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.

Malaria

When I signed up for this topic in class I thought that it would have the most information. Unfortunately when I type in anything about European Colonization and Malaria, the most relevant information I get is that Historians speculate that Europeans brought malaria to Africa, and many Africans died as a result. This also held true for when Europeans came to America and brought with them diseases that the Native American's died from. This disease came to Africa many centuries earlier but still seems to be an epidemic in Africa.

Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. According to Wikipedia malaria is spread through mosquito bites which transfer the parasites from one host to another. These parasites then multiple on red blood cells very quickly. Upon further investigation I found the symptoms of malaria which sound aweful. Malaria attacks usually last 4 to 6 hours with shaking chills, fever and sweating. They are normally associated with fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea, abdominal pain, cough, muscle and joint pain and back aches. The attacks usually occur every other day or every third day. There are preventative medications available for this horrible disease, but for most people living in Africa and other affected areas they are too expensive.

Malaria still reeks havoc on African civilization an estimated 300 to 500 million cases emerge each year. It causes 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths per year, with over 90% being children under 5 years old. These cases in Africa account for more than 90% of the malaria cases in the world.

One very interesting fact I found about malaria is where this disease is prevolent, the disorder, Sickle Cell Anemia is not present. According to Wikipedia, one or two alleles of the sickle-cell disease are resistant to malaria since the sickle red blood cells are not conductive to the parasite - in areas where malaria is common.

My First Visit

Upon my first visit to Umuofia I was placed next to the Christian Misson as an OSU (untouchable) or one who was diseased in the book, Things Fall Apart. When I looked further into the place I came across this picture (<--), with the description being that this is a masked man protesting the Christian Misson. At first glance he looks unintimidatin and almost friendly but after I looked at the mask for a while I started to notice the patterns. Doing further research into the patterns on the mask I found that most african masks have similar patterns on them. According to African Masks, most patterns on masks are symmetrical and are used as coded information. zigzag, cruciform, and spiral lines denote social status or have some belief to hold religious or magical powers.

Anoter website detailed that African masks are danced to make a connection between the human and spirit worlds, usually to reinforce social controls and relgious beliefs. There are many types of masks ranging from depiction of woman, royalty and animals. I can't figure out how to load video but I found a Youtube broadcast that was pretty cool, featuring African dancers with their masks. So here's the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eckCUEo0jHw&feature=related

Reading the different meanings and social issues behind masks had me relating these to that of English masquerades. In this celebration people put masks on to hide their true identity and be a "different person" for the night. Some masks have special meanings and give away certain physical attributes, but none are as intricate as African masks. Africans use their masks for almost every celebration, ceremony and community hearing they have.

This particular mask in the picture reminded me of one that an elder would be wearing at the clan hearings. There are only small slits to see through and other than their body, you cannot tell any facial features on the person. The patterns are sort of familiar to that of a cat's whiskers and a goat's horns, so it could be an animal mask as well as a gods.

Things Fall Apart

I just finished the book, Things Fall Apart and surprisingly I enjoyed the book. Some of the language used was difficult to understand at first, but eventually I got the hang of it.

I did some research on the language of the Ibo tribe and found that it is very different from other languages around the world. According to The Africa Guide, the Ibo language is based on voice pitches, vocal inflections and context when defining a word. One word in the Ibo language can have multiple meanings. In the book the people also rely heavily on proverbs and stories to convey their message. The Africa Guide also mentions this important role in the Ibo language.

Some of the Ibo terms used are listed in the back of the book, but I thought it was more fun to sound them out outloud and interpret their meaning as I saw fit. The character names were also a lot of fun to pernounce and say outloud. Further investigation into the reading layed out the sounds of instruments and nature as words and symbols in the Ibo language. For example when the chiming of the gong is done, it is spelled out in the book as if the sounds are words to the Ibo people to be interpreted. The Ibo language is one of the four official languages spoken throughout Nigeria. According to Omniglot ,G. C. A. Oldendorp, a German missionary, was the first person to produce a book containing material written in Igbo, which consisted of a few words and phrases. His book, Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Bruder auf den Carabischen (History of the Evangelistic Mission of the Brothers in the Caribbean), was published in 1777.

Here is a sample of the Ibo language which is a translation of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

A mụrụ mmadụ nile n'ohere nakwa nha anya ugwu na ikike. E nyere ha uche na mmụọ ime ihe ziri ezi nke na ha kwesiri ịkpaso ibe ha agwa n'obi nwanne na nwanne.

The names of the characters in the book and the names of the Ibo people also held various meanings. Their names reminded me of Native American names like "One who Dances" and such because their names meant the same thing. On page 162 Okonkwo names his son Nwofia which means "Begotten in the Wilderness."

Religion and Tradition influence the Ibo's way of life very heavily.

Throughout the entire story Okonkwo relays Ibo lifestyles according to customs, religion and lifestyles layed out by ancestors and gods before them. The Ibo people have many gods that they worship for various reasons, much like the Greek and their gods. There is a god of the land, water and even war. But later on in the story when the Christians arrive the reader learns about a supreme god named, Chukwu. The Christians interpretted this as the Ibo believing in their "God" and this Chukwu was him. But my understanding of the reading was that the Chukwu was a Zeus type being, just a god that was higher than the rest. The religious traditions were emphasized throughout the story which proved how strong their belief system was. Okonkwo believed so much in his gods that he exiled himself from his home, his people and his countrymen because of the law of the gods.

Reading more about Ibo religion and traditions I found that after the British colonization the Ibo people were thrown into turmoil and confusion. The widespread force of Christianity ruined the Ibo traditions and caused much grief and ruin among the Ibo.

African History Before Colonization

Africa before colonization was very different than the Africa after the Europeans came into the picture. According to Amanda Brooks, Africans had a hard time seperating their religious lives from their every day lives. For example instead of moving forward with agricultural processes they relied on praying and the spirits they prayed to. They were very devoted to their religious practices but it often hurt their agricultural production than helped it. The Africans used this ideology for all of their economic, political, hunting and harvesting aspects of their lives. Their lack of agricultural advancement wasn't all bad however; the African people were communal which means they shared and distributed goods based on kinship. This meant that the African people relied on eachother for survival and although it was not seen as advancement by Europeans, it worked for the African people.

Another aspect that was considered very different and frowned upon by the early Europeans was the lack of technology. Africans had invented their own technology based on the enviornment such as; terracing, crop rotation, swamp farming and mixed farming. They also created their own tools such as hammers and hoes, but their lack of scientific methods and knowledge left them with tools in desperate need of upgrades. The African social stratification was also thrown for a loop when the European settlers came about. The original chain of command begane with the headship elders or sucessful families with the most livestock. But there was not much more in the way of social classes in Africa.

Before European colonization borders between countries

was not an issue with native Africans. But soon after the

European take over borders were set up all over the country dividing it into seperate nations rather than a country in whole. These borders also set up ethnic divisions among the people where they did not exist before. This introduced a cultural dichotomy which proved to be detrimental to African civilization.

Just A Little About Me

Well beginning with the basics, my name is Kathleen, but my friends call me Kat. I like to consider myself an adventurous and spontaneous person, but my shyness often gets in the way. I am technically a junior here at Western but because I am a transfer student I'm still working on the credits. I am originally from Harbor Beach Michigan, which is a tiny town in the thumb of Michigan. I graduated from Harbor Beach High School in 2006 and originally started my college career at Saginaw Valley State University. But since then I have changed my major from Social Work to Secondary Education English major, but I am still undecided on my minor.
My goal is to teach middle school, preferably 8th grade but high school would be fine too. I am also aiming at teaching on an Indian reservation, perhaps the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.
I have my EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) certification but currently I am not working for an ambulance company. However I am working at the Boys and Girls Club of Kalamazoo, which takes up a lot of my free time. I also work for the WMU's Athletic Department, which means I set up for the home varsity sport games.
I chose to take this class primarily it is among the required courses for English majors, but I am doing a missions trip this summer to Africa so a little background and extra information never hurts. I live on campus in Valley 3, even though I am a Junior, but it isn't as bad as it seems. My suite mates this semester are freshmen so it ought to be an interesting time.
( I'm the blonde one in the picture!)