Oh-Em-Gee, it's actually November already. Happy
November! And oh, It was Halloween yesterday. I understand that some people
don't believe in Halloween because it celebrates the dead or something like
that. Is it really weird that I could care less about whether it celebrates
dead people or evil spirits, and that what really irks me about Halloween is
little children going around begging for candies? I mean, I would certainly not
say no to a child asking me for candy but I don't like the idea at all. I was talking
about it to my Dad some days prior to Halloween and I think I mentioned that I
may never allow my own future kids go around begging for candy from strangers
and he said I would never want to hurt my kids so much because its an old
tradition and every child wants it.
Well, there were MANY things I wanted as a kid but never
got because Daddy and Mummy said no. So erm...
On to the next thing.
Hayyyyy, I hope it doesn't feel like I've abandoned my
blog oh, nah I have not. I just never want write when I don't feel like it. No
pressure or anything, this is just a place to express myself in anyway I can,
to keep my mind busy and to just do something I love to do. So, I usually want
it to come naturally.
Now the main reason for today's post *rubs palms* Shall
we?
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
I like it when I start a book and never want to drop it.
Hehe. And frankly, this is more likely to happen to me with an African author
than with foreign, assorted authors. I got the eBook-eBooks are the new cool-and
wasn't sure if what I had was the
complete version. So, of course I asked my Dad if he knew how long or short the
book is. You should have seen the look on my father's face when he found out I
was reading the book for the first time in my life. Surprisingly, I actually
was just reading it for the first time ever. I don't think his expression
implied that I was an avid reader as much as it implied that the book was so
world famous that it was quite an abomination for a twenty something year old
to never have read it. He even asked me how I went through secondary school
taking Literature and never read it. Excuse him, but I went to school in the
twenty first century. Okay, that doesn't quite cut it since we read Hamlet. But
apologies to you Achebe's fans but I think we read even better books in school.
Emecheta's 'Joys of Motherhood' is still stuck in my mind. OH! that book.
Anyway, one thing I couldn't get off my mind while
reading Things Fall Apart was "WHY?" Why was the book such a hit, so
much that some people still think it was the best thing to come out of Africa?
I know, I'm sure it is a good read, I just need to know what is so fantastic
about it? It did have a huge international acclaim and I just need to know why.
I am genuinely asking, not because I'm a literary genius or anything (I'm not),
I'm just curious as to what makes that particular Achebe's book different from
any other book. Frankly, Achebe portrayed an African man as one who acts, and
then thinks later. Okonkwo (main character-I don't want to call him the
protagonist) was so insecure and overly
scared of failure that he failed to really appreciate the most important things
in life. My Dad thinks that's the exact reason the book was such a hit; that
westerners love things that portray bad images of Africans. This WEBISTE
described it as " the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to
the modern African experience as seen from within."
For some parts of the book, I (a Nigerian) was distracted
and maybe even irritated by some of the so-called cultures that were described.
Why do we refuse to accept that CULTURES DO NOT MAKE THE PEOPLE, rather,WE THE
PEOPLE MAKE THE CULTURE? We should not go about doing barbaric things and
blaming it on 'culture.' If an act is inhumane or point blank stupid, stop it,
don't call it culture. I digress. In his lifetime, Chinua Achebe was so proud
of that book that when 50 cent wanted to use the same title for a movie, (he
was going to pay Achebe) he refused. Ugh.
I was talking to my friend, Ugo yesterday about
Chimamanda's Americanah and how desperate I am to read it. He told me how he
felt Adichie, just like her role model, Achebe manipulated her characters too
much. And, I agreed. I see a lot of Achebe in Adichie. I prefer Adichie's books
though. There's an interesting relationship between the two; Chimamanda
Adichie's family lived in a house just after Achebe and his own family had
lived in the same house in Nsukka. Please don't ask me how I know this. Lol.
It's no surprise Adichie was so in love with him. Which leads me to my next
question. I should write a disclaimer first; I didn't hate the man ohhh and
this isn't racism or tribalism, I didn't even know too much about him anyway.
My question is why were people calling him "hero' when he died. It
certainly was not only me that saw "R.I.P to a great Nigerian hero."
"Another hero has fallen." "Oh Nigeria will feel your
impact." and so on and so forth. How was he a hero? Literary hero, maybe
but national hero, how?
In the twenty first century (before you say I've not read
my history books please note that the 21st century started in year 2001) one of
the biggest challenges we faced as a nation started on the first day of 2012
and went on for a little over a week during the subsidy protests and the mini
revolution, when for the first time, Nigerians came together against our
leaders. There was no Achebe in sight. I don't think I had ever seen him prior
to that in matters concerning the affairs of the nation. Besides the literary
world, I'm not sure he ever had any impact on the nation. Please educate me if
I'm wrong. But I don't think I am. If that is true, so how exactly was he a
hero? Instead, he released a book that if taken much more seriously could have
had adverse effects on the already volatile Nigeria. I thought the Ibos had
outlived Biafra and had moved on? I have not read the book but I heard specific
names were mentioned. I should attribute this to the issue of people wanting
desperately to say fantastic things about a person when he/she is dead. Ha, I
read an article by Wole Soyinka where he said people were furious Achebe never
won a Nobel Prize. In fact, several people suggested Soyinka should speak to
the organizers of the Nobel Prize and ask them to award Achebe a posthumous
Nobel Prize. Loooool. Jokes apart,
Things Fall Apart is arguably a very interesting novel, it just didn't meet up
to the high expectations I had of it. Not that my opinions matter anyway. And
please, we need to stop with our petty sentiments already.
In a nutshell, that's how I spent my Friday night;
reading a book and partially re-watching season 5 of Gossip Girl with my
sister. Am I boring or am I boring?
Love,
Ife..
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