The Birchbark House Summary

The Birchbark House is a story that portrays the life of a young Ojibwa Native American girl, Omakayas. During the cycle of the four seasons, Omakayas comes to a greater understanding of life, herself, and the relationship between the two. Throughout the year’s events, the spiritual connection between humans and nature, the necessity of confronting ones fears and the values: courage, and loyalty are all explored.

The main character is so focused on becoming a great man, the opposite image of his father, that he forgets to be a good man. He is an abusive husband, beating his wives unnecessarily. He proves to be a cruel and calculating father, playing favorites with his children, and dismissing them when they displease him. He does everything with a heavy hand, and these methods work for him until they cease to. That day comes when he accidentally kills someone and is banished from the village. But, of course, problems had arisen even before this incident. When Ikemefuna dies, even Okonkwo’s best friend, Obierika warns him against his own clear folly, saying “If I were you I would have stayed at home. What you have done will not please the Earth. It is the kind of action for which the goddess wipes out

The protagonist, Okonkwo demonstrates his sympathetic character solely to himself, personally, and infrequently not in the eyes of others. During the plotting of Ilemefuna’s death, Okonkwo was hesitant to make the boy aware of his fate and also hesitant to take part in his death. “‘I cannot understand why you refused to come with us to kill that boy,’ he

She does not understand why the older and well-known authors are not being read in high school. Prose uses a personal experience from her son’s sophomore English class. He had to read a “weeper and former bestseller by Judith Guest” (424), about a dysfunctional family dealing with a teenage son’s suicide attempt. “No instructor has ever asked my sons to read Alice Munro, who writes so lucidly and beautifully about the hypersensitivity that makes adolescence a hell,”(424). She again mentions books she approves of that should be read in English classes.

Going back to the novel, we see Okonwo, who is extremely shocked by the twists which take place in his tribe as a cultural revolution. He sees their ancient religion giving its place to Christianity, and their father’s culture and traditions, which his life was based on, fall apart. To make things even worse, his own son turns his back to him. Okonkwo can not stand this as a result he tries to fight against the people who were the creators of this disaster. But as he fails, he commits suicide, preferring to kill himself, rather than let those strangers kill him.

As shown in the novel Bound, historical fiction was beneficial in helping readers to understand the past. The characters of Sally Gunning’s novel were helpful in allowing the reader to understand daily aspects of colonial

Like Oedipus, Okonkwo is a tragic hero because his story starts with him being strong, feared, and a lady-killer. Unfortunately, he then kills his son and a court leader which leads to his downfall and ban from his home. Hamartia is the characteristic of a tragic hero that leads to his downfall. Okonkwo’s hamartia was the fact that he does not express his emotions. His lack of expressions and emotions led him to kill his son and “mistakingly,” a court leader. Catharsis is the emotional cleansing part of the story. Catharsis is present in Things Fall Apart when Okonkwo commits suicide and goes against all of his “rules” like no becoming like his

As we seen the character development in Okonkwo, we begin to see his true colors shine through when he lets his rough exterior down to take in a new child that came into the village. With this slight glimmer of hope, we see that he takes the child in as one of his own, and we suddenly see things make a turn for the worse when one of the village men inform him that the child must die. For example in the text it states, “‘My father, they have killed me!’ as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.

Fiction should be apart of the English curriculum because it gives you inspiration of what people can go through in everyday life without you knowing about it. Works Cited Hopkins, Ellen. Crank. New York: Publisher, Simon Pulse, 2004.

Students, or any teenager in general can understand the background of this novel by being able to connect the theme or themes to themselves. They can also examine the authors word choice to help establish the setting of the novel and the development of the characters throughout their journeys. This book shows many

In the story, while the author is describing joy to the reader she says that “All smiles have become archaic.” (p.1par.2) This shows that the joy has been around longer than anyone can possibly recall, that these people know no other expression than to smile. With the logic that to have joy in Omelas there always has to be a child to suffer, but the point is that this suffering has happened so long that the Omelians just assume that it has to happen. Because of the time that this “tradition” has survived it has become entwined with their culture. The ones who know why this must happen are likely the caregivers of the child and the ones who have to find a new child when one dies/ grows up.

Okonkwo murders his adopted son Ikemefuna whom Nwoye develop’s an emotional attachment with. This brought Nwoye pure agony “a vague chill descended on him … this feeling, when his father walked in, that night after killing Ikemefuna”. (62) Okonkwo and Nwoye are juxtaposed against each other in the sense that Nwoye appreciated the values of love and loyalty that Ikemefuna brought however Okonkwo kills him without any consideration. Nwoye's developed feelings of resentment towards his father are illustrated in the novel when he opposes his fathers wishes and converts to Christianity. Nwoye longs for a life where twins don't get thrown into evil forest’s and adopted brothers aren't killed.

The pain of suffering cannot be healed by suppressing and trying to forget the memories of traumatic events. Rather, it must be overcome by remembering and accepting the past. At the beginning of Obasan, Megumi Naomi “Nomi” Nakane, raised in silence by her aunt, Obasan, and her Uncle Isamu, is a wordless woman who tries to forget the suffering and ignore the mysteries of her painful past. However throughout the story, Naomi, with the help of her Aunt Emily, revisits her childhood and discovers the truth of her family’s suffering and her mother’s fate. Ultimately, she comes to terms with her past as well as her mother’s silence and absence.

Historical fiction is set in the past and tells a story using details from the time and place to which it is referring. This can and often includes historical figures giving the reader a sense of the time and place. Children who read historical fiction gain understanding of their own heritage, people, beliefs values hardships and physical surroundings. They can make the connections between the influences of the past and what influences them now. As they discover universal truths identify feelings and behaviors, it will encourage them to make a better choice for themselves. Understanding different viewpoints will develop sensitivities and empathy helping them to realize that history shows us that we must work together.

Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was viewed as a disappointment and failure: “Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure. He was poor, and his wife and children had barely enough to eat” (5 Achebe). Okonkwo feels deep shame in this perception of his father, and he makes the promise to himself not to repeat his father’s mistakes: “He was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (18). This “possessed” feeling Okonkwo harbors leads to him becoming obsessed with the idea of weakness. Okonkwo devotes his life to not being seen as weak; instead, he wants to be seen as a strong, successful man. Okonkwo goes far beyond his father’s legacy and becomes extremely aggressive and savage. His new uncontrollable nature causes him trouble in Umuofia, and he ends up killing his son.