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Chike's School Days

Chike’s School Days

  • Author's perspective on colonialism

  • Story of a Nigerian boy who is taught by white colonists to shun his heritage

  • The conflict between tradition and modernity within the village.

Introduction

Chinua Achebe

Author

Chinua Achebe

  • Was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic

  • Raised in the Igbo town of Ogidi and majored in English literature at University College in Ibadan

  • Achebe wrote his novels in English and defended the use of English, a "language of colonisers," in African literature

Biography

Style

  • Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of Western and traditional African values during and after the colonial era

  • His style relies on the Igbo oral tradition, and combines narration with representations of folk stories, proverbs, and oratory

Style

Post-colonialism

Postcolonialsim

  • The author is placing a spotlight on traditional values within the village and suggesting that they may not be similar to what Christianity has to offer

  • Things Fall Apart and other stories are his way of "writing back" to the empire, challenging its racist assumptions, its claims to cultural superiority, and its economic exploitation of the colonized

Post-colonialism

Although, in Chike's eyes he also suggests that Chike is better prepared to understand the world by leaving traditional teachings and embracing a more modern method of learning

Continued

Synopsis

The story focuses on a family in Igbo to demonstrate the common social phenomenon under the effect of post colonialism. Three generations in the family are impacted by western cultures in different level. Their life experiences compared to the other people in the village are different as well

Synopsis

Thesis

The impact of post-colonialism when it comes to the cultural conflict between traditions and western cultures

Thesis

Chike

“The child received three names at his baptism---John, Chike, Obiajulu. The last name means "the mind at last is at rest." Anyone hearing this name knew at once that its owner was either an only child or an only son.”

Multicultural Environment

Analysis

Baptism ---Christianity

John & Chike ---English names

Obiajulu ---African name

(An only child or an only son)

Annotation

Chike

“One day a neighbour offered a piece of yam to Chike, who was only four years old. The boy shook his head haughtily and said, "We don't eat heathen food." The neighbour was full of rage, but she controlled herself and only muttered under her breath that even an Osu was full of pride nowadays, thanks to the white man.”

The Impact of Colonialism

Analysis

Osu: the lowest social hierarchy in Nigeria

Positive aspect: bring equality to

society to some extent

Negative aspect: western superiority

Annotation

Chike

“And he liked particularly the sound of English words, even when they conveyed no meaning at all. Some of them simply filled him with elation. "Periwinkle" was such a word. He had now forgotten how he learned it or exactly what it was. He had a vague private meaning for it and it was something to do with fairyland.”

The Idolization of Western Cultures

Analysis

Chike liked particularly the sound of English words even though he didn't understand the meaning.

Example: Periwinkle

Correct meaning: a small plant that grows along the ground

Chike's understanding: Fairyland

Father Amos

Father Amos

“Chike’s father was not originally an Osu but had gone and married an Osu woman in the name of Christianity.”

Analysis

Marriage Rituals

  • People had no equal rights to marry in different caste

  • Osu people were only allowed to marry other Osu

  • However, Amos insisted to marry an Osu woman who considered to be the lower caste of Igbo class system in Africa

  • In the story, Amos character portrays as a more modernistic person who doesn't care about his wife's caste

"Married Life"

by Pandita Ramabai

Higher caste people are not allowed to marry lower caste people in India

Relevant Text

Mother Sarah

“Sarah taught her children not to eat in their neighbours’ houses because “they offered their food to idols.” And thus she set herself against the age-old custom which regarded children as the common responsibility of all so that, no matter what the relationship between parents, their children played together and shared their food.”

Alienation in the village

Analysis

  • Sarah’s refusal to let Chike eat with the other children

  • There also doesn’t seem to be any common ground between those who wish to live their lives in a traditional manner and those who have embraced modernity or Christianity

The impact of colonialism

Impact

  • Sharp contrast between traditional Nigerian values v.s. modernity or Christianity

  • The modernity or Christianity brought about transformation for the village as well as a conflict between tradition and modernity within the village

In relating the ferocity with which Chike snobs playmates from non-Christian families, the story pinpoints the terrible cultural consequences of the European colonial takeover

Consequences

Culture shock with colonialism

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Relevant texts

https://www.google.com/search?q=things+fall+apart+summary&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=eH5tToXQGKSJRM%253A%252CcM_tC0_77lw9YM%252C%252Fm%252F01199qqf&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTT9sj252tSQtPVWbya-daF5OxRqA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4wdyWxe_hAhWDdN8KHTFeBAoQ9QEwAXoECAwQEg#imgrc=eH5tToXQGKSJRM:

Culture Clash

Summary

  • Many times in history when 2 relatively different cultures meet, their is often a clash of cultures. Sometimes these cultures are near each other while sometimes one culture invades another

  • In things fall apart, this culture invasion does take place, igniting a culture clash between the tribe of Nigeria and the Christian British

Conclusion

Conclusions

In the end, we can say that Achebe was a very well educated and aware man. Chike's School Days made us understand a story of a man and his family as they struggle in day to day life, with aspects no one should, for reasons out of his control.

Amos (Chike's Father)

Amos

Amos understood not only what was going on with his family, but the bigger picture of everything around him. Being able to disassociate himself and his family from the on goings of his country helped him see things many others were not able to. Allowing him to do what made him happy, such as marrying Sarah and having Chike.

Sarah (Chike's Mother)

Sarah

Sarah shows a strong sense of independence by not caring what society thought of her families situation. This helps develop Amos as a character since it directly supports him, while also showing why Chike developed the way he is, with a sense of arrogance. In this context we can translate it to a sense of pride for what his Mother and Father did, going against societal norms.

Chike

(Son of Amos and Sarah)

Chike

Chike shows what the future can be, whether you see it good that cultures mixing, or bad. Regardless of your opinion, Chike is the product of what came to be when a certain boundaries were crossed, societal, cultural and political. Something that must happen for change.

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