No Pain No Gain!!!

Hey everyone,

We just started reading a new book called Notes from Underground. I have really enjoyed the book so far. Although I must say that it is a challenging read I do enjoy his writing. 

So far the underground man has puzzled me, at first he seemed insecure, contradicting himself in every other line saying he despises old people but want to live “till seventy! Till eighty!”(Dostoevsky 5). Later in the book he says he envies the normal man but does not wish to replace him. At this moment the underground man has confused me but I am excited to see what he will do and who he will be in these next few chapters.

One thing that I found particularly interesting about the underground man is the way he describes different forms of enjoyment through suffering. He talks about how when he was younger he used to get in trouble when he was not to blame but he would take it and actually have some sort of enjoyment in it. He later goes on to talk about a man moaning after a toothache. He describes this as pain that is enjoyable, a certain suffering that we love and need. After reading this I thought of myself and how I actually do the same thing, but under different circumstances. For example after a long practice or workout my body is soar, a certain pain much like the underground man describes, which I find enjoyable. I really thought that this was a great point that the underground man made. It was cleaver and ultimate true.

Notes from Underground has been really interesting so far and I am excited to see what other points he make that I can again relate back to my own experiences. I’m really excited to see what will happen next!!!

A Three Dimensional Story

Hey everyone. This is my essay for Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe hope you enjoy.

A Three Dimensional Story

Countless authors have attempted to dispel the idea of the single story and present a more complete picture through their writing. Achebe uses his novel, Things Fall Apart to provide a more accurate perspective of Africa and more specifically the Ibo people through the way he shows  them with their perfections and imperfections. Massoumeh Torfeh also tries to rid of the misconceptions associated with Iranian women in her article for the Guardian titled “Forget the stereotypes: Iran’s women are active and organized.” In her article she discusses how Persian women are intelligent and important members of Iran, both economically and socially. While both authors strive to rid of stereotypes such as Africans and Iranians who are uneducated and primitive, they accomplish their goal and provide a complete story in different ways. Achebe provides Okonkwo, a protagonist who is riddled with flaws such as being self-centered, controlling and an abusive individual along with great characteristics which include unmatchable strength and a stupendous work ethics to challenge the stereotypes associated with Africans, while Torfeh simply states the misconception and uses data and other evidence to rid of the single story of Iranian Women. 

Both Achebe and Torfeh use what they write to rid of the misconception about African and Iranian women who are uneducated and almost primitive in the way they act and live daily. Achebe uses his novel to show that the Ibo people are not as behind as others perceive them to be. He shows that there may be truth in the stereotype when he discusses the arrival of the white man who “was riding an iron horse” (Achebe 138). An iron horse, which they later learned it to be in fact a bicycle. The fact that the Ibo people could not differentiate between a horse and a bicycle may display them to be somewhat primitive, but the bicycle is yet another item which is not essential to their survival. Achebe is able to show that certain aspects of the Ibo people’s way of life may be primitive, but they are educated well enough in order to survive and strive. Achebe once again demonstrates that the Ibo people in their entirety, when he says, “Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man” (Achebe 33). Achebe uses the quotation to display that the Ibo people are educated and have great capabilities. He shows that they can provide for themselves and actually exceed expectations. While he displays the Ibo people with their strengths and flaws, Achebe provides a more accurate description of the African people much like Torfeh does in her article. Torfeh uses the evidence that “Iranian women were attending universities” (Torfeh 24) and discusses how these women are woven into the social and economic fabric of Iran to challenge the idea that Iranian women are uneducated. Her article succeeds to dispel the single story and shows the importance of education to these women. Iranian women take pride in their education and are grateful to receive the opportunity to further their knowledge. While both authors provide more complete story, they achieve their goal in unique ways. Unlike Achebe who rids of these misconceptions by showing them to be partially true but lack the whole story, Torfeh challenges these ideas through factual evidence and does not accept some stereotypes to have any legitimacy. 

 Similarly to the way Achebe strives to show the Ibo people as able to advise the missionaries on their customs, Torfeh does the same in her article about Iranian women. In order to display the Ibo tribe as more than just people who need care, Achebe displays the tribe as capable of helping others when he says “neither of them succeeded in converting the other but they learned more about their different beliefs (Achebe 179).” This shows that the Ibo people and the missionaries are equally able to teach and learn from each other. The quotation from Things Fall Apart also proves that the missionaries see the Ibo people as incapable and view the journey as a one-way learning experience. Achebe even goes far enough as to say that the missionary’s journey is a story all about the “Pacification of Primitive Tribes of Lower Niger (Achebe 209).” Achebe makes the misconception that African’s are incompetent and primitive blatantly obvious in order to challenge the single story of Africa. Like Achebe, Torfeh explains that other nations can learn form Iranian women just as Iranian women can learn from them. She discusses how Iranian women “gained the right to vote in 1963 - earlier than in several European countries (Torfeh 9-10).” She shows that the Iranian women can assist other nations as well as expand their capabilities and challenge the misconception that learning is a one-way street.  Torfeh and Achebe complete the story and dispel of the misconception that Iran and Africa have no knowledge or information to contribute to other nations.

Achebe and Torfeh take different approaches in order to achieve their goal, and dispel of a single story. Whether it is of Africa and the Ibo tribe or the misconceptions associated with Iranian women in the Middle East. Achebe introduces certain characteristics of the Ibo people and shows some of the stereotypes to be partially true but fail to tell the entire story. Due to these incomplete stories, Achebe strives to provide the missing pieces and create a more accurate idea of the Ibo people. Torfeh on the other hand, attempts to rid of these stereotypes people have of Iranian women and challenge these incomplete stories through factual evidence and data presented in her article. Torfeh’s approach to dispel the single story may differ from that of Achebe, but she just like Achebe is able to succeed and provide a more rounded and accurate picture of Iranian women through her writing.

Achebe and Torfeh use their writings as a way to dispel the single story that African and Iranian women are uneducated, primitive and incapable of providing any valuable information to others. Through the evidence they present, these authors are able to provide a more complete view of both Africans and Iranian women. Both of these authors hope to rid of stereotypes that they can no longer tolerate. Achebe and Torfeh are able to use their skills to disposes of single stories that corrupt the world and strive to present a more accurate depiction of all people.