The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro: Contrasting the Upper and Lower Classes

Upon an initial reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, it is easy to blame the demise of Okonkwo’s life and of the Umofia community on the imperialistic invasions of the white men. After all, Okonkwo seemed to be enjoying relative peace and happiness before then. He did have a few mishaps; one of them resulted in him being exiled for eight years. Nonetheless, he returned to his home town with high spirits and with prospects of increased success. However, everything has changed. The white men have brought with them a new religion and a new government. Okonkwo’s family falls apart. The men in his village lose their courage and valor; they do not offer any resistance to the white men. Consequently, Okonkwo kills

Dien Cai Dau by Yusef Komunyakaa, is a book of poems in which Komunyakaa talks about the hardships of the Vietnam War and his service to the American Army. These poems not only talks about what the soldier have went through but the families of the soldiers as well. This book allows the reader to feel for the soldiers because it vividly describes the harsh reality of being a soldier and how the war can change a person physically and emotionally.

Like walking through a barren street in a crumbling ghost town, isolation can feel melancholy and hopeless. Yet, all it takes is an ordinary flower bud amidst the desolation to show life really can exist anywhere. This is similar to Stephen’s journey in The Samurai’s Garden. This novel is about an ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locals and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, Matsu’s garden and Sachi lead him out of solitude.

The poem Tuesday 9:00 AM by Denver Butson is a beautiful piece of writing that uses metaphors to describe the baggage everyone carries throughout life. The setting is extremely plain and ordinary, a bus stop on a Tuesday morning, but the word choice is very dramatic. The narrator tells the story from an omniscient point of view, while describing the various people and their personal afflictions who wait at the bus stop. However, the only descriptions are metaphors, that explain the emotional state each character is in. The poem itself is a short free verse with four stanzas and only one use of punctuation. Due to this lack of punctuation a stream of consciousness effect is created for the reader. Overall, the tone of the poem is morbid

The idea that beauty is found in all forms is widely accepted, yet ironically, many still find it a difficult concept to apply to themselves. For example, in The Samurai’s Garden, Sachi finds it challenging to accept herself when she discovers she has leprosy. However, as the story progresses, Sachi says she began to become accustomed to her looks and is not as sensitive to the subject of her disease. Along the way, she discovers that beauty is not always seen with eyes, but felt with the heart and soul. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama persistently shows that new and unique beauty is stronger and more meaningful than physical appearance or something ordinary through the people Stephen encounters and his experiences.

The Samurai’s Garden, written by Gail Tsukiyama, incorporates the various aspect of myth throughout the plot, from how the Japanese worship to the rituals they perform. Stephan-san, a young Chinese man, when he first arrived in Tarumi Japan, discovered the Japanese ritual of being clean. The Japanese in this book had a strong desire to be sanitary in every aspect of their life both physically and morally. They used to be physically clean to visualize being spiritually clean. Another part of the mythology in this novel was the worshipping of the kami deities. These deities dwelled in the shrine near Tarumi and Stephan-san along with Matsu traveled to the shrine to worship and pray to the kami fox deity, the Inari. Two facets of The

In the book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, we are able to read about the social changes the white missionaries had on an African tribe. Mr. Achebe describes the way of life before the missionaries arrived and then records some of the changes, which occurred due to the changed belief system introduced by these missionaries.

Gail Tsukiyama’s The Samurai’s Garden is set in 1930s Japan, the theme of war and peace is developed through Character interaction. Characters in the story have very different reactions to the same circumstances. Through the character of Stephen, one can conclude that outside forces do not control a person’s life because in life, people can take what has been given to them and do with it what they wish. In other words, life is what you make of it. Even though the war in China is very important to Stephen, he does not let it interfere with his descisions in Tarumi.

Culture collision is not something that you hear about everyday. Culture collision is the clash of cultures or values. This can be triggered by many things and the way we react to it is due to our personality. When this does occur it can impact our lives in such a great way. It can have an affect on who we are and what we stand for. In the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe we take a look at the character Okonkwo and see how he is affect by his Culture collision and see that his personality is the the factor in the way he reacts to it.

In the beginning of the story we meet Mrs. Freeman, wife of the hired hand. She and her husband have been working for Mrs. Hopewell for four years. “The reason for her keeping them so long was that they were not trash. They were ‘Good Country People,’'; according to Mrs. Hopewell. Ironically one of the first things we learn about Mrs. Freeman is that her previous employer has called her “the nosiest woman ever to walk the earth.'; Then, as the

The excerpt taken from Chinua Achebe’s Things fall apart comes from the end of the book, where the commissioner finds Okonkwo’s body dangling from a tree. This passage serves as closure for the novel, as the traditions of the past die along with Okonkwo. Achebe uses this specific scene in the novel to express both his views on the inevitable death of Igbo culture in the lower Niger (specifically Umuofia), as well as his perception of the portrayal of its people in western literature. In addition, Achebe continues to use this scene to drive the idea of cultural difference between both the inhabitants of Umuofia, and the missionaries that inhabited the land.

     In this short story “Dead Men’s Path,” Chinua Achebe gives the protagonist an exciting chance to fulfill his dream. Michael Obi was fixed officially headmaster of Ndume Central School, which was backward in every sense. He had to turn the school into a progressive one, however the school received a bad report when the supervisor came to inspect. Why did the school get a nasty report and Obi could not become a glorious headmaster even though he put his whole life into it? In order to find out the answer, we have to examine Michael Obi’s personality and the event that made the supervisor to write an airier result.

One show that continuously exhibits Social Stratification is Neo Yokio, written by Ezra Koenig. This show follows Kaz Kaan, a “magistocrat,” and his struggle with balancing his materialistic lifestyle with exorcising demons in the city of Neo Yokio. He is from a line of exorcists that were given citizenship for their services. This show justifies social stratification through the struggle of classism. Eventually his people made a business of their services, which gave rise to their high social status. Kaz tries to keep up with the socialite life by being thoroughly invested in the high fashion society that he lives in. He resents being called “Rat Catcher” which is derogatory term used for his people. Even though Kaz’s people showed individual

The short story “A Great Day” is written by the New Zealander Frank Sargeson, one of New Zealand’s leading authors. He wrote this novel during The Great Depression in the mid 1930s. New Zealand was one of the countries that were affected by The Great Depression. Unemployment reached 12 percent at its worst and New Zealand’s national income decreased severely. The author explicitly emphasises this by bringing up the unemployment of both of the characters, Fred and Ken.

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a modern example of postcolonial literature and is one of the most influential pieces of its genre. Postcolonial writing presents important themes and lessons of justice, equality, and freedom that can be applied to present times. It reminds us of how important our freedoms are and why we need to protect them. The colonized write about their exploitation and show how there is persecution in their colonized society. Postcolonial authors use specific methods to undermine their colonizers and reveal their backward logic. Things Fall Apart has various examples of meta-narrative, decolonization struggles, and colonial discourse worked in throughout the novel. Chinua Achebe’s writing styles showcase these techniques to subvert his European colonizers.