Skip to main content

Personal History of the Author in TFA

Write a full introduction including a well-crafted thesis statement that establishes an argument in response to the following prompt. 
Include 3 topic sentences that signal the literary focus of each paragraph while developing the argument you established in your thesis statement in response to the prompt. 
The personal history of an author can have a significant influence on the way meaning is constructed in his/her writing. Comment on specific instances of such influence in Things Fall Apart.

Thesis, Introduction 

The novel "Things fall apart" written by Chinua Achebe during a the colonial revolution Nigeria in 1958, provides the story of the protagonist Okonkwo, who is a proud Igbo man and a victim of colonization. Achebe uses his own personal beliefs as a proud Christian but is clearly influenced by his Igbo heritage which influences his decision to write this revolutionary of novel.  Revolutionary in the sense capturing the story of both the white colonists and showcase the true account of the indigenous African identity. With writing the novel during the paradigm shift happening in Nigeria, this had influenced the construction of the characters, themes, and conflicts within the novel in order to display cultural clash and the importance of ones heritage. 



Topic Sentences 
Conflict #1
Achebe depicts his personal connection to the Igbo tribe evident through the conflict between Okonkwo and his Igbo values. His struggle to adapt to the Christian beliefs that the colonizers put on him


Theme #2
In the novel, Achebe’s personal identity is revealed by the theme established, as it showcases the idea of power and how Achebe endeavors to convey how African history is not as uneducated and barbaric as they are portrayed in the West. 


Character #3
Another way in which Achebe showcases his personal history and culture is through the characterization of certain characters, for example, Mr Brown and how he tries to enforce Christian beliefs in a peaceful manner. Thus proving Christianity is compatible with traditional Igbo beliefs, despite Okonkwo's failure to recognize that;

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside of Marriage

How and why is a particular social group represented in a certain way? The article "For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside of Marriage" was written for the New York times to depict single motherhood as a negative thing that increases poverty rates and the suffering of emotional and behavior problems in children. Bias by omission and bias through statistics is used throughout to marginalize single moms.  The authors have presented the social group in a bad light to support their own personal conservative ideologies. This is unfair as it is the job of journalists to be as unbiased as possible in order to highlight the other side of the story. How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers? The article "For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside of Marriage" is about the negative impacts of single motherhood. The author uses bias in order to mirror his conservative ideologies. This restricts the reader only to the i...
3 comments
Read more

Characterization of Coriolanus

In the first act of the Shakespeare’s political play “Coriolanus”, Caius Martius is characterized directly and indirectly to foreshadow the rest of the play.  The very first scene involves the plebeians protesting for the right to set their own price on corn and grain and this is where Caius Martius is first introduced by the plebeians. Starting his character development with the cynical and fatalistic opinions of the plebeians only showing him in bad light, foreshadowing the political storyline of the play.  Shakespeare intentionally makes Caius Martius look like a jerk shown through the words used by the people to describe him. For example “Caius Martius is a chief enemy to the people”  and “a very dog to commonality”. Then when the protagonist is introduced these first personality traits are confirmed through his use of language towards the plebeians.  Shakespeare characterizes Coriolanus as a blunt, inconsiderate and arrogant in the beginning of the p...
1 comment
Read more

Media and Pop Culture Analysis

Pop culture is the common popular ideas, attitudes, beliefs or trends shared by society. It emerged in the 20th century and has been shared through media.  Media messages are constructed using creative techniques, but the construction process is invisible to viewers, readers, and listeners. The messages presented by influencers and advertisers to society are carefully manufactured through many different layers of production, editing and filtering before the final product is released. Viewers only see the final product and this is how false beauty standards and inauthentic ideas are created. However towards the viewer it looks as if the images are genuine. Especially young people fall into the trap of entering contests and promoting a celebrity online just to get a retweet or attention from the celebrity or company, not realizing that this a ploy or advertising strategy in order to build bigger brand. Companies and celebrities use this creative invisible process to the...
3 comments
Read more