Ghana Must Go Analysis

In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, it is shown that the African people had their own complex culture before the Europeans decided to "pacify" them. The idea that the dignity of these people has been greatly compromised is acknowledged in the essay "The Role of the Writer," which is explanatory of Achebe's novels. A writer trying to capture the truth of a situation that his readers may know little or nothing about needs a sense of history in order to appropriately address the topic. It is not enough "to beat" another writer to the issue. Writers should make the attempt to express a deeper understanding. Without proper mental investment in a written work, the

This is the other story in the collection, which is told in the second person and it is considered the more powerful one by many reviewers. This story looks back eighteen years to an incident in the narrator’s childhood, one which has had a major impact on her whole life. The narrator reflects on the last summer before everything changed – her parents divorced, she never returned to Nigeria or saw her father’s family again. The memory begins eighteen years earlier in Nigeria at grandmamma’s place where the American-Nigerian narrator, her older brother Nonso and her cousin Dozie were all staying. Grandmamma favoured Nonso as the eldest grandson and the only one to carry the ‘Nnabuisi name’

The Interesting Narrative conveys the first-hand experiences of an African who is stripped of the basic rights given to humans and is forced into slavery, while at the same this individual fights for freedom. This autobiography is a reliable source for historians, educators, and students. After analyzing the literature, I concluded that the autobiography’s main criteria included content, tone, perspective, and the structure of his writing. The authors ability to manipulate this criterion, allows for the successful creation of an environment that builds a connection between the audience and his journey.

For many Africans, dreaming is a way of life. In Fatou Diome’s novel “The Belly of the Atlantic” she delivers a clear message that things aren’t always what you expect them to be, proving that people's dreams could easily turn into their nightmares. ‘Diome points out the flaws in both France and Senegal, but her main concern is with the people of her home-country, both their false expectations regarding France and Europe as lands of easy opportunity as well as their domestic failures’. This novel is persuasive and successful at bringing awareness to its readers because of the real life examples regarding racism, discrimination, and immigration. This piece will discuss the efforts of African immigrants as well as the similarities and differences between Fatou Diome’s “The Belly of the Atlantic” and Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” characters.

The people of Ghana would go on to become priests, doctors, and more. People in Ghana always wanted to learn and would take pride in what they were learning. The people would go to great lengths for a good education and would work hard to make books for the people. In Document 4 it talks about how the people of Ghana would live good lives with good jobs they got with their high level education. In Document 7 it shows the way people valued the books they read and made them with love. As Document 4 states, “Here are many doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men that are well maintained at the king's costs” (Document 4). In Document 7 it says, “...there are in Timbuktu numerous judges, teachers and priests, all properly appointed by the king. He greatly honors learning. Many hand-written books imported from Barbary are also sold” (Document 7). Clearly all these citizens have such important roles in the town because they are well educated, and are trustworthy. People would not trust these people if they had little to no education; this is why the people of Ghana valued education. Also, the king loved books and wanted his people to be educated so they could get great jobs. This would boost the economy of Ghana and cause the empire to improve. Everyone in Ghana highly valued education and thought it was quite important everyone was well educated which helped make Ghana what people know

My room-mate had a single story of Africa; a single story of catastrophe”. Adichie also tells how growing up in Nigeria reading only American and English children’s books made her deaf to her authentic voice. As a child, she wrote about such things as blue-eyed white children easting apples, thinking brown skin and mangos had no place in Literature. That changed as she discovered African writers.

In Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, discovering and exploring, the obvious and hidden, traumas and their subsequent effects on each generation is one of the most compelling parts of her highly acclaimed first novel. Set on Ghana’s Gold Coast in the 1700s, two sisters, who have never met, create generations of descendants who experience traumas continuously. Some generations experience the first hand the effects of slavery and the African slave trade, while others deal with the repercussions of belonging to a tribe of Africans that sold humans into slavery. Because the experience of trauma is continuous, the descendants of both sister, Esi and Effia, are never fully able to heal. Instead, the consequences of war, rape, kidnapping, violence and death are explored in the three hundred years since birth of the sisters. Past and current traumas shape the identities of each generation. Gysai’s narrative tells and retells the violent histories of both families in an attempt to help heal trauma that still remains imbedded in many Africans, and African Americas.

Mr. Mdeouze influenced Jose to write that incredible story. He told him enough stories to open up his imagination and produce a beautiful paper. Mr. M taught Jose the power of language. For extra credit for this class, I listened to an interesting lecture about African Storytelling. This is what Mr. M reminded me of. Traditional storytelling is usually told by adults and spoken to children about life, rewards, and consequences. The fables are usually metaphorical stories that have to do with lessons children will learn in their daily lives. While Jose listened to Mr. M’s

Keith Richburg is an American reporter for the Washington Post. He felt somewhat like an alien in America due to the racism and some of the stereotyping that was going on. One example he wrote about was when the author walked out of a store and immediately being checked if he stole anything. The only suspicion the guard had was that he was black. Due to things like this, he wanted to discover his true roots back in Africa. He takes up the job of being a foreign reporter in Africa and writes an autobiography detailing his experiences there. Some of the images he paints are absolutely horrible and even painful to read about. In this essay, I will discuss some of his experiences in Africa, why the author felt a lot more of an American than an African when he left, and why the future of Africa looks bleak.

Most of what we know to be African Literature, talks about the changes from an un-dignified "lion-chasing" culture to that of a semi-dignified European society. The novel Things Fall Apart by Nigerian-born author Chinua Achebe, tells the story of a Umuofian villager named Okonkwo, and how Okonkwo has to come to grips with the changes that are happening in everyday Ibo life. The novel Things Fall Apart is not your typical "tall African tale." The novel is a story, a story not just about one person, but about an entire civil-society circa 1890's that becomes overwhelmed with the ideas and beliefs of the European colonizers, or as some like to refer, "the white man." Author Chinua Achebe witnessed this "invasion" first-hand, so who better

Nwoye’s betrayal in the novel is the same level of betrayal that Achebe is condemned with in his lifetime. African literary theorists who vie for the purity of African literature for African languages defy Achebe as a European traitor, writing his stories with his back turned to his native homeland. Yet this thesis argues for a reevaluation of that criticism. Achebe does not in fact deny his beliefs, his country, or his heritage. He rather aligns himself in a tragically ironic way with the hero of Things Fall Apart. Achebe writes his own struggle with colonialism into the life and death of Okonkwo. It is interesting to note that Achebe’s father was in many ways very similar to Nwoye. His father, Isaiah Achebe, was orphaned early in life and spent most of his childhood with his uncle, Udoh. Udoh was a man of the land; he prided himself on tradition and leadership. Chinua writes in his essay, “My Dad and Me,” that the differences between Isaiah and Udoh were seen early through the eyes of Chinua, a questioning child who was placed in the middle

“Ghana’s history is a metaphor for what occurred in the immediate aftermath of independence in Africa,” is a quote by Kofi Awoonor, Ghana’s leading literary figure and one of Africa’s most acclaimed authors. Three of his poems illustrate the hardships and trials that the Africans faced after their claim of independence from Britain. As said by Awoonor himself, “...high hopes were crushed by the greed, corruption, and lust for power…”. The author uses multiple literary devices as a way to emphasize the adversities they faced. Kofi Awoonor symbolizes the downfall of Ghana after independence through the use of theme, mood, and symbolism in his Three Poems.

The author’s effort to display oral literature, including expressing Ghanaian English speaking and non-English speaking society, in her work reflects her own persona as a contemporary writer resembling the African oral traditions and art work. “Shall I go to Cape Coast, or to Elmina I don’t know, I can’t tell. I don’t know, I can’t tell,” (Aidoo) Language, mainly English, is promoted to throughly capture various backgrounds and events of the play. Aidoo tries to distinguish Eulalie’s American-English speech that instantly alienates her from the rest of the characters. The author also quite succeeds in reflecting Ato’s educated language with a hint of lecturing that proves he has been indeed abroad, as oppose to his Ghanaian family. It crucially exposes the impact of colonialism on communication between Africans with distinctive educational and social situations, as for instance, the married couple’s complexed struggle to not only fully accept their cultural differences but also keep and hold onto their own identities. Aidoo also catches the inflections and outcomes of oral literature by using simple songs, traditional proverbs and imagery, such as the interesting ones in the dialogue between the two old Ghanaian women. “1st W.:But you know, my sister, That my name is Lonesome. I

Ghana is looked upon as a beautiful place to travel and explore West African Culture, but what lies beneath the beautiful ocean and intriguing people is a story of the many hardships and struggles that were put into the formation of this fascinating place. Ghana was once a flourishing community off the coast of West Africa until trade relations caused turmoil between the Europeans and the Ghanaians. A man named Kwame Nkrumah is an original Ghanaian who supported Ghana being an independent nation in 1957. His journey was almost identical to the life of South African president Nelson Mandela. In order for Ghana to be an independent nation, there was a lot of deceitfulness and corruption that was done by not only the Europeans but the Ghanaian kings themselves. Also, after Ghana gained its independence, Nkrumah’s rule was not necessarily successful and lead to a weak economy.

These strong, and independent African women authors use insightful and educational language, which invites the western world to be a part of their world through the power of literature. One of the