How Isolated Are We?

Living here, in this bubble called Orange County, going to Santa Ana for Service Learning makes us feel alien from the world we live in-and that's twenty minutes away. We go to their school and learn about their lives and the struggles and differences they have, which most of us a fortunate enough to not understand fully. 

Then take that alien feeling, and apply it from instead of 20 miles away, to 9,000 miles away. Sure, there are places like Orange County in Europe, some in Asia, maybe a few in South Africa, but when you go into the heart and soul of Africa, into Umuofia, it really is a different world. 

When Obierika and Okonkwo are speaking of a white-man, or caucasian, they speak in shock and disbelief. To them, a white man was like seeing a fifty pound yam, minus the glory of the yam. Basically, it was incredible, whether they liked it or not. 

"We have heard stories about white men who made the powerful guns and the strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas, but no one thought the stories were true" (Achebe 140-141). To them, the idea of there being a different kind of people on its own was radical, let alone comprehending the extreme differences we have. 

Yam isn't our currency like it is for them. Winning wrestling matches doesn't make you famous (unless you're Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather or whatever). The differences are so amazingly significant. And yet, they know almost nothing about it. 

Amazes me. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epdGEhLpReg

This is an interesting video I found. It is a documentary on the village life in Africa today. 

Okonkwo of Africa: How would he fair elsewhere?

The main character in "Things Fall Apart" is a man named Okonkwo. He's that tough guy on the block, but by no means is he that bully looking for trouble. Okonkwo is considered a leader in his village by many. He has had many wives, who seem to be simply chefs and caretakers of his children. Okonkwo is the man of the village in the depths of Africa, but by no means would he be a man in the depths of other continent or countries.

Okonkwo's personality makes himself look wise and manly in Africa. Let's just say marrying multiple wives and almost shooting one of them, along with determining whether or not you are a man through the use of guns and yams, wouldn't necessarily be considered too manly here in the wilderness of Newport Coast.

Through reading "Things Fall Apart", I have learned how different the world is and how much of a bubble we reading. Heck, if I lived where Okonkwo lived, with my yam skills and firing ability, I'd be considered a baby. Here, I'm considered a man simply for growing an each in between visits with the grandparents. It definitely puts things into perspective.

Okonkwo would almost actually resemble a "hobo" living in urban areas, based on the way he lives in Africa. That does not justify the fact that he could not have survived or even thrived by adapting to the ways of more developed areas, but that would be far fetched. His ways are simply too radical in his corner of the world for him to happily live elsewhere.

In order to be a man

Having an Open Mind

Let me just start by saying how much I love TED Talks, and Chimamanda Adichie's talk really made me change my perspective from everything that I've been shown through media about that country called Africa. Before her talk, Africa was what it was, which is a media haven where they can manipulate the rest of the world into having one common perception on this great continent through exploitation.

Adichie's TED Talk

After watching Adichie's talk, I am able to engulf myself in Things Fall Apart with an open mind to Africa and the different perspective of this place brought forth by the author  Chinua Achebe. In reading the first few chapters, I have become increasingly intrigued as to what Africa has kept hidden from the Western eye through the firsthand knowledge of a native African. Not some white guy getting paid thousands to go to the most impoverish areas to make a headlining story in the media.

Chinua Achebe

Adichie has given me a unbiased perspective on Africa, and subsequently, I now am thrilled and open to understanding the true Africa and what they really go through, whether it is good or bad. Already I see myself reading every word with a greater level of curiosity and intrigue to gain an enhanced, and more accurate, more rounded perspective on the continent in which, oh by the way, every human technically originated from.