Things Fall Apart: Monologue

In my monologue I am Ojiugo, Okonkwo's third and youngest wife, talking to Ekwefi, who is one of Okonkwo's other wife. I typed it up on a "memo pad" on my phone. I had it with me everywhere I went to practice. Read it at the dinner table, on the skytrain, in bed and other places... But maybe an actual memo pad handwritten would've been better? I couldn't really nail it in class, but oh well! lesson learned for my next monologue.. which hopefully won't be anytime soon :D. 

 (blue-highlighted cursor is where to continue)

What does it mean to be a hero?

When only having read three chapters of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, it was an indistinctive decision whether Okonkwo was a hero. At first, he had traits that make him a hero; he had people respecting him and looking up to him since he won a great wrestling match. Therefore he brought pride to his tribe. Even though he was a leader and he was admired by other tribesmen, he was a very insecure and cowardly person.
He would beat his wives and his children, at times, for irrational reasons. Heros aren't suppose to harm others. Instead they are to help them; which he does do, since he is supporting his family with his farm. He was insecure in many ways. When it came down to deciding whether to kill Ikemefuna or not, he didn't want to. But he did so anyways because he didn't want to look 'weak' amongst the tribe.
Okonkwo had a huge fear of others thinking he is weak, which is why he never respected his father, Unoka. Unoka was a man full of debts, but was still a happy man. Another way Okonkwo wasn't a hero, he didn't offer support to his father instead, he just left him to be. Okonkwo was ashamed of his failure.
In the end, after he was exiled, he hung himself to death. He just gave up on life because of the fact he was ashamed of his actions. After reading the novel and looking at Okonkwo's decisions, I don't think he is a hero at all. Heros stay determined and always try to find positivity in life, Okonkwo on the other hand was just a coward.

A Thousand Splendid 'Conflicts'.

In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini the main conflicts are between Mariam and herlsef as she is trapped in an undesired reality. Mariam is a young girl living in the low class society in Afghanistan. She lives with her mother, Nana, who is unloving towards her and tells her everyday that she is a failure. This doesn't break down Mariam's dreams of a better life just yet because she has two other important people to look upon; Jalil, her father and Mullah Faizullah, an elderly who visits Mariam to teach her how to write, read and pray. Jalil lives in a much different reality than Mariam though, he is rich, has a big house with many other wives and children; a house that he, Mariam and Nana don't share.
The conflict is within Mariam and also with society. In Afghanistan, girls are to stay at home with their mothers and do all the 'chores' instead of going to school. Also, that people like Mariam are to stay in the position they're in because they can't associate themselves with the higher class. It becomes tough for Mariam to ever pursure her dreams of education and to follow in her father's successful footsteps.
When invited by her father to come watch a film at the theatre he owns, Nana pressures Mariam to not go, that she will die if Mariam leaves her. Mariam has long waited for this day so she left anyways, but when she returns she is greatly filled with remorse when she sees that her mother hung herself on a nearby tree. Now, she has lost the one person she has lived with.
Jalil takes her in to his home with love, giving her everything she needs, a lovely bedroom and enough food. The other children that are Mariam's 'brothers and sisters' also welcomes her with warmth, but the other mothers don't apreciate her presence.
Mariam is not accepted in many people's views because of her social status, even if she isn't 'filthy'. She has lost her mother and everything else. Her relationship with her father has seemed to change for the worse and her ambition and curiousity has shattered. This is a huge conflict within such a character to overcome because it is within oneself to break through what everyone else thinks is 'right or wrong' and strive for what she wants in life.
When I think of these conflicts, I immediate thought of the orphans in a book series called "a Series of Unfortunate Events". Although, the stories are not alike at all, the characters are quite similar to each other. The siblings in the Series of Unfortunate Events have lost the ones they have been living with and their house. Ever since, they have been searching for a better life and another relative they can stay with. The characters from both stories are strong and motivated by their dreams.

"WHITE" > everything else.

Post-colonialism: An era or attitude relating to the period after the settlement of one country by another, or very broadly, after the 1960s, when many colonized countries gained their independence. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/postcolonialism)

When we take some time to stop and observe the world; people, culture, literature, beliefs, forms of entertainment and studies, we can conclude that a lot of it is influenced by the Europeans. Above is a quick definition of what post-colonialism is, but I believe that post-colonialism is a more intricate ideology, that is discussed and examined by people. Post-colonialism refers to the ways in which the race, culture, ethnicity and human identity of a precedent colonized country are represented in our modern day to day lives, after becoming independent. It also refers to all the things produced through culture influenced by imperialism; European countries were competing against each other to gain the largest control of the world’s land. The natives of the colonized countries referred to groups such as The Oriental or the Westerners were distinguished as different in several ways mostly negative, from the pure European. Thus making them feel inferior to Caucasians, and in more desire to be like them.

In an article online from women’s E-news (http://www.womensenews.org/story/cultural-trendspopular-culture/090212/ads-pressure-hong-kong-women-whiten), there is a strong example of the desire from oriental culture to be more European. In this article it talks about how in Hong Kong ads are put up in places that are seen by millions of people everywhere; ones that show Asian women with very fair skin and light blonde hair. To the public, seeing these ads for lingerie items, skin bleaching, beauty products with these type of “influenced” models, they are mindset to accept that this is what the “perfect” woman is supposed to look like.

I believe that everyone of any descent, any skin and hair color, shape and size is beautiful in their own way. Along with people, beliefs, music, movies, pop culture and literature are also unique and wonderful. This is how it should be; our world needs diversity and the appreciation of every country’s difference in culture. Unfortunately, it’s not a reality for a lot of  people who still take actions to be more “white” which is equivalent to, for them, “beautiful”.