Chocolate Falls Apart
Time and time again, the mantra that one’s actions will carry consequences has been proven true. I too experienced the effects of this statement. When I first moved to Northville during my early elementary years, I was quite lonely and shy. It was very difficult for me to adapt to a new school district and leave my old friends from Farmington behind. To try and fit in better, I decided to become an aggressive wall ball player since wallball was the favored recess activity at the time. I became very talented at the game, but one day, I threw the ball too hard and it hit someone in the eye, landing me in major trouble. In many ways, my experience was similar to those of the characters in both the novel Things Fall Apart and the movie Chocolat . In the novel Things Fall Apart , by Chinua Achebe, and the movie Chocolat , directed by Lasse Hallstrom, the methods characters use to respond to changes in their surroundings demonstrate that actions carry consequences.
Things Fall Apart and Chocolat share many similarities such as both works showing that actions carry consequences when characters attempt to respond to changes in their surroundings. For instance, both Things Fall Apart and Chocolat feature scenes where characters receive punishment for interacting with outsiders different from the majority of the population. In Things Fall Apart , many villagers convert from the Igbo religion to Christianity, a new religion that has recently arrived
When people first start reading a book there is one burning question: "What is this story about?" It’s a heavy question, especially for a fiction novel with so many fabricated details. You can fix this by saying a story is all about decisions. Of course, there are other themes, but the entire story is connected by the questions characters ask themselves and the outcome of their own answers. We can think about how this mimics real life. How every day we are forced to consider life's chance situations; some casual, some pressing, but all of them impacting our final growth as people and those around us to some degree. A good example of this is when in the book "The Outsiders", our protagonist Jonny decided to kill Bob in self-defense, this resulted in Jonny and Ponyboy going on the run. The decisions, the choices, that were made by Jonny change the course of his and his cohort's entire lives in an instant--directing the whole final tale and story outcome.
Serious events can cause change in a person's life. S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders tells a story about a teenage boy, Ponyboy, that lives with his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. Pony and his gang are all poor Greasers so they are constantly mugged by the privileged Socs. Since the Socs and Greasers do not get along and are constantly fighting each other, the kids are almost always injured. In The Outsiders, Ponyboy learns a lot of important lessons because of the events that take place. Pony learns that all Socs are not mean, that Darry does love him, and that there is lots of good in the world. He learns many different things that help his life; however, the most valuable lesson is that all Socs are not rude.
In Things Fall Apart there are many cultural collisions created by the introduction of Western ideas into Ibo culture. One example of a cultural collision caused by the introduction of Western ideas into Ibo culture is when Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye converts to Christianity. This causes a cultural collision between Okonkwo and Nwoye because Nwoye wants to become a Christian, but Okonkwo doesn’t like the white men or Christianity. This cultural collision is caused by the white men bringing in western ideas to Ibo culture. This collision is very important to the book because it leads to the destruction of Okonkwo and fuels his anger. This collision shapes the meaning of the novel as a whole by symbolizing many things
People change and grow through their experiences and conflicts. For example, just 2 years ago I was a sixth grader. There was a lot more homework than I ever had in my non-accelerated / magnet elementary school. I had to work harder and for longer hours, but as a result, I was much more mature and knowledgeable. I improved my work habits and increased my concentration. In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “First Love”, a 14 year old girl is in love with a high school senior. She does everything she can to try to see him more often. At the end, she thinks she learns the true meaning of love. In Richard Wright’s “The Street”, a boy has to go shopping for food, but he is constantly stopped by a gang who beats him up. At the end, he beats up the gang with a stick his mother gave him because he had to to return home. In both “The Street” by Richard Wright and “First Love” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the characters start out as shy and naive, but end up as aware and wiser as a result of their respective conflicts.
Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, presents the result of colonization of the Ibo people by the European missionaries. The Ibo culture is threatened to change by the European influence. Villagers are divided between resisting a new lifestyle or embracing it for better opportunities in society. The struggle to keep Ibo traditions alive is reflected in Okonkwo and Obierika’s relationship to one another. Okonkwo represents the resistance of change by keeping traditional values in high regard while, Obierika signifies the openness to opportunity by questioning the current Ibo values. The arrival of European missionaries persuades the exchange of traditional Ibo methods, customs, and community for Christianity, resulting in the community to fall apart.
Things Fall Apart is a story about personal beliefs and customs and also a story about conflict. There is struggle between family, culture, and religion of the Ibo people which is all brought on by a difference in personal beliefs and customs. There are the strong opinions of the main character, Okonkwo. We are also introduced to the views of his village, Umuofia. Finally, we see how things fall apart when these beliefs and customs are confronted by those of the white missionaries. Chinua Achebe is a product of both native and European cultures. This has a great effect on the telling of the story. When he tells the story with an understanding and personal experiences in both cultures. He does not portray the African culture and their
After some time, these facts began to sink in. I would no longer wake up and walk into the same bathroom, walk down the same stairs, or eat in the same kitchen. I would no longer take the same walking route to school along with my friends. I would no longer have the same lasting neighborhood friends to socialize with. I would no longer take the same classes in school, talk to the same teachers, or even take notes the same way. However, I did not realize some of the other, not as despondent, impacts that changing environments would have until being ?new? for a few
In Laura Esquivel’s novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, she skillfully illustrates that love is a powerful that can either make or break us. The author portrays this conflict through The use of descriptive metaphors and indirect symbolism.
What if the town where you spent two years, was poor and that you learned to take part in the daily operations of life in order for everyone in the family to be able to survive, eat, learn, and live healthy. Now two years later, you return back to your hometown where things come easy, people waste, and people are not as appreciative of the same things that you are. You dress differently, you eat different foods, and you have a different outlook on life as a whole. How would you feel if all your childhood friends and close family treated you like you were eccentric? One reader felt that "Krebs seems to have changed a lot and doesn't really seem to care about too much". ("Reader", response 14). Krebs is not quite able to function in society as his friends and family expect. Is this his fault, the fault of society, or is it a fault at all?
There are things that happen when we are growing up that change us when we are grown. There are things that change us forever. Every human being is different, and there is a reason why . All of us had a childhood and all kinds of experiences some good, some bad, some full of joy but also others very painful. Eventually we grow childhood and mature depending of what we have gone through. The way we are able to handle situations is very important because one thing leads to another. We can't rely on intuition, we need to have logic in what our choices are. We can’t just punch someone in the face just because we don’t like a certain individual, or go up to
When you learn from you surroundings, you think of why you do the things you do. If you grow up in a neighborhood where people surround you with their friendship and love, then you will most likely be a caring person. But if you grow up where you are often ignored and try to be important, then you will most likely be passive and struggle for attention to a point where you don’t even realize you’re struggling for attention.
Their biggest competitors in the overall chocolate industry are regional companies because Roger’s is relatively focused in a small area, but not all of these companies offer the high end chocolates like Roger’s. There are also only a handful of big chocolate companies, like Nestle and Ghirardelli, that they compete with outside of their local regions. This presents a very good opportunity for Roger’s to increase market exposure and increase their sales and profit potentials.
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the Igbo culture was diminished by the spread of Christianity whom the white man began to scatter throughout the Igbo community. This expansion was not controversial to the Igbo people at first until the Igbo people actually saw the missionaries bad intentions. The Igbo people can relate to the Native Americans in such way that both were forced to adapt to new religious beliefs, they had to face the fact that the white men were superior and had to deal with the reality that their cultural traditions were dying out due to the Colonialism. Originally published in 1958 the Postcolonial novel reflects amongst many other cultural people whose traditions have died out. Utilizing themes, symbols , and diction
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel written to highlight the intriguing lives and misconceptions that are often identified with African culture. Achebe writes Things Fall Apart from the African view, a foreign perspective that sees westerners as the outsiders and Africans as the insiders. Focusing on a clan in lower Nigeria, Achebe profiles the clash of cultures that erupts when white Christians colonize and spread their religious ideals. Achebe is able to make his book so popular to the entire world because of his expert use of symbols like drums, locusts, and fire. These common symbols in which drums represent the beat of all civilization, locusts represent invasion by an outsider, and fire represents destruction, all aid
As I went through elementary school I was not treated kindly by a large majority of my class. I was often the one singled out by others and excluded from activities. I am sure this has had an effect on my personality. Although I feel Erikson’s psychosocial theory is correct, I believe it can be changed over time. At a young age, life experiences can play a large role in the shaping of a person’s self-confidence and self-esteem. Even though an individual’s past might not have been pleasant, as they get older they are able to gain awareness of past events and decide which ones will continue to have an effect on their lives (University of Illinois, 2013).