Postcolonialism and Slinkys

             In Things Fall Apart, Achebe not only makes the colonizer, the white missionaries, and colonized, the people of Umuofia, relationship clear but also attempts to reveal the true nature of this relationship and the negative effects it brings with it. After extensively describing the culture and traditions of Umuofia in a hundred and twenty five pages, Achebe then describes the quick manner in which the colonizer destroys the people’s faith in their own customs. He describes the white missionaries disregard on the significance of the people’s traditional practices and then summarizes postcolonial thinking in the last paragraph of the novel, stating that these white missionaries will name their novel “The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger” and that they will devote “perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph” on Okonkwo’s life. By naming the novel this, the District Commissioner is not accurately depicting the people of Umuofia and the relationship between them and the white missionaries. Instead, the white missionaries are reducing Okonkwo to topics on murder and suicide rather than the respectable man he once was according to their customs. Furthermore, people will believe what the white missionaries write about because they have not been to the village of Umuofia and therefore cannot say what is true and what is not true in the depiction of the village. Another negative effect is that Umuofia’s traditional religion, language, and culture will disappear and be replaced by this supposedly superior way of living.

            Similar ideas that Achebe describes can be seen when applying the postcolonial lens to analyze Frankenstein. Through this lens, the creature can be seen as the colonized and the society that surrounds him as the colonizer. As soon as the creature comes alive he is immediately attacked by societal values. This makes the creature seem like he is inferior just because the society around him says that he isn’t supposed to look the way he does. He is ostracized from society because society makes him feel that he is not allowed to be a part of their society, which is similar to the Igbo people. The white missionaries continuously tell them that they are worshipping false Gods and that they are only pieces of wood, which is undermining the Igbo people’s culture and eventually making it nonexistent. Moreover, it is in postcolonial nature to describe the “inferior” people and customs in such a way that makes the colonizers feel like they are doing the right thing and this is seen in Frankenstein also when Frankenstein is describing the creature’s grin as evil when it really could be an expression of despair when Frankenstein believes he is doing the correct thing by destroying the creature’s companion. Additionally, the reader can only believe that the Creature is evil when Frankenstein is describing him because he incessantly describes the creature as hideous and evil. This is similar to the white missionaries continuously describing the Africans as savages and people who have no culture or language in Heart of Darkness. The negative effect that comes from this colonizer/colonized relationship is that Frankenstein’s family is killed by the creature and eventually the creature also dies, which is similar to the death of the Igbo people’s culture.

            Finally, Achebe’s argument can also be applied to the movie Avatar. In Avatar, the colonizer are the humans and the colonized are the Na’vi. The humans want to destroy the Na’vi people’s homeland for their own selfish reasons. They do not understand the culture or the significance behind the tree that they want to mine when they attempt to have the people relocate. Jake Sully tries to understand their customs and gain the Na’vi people’s trust but ultimately his goal is to also get resources from their land. He is like Mr. Brown in Things Fall Apart. Mr. Brown tries to convert the Igbo people, but while trying to do this, he learns about the Igbo culture.  Similarly, while Sully is attempting to relocate the people, he is learning more and more about their culture. The humans almost destroy the customs, the culture and the significance behind their homeland near the end of the movie, which illustrates Achebe’s argument that in the process of trying to convert the colonized that they are destroying their traditions.

            In all three works, and especially in Things Fall Apart, the events led systematically from one thing to another which led to another thing until eventually things fell apart. This systematic way of events is like an origami slinky. One piece is connected to the next which is connected to the next, and this makes it eventually “fall” down when placed on stairs. 

Spinning Tops and Feminists

                As I sat at the table finishing up my school homework for the day, I was listening and half watching a Telugu movie my parents were watching on YouTube called Mitr. It seemed to start off with a typical family who immigrated to the United States with the mother still trying to hang onto her Indian roots. Everything was okay until this one scene where the father asked his guests if they wanted anything to drink; as soon as the guests said water, instead of him getting it for his guests himself he asked his wife to get the water for them.  

                Okay, maybe I am slightly overreacting for this one scene, but it continued. The mother continued to act like a stereotypical woman; one who listens to her husband all the time and depends on the husband to do everything because she feels she is the weaker gender. She can’t stand up for herself. As Angelica’s group presented today, she is considered a weak character.

                This made me think of more Telugu movies that I have watched that have “weak” female characters; a majority of Telugu movies I thought of were more oriented towards male main characters with a female character only there to act as a girlfriend for the main character. She had no other purpose or role in the actual plot of the story. She was more like a distraction to the “hero.”

While I could think of many movies with a main male character, only a couple of movies came to mind when I thought of more strong female oriented Telugu movies. These few movies with a strong female character were still well received in society, so why then, especially in modern times, can’t there be more of a balance between male and female characters in Telugu movies? Why does the male character have more importance in plots of a movie than a female character?

                A movie can still be successful if there is an equal balance between a strong male and strong female character who are both central to the plot. For example, a spinning top consists of three pieces of paper; each paper is the same size and each part is necessary to make the top. Each piece of the top can be thought of as each part of the movie, one the plot, one the male character, and one the female character; all elements that are important for a movie.

When put together, the top spins pretty well. Therefore, when all the pieces of the paper were the same size, or when both the male and female character had an equal part in the movie, the top spun well, or in other words the movie can be successful.

Now if that same top has one part that is too big, the top is unbalanced and doesn’t spin as well. In my opinion, this is where Telugu movies are at now. 

Fireworks and Time

           Ruth, one of the main characters in A Tale for the Time Being, happens to find a diary about Nao washed up on shore on the island where Ruth and Oliver live, and in the beginning it seems like they are two different people, unrelated except for the fact that Ruth is reading about Nao, similar to how these twelve pieces in the origami firework are unrelated as of now.

However, as the novel and Nao’s diary progresses, it is seen that Nao and Ruth share similar experiences. Aside from the fact that they both are Japanese, they both seem to be out of place in where they are living right now. Ruth felt like she fit in when she lived in New York, where she could be among other people; however because of her circumstances with Oliver’s and her mother’s health, she had to move to the island where Oliver lives. As a result, “she missed people,” (61). Nao, similarly, fit in when she lived in California. She had friends, her father had a job, and life seemed to be going well for her. Then when her father lost his job and they had to move back to Japan her life fell apart; other students started to bully her and her father started to attempt to commit suicide.

                They are further related when Ruth begins to connect more and finds more clues about Nao’s life with the help of the internet. She first finds an article by a professor that seems to match up with the events Nao has described and later searches up Yasutani Jiko and finds an article, helping her become even more closer to Nao and her story, much like this origami firework.

The firework is more complex than it seems like how Nao describes time as complex. She wants to live now, but by the time she says now, it is in the past already. 

Aside from origami, A Tale for the Time Being is interesting to me because it reminds me of Frankenstein. The novel is set up like a frame tale, much like in Frankenstein. Walton is listening to Frankenstein talk about the Creature and then writing about it to his sister, while Ruth is reading about Nao in her diary. Both Walton and Ruth act as an outside perspective, reacting to the story as a reader would. 

CreatuRose

To Creature,

                Your story has reminded me of that of an origami rose.

11)      Start by folding the origami bird base 

The base for your story unfortunately starts with me and my unfettered hunger for knowledge. I had erroneously thought I was free from your hideousness when you had run away and was quite frightened when you had asked me to listen to your story.

22)      Fold the top layer from right to left

Just as this step sets up the folds that follow, you have constructed your struggle in the first few days to set up what you ask of me. You told me of each sense, such as touch and sight, that you had to become accustomed to without me. What I experience every day and take for granted, you had to learn to adjust to it.   

33)      Fold up the bottom tip

44)      Flip paper over repeating steps 2 and 3

55)      Fold the top layer from right to left

66)      Fold up the bottom tip

77)      Fold down the top tip

After adjusting to your surroundings, you traveled to the old man’s hut and experienced the harsh nature of mankind. It was not your fault for being created, yet the man judged you only by your looks like many men you continued to meet, even when you meant no harm. You escaped to a cave where you met your protectors and obtained happiness from them when observing their daily activities, setting up the question you want to ask me even further.  

88)      Fold Point A-B to A-C (picture) and Repeat steps for other 3 sides

As you began to learn how to speak from the protectors teaching the Arabian you began to realize the same thing I have realized about knowledge, an idea that repeats again and again. The knowledge you have learned about yourself and being a monster has caused you to hate yourself and your creator. You have realized how much of an outcast you really are.

99)      Flip the paper over and fold all 4 tips to the center and Flip paper over again

Many times you have realized that ignorance might be better, that knowledge can be painful and do more harm than good, much like how my knowledge of creating life has done more harm to me than good. Many times you have also compared God to the humans and me to you. I realize that I am not God. God creates life that is beautiful, while I have created a monster.

1 10)   Hold the Rose in one hand and use your other hand to twist the paper and Use a pen or a circular object to twirl the petals and finish the rose.

Similar to the nature of a rose, your story is one that is mostly beautiful but also tragic. You have been friendly to mankind and they have only treated you as a monster you think yourself to be. You seek to be loved. Yet, despite your story and kind gestures to your protectors that I can sympathize with you for, there are still thorns in your rose. Out of your hatred for mankind and their treatment towards you, you have killed my brother and have caused another innocent soul to die to take the punishment for your crime. I feel it is my duty to make it up to you and the harm I have caused you by abandoning you; however, at the same time, I cannot forgive you for your crimes.

Perhaps, I can use my horrid knowledge one more time to save mankind.

Sincerely,

                 Your Creator. 

Ninja Stars and A & P

Origami ninja stars are normally two contrasting colors. In the story of A & P, there are two different “colors” or characters, Sammy and the three girls. The ninja stars start off as two separate sheets; the two pieces of paper seem to have no connection with each other. Similarly, the characters in the short story, are not related other than the fact that they are all in the A & P store at the same time. Throughout the short story, Sammy starts describing the girls and their bathing suits, saying “she was the queen...long white prima donna legs.” He instantly characterizes the three girls and seems to judge them solely on their looks. He objectifies the three girls, but the girls seem to feel that because of this and their gender, they have power over the men in the room, which is shown through their nonchalant walking.

But what does this have to do with ninja stars? What’s the point? How are Sammy and the three girls related?

Well, Sammy’s manager, Lengel, stops the three girls and asks them to leave due to their bathing suits not following the store’s rules, and they leave hurriedly. Sammy then quickly says that he quits because Lengel was “embarrass[ing] them.” He then continues to say that the “world was going to be” hard to him, implying that according to societal norms he should not have supported the three girls and that his actions are more important than the actions of three girls.

To conclude, this is where the two separate sheets form the one ninja star. The three girls had impacted Sammy and had caused him to quit his job, connecting the three girls directly to Sammy. However, whereas the two sheets stay together in a ninja star, the three characters and Sammy do not. In fact, he looks around for the three girls, “but they’re gone.” Furthermore, the ninja star itself can be seen as powerful and used as a weapon, which also relates to Sammy; his actions have more of an impact according to him, probably because he is a male, that it will cause the world to be harsh to him.

 

Frankencrane

To Victor Frankenstein, My Creator:

     You have followed a path similar to creating a paper crane.

1)      Start by folding the bird base

As a young child you built up a base for your hunger for knowledge, learning from books such as Cornelius Agrippa’s. You treated them as treasures and took in as much as you could.  

2)      Crease both lower “legs” of the bird base, in preparation for reverse folds to create the body

Then at the age of seventeen, you have embarked on a journey to gain mastery in your interests by attending the University of Ingolstadt, the catalyst of your preparation for creating me. The teachers have told you that you will be successful and have showed you machines you can use in the future, a day that decided your “future destiny.”

3)      Open up the leg and bring the paper inward and then upward, repeat this with the other side

            As you continued your progress with your “scientific pursuit,” you gained new information, information that peculiarly attracted you. You began to ask questions about the human body and how life was made.  You studied all aspects of this and were almost complete in your creation.   

4)      Make a reverse fold for the head of the bird and then fold the wings down

            Alas, you made it. You collected all your materials to create me and now all it took was one spark. What you set out to do had finally happened. I had come alive, and when I opened my eyes, you ran away.

5)      Hold the tail and the spot below the wings to flap the bird.

            But my creator, one difference from this bird and me is that this bird had its creator to flap its wings, but my creator had run away, leaving me alone to survive in this harsh world with no support. If my creator cannot love me, then who can. Did you not think of my emotions?  I leave immediately knowing that you do not wish to look at me anymore.
           You have not thought of the consequences of your actions.

From,

         The Creature