I felt that the stories by Chinua Achebe, called " Girls at War" and " The Madman" were very interesting stories. The way he presents them are different than what I am used to reading. Being introduced to him has opened my mind to a different kind of writing.
The text "Girls at War" expresses the sayings you my hear people say all the time. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. I always wondered how people that are always doing other people wrong always seem to receive good things in return. I always try to do things right. I always try to do people right. I don't brother people to try to cause them drama in their life. For some reason though, people always bother me. They always are in my business trying to cause me drama. It seems like people that may be mean, irritating people have a lot of things they want. People that are trying to do right struggle more. Of course, I am from the outside looking in. I could be wrong but I also believe that there is always someone out there that is worst off then I am. In the "Girls at War" it seems very backwards that Nwankwo lived at the end and he wasn't a very good person. Gladys died and she was a good person trying to save someone else's life. The selfish survived!
The text " The Madman" by Chinua Achebe proves that people start to believe they are what people say they are just from hearing it all the time. For instance, if you were to tell a child he can't do certain things all the time they start to believe they can't do it and they won't. You call a child stupid or dumb all the time they start to believe they are stupid or dumb. My mother installed that belief in me when I was very young. She would always say," words have power". She never let me say can't, she said I can do everything and anything I put my mind to. The words stupid and dumb were like saying a curse word and you knew cursing was completely wrong. I now have four children and I say the same thing to them. They are not allowed to say they can't do anything. I also don't allow them to call each other stupid or dumb. Words have meaning! Achebe proved that with " The Madman", Nwibe was not a madman. He started to believe he was because that is what he was called.
I enjoyed reading both" Girls at War" and "The Madman". I found them to be very entertaining. I do think that "The Madman" started off kind of slow to me. I am used to reading stories that start off with action. But, like I said at the begining, Achebe has opened my mind to another type of reading I'm not used to. I actually enjoyed the stories!
You bring up a good point about how it is easier to behave badly than it is to behave as a civilized adult. Ultimately, good behavior is harder than bad behavior, but it seems that although it may be costly, it is worth the effort. As you point out, Achebe is irritated that selfishness often wins. You point about your mother's saying, "Words have power," is incredibly important. Think about all the implications this has for literacy and literature. It is both poignant and mind boggling.
ReplyDeleteI like how you take the analysis of the central point of the story and relate it to your personal experiences. This form of literary criticism is interesting for the reader.