Elfera Achin
TESL (R1)
2 July 2012
Writing Task
Draft
1
Questions
1. Which character do I admire most in
the novel “Things Fall Apart”? Why?
2. What are the similarities and
differences between the African culture and mine?
Answers
1. The character that I admire the most
in the novel “Things Fall Apart” is Okonkwo. I admire him for many of his
positive attitudes. In the novel, Okwonko ia a very hardworking person. He rise
from the bottom. At first he was only a poor and ordinary person. However,
after he was given the yam seeds by Nwakibie, he worked hard and become a
successful man in Umofia. He also shows responsibility. At the young age, he is
the one who supported his mother and sister although it is his father’s duty.
Okwonko also shows great strength when he successfully beat Amalinze The Cat in
a wrestling match. Although Okwonko is seen as having more bad qualities than
good qualities, it is still acceptable because he is just filling his culture
expectations for a man.
2. The similarities of the African
culture between my culture is their do’s and don’t’s in the night time. The
African culture forbid children to go out at night time because they believe
that something bad will happen whereas my culture also believes that. Children are
not allowed to wonder out at night because there might be a danger. The African
culture also expects a man to be tough and strong like Okwonko. My culture also
expects the same. Man are supposed to be strong and take care of the family.
The differences between the African culture and mine is that in African culture
they need to do sacrifition of human whereas in my culture, there is no such
thing as human sacrifition. In my culture, a man cannot have more than one wife
except he is already divorced. However in African culture, they can have more wife
if they want to.
Draft
2
6 July 2012
Answers
1.
The
character that I admire most in the novel “Things Fall Apart” is Okwonko. I
admire him for many of his positive attitudes. In the novel, Okwonko is a very
hardworking person. He rose from bottom to top. At first he was only a poor and
ordinary person. However, after he was given the yam seeds by Nwakibie, he
worked hard and became a successful man. Okwonko had three wives,many children
and a huge yam plantation. People
respect him for the success of taking care of his family and for thehuge
plantation which he worked so hard at until it becomes huge. This success
earned Okonkwo the high status of representing his village as the second
egwugwu, as well as the respect of all of Umuofia. He is also very responsible.
He takes care of his mother and sister at the young age because his father was
unable to do it. In chapter three there was mentioned that Okwonko supports his
family by building a barn through share cropping. That managed to help the
family however the mother and sister did not plant yams. The plant coconut,
yam, beans and cassava. It can be seen here that Okwonko was the one who worked
hard to make sure his family survived. He is therefore responsible towards his
family. Okwonko also shows great strength whe he successfully beat Amalinze The
Cat in a wrestling match in the age of eighteen. Although the qualities did not
last until the end of the story it still does not change my opinion about
Okwonko.
2.
The
similarity of the African culture and my culture is that both culture forbid
children to go out at night. This is to ensure that nothing bad happen to the
children. In addition, the African culture and my culture expects a man to be
tough and strong like what Okwonko portrayed in this novel at the beginning of
the story. The difference between African culture and my culture is that In
African culture; yam is their main plantation and was important to them just
like Okwonko who worked hard for his yam plantation whereas my culture’s main
plantation is rice. It is the largest carbohydrate source of food. All the
other cultural activities such as sacrificial and worshipping of many spirits
is just the same as my culture a long time ago.
