The Names They Gave Me

A few days ago I came across an article by Arab-American writer, Tasbeeh Herwees called The Names They Gave Me. I found it particularly interesting since it was related to the Language and Identity part of our course. Further, it was something that I was very familiar with and I found the article to be very well written.

In her article, the author talks about how she grew up in the United States with an Arabic name. Her mother felt very strongly about her keeping her real name instead of adopting an American nickname. This is followed by many awkward encounters with teachers who are incapable of pronouncing her Arabic name, leading her to feel as though she was a burden. She compares this to a tribe who did not have a name for the color blue, leading her to the conclusion that "It does not exist because it has no name". This story is one that is probably shared by most children with names that are native to their home country living in the United States.

However, I realized that this is a story that is not only related to children growing up in western countries. Since third grade, I have attended international schools here in the U.A.E, and I have noticed that this is also a common theme for us. Children coming from countries all around their names quickly accustom themselves to a twisted form of their names. Even as an Arab living in Arab country, I have realized that Arab names are rarely pronounced in the correct way at school. After a few years, we begin to introduce ourselves in the same way our western teachers and friends said our names. To me, that seems like a destruction of our identity. And in a way, that sounds hypocritical to me, because we do have the power to correct those who mispronounce our names. However it was exhausting to correct them time and time again, to watch them struggle with the letters and sounds. In order for us to embrace our differences and collectively strengthen our languages, we should make the effort to pronounce names correctly. Herwees describes the time her math teacher works to correctly pronounce her name as a moment which made her feel as though her "name was a crown". And that should be the case with all names, in order to strengthen them as individuals and keep their identity. 

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Summer Blog Post

A few days ago I returned from my trip to Italy with my family, we went to a city that I had wanted to visit for a long time, Milan. In the few days building up to my trip, I spent my time frantically planning and researching. I wanted to fit as many things into our trip as possible, a typical habit of mine. But for some reason, I forgot a major detail: language. I am fluent in English and Arabic, and I can speak a little bit of French; but I knew nothing of Italian. I remembered this while I was at the airport, with a few minutes to board and barely had time to try and look up a few common phrases which I could use. Italian was not a language I was familiar with at all, and when I arrived at Milan Malpensa, I knew two words, "grazie" and "ciao". 

The city was beautiful, it really was. On the first day we visited the nearby Lake Como, which was a beautiful lake surrounded by several small towns. Communication in those towns proved impossible very quickly, they were very small towns with not many residents and English was not commonly spoken. Still, since it was a tourist area, I didn't understand the full extent of this language barrier until I got to Milan. Although it was the financial capital of Italy, many people in the city did not speak English, especially in the smaller stores. However, we did get by, and we were able to have full meals in restaurants who had no English speakers. 

This brought my attention to two things. The first was our ability to communicate, two groups speaking completely different languages were able to somehow understand each other. And in a world where "broken English" is deemed unprofessional or unacademic, that seemed like an amazing thing. That leads me to the second thing, that despite that they were not able to speak English, they were all working and doing perfectly fine. Speaking English wasn't a requirement for them, and not having this ability certainly didn't make them any less successful. This meant that anyone who wanted to work or live in Italy, would have to learn Italian. And this creates a sense of identity for the country which I believe is a huge advantage for them. It allows them to hold on to their culture, history and traditions, which strengthens them as a nation. Furthermore, it encourages more people to learn their language in order to benefit from what Italy has to offer, and this makes the language stronger and more popular. I felt this within my first few minutes in the airport, where most signs had large Italian labels followed by smaller, less obvious English translations. I quickly learned that "uscita" was exit, and although that wasn't very helpful in my upcoming interactions with natives that didn't speak English, it just showed how important the Italian language was for its people. 

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How to Write About Jordanians

As any good piece of writing should, begin with a description of the landscape. You know, the sunset that stretches over the desert and sand dunes, that kind of thing. Never mind that Jordan actually has a diverse terrain that is usually only found in countries that are more than twice its size; but obviously no one knows that. Now, remember all those cool pictures you saw of camel rides in the desert? Right, time to recall all of those “Arabian Nights” type scenes, because its obviously an essential part of Jordanian life. Next, focus on the most important part of the Jordanian’s life, meal times. Because of course, all they do is prepare feasts for their huge families with countless children. Its a good idea to elaborate on how large these feasts are, just describe them as their obsession, that’ll do the trick. Don’t forget to describe your typical Jordanian character in detail, with their tan skin and dark hair. Sure, let us completely ignore the large number of ethnicities living within Jordan and the physical differences that come with them. I mean lets be real, they don’t even speak English, so they will never know. Now, more on the typical Jordanian character, since they have no exposure to the superior western culture, they are always dressed in national clothes. Don’t waste too much time researching specific national dress, just pick a few that come up from the google images search ‘Arab clothes’; its all the same thing. If its a male character, make sure to highlight his rough nature, and his obsession with power. For a female character, keep in mind that she’s not allowed to work, and she’s definitely not involved in countless projects in a variety of fields. You might want to use some reference to Islam and how “extreme” it is, because thats always something your audience can understand and relate to, maybe nod their head as they solemnly recall 9/11. And while you’re there, you may want to mention how their religion asks them to starve themselves for a whole month!! Wow. Also, lets forget the fact that Islam is not the only religion in Jordan and that a large percentage of its population is actually Christian. Lets look at society, actually, you don’t even need to focus on this aspect since you can just describe it as chaotic and based on all the money they have. Jordan does have oil, right? Or was that the other country next to it? Who knows these things. Anyway, just mention that they have a lot of money and that they do absolutely no work, because obviously they don’t have the skills to develop themselves as a nation. Note: if they get defensive and start to mention the numerous projects that many Jordanians are working on, just remind them of what really matters, their simple, traditional lifestyles. After all, they have no sense of organization within their society. By the way, is Jordan the one that has all the cool ancient Roman sites? If it is, then maybe its worth a visit, and while you’re there you can take some photos for your cover page. Just make sure to drive out to the most remote spot with some good models so you can properly capture all the things you talked about in your highly authentic book. Well done. 

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Paper Two: Things Fall Apart

Prompt: Show how and to what effect Achebe makes use of myth, legend or other stories and tales. 

Through the description and development of events in his novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe makes use of myths and legends to assist in the establishment of the Igbo culture. Throughout the novel, proverbs and stories play a large role in the culture. They set up a strong establishment of oral culture they relied on in order to communicate their values and traditions throughout successive centuries. He uses them in order to familiarize the reader with the different practices and traditions of the Igbo people. They allow the audience to relate with the characters and to appreciate the culture for its richness of language. By further emphasizing on the oral culture universal among the clansmen, Achebe is able to add a greater sense of realism to his audience and immerse them more within Igbo land and add an element of empathy to the African characters who were so desperate to hold on to the last traces of their culture.

There is a clear appreciation for speech and the art of communication that is demonstrated throughout the novel using the character’s saying. Okoye is a character well known for his speaking and is held in high regard as an orator; it is clearly stated that “Okoye was a great talker.” He achieves this reputation with the use of profuse proverbs, which allow him to skirt around the subject before addressing it. Proverbs are a valued part of the Igbo culture and described as “the palm oil with which words are eaten.” Also, Unoka was well known for his speaking abilities which allowed him to put off the paying of debts. Through his use of proverbs and his ability to go around the subject when confronted, he was able to avoid paying back debts. He often told stories to Okownko, who did not appreciate these stories and regarded them as womanly. However, for the Igbo culture in general, his speaking abilities were what made him distinctive. This was because he was able to use words to his advantage and do what he wanted. 

 

Stories are also a major part of the novel, especially bedtime stories. We know that Nowye preferred his mothers stories to his fathers, and this establishes the stories as the emotional aspect of the society. Without such stories, the culture may seem too rigid and unbelievable. Instead, they are constantly referred to in order to highlight how prominent stories and tales are.Through this, the audience will be able to relate to the characters. It establishes them as a realistic group of people with flaws and therefore we can fully appreciate them as an audience. As the novel progresses, and negative consequences are inflicted on the people of Igbo land, the audience can feel empathy for them. 

Myths and legends are also a large aspect of Igbo culture, especially the stories told by the elders. The Igbo people can pass on their ideals and traditions through this form. This allows Achebe to establish the Igbo culture as one that is passed down through generations and strengthens the culture as a whole. By creating different stories which take into consideration various aspects of life, we can appreciate the Igbo culture and perhaps even relate to it. These stories are often used to explain aspects of nature. An example of this is the tortoise story told to Ezinma by her mother, which is used to explain the rough texture of a tortoise’s shell. This shows us that storytelling plays a major role in the Igbo people’s understanding of the world. Further, this story can be considered symbolic of a larger message which Achebe aims to communicate in his novel. It may be symbolic of colonialism as the tortoise asks the birds to adopt new names, which can be considered parallel to customs and traditions. 

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Things Fall Apart Memoir

I lived in Umuofia for a very long time and to me, the Igbo culture is one of the strongest cultures. I have great pride in it and its values, customs and traditions. And it cause me great pain to have lived to see it fall apart; I never expected to see such a great culture reduced to such a dismal state. I knew the arrival of the Christians would not be for a good cause. And I was right, all they did was tear us apart. We were wrong to let them stay, they influenced our children and took them away from their culture. And what culture could stay strong when its own children do not agree with its teachings but with the teachings of a group they knew for only a short time. We could not even agree among ourselves, generations disagreed with each other. They used the education they had as a weapon against us, they tricked us with their religion. We should have fought harder from the beginning, had we not let them stay in our village this would have not happened. Instead, we have to deal with the consequences forever. It has all fallen apart, they were able to find every tiny crack in our society and use it to their advantage. I have seen it with my own eyes with Okwonko, he lost his son to the Christian school, and then he was reduced to nothing. He took his life as he saw how we lost control of our own culture. The Christians took total control, and now we are powerless in our land. 

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Paper 2 Analysis: Things Fall Apart

Prompt: Discuss the significance of social status in Things Fall Apart, and comment on its contribution to characterization.

There are many prominent themes in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and while they are all placed for different purposes, social status is one that touches on several aspects in the novel. Most significantly, it plays a major role in the development and portrayal of characters, most notably Okonkwo. Perhaps the most important value to him as a person is acceptance and approval from his community. From this, we can recognize the importance of social status and class within the Igbo community and the novel. Further, social status is reflective of other things within the community such respect and power.

Power is of major importance to the Igbo community and this is correlated with social status. Within the community, gaining titles will increase one’s status and therefore give them more power. Aside from titles that are achieved through winning wrestling matches or are bought, wealth had a huge impact on social status. Men who were successful at planting and harvesting yam were seen as of higher social status. Further, those of higher status were usually the ones involved with the decision making, signifying their importance. Therefore, most members of the community aimed to gain higher social status. There was great respect for those of higher status and this is reflected in their traditions such as that of the breaking of the kola nut. There is also great respect for the elders of the community and this is associated with their social status as well. Overall, social status was a major part of everyday life and often to reach higher levels was the goal of most members of the community.

In terms of Okonkwo, social status can be considered as his obsession, which ultimately led to his downfall. Throughout the novel, his main goal is to become of a higher status and gain power. His main fear was to be like his father, who had a poor social status and was generally regarded as lazy. In contrast, he aimed to become successful at farming and to be a character of influence. We know that Okonkwo did many things only in order to gain acceptance and keep his social status. He often did not believe in these ideas however accepted them only to maintain his place within the community. This can be seen when he is expected to make a sacrifice after breaking the week of peace. Okonkwo obviously did not have much respect for the week of peace to begin with, however followed his community’s wishes in order to keep their acceptance. This is reflected again when he leaves to his motherland after accidently killing a young boy, he is not fully convinced of the punishment however follows it anyway. In the end, when Okonkwo was seen as someone of lower status and could not regain his community’s acceptance, he chose to take his life. This leads us to understand that he felt as though he had reached the lowest status and found no value for life.

In conclusion, we can see that social status in the Igbo community is reflective of power, which is an important aspect to them. It, many regards, shapes their every day way of life and it’s a crucial aspiration for the people. This is highly reflected in Okonkwo’s personality, as he values his placement in society rather favorably. 

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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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