Harkness

1) Had a conversation with Alex. Remained fairly quiet.
2) A short discussion, spoke an average amount.
3) Fairly quiet...
4) I did not have much to say, but I was talking with many different people.
5) I spread my conversations to the entire table: pretty good.
6) I spoke 4 times. I had an ongoing conversation with Sophia.
7) I spoke 5 times. Had a conversation with Alex and Sophia.

This year I have really made an effort to speak less and improve the quality of my comments. Many times, I have a clear conception of what I am trying to say, but it is often lost in translation. I am not really able to convey clearly what I am thinking, but I am making a valiant effort. I think I have greatly improved as a listener since last year, and am concentrating much more on trying to process what other people are saying in the discussion and building directly off of their statements.

Discussing Stereotypes

I do not like talking about stereotypes. In discussions of African literature, I am not the one who is being generalized. As a result, it is easy for me to adopt an elitist attitude, and 'look down' upon those being discussed. I feel that everyone involved in these discussion knows what is right and what is wrong, and in trying to make progress in the discussion, people continue to subconsciously make generalizations. However, I am not really sure how to go about fixing this. Any suggestions? I have always been confused as to how stereotypes of Africa originated. Why was it African countries being colonized by European countries and not the other way around? Surely there have been people on the African continent for just as long if not longer than there have been on continental Europe. So why did Europe develop faster and colonize Africa? I attribute these stereotypes to the media. People who know little about the world formulate opinions and judgements based on what they know, however much or indeed little that is. Forms of media depicting starving towns and naked children are common. So therefore people who know little about Africa, use these images to sum up the entire continent. Educating and providing unbiased information is the key to defeating stereotypes.

"The Danger of a Single Story"

There is a very obvious limitation of two dimensions. You can see left and right, and forwards and backwards, but there is just no way of looking up and down. Take a two dimensional creature: he has no idea of a third dimension. He is perfectly content with his two dimensions. He cannot identify the limitations of isolation in a single plane because he does not know any differently. As this creature grows up, he begins to hear frightening rumors of a third dimension through his other two dimensional friends. They do not know precisely what it is, only that it is much different and horrifying. The third dimension haunts the two dimensional creatures.  They continue to express their fear, and live in constant paranoia of one day coming into contact with this new dimension. Little do they know, the day will never come. The two dimensional creatures have built up the third dimension to be one of fear, and monstrosity.

It is too easy to say that the two dimensional creatures are narrow minded, and only following a 'single story.' They do not have the access to the real facts. They have neither witnessed the third dimension for themselves, nor come into direct contact with someone who has. The two dimensional creatures cannot deny entirely the existence of the third dimension. So what can they do to avoid the single story?

The first thing I noticed about this book was texture of the cover, and I noted how it felt/resembled a turtle's shell. It seems that it is a dry ground, however I think that both a turtle shell and a dry ground are significant. The ground represents the harsh dry growing seasons that Okonkwo must live through. They break up his face, because they are slowly making him lose interest in the things that he used to love. The turtle shell brings us back to the parable of the turtle's fall stated earlier in the story. From an aesthetic standpoint, this is the most attractive cover because the texture and the sternness of Okonkwo's face really entice the reader 

Spirits

"Everybody knew [Ekwefi] was an ogbanje. These sudden bouts of sickness and health were typical of her kind." The year of bad harvest was an omnipitent  power 'toughening Oknonkwo up', so he could "survive anything". If the spirits control what goes on amongst mortals, there would be no accidents. Then, surely there must have been a reason for Okonkwo's accidental murder of Ezeudu's son. There must have been a reason why it was Okonkwo's gun, and why it was Ezeudu who got shot and nobody else. Now that Okonkwo is in exile, big things (consequences or rewards, I don't yet know) will happen to Umuofia... And indeed big things do happen to Umuofia. The missionaries / 'alien white men' come and make a permanent impact on the village. Traditional village order breaks down and the order and structure of the church is introduced. This adds another weight to Okonkwo's sinking conscience. When Okonkwo ends up in the prison, he knows what he must do. He knows he must fight, and not let up. He must stand up against the white men and protect Umuofia. When Okonkwo kills the messenger and the village does not support him, Okonkwo knows that it is the end. Both he and his chi have been defeated.

Okonkwo's murder

I was surprised that Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna. It's as if Okonkwo's warrior instinct had kicked in. There was a 'man' on the ground dying that needed to be put out of his misery. At that moment, and only that moment, Okonkwo disregarded who this dying man was. He ignored the fact that 1) it was a child, and 2) it was his child. Okonkwo's actions haunted him later throughout the season of rest, but why was he not affected in the slightest by almost killing Ekwefi? What is the distinction between family? Yes, Ikemefuna is a child, but is there something more than that? I do not yet understand the boundaries of family in Umuofia, but I hope that as I continue to read I will. After finishing the novel, there is a shift from what Achebe describes as a family focused life to an Okonkwo-focused life. Maybe, it is not a shift but just a zooming in. Towards the end of the novel we as the reader are less concerned about Okonkwo's relationship with his family as we are about Okonkwo's steady demise and intra-personal breakdown. It is possible to look back on the death of Ikemefuna and recognize that the purpose of this tragic death was just to add another weight onto Okonkwo's heavy conscience.