Week 3: Religions and superstitions

Karl Marx once commented that 'religion is the opium of the people'. Do you agree with him? In the case of Umuofia, do you think their native religion stunts their development? Is the 'new' religion seen as a way of bringing development to Umuofia?

Apart from religion, superstitions play an important part in the Ibo culture. Do you have your own sets of superstitions which you find difficult to discard?

The following points can help you as you write your reflective post on the role of religion and superstition in the novel and in your life:

• Analyse how superstitions and religions play in the life described in the novel. 
• Do superstitious beliefs and religion affect the development of a country? How?
• How does one's beliefs affect the nation in terms of politics and culture?

Source: http://reflectiononthingsfallapart.blogspot.com/

    In the Things Fall Apart novel, superstitions played an important role in the peoples' life. This is because they tend to be clouded by the superstitions that they believed in. For example, they kill twin babies because they think it is evil. They also make children as sacrifices. However, these are not the good superstitions and therefore I do not agree with all the bad things that they believe in. 

   Superstitious beliefs and religions do affect the development of a country. This is because their mind will never be open to new development if they keep believing in something irrational such as the Evil Forest in The Things Fall Apart novel. They believe that the forest is evil, so any development could not be done there. 

Name: Elfera Achin
Class: PISMP TESL (1)

A question to ponder upon..

Think of your own country. Are there any superstitious beliefs which affect the development of the nation? Your own state?

In Malaysia, each and everyone has their own religion. Until now, there are no cases of burying twin babies or sacrificing children to make anything happen. I strongly believe that superstitious beliefs that can affect the development of my country are not present in Malaysia. This also includes my state. However, what I can observe is that people of Malaysia are not as open-minded as other developed countries and that is for me, the greatest challenge that affect the development of the nation.

The most unacceptable yet practiced belief of the Igbo people is the dumping of the twin babies. I strongly disagree with this because obviously, this is very cruel. However, this practice is still happening as they believe the twin babies bring bad luck to the society. The mothers must be so hurt by this but they are helpless as this is a culture that have to be practiced by hook or by crook. Another is practice of throwing away the bodies of those that don't excel and contribute much to the society during their lifetime to the Evil Forest. I think every person deserve the same treatment which by mean their bodies are perfectly buried even though they might be a failure during their lifetime. Besides, the women are also not allowed to go out but to stay at home and serve the family well. In Okonkwo's case, he even beats his wife when he knows that she's not preparing dinner but to go out to get her hair braided. 

However, when the new religion comes which by means the coming of the White people, I can see this as a great relief to those mothers that are carrying the twin babies. The babies are saved as this practice is strongly rejected based on the Christianity belief. 

In my society, the Kayan bride are not allowed to go to the house of the groom's family if they haven't married. This brings shame to the bride's family if she is doing so. Another one is the practice of not cutting hair at night. It is believed that the ghosts are wandering around at night and they are going to haunt them if they are doing so. 

As we are living in a multicultural country, I think the practices and cultures are greatly influence the economy as they are attractive to the tourists to come and experience by themselves. The practice of the Chinese people during the Chinese New Year by hanging the red lantern is one of the practices that I found attractive. 

Therefore, we have to be proud of our own beliefs and live it so that the next generations know their root. 

Posted by, 

Angela Devung Dennis

In the novel Things Fall Apart, superstitions in the Igbo culture can be seen in a lot of aspects and events that happened in the village. For example, they believe that the members of the tribe that suffered from infirmities were seen as unclean. These people would not be buried, but be cast into the Evil Forest. Besides, during the Peace Week, Okonkwo commits a great sin when he beats his wife and in their superstitious and beliefs, it is believed that evil will fall upon the whole clan, so he must repent and sacrifice a lot. They also kill twin babies because they believed that it is evil which for me are not relevant. Because of their superstitious and belief, there are no development occurs in their country. They are blinded by their fear of the superstitious and belief until they are afraid to make any changes to their country and always lives in fear towards their belief.

For me, one’s belief shall not affect the nation in terms of politics and culture as if it is a good belief and can be accepted in the culture and society. Everybody has their own right to hold on to their belief as long as it is not affecting the nation in a bad ways.

-KELLY KATTY JAMESON

Haiku & Limericks

HAIKU

The night wind blows hard,
through the open pink window,
The calm night strikes me.


LIMERICKS

There was once an old knight
Who always lived in fright
He dreamed of a cockatoo
And awoke with a terrible fright
And found out that it was true.

Week 2 : Women in Things Fall Apart

Go through your notes on gender differences and other websites dealing with gender studies. Based on your reading, reflect on how these women are treated in the novel. The following questions can help you as you write your reflective piece in your blog:

•  How are the women treated in the novel? Do all members in the community agree with the status quo? Why? 
• What contributions are made by the Igbo women to the survival of their culture? 
• What are the changes in women’s roles in this present world?

Retrieved from : http://reflectiononthingsfallapart.blogspot.com/

  The women in the novel Things Fall Apart are treated not equally in the novel because we can see how the society views women throughout the story. Yes, there are times where women seems to be protected and well taken care of, however, the power gap can still be seen clearly in the story. For example, Okonkwo can freely beat his wives and no one scolds him but in the Week of Peace, hitting the wife is forbidden and there are punishment to those who still does it. The fate of the young girl that is offered as sacrifice in the beginning of the story is quickly decided whereas the boy is still considered whether to be sacrificed or not. This is implementing that the life of female is not that important in the culture. 

Some of the community members did not agree with the status quo, for example, during Okonkwo's exile, they were sent to his wife's motherland, and people there respects women. For example, Uchendu advises Okonkwo to be good to his wives. 

   There are many contributions made in making sure the Igbo culture still survives. For example, the women gave birth to children, which if there are no women, there will be no addition to the number of people of the Igbo culture. Secondly, they take care of the children which is very important because if there were fewer women in the Igbo society, all the children will be sacrifices because the men does not seem to care about the welfare of the children that they killed.

      Today, women are seen as valuable as the men because we can see women working and being in high position although a thin gap between these two gender still exists. Nowadays, women can even be the breadwinner of the family. 

Name : Elfera Achin
Class  : TESL (R1)

Question: Elfera, what is this gap that can still be seen between men and women?

In ensuring the survival of the culture, what is their role as wives/mothers/daughters/leaders?

   The gap between men and women can still be seen in our society. That is a fact that cannot be denied. Even though there a few of women leaders all around the world, their role as a female will still exist. This includes the taking care of the children, doing the household activities and obeying their husband. 

  To ensure the survival of culture, women, as mothers, must take care of their children because the mothers are always expected to take care of the children more than the father. As daughters, women should have a good education in order to ensure they have good education and be good leaders in the future. While women who are leaders should fight for female rights to ensure that female is highly regarded in the society.   

In the novel, the women are not treated well especially by the protagonist, Okonkwo. The culture in the village allow the men to get married to as many women as they want to but the women have to have total loyalty toward the husband. Okonkwo himself has four wives of his own and he is not treating them well. During the week of peace, Okonkwo beats his wife hard. The culture of the Igbo people also does not allow the women to go out and socialize but to stay at home to take care of the husbands and the children.  Only the men have the responsibility to go out to find the needs of the family.

Yes, I think all the members in the community agree with status quo as it is clearly seen in the novel. They do not allow the women to go out and socialize but the men have the total freedom. Not just to go looking for foods perhaps, but they also have been given the freedom to get married with as many women as they want. Meanwhile, the women have to stay at home and have to have total loyalty to the husband and serve them well.

The way the women of the Igbo people are treated is not suitable with what they have been doing. The women have given birth for the continuation of the generation of Igbo people. The people should respect the women but they do not. The women also have given total loyalty for the family by taking care of the children and serve the husband well. They even do not allowed to go out.

In this present world, the women have given a lot. They no longer have to stay at home but also able to be the breadwinner of the family. Now, the women as the leaders also can be seen everywhere. This has shown that the women are able to stand the same level as the men. They should be respected and given the same right as the men.

By, 

Angela Devung

In the novel Things Fall Apart, the women are not treated equally. In Igbo culture, women are seen as  the weaker sex. The dominant role for women is to make a pure bride for an honorable man, to be a submissive wife and to bear many children. Even though the women’s level is not as high as the men, they still play important roles in the upbringing of the tribe. All the members in the community are agree with the status quo because they believe that men are responsible to be the leader of the family and should not look weak. The ideal men provide for his family materially and have status on the battlefield. Okonkwo, is extremely concerned with being masculine and devalues everything feminine.

Even though the women are seen as a weak gender but still there are some contributions made by the Igbo women to the survival of their culture. As seen in the novel, many of the spiritual entities consist of goddesses and even the priestess is a female character.

In this present world, we can see that there are lots of working women. Women are not seen as the housewife and only do the house chores. Besides, many of the high position in the workplace are dominated by women. 

-Kelly Katty Jameson-