Chinua Achebe’s "Chike’s School Days" – Flashcards
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The scramble of European powers over Africa during the ____ century, and this caused _____________ ethnic, religious, and linguistic communities to be forced into one "nation"
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19th, different
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"Nigeria": different peoples [__________ (northern parts)-___________ (Southwest)—________(Southeast)] wide linguistic and cultural diversity even within the same people.
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Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo
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_________-_________: Nigerian Civil War or Nigerian-Biafran War (Achebe supports Biafra)
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1967-1970
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Nigerian Military Coup in
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1966
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Nigerian Independence from the British Crown in _________(Things Fall Apart was published in ________)
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1960, 1958
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Chinua Achebe was born in ________ in Eastern Nigeria, belongs to the ________ ethnic group. In _________ he graduated from University College, Ibadan, and began to publish stories/essays. 1958 he published __________ _______ ___________, _________ he published No Longer At Ease (year of Nigerian Independence),and in ________ he published Arrow of God (these 3 books make up his "African Trilogy"). In 1972 he was awarded the ______________________ __________ __________ for Beware Soul Brother. In ________ he was awarded the Mann Booker International Prize.
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1930, Igbo, 1953, Things Fall Apart, 1964, Commonwealth Poetry Prize, 2007
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Remember Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899), and Achebe's lecture "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness"
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"Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as 'the other world,' the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man's vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality."
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What is the aim of Achebe's work?
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-"It was important to teach my readers that their past—with all its imperfections—was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God's behalf delivered them." -"[Literature] begins as an adventure in self-discovery and ends in wisdom and human conscience."
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"Chike's School Days" was published in
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1960
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In "Chike's School Days" Chike is living at the crossroads of cultures/ between "the _________ man's ways" and his __________background. A bicultural experience that can be both destabilizing and enriching (Achebe's and Chike's experiences are similar in this respect)
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white, African
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Why does Chike have three different names—what kinds of identity do they suggest for the main character?
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Chike (familiar) John(English) Obiajulu(Igbo-"the mind at last is at rest") this represents the diverse postcolonial culture. In which the once English power has integrated itself within the traditional culture.
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Why does Achebe incorporate English with Igbo vocabulary, proverbs, images, and speech patterns?
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To demonstrate the powerful influence of the English culture on the old culture, and how it has fused together to make something new.
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What is the relation between language and culture?
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Language and culture are tightly bonded, language shapes culture. There are different words and habits for different culture, they go hand in hand.
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What is the role of English for the main character? (Refer specifically to his experience at school, and the incorporation of British songs with Igbo proverbs and language patterns)
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Chike loves learning English so in the end he writes a song of English words to learn it, something that represents the hybrity of the culture, becase the oral learning is an Igbo tradition, but the words he sings are English. His favorite word was "periwinkle".
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Excerpts from an interview by Chinua Achebe
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-African culture (no excess, no extreme, no absolutes) Vs. ---Western culture (One truth, one way of life that is considered the right one) -Attempt to depict the complexity of African culture (both positive and negative points—e.g. he condemns corruption in Nigerian politics) -Colonial Rule was a "dictatorship" that recognized no "humanity" to Africans (e.g. see South African apartheid denying humanity to Africans) -The need for storytelling—weave collective memory and reinforce the power of imagination—see the world with fresh eyes as in children's stories—storytelling is a threat to controlling power -"In remembrance is the secret of redemption"
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"But it [the song] was like a window through which he saw in the distance a strange, magical world. And he was happy" (830) What is the role of literature for Chike (and for Achebe)?
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Litertature is the key to a whole new world in their eyes. One with vast endings, and beautiful combinations. One in which many cultures can be expressed, and combined.
