EngL1401W - Spring 2007: Introduction to "Third World" Literature

SKIP OVER THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED AND DON'T WANT ANY PLOT POINTS REVEALED.

• How do you interpret the destruction of Abame? How does this relate to the missionaries, the colonial government, the future? How important is the destruction of Abame to the book? If you don't notice this, what might you be missing?

• What does Achebe mean when he says, "There is no story that is not true"?

• What do you think about the plight of the osu? Why do you think Achebe waited this long to introduce them into the book? Why weren't they obvious from the very beginning? (Clearly, they were there--somewhere--all along.)

• What happens to the characters' command of language at the end of the book? (Show specific evidence from the text.) What does this mean?

• At the very end of the book, Achebe makes a sudden shift into the perspective of the colonizer. Why?
  

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If you were going to pursue a paper about Things Fall Apart, what sort of argument might you tackle? What might be a broad topic, and how could you start to narrow it to a thesis statement (arguable, original, of appropriate scope)?

Try out possible thesis statements, and respond to other students' thesis statements.

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Lots of possible questions....

• What is/are the major element(s) that spur the formation of Okonkwo's personality? How does Achebe create Okonkwo for the reader? What techniques does he use?

• Who speaks well, and who doesn't speak well, in the book so far? Can Okonkwo speak well? What do you think this means about his character, and his future?

• What does Achebe mean by: "Proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten"?

• Why does Achebe choose such a flawed man, Okonkwo, to be his main character? Why doesn't he focus the book on, for instance, Obeirika?

• What sort of picture of women do you get from this book? If you could make any sort of argument about the role of women--or "feminine characters," which could include Unoka--in Things Fall Apart, what might it be?

• Other questions, comments...anything that doesn't give away the end.

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Shiyao is presenting Faiz Ahmed Faiz's "You Tell Us What To Do" on Wednesday, Jan. 24.

If you want to call "dibs" on a poem, then enter it below.

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• Do you think this is "fair"? Make your arguments specific.

• Do you see examples of what she's talking about in movies you've seen, books you've read? Which movies/books? Does she make you re-assess these at all?
  

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Do you think what Achebe says of Heart of Darkness also applies to "An Outpost of Progress"? Do you see examples of what Achebe's talking about? Where? (Cite specific quotes or moments in the story.) And/or do you find flaws in Achebe's argument? If so, what are they? (The more specific the examples, the better.)

Another question, then: Should English teachers (in high school, university, elsewhere) continue to teach "Outpost of Progress," Heart of Darkness, and other Conrad works? Would Achebe want them taught? If taught, with what context and caveats? Why or why not?

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Possible entry-points to discussion:

1) Who is telling the story? How would you characterize the narrator?

2) Which characters speak for themselves in this story? Which do not? What impression does their speech--or lack of speech--give the reader? Why does Conrad choose to let certain characters talk, and not others? Were these choices--in your opinion--entirely conscious?

3) How is the African (Congolese) landscape described? If the landscape could be said to have a personality, what would it be? What role does the landscape play in the story? Are the Africans part of the landscape, or are they characters?

4) Why is Henry Price--or Makola--not allowed to determine his own name?

5) Add your comments, or your own questions, below...

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These questions are just starters. Answer them, discuss some other aspect of the reading from Global Rift, or ask your own questions.

1) Do you agree with Stavrianos, that the "development" of the First World and the "underdevelopment of the Third World are related, "organically and functionally"? Do you agree with him that the First World is overdeveloped to the same degree that the Third World is underdeveloped? What do you think the relationship is between these "worlds"?

Why do you agree or disagree with Stavrianos? Be as specific as you can.

2) Are there things Stavrianos seems to miss or gloss over in his broad-brush history? What?

3) Does it make sense to use the term "Third World"? Developing, underdeveloped? What are the connotations of these terms? What are the downsides to grouping so many economically, politically, and socially diverse nations under one big term? (List of "developing" nations according to the United Nations.) Are there possible benefits, or upsides to grouping nations this way?

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