The River Between, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Traditions throughout culture change with time, yet in most instances, a handful of people refuse to change their methods or beliefs. In “Dead Man’s Path,” Chinua Achebe creates a changing society and presents a group of people who are unwilling to change their way of life and adapt. Achebe uses symbols, allusions, characters, and setting development to give the reader an interpretation of the changes made throughout society that creates a conflict between a new generation and an old generation.

Reading the book, The Other Side of the River, by Alex Kotlowitz, the author writes about the relationship between two towns in Michigan, and the death of a young boy named Eric McGinnis. The two towns, Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, are called the “Twin Cities”, but are ironically not related in any way. St. Joseph is 95 percent white, while Benton Harbor is impoverished and is 92 percent black. Throughout the book Kotlowitz questions the residents from both towns and how they are affected by the environment around them. The author also starts with the climax on the first page of the book – the death of Eric, and uses this as an technique to tell the story of the disagreements between the two towns.

In the book, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, the tone of an excerpt in chapter nine is wretched. In the excerpt, Salva is seen to be walking through very hot land with almost no helpful resources, like water. This excerpt discusses Salva’s problems, like how it felt like he was walking forever. He cannot stand the climate of the area he is walking in, because the weather is scorching hot. The writing states that, “His lips became cracked and parched.”, showing that he is feeling uncomfortable in the weather, and he is hurting physically. Another example of Salva’s distress is that his toenail came off! He had stubbed his toe on a rock and then it happened. Salva has to deal with this, which makes walking through this land a dystopia.

The book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Coates writes a letter, addressing his son. He composed this message to his fifteen-year-old son, who that year had learned of the unjustified murders of numerous black individuals, including Eric Garner and Michael Brown; killed by police officers who received no punishment for their actions. Coates describes to his son many realities, that he has experienced firsthand, with which a black person must contend. He details his difficult childhood, living in fear – fear of the streets, fear of the police, fear of losing his body. In his letter, he illustrates how Howard University, the Mecca, and his experiences and interactions there shaped him. Another incident he discusses as one that

Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, once said: “A man who makes trouble for others is also making troubles for himself”. This concept can be seen in the development of Okonkwo as a character throughout the book. Creating plenty of trouble for others, but ultimately creating the most trouble for himself is possibly the plot for the entire book. Generally, the creation of trouble is not a value that is appreciated in any culture, especially in Umuofia. Okonkwo breaks many of the boundaries and social norms within his culture; his tendency to be immature and unaccountable combined with being very self-concerned and the defiance of elders creates an interesting mix adjacent to the cultural standards.

Imagine living in a world of perfect paradise, where no one disturbs you or takes away your freedom of thought. You’re living in pure harmony and feel as if your life is going to be peaceful forever. But what if one day someone comes along and changes your world, taking away your custom beliefs and changing your culture. What would you do? In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the character Okonkwo, an indigenous member of the Ibo tribe, comes in conflict with the European settlers as they try to convert his tribe to Christianity. Even though many people choose to convert to this new system, Okonkwo, along with a few friends, respond adversely to this foreign settlement as they attempt to restore order in their native village. As the Europeans bring their religion, messengers, and government into the tribe, the outcome of Okonkwo 's response, causes him to bring his identity into query when he realizes that things that were formerly common, will always collapse in the end.

The book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park gives a fascinating story of a real life personal journey. Slava, the main character, was born and for 11 years raised in Sudan in 1985 during the civil war. Slava was a member of a successful family, Slava’s father was the village judge and owned many cattle. Slava was able to go to school, that was not common in Sudan. Slava was at school , his village was under attack and he needed to leave to get safety behind a bush so he would not be hurt , Slava ran to a bush get safety. That dash was the call to Slava’s personal journey. Slava would have venture through three (Sudan,Ethiopia,Kenya) countries , without his family and on foot . The character Slava in a Long walk to water was changed by his personal journey, he had to be independent, not having his family disrupted his daily life style, and was compelled to help the people of Sudan

The Return is story about Kamau, a man returning home after spending many years away in prison. Kamau has both survived the Mau Mau and being put in prison. The Mau Mau had cost many Black Nationalist’s lives, and had seen many more put away in jails. The story begins as Kamau is released from jail.

Social rank and relative wealth play great roles in determining a person’s life in Umuofia society. Sometimes a man with sheer force of will cannot change his future through hard work. One of the main conflicts in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is the clash between Okonkwo’s determination to succeed, his free will, and fate – which seems to have less appealing things in mind. Okonkwo’s will plays a major factor in determining his future; he chooses to kill Ikemefuna with his own hands, he chooses to kill a government official, and in the end, he chooses to take his own life. However, the pre-destined conditions of his life, his father’s failures, and a series of unfortunate circumstances ultimately lead to Okonkwo’s downfall.

In the story of life, time is a ravenous beast, destroying and building regardless and apathetic to whom it affects. An inescapable thing that never dies, but plagues people with its shapes of past, present, and future. In Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong, Duong doesn’t hold back when exposing the ugly face of the past. Hang, the protagonist, faces poverty, a broken family, and the loss of love from an early age, which force her mature quickly and harshly. Her exposure to such extreme, difficult circumstances and her subsequent adaptation result in her loss of innocence, instilling a bitterness in Hang that taints her. This bitterness - more of a mourning for her own childhood - exposes itself through Hang’s reflections on the

Nick is a World War I veteran who, as many veterans, suffers from emotional trauma that his experiences from the war left him with. Multiple scenes throughout the story, Big Two Hearted River, relates to Nick, the main character’s, journey toward recovery. Nick describes his surroundings in way that parallels to his own experiences and current voyage in respect to his revival.. He takes a calming adventure saturated with calming natural paths over hills, through woodland, and along a river to find peace with himself and to return to his prewar state of mind.

In the book The River by Gary Paulsen they use again and again moments a lot. He uses the again and again moments well because the again and again moments actually mean something. They mean a lot and in pack to the story.

Thesis: how reading and viewing of different texts has broadened my understanding of the world and how identity is a virtual tool which can empower individuals to excel in one way or another.

Hello and welcome to Radio 7’s first series of “Strange Fruit” where we analyse and evaluate how a poet presents their values, attitudes and perspectives through their poem. I’m your host PERSON 1 and I’m pleased to be here with the wonderful PERSON 2, a poetry critic and history university lecturer, who will be talking about the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes.

The novel Weep Not, Child by Ngugi was Thiongio will be explored in this paper. The novel unfolds a tale of a young boy, Njoronge, growing up in the rime of the Mau Mau insurgency that swept away Kenya in the fifties and early sixties. The novel reveals a metamorphosis of Kenya through political, social and cultural conflict lens in the 1952- 1960. By folding different generations of storytelling with each character of the book, Weep Not, Child becomes alive with vivacity. It gives a certain musical element to the flow of the short subsections; they function as contrasted and counterpoints, moving from scenes of quietness to ones of distress. These paper will fist look upon a boy Njoroge and the love he shared with Mwihaki, daughter of his family’s tormenter, then a discussion on political violence and colonial that took place in Kenya then later unfolds the undying grief that the Mau Mau and Gikuyu suffered.