Achebe

AnaMarie Mehmel

Professor Benander

World Literature III

11 April 2011

            Chinua Achebe is a brilliant writer. He uses different styles of writing to make people see his point of view. His “An Image of Africa” is a lecture that calls Joseph Conrad, author of Heart of Darkness, a “bloody racist;” while his “Girls at War” is a story that criticizes people in power who do nothing to help their countrymen. In “The Madman” Achebe tells us a story about how colonization is not just about taking resources, but also taking over the minds of those who are deemed inferior.

            Achebe’s “An Image of Africa” is my favorite of the three not because it was a lecture, but because it pounded Conrad’s Heart of Darkness into the ground, where I truly believe it should stay. Having read Heart of Darkness I can say from experience that it was one of the worst books I have ever had to read and it was truly as discriminating towards “the natives” as Achebe claims. English teachers think Conrad’s book is great literature and therefore should be taught to students. Maybe it is, but that is the European/American view of the book. No one ever thinks that maybe, just maybe, teaching that book teaches the old prejudices to new generations, thus keeping people ignorant to the truth. Africans are people too. So many things in Heart of Darkness are racist that making the book out to be such a great work of literature is saying that being racist is alright. Well, as Achebe tries to make people see, it is not alright. It is downright evil to treat people like they are inferior. Yet, it happens, and all I wish to say to the offenders is “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

            Now Achebe’s “Girls at War” is disturbing. He uses a girl’s life to show that people in power should do everything they can to aid their people, not just the ones that are close family and friends. It is really sickening to think how people in power abuse their power. The main character Nwankwo, who is a Minister of Justice (man of power), cares for his family and his servants, but he does not help anyone else because he thinks that in times of war people have to take care of themselves. Honestly, I can see his point of view. A person cannot help everyone, and sometimes taking care of one’s family is all that can be done. Yet, in this situation Nwankwo helps a girl because he wants to have her. He only helps those who will give him something in return, the girl’s body in this instance. Personally, I think he is a sick guy who should feel ashamed of his life. He was all talk and no action when it came to actually helping his countrymen. The girl who used any means possible to survive gave her life to help a wounded soldier. Where was Nwankwo? Running in the opposite direction like the coward he was. Men in power only care for themselves. He was a shallow, sorry excuse for a man, but he got to live, while the girl died for what she believed, for the right thing. It is a depressing thing to realize, but that is the way it always seems to work out.

            “The Madman” is an important story because this is where Achebe really demonstrates how colonization is stealing from the Africans. This story is a great analogy for how Europeans have dominated the minds of the Africans, making them believe that they are nothing. That Africans are crazy because they are not Europeans. The European culture is more superior and everything they do is right, so everything the Africans do must, therefore, be wrong. How sick is that? The sad thing is that after being told over and over again that you are nothing, you start to believe it. Here is the true domination of the mind. Yet, Achebe implies that the only way to defeat this is not to play. This is sage advice to me.