African Literature Final

Exploration in Africa
(African Literature)

Instructor: Kat Thoms

Required Text:
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 50th Anniversary ed. New York City, NY: First Anchor Books Edition, 1994.
Forna, Aminatta. Ancestor Stones. New York City, NY: Grove P, 2006.
Ngozi Adichie, Chimamanda. Purple Hibiscus. New York City, NY: First Anchor Books Edition, 2003.
DAY EXPLORATION ASSIGNMENT
Day 1 Exploring Africa “Things Fall Apart” ch. 1-9
Day 2 African Culture “Things Fall Apart” ch. 10- 16
Day 3 Religion in Africa “Things Fall Apart” ch. 17-end
Day 4 African Government “Ancestor Stones” pg 5-103
Day 5 Women in Africa “Ancestor Stones” pg 107-249
Day 6 African Society “Ancestor Stones” pg 250-end
Day 7 Ancestor Stones “Purple Hibiscus” pg 1-110
Day 8 Purple Hibiscus “Purple Hibiscus” pg 111-206
Day 9 My Life “Purple Hibiscus” pg 207-end
Day 10 American Dream & Silence Group Projects
Day 11 Almost There Group Projects
Day 12 Last Day Party & Presentations

The unit will begin with some basic background on Africa. This will include geography and a brief summary of the colonization of Africa, the major players, important countries etc. Background knowledge will assist them when they read about the different issues, places and authors.
We will be exploring Africa and issues in Africa through three novels. “Things Fall Apart”, “Ancestor Stones” and “Purple Hibiscus.” Each of these novels discusses different aspects of African life and cultural issues. “Things Fall Apart” is first on the syllabus because it depicts more of the colonization period of Africa and the issues surrounding European invasion. Some important topics we will cover are religion, women, government, traditions and culture and men’s roles.
The course will then transition into “Ancestor Stones” where students will be introduced to a more graphic illustration of African culture. During this novel the class will focus mainly on women in Africa and the impact of religion and government on women. This portion of the class will deal with topics such as FGM, healthcare, religion, government and politics, education and slave labor. This novel is a bit longer than the other two, so if more time is needed there is an extra day for make-up or class projects. I also introduced the final group projects in this section. Students will be assigned groups and for the rest of the unit they will be working together to research and design a presentation for the class on designated topics.
The transition from “Ancestor Stones” to “Purple Hibiscus” should be easy because both novels have female characters and have similar issues. In the “Purple Hibiscus” section we will be focusing more on individual life in Africa and how that is affected through religion, government, family and education. Students will compare their own lives to character lives in the novel. We will also compare African life to American life and discuss the importance of the characters wanting to come to America.
Finally, at the end of the unit we will have a class celebration with African food, movies and the presentations of group projects.
....................................................................................
As you can see I chose to design a curriculum based on African Literature. For my class I chose "Things Fall Apart", "Ancestor Stones" and "Purple Hibiscus." My students will be engaged in learning and exploring African culture through these novels and hopefully open their minds and eyes to the world around them. I also include a film: Women with Open Eyes that shows women's role in African culture. As well as a group project designed for students to explore a major issue in Africa.

Positive Change in Africa

Despite the depressing past Africa has had and that we have learned about, there are many positive changes ahead for Africa. One of the most imporant changes I have researched is Education. The ability and availability of young African students to attend school is on the rise. More buildings and teachers are becoming available and costs and distances are cut way down. There are a ton of NGO's and other organizations around the world that are promoting education in Africa and here are a few I found worthy of noting:
VOLUNTEER KENYA:
This program has been implemeting and supporting community development programs in rural Kenya since 1998. They run community development, education and healthcare programs in these areas with volunteers and local Kenyans. Through their education program they have established a primary school that holds pre-school through fourth grade. The school has over 300 students and once again is run by local Kenyan's and volunteers. The school, Epico Jahns Academy, has made huge impacts on the community, and even provides the students with lunch.
GENERATION FOR CHANGE AND GROWTH:

Generation for Change and Growth's (GCG ) goal is to create opportunities for education for poor children and those in remote African areas through teachers, administrators and volunteers. They provide motivation and the opportunity for the acquisition of good education. This organization incorporates technology into the classrooms they influence. computers, overhead projectors and teaching aids are all used. They also provide scholarship programs to international colleges and universities for their students after completion of secondary education.

There are many many more that have positive influences in Africa, however, my final project (I think) will have more information and tidbits for you!

Child Soldiers

So Child Soldiers...
There is so much to say about children in Africa and their role in the fighting that occurs there. We read about Johnny Mad Dog this past week which was a sad story about a young man who was persuaded into a rebel army and fought with fierceness and no compassion. The speaker we had on Tuesday pointed out that most child soldiers were between the ages of 9 and 13, which was a little different from the book because Johnny was 16. The most crazy thing the speaker said was about how the rebels after brainwashing and abusing the kids, just throw them out to the curb. This showed me just how unorganized and insincere these rebel groups are. The speaker also said that in the governmental military a child must be 16-18 to fight. A couple of websites I visited were pleading for help and money to support these children who were brainwashed by these rebel groups. INRI is an organization that coordinates human affairs in African countries. This website gives a little background as to why children are targeted by these groups. They claim that children are cheap and obedient fighters and are easy to manipulate because of their youth and inexperience. There is a shortage of "eligible men", which causes them to turn to boys and girls and arm them with weapons. One important point they also pointed out was that there is no enforcement of taking children for soldiers. There are regulations and laws, but little action is taken to prevent the abduction of children.

Another website I found really useful and is taking action against child soldiers is www.child-soldier.org. This website claims that at one time more than 300,000 children are fighting in Africa.
Child soldiers are often abducted from their homes, schools or communities and forced into combat, usually by rebel groups or paramilitary militias. Sometimes they are accepted as 'volunteers', although UNICEF makes the point that few children who join armies are really 'volunteers': minors who are forced to fight are often poor, illiterate and from rural or otherwise marginalised communities. In such circumstances, signing up with fighting groups may seem more attractive than the dismal alternatives.

Johnny Mad Dog

I think this book should have been named Laokole instead, her story was far more impressive. But anyways, I enjoyed this book although it was crude and sad at times. There wer some parts throughout the story that stuck out and were meant to be studied. The first is on page 195,

"In history class, I'd learned taht in medieval times the Africans of the city Great Zinbabwe had built high walls of enormous stone blocks around the town's center, as protection against local invaders and Arab conquerors from the East. Similarly, the rulers of China had constructed a wall several hundred kilometers long, to defend themselves against the barbarians who roamed the border regions of their empire. Now we were the ones who were facing a wall. Were we the new barbarians, assailing the fortresses erected by the world's current rulers?"

Lao was very intelligent because she went to school and also had a need for learning. She liked knowing and figuring things out. She often had these momentary intellectual thoughts that got my mind thinking too. She was right, they were building walls to keep them out and if you compare that to history they could be mistaken as barbarrians. Later this confirmed her theory, the white people thought of Africans as barbaric and not able to control themselves or organize themselves. They thought they were horrible people that only wanted to kill each other and anyone else who got in their way.

"How is it possible that I could recollect in a minute detail all the scenes of cruelty I'd witnessed, even from afar, yet remember so little about a generous act that had such immense significance for me? Does this mean that evil leaves a deeper impression on our memory than good?"(136)

This is my favorite thought from the mind of Lao. Its so true even today. The media, friends and family recall and share stories about hard times, death, suffering etc. Rarely do we see news on TV about a beautiful marriage between celebrities rather than and dirty divorce filled with adultery and slander. Our friends and family call more often to tell us the latest gossip about their friends bad doings over the weekend rather than to comment on the beauty of the day and their latest happy story. Lao has a point, we as humans tend to remember more about the hard times and horrible evil in the world rather than the good in it.

"How was it that despite the cruelty humans were capable of, there weres still people who sacrificed themselves for others? To put this another way: given all the evil that human beings strive so hard to perpetrate, the good ought to have been driven out of existence. Yet it exists. Why? Who knows!" (157)

This quote ties in with the previous one. Lao is watching all this horrible destruction going on around her, yet there are still people who are giving themselves to help others. The doctors, the mystery man who wheelbarrowed her mother to safety, Tanisha, Katelinjne, Birgit.. They all helped Lao escape from the massacre occuring around her. I like to think that people like this are everywhere, just waiting for the right moment to emerge and help. Yes there is a lot of evil in the world, but don't forget the people like Tanisha!

There are many other places throughout the book that have significant meaning to the world and the story, but I'll save them for class. One more point I want to make is to how the author really made a point that although all this turmoil was going on, people in Africa were still living out their daily lives. He made a distinct point to show Lao's womanly problems emerging during this massacre, Johnny's fight to fit in and be the alpha dog and Lao's mother to still remain a mother although she was almost immobile.

This story showed so much strength and perseverence by the African people, its really inspiring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyLHGlUN9rM

Energy Consumption in Africa

*This picture shows the World's consumption of energy compared to that of Africa.

"In comparison with other regions such as Latin America, Middle East, Europe and North America, Africa has one of the lowest per capita consumption rates. Modern energy consumption in Africa is very low and heavily reliant on traditional biomass. Between 1995 and 2001, Africa was consuming only 13% of the world's average energy consumption."

 

(www.un.org)

Africa has less than three times the world average, seven times less than Europe and fifteen times less than America!

Analysts argue that energy consumption that low should not be a prevalent and pressing issue in politics. They argue that African policy makes should be more concerned by the continued, "underconsumption" of modern energy. But as we know from doing readings from Africa and some mild research, African policy makers come from slim pickings and usually don't last long. So if they are not concerned with it, what happens?

  Reports have shown that in heavily populated areas such as South Africa, energy consumption has spiked in the past couple years, resembling that of consumption in areas like Latin America. This causes great concern because Africa is not equipped yet to be consuming that much energy. Their technology isn't as advanced and could cause detrimental damage to the environment and the people in Africa. 

In Africa, like the rest of the world, economic development, basic living standards and survival

depend greatly on access to energy. Most Africans however, have insuffici

ent access to energy, if

at all! There are a lot of companies and corporations that are doing research and helping out Africa

with their energy crisis, one of which being Association for the Development of Energy in Africa.

Otherwise known as the ADEA. Some of their biggest concerns include:

• improvement of the traditional usage of biomass
• promotion of natural gas consumption
• facilitating access to electricity in rural environments
• establishing technical, legal and fiscal conditions that facilitate oil and gas productions
• providing the means to enable maintenance of refinery facilities
• searching for solutions that enable producers and distributors to effectively deal with 
• the uncontrollable fuel price fluctuations. 
  

*This is a picture of which countries have prominent oil refineries.

The Bleeding of the Stone

The Bleeding of the Stone has been my least favorite book so far. I think the main reason is because it focused entirely on one man's story and didn't fit in with the other genre's of books we have been reading. It was a quick read, and easy to follow, but it didn't seem to fit with the other books. There was a lot of language and words that I didn't know the meaning to, and I couldn't even find clues in the text for. Like for example it wasn't until the end of the book I had sort of an idea what a "wadden" was. When Asouf described them grazing with his goats and him not recognizing it is when I kinda formed a picture in my head. I imagined a mountain goat. Because although they look similar to normal goats, they are very different and live in the mountains!

Another interesting term used was the jinni. According to skepdic.com, A jinni is a spirit in Arabic and Muslim demonology that is capable of assuming human or animal form and exercising supernatural influence over people for good or for ill.

We said in class that this book was set in Libya, which is near this regional area. The muslim beliefs are very popular and prevelant throughout this area so this terminology is to be expected.

Wadi Matkhandoush:

These are some pictures taken from the area in the book they talk about. I don't see how they are so important to Christian's but I guess they could represent biblical times.

Fatiha: This is what a fatiha looks like. It is described as the first chapter of the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an. Its seven verses are a prayer for God's guidance and stress the lordship and mercy of God. This chapter has a special role in daily prayers being recited at the start of each unit of prayer.

After looking up these various terms it made the book more clear. However because I know almost nothing about the Muslim religion and traditions, their point in the book still had little meaning. This book would have meant more if we, as a class, did a little more research on the Muslim traditions before reading this book. The references are amazing but they have very little meaning to me.

Current Issue: HIV\AIDS

The current issue I decided to explore some more was the AIDS epedemic in Africa. This issue has been a problem for African countries but as of April 2008, it got worse for Nigeria.

"The Nigerian state of Anambra recently banned the promotion and distribution of what it calls "unnatural" contraceptives, including condoms. "Instead of teaching children how to use condoms and enjoy sex, they should be taught total abstinence," Amobi Ilika, the state commissioner for health, said when announcing the ban late last month. He added that the "use of condoms has greatly encouraged immorality."" (Kaisernetwork.com)

These issues have been plauging Africa for years, but it has only been recently that Western World News has recognized it as a problem. According to Globalissues.org, it wasn't until the 90's, around the same time the US declared AIDS as an issue that Africa had any attention called to its epidemic.

"What is also disturbing is how the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa only become real western mainstream media news headlines around the time HIV and AIDS was declared a national security threat to the United States. While it it understandable that a media may reflect concerns in its own nation, it is another example of the mainstream coverage and their priorities, especially when there is a lot to report in terms of western economic policies seen through the various international institutions that have increased poverty, an important factor in the spread of AIDS."
Finally after the belated western world media gave Africa some attention, multinational pharmaceutical companies began lobbying in developed countries. However this soon revealed that these companies were more worried about profit rather than Africans, because they would not allow African nations' to use generic versions of the namebrand drugs they had.
"Currently, treatments, which Medicines Sans Frontiers describe as having “transformed HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic disease in developed countries”, are expensive and affordable by mainly the wealthier people in western countries. However, poor people—including those in industrialized nations—are the major victims of HIV and AIDS."

In 2000 the Export-Import Bank of the US gave Africa one billion dollars to finance the purchase of U.S HIV\AIDS medications. However this heroic effort was also thrown unfairly because three countries: Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were rejected the offer.

"With over 40 million people infected with HIV worldwide and over 11,000 new infections every day, universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention services is essential. In 2006, roughly 4.3 million people became newly infected with HIV, including roughly 530,000 children under the age of 15, most of whom were infected through mother-to-child transmission of the virus." (aidschannel.org)

To address this horrible epidemic the Global Aids Alliance has come up with a plan to help Africans deal with the HIV\AIDS issue in their country.

"The ABC approach
􀂾 Abstinence-until-marriage: refraining from sexual intercourse until marriage, or returning to
abstinence after a period of out-of-wedlock sexual activity
􀂾 Be faithful: committing to having sex with only one partner and avoiding casual sex; avoiding
“grazing”
􀂾 Condoms: using condoms correctly and consistently. “C” also represents comprehensive
prevention.
􀂾 The ABC approach is the HIV prevention model used by many organizations, including UNAIDS
and PEPFAR." ( globalaidsalliance.org )

Another aspect that was recently added to the ABC model was DEF.. which included a very important point in fighting AIDS.

"Education: Improving girls’ education
􀂾 In many countries, women and girls are the primary caregivers for their families. However,
when they are prevented from accessing resources or learning about nutrition and health,
entire families suffer. Additionally, lack of education is often a barrier for women who are
attempting to leave an abusive relationship.
􀂾 Eliminating school fees is a crucial first step to improving girls’ education. By eliminating these
fees, all families will be able to afford to send their children to school. Girls who receive an
education are more likely to be economically independent and understand the risks and
prevention methods of HIV. Further, when educated girls grow up and have families of their
own, they will be more likely to send their children to school, helping to break cycles of abuse
and poverty."

In my opinion this is huge. Later in the website it gave some more facts about AIDS prevention and education in Africa among young girls.

"Worldwide, young people ages 15 to 24 account for 40% of new HIV infections. And almost two-thirds of these newly infected young people are girls, who are especially vulnerable to HIV infection for a variety of social, cultural, economic, and physiological reasons. In addition, girls are often taken out of school to care for sick relatives or forced to go to work to replace family income lost due to AIDS deaths. Orphans are also at high risk of HIV and much more likely to be forced to leave school.
Millions of young people lack accurate information about HIV/AIDS, and girls tend to be more poorly informed than boys. But basic education can equip all children with the skills and knowledge they need in order to avoid HIV infection. Indeed, education links directly to safer behavior and reduced HIV infection rates, and experts agree that basic education ranks among the most effective-and cost-effective-means of HIV prevention. The Global Campaign for Education estimates that if all children received a complete primary education, as many as 700,000 cases of HIV could be prevented each year."

This is a great plan to stop the spread, but a number of obstacles are in the way, such as school fees, financial resources for schools, curriculum problems and The Fast Track Initiative.

AIDS\HIV has been a horrible issue in Africa for many years, but has only recently recieved attention for it. There is still a lot of work to be done, but luckily there are a lot of companies out there who are fighting for Africa.

Waiting for an Angel

This amazing stories brought up a lot of questions and interesting topics about Nigeria and the horrible history it has. I really liked the writing and how the story of Nigeria was told so I did some research on Helon Habila to see what I could come up with.

Helon Habila was born in Nigeria in 1967. His father was a type of church worker who helped christian missionaries in Nigeria. He studied literature at the University of Jos and taught at the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, before moving to Lagos to work as a journalist. In Lagos he wrote his first novel, Waiting for an Angel, which won the Caine Prize in 2001. In 2002 he moved to England to become the African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. After his fellowship he enrolled for a PhD in Creative Writing. His writing has won many prizes including the Commonwealth Writers Prize, 2003. In 2005-2006 he was the first Chinua Achebe Fellow at Bard College in New York. His second novel, Measuring Time, was published in February, 2007. He currently teaches Creative Writing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where he lives with his wife and two children.

He actually has a "Blogger" blog! You can find it here.

There were some themes to the book that I thought were very depressing and sad. For example the book starts in a prison cell with Lomba a seemingly innocent writer. It then moves to earlier history about a student who drops out of school, his closest friend loses his sanity in front of him, the terror the military brings, his novel never being finished and losing a woman to another man. This storyline spells out s-u-i-c-i-d-e! But not to worry there are undertones to this book that keeps the story moving and people from jumping out windows when they are finished reading it.

The characters in Waiting for an Angel are a representation of the story of Nigeria. They are individual stories of ordinary people living in extraordinary times. The whole time I was reading the story I kept thinking about Achebe and his story Things Fall Apart. The authors really capture the essence of the nation and the people during those times. I was reading articles about interviews Habila gave to people and it amazes me that this author still wants to write even with what goes on in Nigeria. He explained that in order to get a book or work published it has to be "Self-published." He stated that Nigeria does not spend the necessary money and time on scholarly literature or writers. Can you imagine not having an agent and getting your books out to the public single handedly? Its amazing what an inspiration these writers are and once you read their stories, the inspiration only soars higher.

My favorite character of the book had to be Aunt Rachael. In the beginning you see her as a compassionate aunt who takes her nephew in after his dad kicks him out. She feeds him and gives him a tutor for nothing. But later in the story we see her slipping, she begins drinking more heavily, and having more frequent outbursts. I don't blame her however, if someone left me like that I would be pretty depressed too. But! She is an amazing woman and bounces back. When Habila described her turning around I couldn't stop smiling. I thought of all the strong women in my life and all the women who have been through the same thing. Habila really captured the essence of womanhood and overcoming obstacles.

What can I say, I read this book in one sitting and LOVED it!

Black Gold

In the first article taken from National Geographic, I thought the title was a great opener. Curse of the Black Gold: Hope and betrayal of the Niger Delta. The hope part I sort of chuckled at because there was and is no hope for Nigeria. There are some very memorable and meaningful quotes throughout the essay I think are worth mentioning. The first comes from the first page when they are giving a brief introduction:

"The World Bank categorizes Nigeria as a "fragile state," beset by risk of armed conflict, epidemic disease and failed governance." From the World Bank website I found this new updates on their summary of Nigeria:

The World Bank is helping to fight poverty and improve living standards for the people of Nigeria. As of August 2007, the World Bank had approved 123 IBRD loans and IDA credits to Nigeria for a total amount of about US$9.5 billion. The commitment value of the 23 ongoing projects is about US$2.67 billion. The 23 active projects are in all the major sectors.

http://go.worldbank.org/KY8ZJIMB60 a look!

Little did they know how true this is to become. The essay states later that the attacks on the oil companies were becoming more frequent and more violent. Michale Watts was quoted saying:

"Across Africa you have a huge number of alienated youths, politically footloose, who thought they could achieve something with their countries' moves to independence and democracy. Those hopes have been almost everywhere violently snuffed out. The youth are pissed off and willing to up the ante."

After this comment various other people were talking about the situation in Nigeria and comparing it to the Middle East, they said "if the situation threatens to turn into another Middle East, then the world will finally intervene."

I don't completely agree with this statement. First because what is happening in Africa is worse in my standards than what happened in the Middle East. Their history and destruction they have endured is not comparable to that of the Middle East. Secondly the world has already intervened enough! They have taken control of Africa, without anything being wrong in the first place. The reason Nigeria and Africa as a whole are in such shambles is because of the world being there!

The second paper, Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil, goes more into detail about why the big oil boom in Africa. One of the most interesting aspects I found in this essay was the blunt and horrid truth of it all. For example:

"This means that even if a civil war or violent insurrection breaks out on shore, the oil companies can continue to pump out oil with little likelihood of sabotage, banditry, or nationalist fervor getting in the way."

The oil companies know where they sit and what their power is in Nigeria and all over Africa. It is sickening to read about them knowingly deplete Africa of its resources. The paper also dictates that African oil is cheaper, safer, and more accessible than its competitors, and there seems to be more of it every day. This part of the essay compares Africa's oil to that of Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries. The very first sentence puts this idea in concrete.

"United States now imports more of its oil from Africa than it does from Saudi Arabia."

I found this article while researching more about Nigerian Oil and I thought it put things in perspective very well :"Nigeria should be a massively rich country. It's the most populous country in Africa, and is the world's sixth leading oil producer. Over a quarter trillion dollars in oil has been lifted from Nigerian soils and waters in the last 40 years. But after years of military rule and rampant corruption, fueled by these oil monies, the country is mired in billions of dollars in debt and is wracked with poverty."

Chief Roles

As we read in our past few books, Europeans forced a lot upon the African civilization. One word that was mentioned and comes to mind quite often is corruption. According to Princeton University and Dictionary.com, Corruption is defined as the following:

1. lack of integrity or honesty (especially susceptibility to bribery); use of a position of trust for dishonest gain

2. decay of matter (as by rot or oxidation)
3. moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles;
4. destroying someone's (or some group's) honesty or loyalty; undermining moral integrity;

5. inducement (as of a public official) by improper means (as bribery) to violate duty (as by commiting a felony)

Well this definition definetly hits the nail on the head. The Europeans were causing the decay of morals and loyalty of the Africans and using it all for dishonest gain. One group in particular that the European colonizers corrupted were the chiefs. As we discussed in class most of the "chiefs" were not chiefs but appointed by their clan members or Europeans to be the delegate. Then the colonizers put them in places of power which were not meant for them. They would either misuse this power or become in a sense slaves to the Europeans above them. On page 162 of Ancestor Stones it states:

"Somehow new of the strike had reached the chief who sent his messenger to alert the Distict Commissioner. Bu the time the strikers arrived the next morning DC Silk was waiting in front of the compound with his soldiers, ready to arrest the ringleaders."

This quote puts in perspective the power and uselessness of the chiefs placed in charge by European powers. They were the snotty teachers pet in the back of the room telling the teacher when kids were chewing gum.

I found this article that I think explains the hardships and exactly what Europeans did to the African culture very well.
Colonialism and Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa:
"On the contrary, the practice of rewarding tax collectors became a principal
method for the accumulation of private property, a way of life that was hard to give
up which encouraged chiefs to abuse their office. As Leonard (1991: 29) put it,
colonial chiefs "were implicitly encouraged to use their positions to amass wealth
and demonstrate thereby that it paid to cooperate with Europeans".

"It was not the introduction of taxation per se, but the manner in which the tax
itself was collected, that encouraged corrupt behaviour. To collect taxes, the colonial governments mostly relied on local African leaders and especially chiefs.
Where chiefs did not exist or were unco-operative, new ones were appointed by the
colonial powers (Richards 1959; Crowder 1968). Above all, to motivate chiefs to
generate as much tax revenue as possible, and do so with zeal, the colonial
administrations allowed them to retain a part of it."

Jeffery Hanes (who I have been reading a lot of material from lately) wrote a review article about the power in Ghana from colonial times to the 1990's. His article is published in the journal, AFRICA.

"Although the two main colonial powers in the region, Britain and France, developed their own democratic systems during the 19th and 20th centuries, the political institutions they created in their African colonies were designed primarily as instruments of their domination and control. In most colonies, colonial administrative networks were grafted on to existing political institutions, and European hegemony and security were very closely linked. When they could be found, colonial administrations attempted to employ intermediaries, interlocutors- often known as "Chiefs"- to 'do their dirty work for them', that is, they were able to identify or, when neccessary, to create as authority figures the indigenous individuals who would be useful to the European goal of political and economic domination."

My point exactly.

Ancestor Stones Part 2

The last section of this book is titled appropriately, "Consequences." It was Serah's story in particular that laid this out.

"Sometimes I think this is what happened to our country. Nobody heeded the warnings, nobody smelled the rain coming, or saw the lights in the sky or heard the roar of thunder, until we were all engulfed by it."

Serah was invovled with the voting and political aspects of Sierra Leone. She watched as political leaders rose and fell and were replaced the next day with a new young President.

I found this timeline on BBC News:

1992 - President Joseph Momoh ousted in military coup led by Captain Valentine Strasser,

apparently frustrated by failure to deal with rebels. Under international pressure, Strasser announces plans for the first multi-party elections since 1967.

1996 - Ahmad Tejan Kabbah elected president in February, signs peace accord with Sankoh's rebels in November.
1997 - Peace deal unravels. President Kabbah deposed by army in May. Major Johnny Paul Koroma, in prison awaiting the outcome of a treason trial, leads the military junta - the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Koroma suspends the constitution, bans demonstrations and abolishes political parties.
Kabbah flees to Guinea to mobilise international support.

1998 February - Nigerian-led West African intervention force Ecomog storms Freetown and drives rebels out.
1998 March - Kabbah makes a triumphant return to Freetown amid scenes of public rejoicing.
1999 January - Rebels backing Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh seize parts of Freetown from Ecomog. After weeks of bitter fighting they are driven out, leaving behind 5,000 dead and a devastated city.
1999 May - A ceasefire is greeted with cautious optimism in Freetown amid hopes that eight years of civil war may soon be over.
1999 July - Six weeks of talks in the Togolese capital, Lome, result in a peace agreement, under which the rebels receive posts in government and assurances they will not be prosecuted for war crimes.
1999 November/December - UN troops arrive to police the peace agreement
2000 May - Rebels close in on Freetown; 800 British paratroopers sent to Freetown to evacuate British citizens and to help secure the airport for UN peacekeepers; rebel leader Foday Sankoh captured.
2000 August - Eleven British soldiers taken hostage by a renegade militia group called the West Side Boys.
2001 January - Government postpones presidential and parliamentary elections - set for February and March - because of continuing insecurity.
2001 March - UN troops for the first time begin to deploy peacefully in rebel-held territory.
2001 May - Disarmament of rebels begins, and British-trained Sierra Leone army starts deploying in rebel-held areas.

2002 January - War declared over.
2002 May - Kabbah wins a landslide victory in elections. His Sierra Leone People's Party secures a majority in parliament.
2002 July - British troops leave Sierra Leone after their two-year mission to help end the civil war.
2004 February - Disarmament and rehabilitation of more than 70,000 civil war combatants officially completed.
2004 May - First local elections in more than three decades.
2005 December - The last UN peacekeeping troops leave Sierra Leone, marking the end of a five-year mission to restore order.
2006 August - Date for elections set for July 2007.
2007 August - Presidential and parliamentary polls. Ernest Bai Koroma wins the presidency and his All People's Congress, formerly in opposition, wins a majority in parliament.

*The picture has a link too! Its the Absence of Violence in Sierra Leone from 1996-2007

I cut some of the dates out because it was just too long. But this timeline was eyepopping! I mean that much destruction and turmoil lasting for over 10 years! Also the end of the timeline doesn't even stop at 2007, which means the country is still in a mess. I did some more research on Sierra Leone and this is what I found:

Reflections on the 1996 Sierra Leone Peace Accord
by Yusuf Bangura

"The signing of the peace accord in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) on 30 November 1996 between the government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) marked the official ending of Sierra Leone’s five and a half years of war. The war, which ravaged much of the countryside, killed more than 20,000 civilians and left hundreds of innocent bystanders maimed and traumatized. It also displaced almost one and a half million people from their homes and livelihoods, orphaned thousands of young children, and imposed financial and social burdens on much of the relatively stable population. One major consequence of the war, which post-war reconstruction efforts will have to tackle very quickly and decisively, was the transformation of the country from a predominantly rural society into pockets of dense urban settlements. Medium-sized provincial towns such as Bo, Kenema, Makeni and Koidu suddenly became large urban settlements as villagers sought refuge in them. And the capital, Freetown, could well have grown from a pre-war population of roughly half a million people to one million—if not more."

This paper details the events leading up to the Peace Accord as well as what followed after. Ancestor Stones detailed a little of the turmoil happening in Seirra Leone with Serah's story, but after this new information I learned, I am surprised this character even left her house admist this horrible war. I didn't fathom the consequences she would have to deal with if things got out of hand. Her and her friend, plus any of the citizens that showed up that day to vote could have been killed point blank. And that is exactly what happened to most of the people during those times.

Ancestor Stones Women

It still amazes me the lack of respect for women from others and the lack of respect women have for themselves. While finishing the last sections of the book Ancestor Stones the letters written by these women made me angry and repulsed. These women who I held in high reguard until these chapters were giving themselves to men who had no respect or even a care for them. They were selling themselves short, settling for the first man who came along and litterally swept them off their feet and shoved them into their homes like servants. Not once did they complain or protest or even cry they just did as they were told and became women servants to a man. It disgusted me that they would just lay night after night waiting for their pig of a husband to come and get them preganant so they could be left alone to bear children. One quote in particular that put the woman's situation in perspective was from Hawa,

"I can't say I either liked him or disliked him. I was prepared to live with him. To accept my fate for what it was. But always he wanted something more. My fate was no longer in my own hands (180)."

Later she dug the nail in deeper by stating this sad passage,

"And though I didn't encourage my husband I fufilled my duties. I bore him three children. All boys. I lost two more. They were girls and might have grown up to help me around the house. But there it is. Nothing to be done. What more could any man ask for? Each time my belly swelled, he would kneel, press his cheek against it and close his eyes (180)."

Another part of Hawa's story that made me cringe was when she went back to the city to find the doctor who tied her tubes. Not only did it show her desperation for a man, but it also showed how little respect men had for women. This doctor had tied her tubes without even telling her! They just went in and snip snip.

"Still I persisted. You see, I had come to that city for a reason. I had to find the doctor, the one who had tied my tubes. To ask him if he might undo what he had done, so that I could bear children again. It was the only thing I could think of to stop Zainab from replacing me (198)."

Although I particularly enjoyed the story Asana told about her threatening her husband while he slept.

""Osman" I said. "Wake up and see. See what I have for you!" I groped the floor until my fingers closed around the handle of the knife. I held it up, allowing the blade to glow in the silver light. I put my lips very close to his ear, brushing the lobe. I made my voice gentle, coaxing. Osman's eyes opened. I put the blade up under his chin: the tip made a soft indentation in the flesh, "You see what can happen, Osman? So strong but what good do your muscles do you now?" I felt his body slowly stiffen (118)."

She woke him from his sleep just enough to where he was listening but not registering and threatened his life!. I laughed so hard at this part she became my favorite character. Finally a woman was standing up for herself. She could have been more direct about it, but this worked too. And after this small threat her husband did in fact leave her alone for the most part.

"From that night and for the remainder of my pregenancy Osman never touched me again. I congratulated myself heartily on my cunning. I lay back on my bed...(120)."

It enraged me the lack of respect for these women. Yes, it is their culture, but the women do not even have resepct for themselves, so asking for some from others isn't worth it.

Ancestor Stones Part 1

The first 5 chapters of Ancestor Stones were very different from any of the other books we have read in class so far. They reminded me of the "Diary of...." books I used to read when I was younger. These books were set up as diary entries of young girls in the middle of important historical events, such as the trip across the ocean when Columbus made his discovery of America.

They were depicted in the first person just as these stories, except it was about them rather than their mothers and how the affected their lives. Before we discussed the family tree in the front of the book I had no idea how these girls were related. I figured they were all Africans writing about their experiences with their mother. On Tuesday when Dr.Webb showed us the family tree in the front of the book, everything sort of clicked and it helped me as I read the next few sections.

My favorite story would have to be Asana. She was the older twin born before her brother but had her birth right of being first born taken from her. She wasn't furious about the title being taken away but she definitely felt rejected because of it. When she was describing his or her upbringing I couldn't help but laugh because she was obviously maturing long before her brother but no one seemed to notice. She was walking before he could even crawl properly, which in my eyes shows us that she was the oldest. I wondered why the women and men around her mother didn't question who was the oldest. Nonetheless Asana took on the responsibility of being the older sibling and taking care of her brother. I could relate so well to this portion because I too am an older sister.

Yes taking care of younger sisters can be tedious and take away from your own childhood, but in the end it forms you into a more caring and responsible person. She said she was jealous at times of her brother, but when he died she didn't show any form of happiness that he was gone or distain towards him. I admired her instantly for this and she became my favorite character so far.

The next story that I wanted to cry about was that of Mariama. I don't have my book with me right now, but her story is more about her mother rather than that of her and her siblings. The way she describes her adoration and love for her mother is amazing. Her way of explanation isn't trying to portray love and affection she is just telling the reader how it is, which makes it all the more memorable.

Like all the other characters before her she stated how her mother was the most loved and cherished by her father. I'm not sure if this was so because she concentrated more on her and her mother's relationship rather than between her mother and father. When she describes their private time together this girl has nothing but love and adoration in her heart for her mom. When she looses her mother in the end that just about killed me. I could imagine her being torn away from that special relationship with her mother and made into a young woman without any questions being asked.

*The pictures are of my sisters and I and my mom and sister.

Xala

First I would like to comment on the literal meaning of 'xala' in the book. When I first saw the title and began reading I thought xala was going to be something to do with government or a saying that meant change. When I read that xala was a course of male erectile disfunction I literally laughed out loud. It was a twist thrown into the story I did not see coming. 

Anyways aside from that humerous note I liked the fact that Ousmane depicted the different views of poligamy and the religion behind it. For example the daughter, Rama, did not agree with or understand poligamy and the belief's behind it. She constantly commented on the state of her mother's well being and how the marriages of El Hadji were affecting her. Secondly the awa, Adja Awa Astou was the first wife. She seemed to have a very religious air about her. She took a lot of pride and spent a lot of time studying, learning and living her religious views. She is a very patient person that deals with her husband's issues very well. I think she is quiet about her dislike for her husband's other wives, not so much she is green with jealousy and hatred, but sad and hurt that she is not the

 only one. I think that would be the hardest thing to deal with in poligamy. 

     The next point of view is that of El Hadji. He was happy with his two wives in the beginning. He had the elder one whom was his first love and he respected and gave him a good reputation. He had his second wife which was younger and even more beautiful she also gave him kids, and like the first boosted his reputation. The idea of taking on a third wife was not his idea at all in the beginning. He lusted over he body yes, but he had no real need or want for another wife to spend money on. This brings me to another point of poligamy, El Hadji did not believe in some of the customs and traditions tha

t were associated with this religious tradition. During the wedding and before the women told him to obey the rituals but he refused because he thought they were silly. Him doing this kind of mocked himself and what he was doing. To put this in perspective for myself I thought of the christian religion. That would be like claiming to be a catholic but not wanting to participate in the sacraments, calling them foolish and silly. 

The final character that I thought had an interesting perspective was N'Doye. She is depicted in the book as being around 20 years old, gorgeous and forced to like this successful man that had an erectile disfunction. She was to be the younger of the three wives, and she knew the jealousy that would be involved with the other two. She was going to be scorned by the othe

r two and had a lot to live up to. It seemed as if it was definetly an arranged marriage because she had no emotion in it. Her character is a little hollow, but she was still apart of this religious tradition. 

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa [Education]

"Education is crucial in any type of society for the preservation of the lives of its members and the maintenance of the social structure."

Maybe its because I am going into education but this part seemed to have the biggest impact on me in Rodney's essay. He pointed out that education is needed to move a society forward whether it is from common sense, actual literature and mathmatics or agricultural and labor learning. Which ever one, education is behind it all. Rodney used the example of the Bemba society where a six year old could name off fifty species of trees but when it came to flowers they couldn't name any. This was because it was taught to them early because trees, firewood and other wood by-products were their way of living, where as flowers were not.

Rodney also pointed out that some aspects of education in Africa were formal too, not just taught by elders and other authorities. However, these classes that were taught were restricted to certain areas in life. This could be age related or grade related. The example he used was circumcisions for men coming of age. These were used only on boys that were deemed old enough to be entered into manhood. The other examples of formal education in Africa were taught by the clan as a whole, such as hunting, gathering, religious rituals or medicine practice.

Speicialization came about later in the education of African youth. These often advanced as the technology being used in the clan at the time. Divisions of labor such as iron working, leather making, and pottery were just some examples he used. Emphasis was also put on military force in countries and private clans. However evidence has shown that in cultures where written advancement was made, education was more advanced and was better learned. Also being literate was incorporated with the learning of religion. Priests, monks and other christian beings were trained at secondary and university levels and were in the minority of literate Africans.

Suprisingly, there were even Universities set up in Africa such as the Al-Azhar University, University of Fez etc.

"The colonizers did not introduce education into Africa:"

Obviously all this previous talk was before Europe even came into Africa. When Europe came into Africa they just set up a new formal education institution which supplemented what was already there. But their main purpose of the school systems were to train Africans to help them maintain the local administration. In Things Fall Apart this was made apparent by the Africans who spoke different dialects, the court messengers. They were trained in these schools to act as interpreters between the Europeans and the Africans.

"It was not an educational system designed to give young people confidence and pride as members of African societies, but one which sought to instil a sense of deference towards all that was European and capitalist."

Bandung Conference

1. Respect for fundamental human rights and for the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations
2. Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations
3. Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations large and small
4. Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country
5. Respect for the right of each nation to defend itself, singly or collectively, in conformity with the charter of the United Nations
6. (a) Abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defense to serve any particular interests of the big powers(b) Abstention by any country from exerting pressures on other countries 7. Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country
8. Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement as well as other peaceful means of the parties own choice, in conformity with the charter of the united nations
9. Promotion of mutual interests and cooperation

10. Respect for justice and international obligations.

These are the 10 points agreed upon unanimously called the "declaration on promotion of world peace and cooperation at the Bandung Conference of 1955." On April 18, 1955 a meeting of Asian and African states (which were mostly newly independent) was called into session by Ruslan Abdulgani. Egypt, Indonesia, Burma, Ceylon, the Philippines, India, Iraq and Japan organized this Bandung Conference in Bandung, Indonesia. The purpose was to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation, opposing colonialism and neocolonialism by the United States, Soviet Union and any other "imperialistic" nation.

There were 29 countries delegates in attendance, what the conference reflected was a reluctance by Western powers to discuss with them on decisions affecting Asia and Africa. The major points concerned settling the Cold War in China and the French influence in North Africa. After much debate a consensus was reached that, "Colonialism in all of its manifestations" is to be condemned, implicitly censuring the Soviet Union and the West.

The Final Communiqué of the Bandung Conference pointed out the need for developing countries to loosen their economic dependence by providing technical assistance to leading industrialized nations for developmental projects and exchange of technical know-how.

China had a major role in this conference, strengthening their ties with other Asian countries. Africa, especially Algeria had the French colonies in their countries addressed. The Bandung Conference was followed by the Belgrade Conference in 1961 which lead to the Non-Aligned Movement.
The Non-Aligned Movement was established as an international organization of states that considered themselves neither aligned or against any major power country. It was founded in 1955, and as of 2007 it had 118 members. The purpose was to ensure "national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries in their struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, racism, Zionism and all other forms of foreign aggression."

An Image of Africa

After reading the essay by Chinua Achebe I was a little confused by some of the points he made. Although he was thorough and made a lot of good points a couple in particular stuck out to me as odd. On first read through my jaw dropped when point number 37 came up,

"The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, namely that Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist. That this simple truth is glossed over in criticisms of his work is due to the fact that white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go completely unremarked. Students of Heart of Darkness will often tell you that Conrad is concerned not so much with Africa as with the deterioration of one European mind caused by solitude and sickness. They will point out to you that Conrad is, if anything, less charitable to the Europeans in the story than he is to the natives, that the point of the story is to ridicule Europe's civilizing mission in Africa. A Conrad student informed me in Scotland that Africa is merely a setting for the disintegration of the mind of Mr. Kurtz."

Racist?! I could not believe that this word was coming up among everything else that has been written about Africa. When I was reading Heart of Darkness I thought Marlow was a little odd in his explanations about the events happening but I never even considered that he was showing prejudice over the Africans. In Marlow's descriptions of the things happening to the African slaves I admit he was a little unemotional, but I didn't get the impression that he was uncaring. He seemed concerned at what was happening, but a little too involved in his own personal life and work to spend too much time on the people. In class we discussed that Marlow was outraged, yes this may have come after he thought about the situation, but his text didn't show lack of concern or prejudice.

As far as the European minds deterioating, yes he spent time on the subject because if someone told you they wanted to measure your head before you went to Africa to see if it shrunk you would be baffled too. Marlow's opening line about this too being the darkest place on earth gives the first impression that what he saw and experienced in Africa was not happy and careless. He did notice the pain and suffering the Africans were put through but at the time he was more concerned with other things, namely Mr. Kurtz.

On the 38th point, Achebe discusses the dehumanization of the Africans in Conrad's book. This is apparent in the reading however, when you look at the situation and background Marlow is coming from it makes sense. Marlow was coming from a place where white people were supreme and the Africans were nothing. When a person is taught to believe this and is shown this over and over again, its hard not to believe it for yourself. Arriving in Africa and seeing the people was horrifying yes, but he had already been pre-warned that these people were criminals, slaves and meant to be punished by this inhumane torture. Now, Marlow knew that this was not right by his text,

"but these men could by no stretch of the imagination be called enemies. They were called criminals..."

He was being very blunt in saying that what the Africans were labeled was completely insane, but who was he to say any different. If anything Marlow was just following human instinct and looking out for number one and turning a blind shoulder to what the Europeans were doing. Marlow even describes a run in with a dieing African under the tree. He didn't simply huff and kept walking, he stopped observed and even fed them a piece of his own food.

When this happened I imagined a dog pound. The abused animals are sitting there waiting to die of starvation and disease. Most people would not do anything to help these animals but observe what was happening and feel compassion for them. Maybe even offer them a piece of meat. This is exactly what Marlow was doing, observing but not acting. Marlow wanted this job, he wanted to meet Mr. Kurtz, speaking up about this horrible situation could get him kicked out of the Congo and out of a job. Like most people in his situation, he simply left well enough alone. If Conrad didn't care about the well-being of the African people he wouldn't have recorded this testimony in his book. He simply would have left well enough alone. The text itself has no other purpose except for historical reading about Africa. It cannot be mistaken for any other genre of literature, so it must have had an impact on him.

"He was there below me and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat walking on his hind legs."

This illustrates my point about the Africans being compared to dogs. Africans were not seen as human beings when Marow was describing his adventure to the Congo. Africans were barbarious, dirty, worthless unless it came to work, unhuman and unrelatable. There were quotes about the language the Africans spoke. It wasn't described as words, it was "a violent babble of uncouth sounds, exchanges of short grunting phrases..." Marlow was just bending to society's views of the Africans. It doesn't mean that was his personal belief. Achebe seems to be attacking Conrad with biased information. His arguements after number 37 and 38 seemed to fall apart and just nit pick at Conrad's book. He even had the nerve to call this praised book a plague in the literature world.

Heart of Darkness

While reading Heart of Darkness I found the character Mr. Kurtz very interesting. Throughout his story Marlow is searching for this myseterious man while in the Congo. He first learns of him through stories and tips from the people who have met this man. Soon he is on his way to meet this "talker" and man supposedly full of wisdom. He battles the natives, the river and people aboard his steamer to find this man and talk to him. He specifically recalls wanting to talk to Mr. Kurtz, not about anything in particular, but just wanting to talk to him. When he finds the book, his obsession just grows deeper with the man he had never met. I particularily liked the part where he finds the small book written by Mr. Kurtz. The lines that he finds ominous are quite interesting.

"Must nesissarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings- we approach them with the might as of a diety..."

"By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbound..."

These few lines Marlow said captivated him and allowed for him to relate to Mr. Kurtz. I thought that the meaning behind it was pretty powerful. When the Europeans first met the savages they didn't know what to do with them. They approached them with caution and wariness. However, once they realized that they were not a diety, they destroyed them, seeing them as a threat. The second line made more sense however. He was saying that by just putting ourselves out there and trying to be compassionate and understanding we can do things for the ultimate good, that knows no bounds. But the Europeans did not see it that way instead they were on "search and destroy mode."

Another interesting point of the story that stuck out was the painting that Mr. Kurtz had done of the woman and the torch. Although I could not see the portrait I could imagine and feel the intesity that it radiated. Imagine seeing something like that admist all the chaos and death around the camp. The fact that she was blindfolded somewhat reflects what Marlow had said earlier about Kurtz's notes. People are blind to the fact of what is happening in Africa, but are supposed to be lead by a light, which could be King Leopold or some other investment.

Although Wikipedia said that they thought "Heart of Darkness" symbolized civilization and spiritual darkness that Europe brought to Africa. I guess to each their own.

A hero in Africa

In class yesterday we spoke briefly on the note of heroes. This got me thinking about different characters in the book that would be considered heroes. Definitely not Leopold or Stanley, but there were others.


After finishing King Leopold's ghost, one man in particular stuck out to me. Mr. William Sheppard. This man was a black American traveling to the Congo in the name of the church. The book claims that he was the first black man to travel to the Congo, and he taught Christianity for nearly 20 years. He went to the Congo with high hopes, not knowing what the Europeans were doing to the black people there. Finally, after two years of pleading he convinced the church to let him serve in the Congo (even though it was under another Minster, a white minister to be exact.) Unlike explorers before him Sheppard was genuinely interested in helping the native people. He and his fellow missionary started right away learning the language and traditions of the native people. He was delighted to be in Africa! "my people" he states "the country of my forefathers." This man even rode what was considered the first joi de vivre (bicycle) in Africa. While stationed at the mission Sheppard became very familiar with a isolated community known as the Kuba. He was the first foreigner to reach the town of Ifuca, the place inside Kuba where the king presided. He was accepted by the king because of his skin color and spent a great deal of time there. Foreigners before him were beheaded by the king and the country fought fiercely to keep intruders out. This must have been a highlight in Sheppard's life. He had been collecting Kuba art and tapestry and studying their culture, but to be accepted into it was another story. He wrote numerous accounts of their sophisticated political system and other aspects of their daily and political lives. Although Sheppard didn't make much headway with converting the Kuba people, the discoveries and popularity he gained from them was enough to keep him in the Congo.

William Sheppard's story doesn't seem very heroic at first glance, but after going back through this part of the book, I realized it wasn't the "heroic" actions he did it was the simplicity of his heart and actions. This man, unlike many before him was not after ivory, rubber or slaves, he was there to teach Christianity and learn more about the people of the Congo. He befriended them, learned their language and became a beloved "hero" to them. He didn't try to change their behavior or teach against it, he simply influenced through his charm and personality. Amidst all the atrocities and death, this man was one of their color and genuinely cared about the people. This African-American man whose father was a slave, practiced acceptance of the Africans like no missionary before him.

-Sheppard wearing a traditional European attire.

The definition of a hero is one who puts others before themselves, and although Sheppard originally went there for himself, he came back a hero of the Africans. He put his very life into learning their culutre and serving the people.

King Leopold's Ghost -100

Reading up to page 100 seemed to be very short when I started reading King Leopold's Ghost. But after getting into the book, it proved to be a great stopping point. Starting the book off with a man running away from himself was very admirable. I found myself liking this "John Rowlands" or later known as Henry Morton Stanley, for this reason. People in his situation have rights to make their lives better for themselves and because of his expedition Stanley did just that. Stanley was definitely the hero of the book, traveling, sightseeing and living his life the way he saw fit. His writings are what I enjoyed most. He seemed to like writing about his journey's, historical facts and current news, but his passion was rooted in fiction. To every account he wrote there was some sort of passage or elaboration that he added to make his writing even more juicy and intriguing. His tales of the war, and especially his journey to find Livingston were elaborated but reading them I fully enjoyed his tales. Apparently people on the American shore liked his writings too, because he soon became a "must read" section of the papers in New York. Later in the book the character King Leopold came into the story.

From the very beginning I didn't like this boy. The way the author described him made me want to skip over that chapter and continue on with Stanley. However further reading into the book proved that Leopold was a very imaginative character with many mysterious characteristics. His obsession with Africa had me wondering what he was really capable of if he had put his effort elsewhere; like ruling his country. His desire for these African colonies was ruining everything in his life. He had no relations with his wife, except the birth of his two daughters and no relationship with them either. He didn’t seem too concerned with the well being of his home country, everything was focused on his “Congo.” I thought it was interesting the way he fed off of Stanley’s emotions and skills to get him to explore for his small country. He had a peculiar way of playing with this famous explorer to get exactly what he wanted.

Later this characteristic comes up again when he is fighting for land rights of the Congo. He plays with the minds of England, France and Germany, hoping that they all fall victim to his master scheme. Unfortunately for them, it works and they all go along with his rise to dominance.