Okwonko Character Analysis

The main character in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart Okwonko, is a complex character that was created in order to further enforce the themes in the novel. He is portrayed as a tragic character with his major flaw being his inability to accept change and weakness. This was a result of his father's failure and lack of strength and success in their community. He did not want to follow this path and instead was fully directed to becoming strong and accepted within his town. This flaw ultimately led to his downfall, which can be identified as his act of suicide at the end of the story. After returning from his motherland, Okwonko attempted to regain the power that he had before leaving. Since he was not able to achieve this, he could not live and thereby killed himself. This further proves the idea of Okwonko not being able to accept any change or failure. 

Overall, this character was created in order to make sure that the novel was realistic and relatable to the reader. Had the main character been without flaw, the audience would not be able to relate with him. If he had been a fully bad character, the audience may not sympathize with him at his downfall. Therefore, it was important to strike a balance between a perfectly good character and a fully bad one. This would allow the audience to better appreciate the Igbo culture and to relate to them, which is the aim of the novel. By creating this relatable character, and having him represent the community, Achebe will allow us as readers to understand and appreciate this culture that we may not have full knowledge of. 

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An African Voice Discussion Takeaway

Chinua Achebe's interview, "An African Voice," provides great insight on the impact of his literature as well as the ideas behind his work. When assessing Achebe's replies, we can infer many things about the implications of the literature in this field. One of the most interesting concepts that were discussed in this interview was that of a "universal civilization". During the discussion, we looked at the idea of our worldwide community becoming united despite any differences. First, we looked at the extent of this possibility with the existences of many different languages which each carry its own culture and ideals. However, a universal civilization should not be about a lack of differences, but rather an understanding and acceptance of these differences. It is true that English is the most dominant language nowadays and this allows it to transfer the culture of the countries that speak it. This is always true for some language and culture however unity can be achieved despite the existence of a dominant language. Therefore, we concluded that in order to achieve this idea of a universal civilization, differences should be understood and accepted. As a result, we could agree that this is not an achievable idea in our world. Another concept that we focused on was how African literature allowed us to expand our idea and perception of African life. Through works such as "Things Fall Apart", we are able to understand the lifestyle of the African person through their eyes. This contrasts with the negative portrayal that is created by Western literature. We discussed how African literature is a form of expression which allows the people to define themselves. This is a very interesting concept because it means that the African people were able to use the same tool that oppressed them in order to define themselves and break the stereotypes they are placed within. Further, they allow others who have also experienced colonialism to connect to their work and to express themselves through it. It is interesting how one thing can be experienced through similar ways despite the many differences. And perhaps this relates to the idea of a universal civilization, however in a negative way. In this situation, all the differences are set aside where they are able to agree on the impacts of colonialism. 

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Paper One Practice – Political Speech Analysis

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The text I will be analyzing is a political speech by Adolf Hitler, which was delivered in January 1940 at the Berlin Sportspalast. We know this text is a speech because it uses second person in order to address the audience. Further, as it is a text spoken by a political leader, Adolf Hitler, we can further ensure that it is a speech.

This speech is directed towards Hitler’s “comrades” as mentioned in the speech repeatedly, however we can infer that this is the German public. This can be done in order to show unity between him as a leader and his public. Words like “our people” are used several times during the speech, which further shows that he is addressing the public. We know that it is directly focused towards the German public because it alludes to them and their wellbeing several times. He does this by talking about things such as the “German future” and referencing “our German people”. The purpose of the speech is to create a sense of unity between the German people and to cause them to support him as a leader. This speech was given in 1940 and therefore during WWII and after Germany had declared war on several countries. Hence, Hitler would be attempting to persuade the German public to support him and stand with him against their enemies. Overall, the speech was delivered in order to further rally support and convince the public that his decisions were the correct ones.

The main focus of the text is the idea of France and Britain hating Germany within the frame of WWII. It begins by highlighting the difficulties that Germany endured after in their victory in 1939. Then it goes on to reach its main part, which is the relationship between Germany and other countries. The author defines this as hatred towards Germany from the other countries. There is particular focus on the idea of Germany attempting to avoid war. This gives further emphasis on the idea of other countries hating Germany. He then goes on to discuss the idea of Germany being on track for their victory in the war. The whole of the text is simply discussing ideas related to WWII and the current state of Germany.

The tone used throughout the speech is a very formal, powerful one. It constantly uses statistics and numbers in order to continue to back up the ideas. There is a lot of reference to political ideas and therefore this would make the tone of the speech even more formal. The vocabulary is formal with sophisticated words however is clear and fully understandable. The speech also carries a lot of words of call to unity and action, with things such as “to ensure the defense of the Reich.” These types of words create a mood empowerment and unity. By using these phrases, the speech appears to draw the public together in one mutual interest. Because this is a speech that is related to war, it can be considered as one that has a sinister mood. However this does not overpower the mood of unity that was initially created. There is also a mood of strength and power in the speech, which is a result of the strong, concise tone and diction. Finally, it has a rather instructional tone where it is asking the public to believe in the speakers’ ideas and to follow them. Since this is a political speech, it is important for the words to have an instructional tone to them.

When looking at literary devices, there are many instances, which allow the author to further strengthen his points. Logos is used in the speech where Hitler refers to statistics in regards to the armies they are against in this war. More importantly, there is a great use of Pathos throughout the speech where he attempts to project unity between the German people. In instances such as “made us strong, internally strong” there is a reference to the strength that was created within the German population. This focus on Pathos is further enforced in phrases such as “the German people wanted only to live in friendship and peace with them”. Additionally, there is use of rhetoric devices within the speech. A metaphor is included where Hitler refers to the declaration of war as that the “Western powers decided to drop the mask behind which they are hiding.” This metaphor allows us the reader or listener to fully comprehend the extent of the action and to focus fully on the idea. There is also a juxtaposition of concepts in regards to the “Bible-studying Mr. Chamberlain” and the “atheist Stalin”. This was done in order to contrast the two sides strongly in reference to war and war aims. By using these contrasts closely together, Hitler is able to fortify his points about either by giving the listener something to parallel each to. Near the end of the speech, there is an occurrence of the device of anaphora with phrases such as “Germany will live… Germany will emerge victorious.”

In summation, the political speech is a text type that is often full of different literary devices and follows a certain structure and tone in order to fulfill its message. This speech by Adolf Hitler does the same in order to accomplish its aforementioned aim. The targeted audience is clearly the German people and it attempts to project unity and call for support. This is done through instances of Pathos, Logos and rhetoric devices such as metaphors and anaphora. By using all these devices, the author is able to ensure that the text is a successful, powerful one that undertakes the set aims of the political speech.  

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