Chinua Achebe

In discussing three writings by Chinua Achebe; “An Image of Africa,”  “Girls at War,” and “The Madman” I was able to see how he felt about the treatment of the Africans. These stories relate to me in my past, present, and future. This is so because they all have to do with racism and the literature we study in schools today. Growing up I did not really pay attention to know that there are different types of literature. Where I went to school I was never exposed to African Literature that I am aware of. Now knowing that there is such a thing and how it has been put down over the years opens my eyes to the terrible racism in literature.

The racist literature clashes with my views of the world. I strive to have a peaceful world that surrounds me. I think it is wrong to tell Africans or anyone that their writings are wrong and beneath other writings, for example Europe as described in the readings. I see this as something very important in the world. If we cannot be equal and without racism in literature then how are we to be equal in every other way?

I see that Achebe is upset by the degrading of African Literature in the first writing “Am Image of Africa.” He says that a European writer by the name of Conrad can’t be considered a writer of great literature especially when he writes something like “Heart of Darkness.” He says that he is a “bloody racist” and “Heart of Darkness” is very misleading.

In the second reading “Girls at War” there was a lot of irony. The way the woman, Gladys, changes in the story from a good person, to a person she has to be, and then die trying to do a good deed. He talks about Nwankwo, a big man and a member of government, who is better off than most. He only helps those who are close to him or who he chooses like he chose Gladys.

“The Madman” was probably the easiest for me to understand. It says to me that people label others before they even know the reason for their actions. This happened when Nwibe had his clothes taken from him by the Madman and chased after him. The title Madman was them given to Nwibe for the action he had taken. To me Achebe is saying that that happens to Africans all the time and they do not appreciate the assumptions. This also goes for their literature. Just because they are ruled by another country it does not mean that the history they have created is meaningless since they were not able to write it down.

I found all of these readings very interesting. At first they were a bit confusing, but they are very informative. I also learned more about the writer and his views.