattoo on their body as a sign of their traditional belief. This is applied to the Iban or Orang Ulu. But today, the youngsters are having tattoo without a solid explanation about the motive of the tattoo. The colonization today is drastically changed from what was experienced earlier. It is in the form of one’s mindset. The tradition is neglected and what is given the priority is the self-satisfaction.

In short, colonization does bring changes towards the people who are colonized. It affects various aspects; the culture, the society, belief, tradition and even faith. Colonization is always seen as a bad phenomenon as it will wipe out the traditional practices by the society but on the other hand, colonization can bring good towards the society as they become more civilized and moving towards modernization. That is what Umuofia and Sarawak experience after colonization. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

WEEK 5 : MY THOUGHT ON THINGS FALL APART

1.    Based on your reading of “Things Fall Apart”, what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over?

There are many aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over. Among them are their systems of belief, the class stratification, roles of women and the society norm.

In term of the system of belief, the British has brought Christianity belief to the animism tribes. The missionaries preach about the concept Trinity as one God and there is only one God to be worship. At first the Igbo people did not pay any attention to what the missionaries try to deliver, but when the missionaries speak on the concept of equality where everyone is the same in Christianity. The very concept of the equality has attracted the marginalized igbo people to converts into Christianity.The arrival of Christianity has caused the Umuofians to divide among them. In my opinion, the reason why the Igbos allows the changes to happen is because they themselves want the changes to happen. For example Nwoye, for years he has been feeling oppressed by the attitudes and expectations of his father toward him. So the arrival of Christianity gives the opportunity to Nwoye to free himself from his father’s oppression and lives his life on the way that he wanted.

The arrival of Christianity also opens up a new opportunity for women, their roles are no longer primarily about child bearing and taking care of household but also women have given chances to speak for themselves. Nneka is one example, she left her family to converts into Christianity because they forced her to throw away 4 twin children.

The main reason why many Igbo people convert into Christians because of the concept of equality that been suggested by the Missionaries. Christianity treat people the same regardless of their status. This has attracts a lot of attention of the marginalized people who want others to accept them as who they are and not what they are. For example, the majority of the Christian-converts are from the low class people – people that the Umuofian considered as no position in the society – the marginalized group.

The social norm in Umuofia also changes due to the arrival of Christianity. What is used to be acceptable is no longer acceptable since Christianity has arrived. Dumping of twin babies in the Evil Forest, killing others and babies mutilations are no longer acceptable. The Igbo people start to believe in negotiation rather than war in order to resolve conflicts. This can be seen when Okonkwo killed one of the messenger, so that the people will join him to fight against the colonizers but the villagers allow the messengers to escape and bring the meeting to a conclusion. Someone even asks why Okonkwo killed the messenger. Understanding that his clan will not go to war, Okonkwo wipes his machete free of blood and departs. This showed that the people mentality begin to change over the time. What is acceptable today may not be acceptable tomorrow.

2.    Since Sarawak has also undergone colonization, how have these affected aspects of culture in our society?

Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, there many aspects of culture in our society are affected. We begin to accept the changes that been brought by the colonials. We are no longer confined to our traditions and culture anymore as we begin to learn that some of the outside cultures are indeed will help to develop ourselves and our society. For example, before he colonialization, people did not pay much attention to the education of an individual, but since the arrival of colonials, education has been one of the important focus of the society. This is because we need knowledge in order to free ourselves from the colonials. The colonization leads us to develop our nationalism where there are no longer ethnocentrism existed among us. We are do not differentiate others by their races or ethnicity but rather recognized everyone as the same that is  - A Malaysian. At the same time, we also developed our own internationalism spirit where the knowledge that we obtained did not only confined our nation but beyond the nation itself. We begin to search for information that is outside of our nation in order to understand more about things that happened around us. The effect of colonization has teach us that we cannot too ethnocentrism about other cultures because what might be accepted in our culture might be acceptable in others and vice versa. Because our nation is consists of multiracial, we begin to adapt our own native culture to the other races’ culture as a way for us to live in harmony and peace. We are able to identify ourselves as one Malaysia where there are no differences between us as we respect each other in the society. 

3.    Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak?

Historically, the changes that occur in Sarawak are pretty much the same as what happened to Umuofia. We have people that readily accept changes and the people who resist the changes. In the novel, we viewed Okonkwo as someone who resist changes and cannot adapt himself to the changes. He did fight to free Umuofia from the colonizers. When he failed to do so, we called him a tragic hero. But in the real world, we called someone who resists changes during colonization is patriotic because they fight for the freedom of the country.

In term of language, the Sarawakians especially the native began to adapt the foreign language as the medium of instruction to communicate with the colonials or the immigrants. The adaptation of foreign language into the native language became the main catalyst of changes that occurred in Sarawak. Since the arrival of the colonials, the system belief among the Sarawakians also changed due to the missionaries’ influences. Take example of the Native Dayak, their belief is changing from Paganism to Christianity. The changes occurred in order to adapt themselves in the society and they are interested to learn more about the religion. Other reason is because they are following the crowd.

 In term of education, the Sarawakians begin to receive formal education in the form of schooling system by the colonials. As we know that most native Sarawakians are receiving informal form of education prior to the arrival of British, their educations are primarily based on the experiences rather than theories and only the privilege people  - aristocrats, riches and officers are able to receive the formal education. The formal education changes the people social status. The changes of social status caused the clothing aspect to change too. Our clothing has been evolved from traditional clothing to the modern western clothing. We begin to wear pants, coat, shirt, short and many others western clothing replacing the traditional clothes – Baju Melayu, samfu, Sirat, Ngepan and so on. Overall the changes that occurred among the Sarawakians are due to the people try to adapt and receive the changes that been brought by the colonials.

GLORIA JARAU

_________________________________________________________________________________

WEEK 4 ~~~~

Perfect Character A Delusion or Reality

In the novel Animal Farm, the hope for a better world remains unattainable. Even with the change of governance, the animals are eventually mistreated. How is it possible that the longing for good can turn awry when the person is in power for long?

In the case of Okonkwo, he is not painted as someone who is without fault. In fact, he is in many ways a tragic hero. Neither is he a person who is evil despite his part in killing Ikemefuna. Based on your understanding of him in the novel, reflect on the following questions:

• How has Okonkwo been a figure of inspiration and disappointment to his people? 
• What are the characteristics of Okonkwo that you can find in your nation’s leader?

_________________________________________________________________________________

ARE WE ALSO THE COMMUNITY OF THE "ANIMAL FARM"?

BY CATHERINE JANET TIWI

The longing for good can turn awry happens because as the person is used to the same manifesto or promises for over years, he is blind to the modern changes that should take place at the area. The power is used to rebuild or reconstruct the old and weary development and thus neglecting the right of the citizen to have new infrastructure and advanced technology. The background of the novel “Animal Farm” is based on the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the Stalin era that follows after the historical tragedy (Wikipedia, 2013). The long period of governance results in corruption among the leaders. Instead of having the revolution going on, what can be seen are only greedy and evil ways of ruling which does not bring any advantage for the men in the country.

Okonkwo is inspiring his people in a way which he possesses the braveness characteristic in him. He has no fear towards human and manages to go against Amalinze The Cat whom nobody has ever able to fight with. In fact, such at an early age, he owns barns of successful crops. He has three wives and he almost reaches the highest hierarchy in his tribe’s eye. Okonkwo is also the one who stands for his tribe and fights the transformation that the outsiders bring. On the other hand, the versatile Okonkwo does bring disappointment towards his village. His unacceptable deed (beating his wife) during the Week of Peace makes him be fined by the villagers. Disrespecting the God is a big sin for them. Besides, his action, killing the man of his village is his major mistake in his life. He and his family members are outcast and he brings his family back to his motherland and stays there for seven years. The shameful conflict really hurts his pride as a man with name in his village.

Okonkwo’s characteristic that can be seen in my nation’s leader is his spirit of braveness. On the one hand, Okonkwo’s braveness is shown through his strength during fighting but as for the nation leaders, the braveness is shown in their action to develop the country. They strengthen the diplomatic bonds with other countries and work together to build up the country. The exchange of knowledge and technology can improve the development of the country. For example, Malaysia is having economic relationship with Japan where the knowledge that we learn from the developed country is used in the making of our own national cars. That results in success. PROTON manages to produce various cars suitable with the demand in our country. Besides, Okonkwo has the patriotic spirit in him. He fights against the missionaries when they try to bring in transformation for his village. Our nation leaders are not fighting over the transformation but instead they stand firm for the peace of the country. As we can see, the incident in Lahad Datu really tests the leader’s reaction towards the issue. The leaders choose not to destruct the enemy and their country, they just order the army to move only if they find that they are in danger. This proves the reliability and credibility of our leaders in developing our country.

_________________________________________________________________________________

THINGS FALL APART : PERFECT CHARACTER - REALITY OR DELUSIONS?

1.    How has Okonkwo been a figure of inspiration and disappointment to his people?

Okonkwo is viewed as figure of admiration because he is the perfect example of someone who is able to rise up from the poverty to become a wealthy and respected warrior in Umuofia. He built his fortune alone without any help from others. He is able to provide his family that consists of 3 wives and 8 children. Okonkwo also has a barn full of yams, a shrine for his ancestors, and his own hut, called an obi. He is also an influential clan member in Umuofia. This is shown when many villagers thought he was one of the Egwugwu. He was a fierce warrior; Okonkwo travels to Mbaino to deliver the message that they must hand over to Umuofia a virgin and a young man. Other than that, Okonkwo also a meticulous planner, he already planned to get himself a title once he comes back from exile. He is someone who plans things ahead of time.

Okonkwo is viewed as figure of disappointment when he is unable to cope with the changes occur. He is a disappointment to Nwoye the moment he illed Ikemefuna. He is an abusive husband and father. He beats his wives and Nwoye because they cannot fulfil his expectation. He is not a filial son as he is embarrassed with Unoka’s condition. His own rashness, anger and violence finally bring about his own distruction.

Overall, Okonkwo is admirable man but he has the tendencies of self distruction.

GLORIA JARAU

__________________________________________________________________________________

Perfect Character A Delusion or Reality

by Trecy Barbara Johnius

From what I understand about the novel, I found that there are not many good values being portrayed by Okonkwo because I found that the bad values are more obvious in him. One of the good values that he portrays is he shows good leadership to his family. All of his family, the three wives and the children will follow all the things that he commands them to do. For example, all of his children follow their mothers to work in their yam field. They follow the obligation that Okonkwo set for them and never disobey his rules or command because once they disobey it they will get punishment from Okonkwo.

While for the disappointment figure that Okonkwo has portrays is he cannot control his anger (he is a hot-tempered man). When his third wife goes to plait his hair and forget to make lunch for Okonkwo, he beats his wife as she comes back from plaiting her hair. Another example is when his wife has accidentally cut the banana’s leave, and then he beats her again and wants to shoot her when she said that he is not good in shooting. This shows that Okonkwo cannot control his temper which is not good to be a leader.

A leader who can control his followers is a good leader because his followers will respect and obey all the rules and command that a leader has. If all the followers obey a leader’s commands and instructions they will not face any problems or difficulties in handling a task. This is shown in Okonkwo’s character where all of his wives and children obey his commands to work and help with each other in the yam field. The cooperation from all the family members they have many yams for their food.

WEEK 3 ~~~

Religions and superstitions

Karl Marx once commented that 'religion is the opium of the people'. Do you agree with him? In the case of Umuofia, do you think their native religion stunts their development? Is the 'new' religion seen as a way of bringing development to Umuofia?

Apart from religion, superstitions play an important part in the Ibo culture. Do you have your own sets of superstitions which you find difficult to discard?

The following points can help you as you write your reflective post on the role of religion and superstition in the novel and in your life:

• Analyse how superstitions and religions play in the life described in the novel. 
• Do superstitious beliefs and religion affect the development of a country? How?
• How does one's beliefs affect the nation in terms of politics and culture?

________________________________________________________________________

RELIGIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS: HOW ARE THEY RELATED?

BY CATHERINE JANET TIWI

“Religion is the opium of the people.” I am quite disagree with the statement. It is true that religion leads people to the correct path of life. In fact, all the teaching in every religion states that the followers should be inspired by the founder and follow the good examples showed by him.

But I find that aside from the religion perspective, what I think influence the society more is the society itself. In other words, the way the individuals in the society act, behave, speak and even respond impacts the other individuals too. For example, in the novel “Things Fall Apart”, the elders are still standing firm and continue the strange superstitious beliefs that they had been exposed to - the killing of the twin. The younger generations follow the habit without questioning it - afraid to be said as defying the tradition. This superstition does stunt the development of the tribe. It is said that the killing of the twin is accepted in their religion as it is a bad omen. The truth is the twins are innocent. They should not be killed. They have the right to live.

Somebody needs to question the action and tries to explain that in the modern world nowadays, to kill others is wrong and the doer should be punished by the law. This is related to the introduction of the new faith-Christianity. Christianity is against the act of killing others and thus the practice teaches the new follower in Umuofia to realize that for all this while they are following their traditional belief blindly and not rationally. At least, they are open to the new dimension of the world and they will never do the cruel act anymore.

As for me, I find that my family members do practice one superstitious belief until today. It is inherited from the elders in the olden day. If there is any death in the family, we should put a small amount of various dishes in a small plate at leave it at a hidden corner in the kitchen. It is done once a day. The next day, the food will be changed.  It is believed that the soul of the dead will come over and have his meal as what he usually did during his life time. Before, if the corpse is still not being buried, the plate will be put next to the body. But since my grandparents convert into Christianity, they just put the plate in the kitchen. It is just a superstitious belief but we find it hard to stop doing it as it is a normal tradition that has been done for quite a long time.

_________________________________________________________________________________

THINGS FALL APART : BELIEF VERSUS RELIGION

1.    Analyze how superstitions and religions play in the life described in the novel.

Igbo people hold strongly on their belief which the European viewed/ considered as superstitious and barbaric. The western viewed the worshipping of more than one god is wrong.  But the Igbo people viewed their own set of belief as sacred and have to be obeyed to appease the gods as the sign of respect. Egwugwu is the best example that shows the Igbo people are respecting their gods as they knew that the villagers know that the egwugwu are not real. For example, “Okonkwo’s wives and perhaps other women as well, might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springy walk of Okonkwo. And they might have noticed that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat . . . But if they thought these things they kept them within themselves.”  (Spark note). For them the belief is done for good reasons that are to bring peace and harmony to the land. For example the mutilation of the baby is done to prevent the obanje to reenter the mother womb and cause grief to the mother. But the beliefs are controlling their life especially the women and children. Both women and children are deeply suppressed/ affected by the beliefs as they did not any right to voice their opinions. Nneka is one example on oppressed by the practices of the beliefs of the Igbo people as 4 pairs of her twin are being left to die in the evil forest. Nwoye is not given a chance to do things that he likes. These actions clearly showed that the society did not into account of how the women and children feel. To escape the feeling of oppression, most of them chose to convert into Christianity as they believe in everyone is equal. The Christianity has attracted many people to join the new religion. Just as the European viewed the Igbo belief as superstitious so do the Igbo people think the same about Christianity. The Igbo people do not understand how the Holy Trinity can be accepted as one God. They also cannot see how God can have a son and not a wife. Many of them laugh and leave after the interpreter asserts that Umuofia’s gods are incapable of doing any harm. Most of the converts have been efulefu, men who hold no status and who are generally ignored by the clan. For people that try to resist the changes that occurred, they found it rather easy to blame the new religion for what happened to the clan.

2.    Do superstitious beliefs and religion affect the development of a country? How? How does one’s belief affect the nation in terms of politics and culture?

Yes. Because how the country is rule is depend on the leaders’ ideologies and belief. Take for example Umuofia is ruled by the elders of the clan whose ideologies is to obey the gods that they are worshipping and the practices of the belief that they inherited from their ancestors. The leaders did not give the chances to their followers to voice their opinion. The villagers are merely just following what their elders decided without questioning any doubt or curiosity. Even if they are questioning the practices that they believed in, they will not voiced out their dissatisfaction due to the society norm. Examples are Obrieka and Nwoye who questioned about the tradition that they are practiced. With the arrival of Christianity, it gives the chances for them to voice out their opinions. The idea of equality of everyone has attracted the marginalized people to convert into Christianity. People like Enoch, Nneka and Nwoye are example of people who are ignored by the society. Umuofia also practiced the patriarchal leadership where women are considered as low and not respected. Men only respect women if they are priestess because their position that closes to gods. Due of the belief that they hold, the practice of the killing of the twins, babies mutilation and sacrificial are acceptable to the society.  

GLORIA JARAU

__________________________________________________________________________________

Religions and superstitions

by Trecy Barbara Johnius

I am quite agree with Karl Marx because all the things that we do in our daily lives are based on the religion obligation which a person should follow to live his life. Without a proper religion we will live in a chaos society. While for the native religion I think their development has been affected by their religion. For example, they believe that a twin babies will bring bad omen and should be thrown away thus all of the society believe it and apply it in their daily lives. Yes, the new religion has brought them out from the old religion and developed their lives. For example, after they receive the new religion they do not throw their twin babies and only believe in one God.

Yes, I have my own superstitious believe which I find hard to discard which is if I want to avoid something bad from happening to me I will knock the wood, table or other things. I got this influence from my cousin where she told me that if I knock the table or wood the bad things will transfer to the wood and not to me.

The superstitious and religion have played its important roles in the developing of the country in the novel. For example, most of them believe in the superstitious teaching and follow the belief. They believe that a twin babies will bring bad omen to them thus, they throw the baby away to the evil forest. Other than that, they also believe that the all the evil spirits live in the evil forest and that’s why they throw the babies in the forest. This is the reason why their tribe does not develop. For example, when they wanted to do something but it is opposing the belief of the tribe then they will not do it even if it for the tribe’s development. They thought that the new religion is bad and will bring their tribe down thus they do not accept the new religion. But, at the same time there is still a person who finds that the new religion is good than their belief thus they embrace the new religion. 

WEEK 2 ~~

Women in Things Fall Apart

Go through your notes on gender differences and other websites dealing with gender studies. Based on your reading, reflect on how these women are treated in the novel. The following questions can help you as you write your reflective piece in your blog:

•  How are the women treated in the novel? Do all members in the community agree with the status quo? Why? 
• What contributions are made by the Igbo women to the survival of their culture? 
• What are the changes in women’s roles in this present world?

Do provide a suitable title for your reflective post. Apart from writing your blog, you are also required to comment on two of your friends' blogs. Your comments should take into account the following points:

• Are their reflections based on opinions, experiences or facts? If they are opinions, are they supported by some form of evidence? Is the evidence trustworthy?
• Is there evidence of synthesis of ideas based on their readings? Is there evidence they read widely to come up to certain conclusions?

_________________________________________________________________________________

ARE WOMEN STILL SERVING AS THE SUBORDINATE?

BY CATHERINE JANET TIWI

Based on my reading on some articles on the Internet, there are two views that strike me the most. Both the different ideas come from two different fellows. Sigmund Freud views women as the “second class group” in the society. “Women are “mutilated” and must learn to accept their lack of penis (in Freud’s terms a “deformity”) (Wikipedia, 2013). He clearly states that the women are of disadvantage if compared to the men. From the same source too, Jacques Lacan on the other hand says that women are just serving as the supplementary of the men in the organization. Unlike Freud, women are not fully downgraded; just they are slightly lower than the men.

In the novel “Things Fall Apart”, the women are really treated as what Freud labeled. They are just the “servant” for the men. They bear children, do the daily house chores over and over again and their freedom is restricted. For instance, it is shown in the novel that Okonkwo beats his third wife when he finds that she is not home when he comes back. She does not do her daily tasks; getting the food ready for the husband. It is just a small mistake and it can be settled through a short session of talk and advice from the husband to the wife. But why is the wife ended being beaten? It is not that the women in the Igbo tribe accepted the fact that they are just the husbands’ “servants”, it is just the matter of respect that makes them follows all the husbands’ words and decisions blindly.

But nowadays, the modernization takes place and we can see the achievements of the women. They are not the subordinate anymore but some have already being the leader of the nation. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo run the Philippines as the president and Datuk Seri Zeti Aktar Aziz is currently Malaysia’s Gabenor for the National Bank In the universities, the enrolment of the female students’ shots up and in the working field like education and medics, women are on action. This shows that women can contribute to the nation if they are given the opportunity to do so. Women can rock the world too!

________________________________________________________________________

THINGS FALL APART : IGBO CINDERELLA

1. How are the women treated in the novel? Do all members in the community agree with the status quo? Why?

Women are treat lowly in the society and not given chances to develop their potentials. Men often take women for granted. In Umuofia, women have a low position in the society. Men can treat their women any how they like. For example Okonkwo beats his wife, Ojiugo during the Sacred Week. The society only fined Okonkwo on the reason that he is breaking the peace of Sacred Week and not because he beats a woman. In the Igbo society, only priestess like Chielo will be respected in the society due to her position close to god of earth. Even Okonkwo respects the Priestess and do not dare to chielo when she came and Ezinma away. Other than that, women are consider as weak and that’s the reason, men with no title and incapable to grow yams are considered as agbala which means women because the society viewed them as weak as women. For example Unoka, he is viewed by the standards of the clan, Unoka was a coward and a spendthrift. He never took a title in his life, he borrowed money from his clansmen, and he rarely repaid his debts. He never became a warrior because he feared the sight of blood. Moreover, he died of an abominable illness. (Spark note)

Women are not allowed to enter the clan’s ancestral house where Egwugwu meet for fear that they weaken the power of Egwugwu.

The reasons why women treated lowly in the Igbo society are because of nature of being gentle, loving, caring and weak. Umuofia is patriarchal society where men who make life decisions and women just follow and not given right to voice out their opinion. Men are the head of the family and everyone must listen to him. Because men hold the power and authority, wife beating is acceptable practice in the Igbo society. The concept of masculinity of a man is proved when he can control his wives. They often denigrate women saying that they are not important. Some of the men are misogynist due to the practice and belief inherited from the previous generations where they follow blindly what the previous generation did to women.

2. What contributions are made by the Igbo women to the survival of their culture?

Women’s primary roles in the society are to bear children and taking care of household.

3. What are the changes in women’s roles in this present world?

Women are treated equally as men in the present day. Many women are elected or chosen as leader such as Aung San Suu Kyi, Hillary Clinton,  Dato’ Seri Zeti Aziz or Queen Elizabeth II. We can see nowadays that women are continually taking over man roles in man dominated areas. Although women are into man dominated specialty, but their roles in it still view as skeptical by the society. The present society is still view women as child bearer and can only taking care of household. Because of the stereotyping, women often encounter discrimination especially in workplace. So in summary, there is not much change in women perception in the eye of the past and present society although their roles in man dominated specialty is accepted by some of the society. 

GLORIA JARAU

________________________________________________________________

Women in Things Fall Apart

by Trecy Barbara

The women are not treated equally with the men for example the women status is not the same as the men status. They view women as a weak person and dependent towards men. They never give the women chance to voice out their opinion and they even do not involve the women in their meeting. When the white missionary comes to their village, only the men gather and discuss about the matter without giving a chance for the women to get involved in the meeting. The women status in the novel is not worth for the men to acknowledge it because the society sees women status just as a person who will produce a baby, that’s all. The more the children they get the higher the status of the family just like the yam, more yams had been produce the higher the status that a person will get.

Other than that, the Igbo society only sees women as the follower of the husband and to obey all the instruction from her husband. For example, Okonkwo does not want any of his family to stay in home while the others are busy working in the yam field. He will ensure that all of his wives and children are working in their yam field. Okonkwo also threaten his children not to give them any food if they do not help their parents in the yam field. Okonkwo sees his daughter, Enzima portrays the male character which he never stops hoping that she should be a man. While he sees his son, Nyowe portrays the characters as a woman which he does not like. Here we can see that Okonkwo only favour his children with a good quality.

My Thought on Things Fall Apart

1. Based on your reading of “Things Fall Apart”, what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over? 

2.  Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, how have these affected aspects of culture in our society? 

3.   Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak? 

Based on my reading on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, I think the aspect of the Igbo culture allows the British to take over is in term of belief. The missionaries brought over the new belief – Christianity to the Umuofia ad spread the belief among the villagers. The arrival of Christianity has caused the Umuofians to divide among them. In my opinion, the reason why the Igbos allows the changes to happen is because they themselves want the changes to happen. For example, the majority of the Christian-converts are from the low class people – people that the Umuofian considered as no position in the society – the marginalized group. These people wish the equality to store to them and to be treated better and not been discriminated. Most the converts also disagree with some of the Igbo’s cultures. Take for example of Nwoye, he often questioned the logical reasons behind the killings of the twins in the Evil Forest. He also questioned his father’s treatment and the killings of Ikemefuna.

Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, there many aspects of culture in our society are affected. We begin to accept the changes that been brought by the colonials. We are no longer confined to our traditions and culture anymore as we begin to learn that some of the western cultures are indeed will help to develop ourselves and our society. The colonization in our land has caused us to develop our nationalism where we are no longer differentiate others by their races or ethnicity but rather recognized everyone as the same that is  - A Malaysian. At the same time, we also developed our own internationalism spirit where the knowledge that we obtained did not only confined our nation but beyond the nation itself. The good values and cultures that the westerners brought to our country made we realized that we cannot too ethnocentrism about other cultures because what might be accepted in our culture might be acceptable in others and vice versa. Because our nation is consists of multiracial, we begin to adapt our own native culture to the other races’ culture as a way for us to live in harmony and peace. We are able to identify ourselves as one Malaysia where there are no differences between us as we respect each other in the society.  

            There are many changes that occurred in Sarawak Since it has undergone colonisation especially in the culture in term of language, belief, clothing and education. In term of language, the Sarawakians especially the native began to adapt the foreign language as the medium of instruction to communicate with the colonials or the immigrants. The adaptation of foreign language into the native language became the catalyst of changes that occurred in Sarawak.  Since the arrival of the colonials, the belief among the Sarawakians also changed due to the missionaries’ influences. Take example of the Native Dayak, their belief is changing from Paganism to Christianity. The changes occurred in order to adapt themselves in the society and they are interested to learn more about the religion.

 In term of education, the Sarawakians begin to receive formal education in the form of schooling system by the colonials. As we know that most native Sarawakians are receiving informal form of education prior to the arrival of British, their educations are primarily based on the experiences rather than theories and only the privilege people  - aristocrats, riches and officers are able to receive the formal education. The formal education changes the people social status. The changes of social status caused the clothing aspect to change too. Our clothing has been evolved from traditional clothing to the modern western clothing. We begin to wear pants, coat, shirt, short and many others western clothing replacing the traditional clothes – Baju Melayu, samfu, Sirat, Ngepan and so on. Overall the changes that occurred among the Sarawakians are due to the people try to adapt and receive the changes that been brought by the colonials.

~Gloria Jarau~

Things Fall Apart : Colonization & the Effects

ME: CATHERINE JANET

• Based on your reading on “Things Fall Apart”, what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over?
• Since Sarawak has undergone colonization, how has this affected aspects of culture in our society?
• Are there any changes brought about in the life after the indigenous in Africa and Sarawak?

_________________________________________________________________________

COLONIZATION & THE EFFECTS

“Things Fall Apart” is a story of transformation; how the colonization by the British has affected the native society and the wounds and bleeds of the action changed our views on colonization (Sickels, 2010). Generally, the story that takes place in Africa (Nigeria) affects the native tribe there, the Igbo. Their mindset and belief on the tradition are still tightly held and they condemned people who go against it. Thus, that is my point on why it allowed the British to conquer them – the Igbo’s mindset and belief. Though people are running towards modernization, they are still they themselves. They still practice their customs, for example the killing of the twins and the “tyranny” husband and wife relationship. The arrival of the British there sees the customs as uncivilized and therefore they take action in such a way to civilize the tribe. One of the actions is through the introduction of new faith, Christian. The religion practices equality in life and that makes it able to attract the lower class people in the society to follow it. Without realizing it, they are colonized indirectly!

Sarawak has experienced the colonization too when the British came and take over since the Brooke era. Our culture is affected when the British introduced their English language in our state. They communicated by using that foreign language and that made the local people learnt that language in order to communicate well with each other. Nowadays, such assimilation of language that we still can detect in our state is the used of the word “book” (pronounced as “buk”) by the Bidayuh and “tyre” (pronounced as “taya”) by the Iban. Besides that, the introduction of the new curriculum design by the English affected the traditional education system. Before, the practice of the religion teaching either in “surau” or “madrasah” took place. When the British introduced English schools, many parents sent their children there so that they received formal education and then they can apply for jobs offered by the British government.

In conclusion, colonization really brings changes to the life of the Igbo people and the tribes in Sarawak. To put them up together, three great influences by the British towards the colonized people are in the form of new faith, new language and also the education system. In Sarawak, the British also introduced the new faith, Christianity. And in Umuofia, the British exposed the native to their English language and that results in the born of the interpreter (Mr. Kiaga). The introduction of the education system in Sarawak is still continued today and the set-up of schools in Umuofia gives opportunity to the younger generation there to experience education.