Things Fall Apart

When I write Things Fall Apart, I plan on writing with a more feminist outlook as opposed to the postcolonial view. I chose this angle because I am a girl and very pro-feminism. My essay will revolve around the struggles that the women endure throughout the novel. Woman being controlled by man and more of a “property” than another human being will be a main topic that I choose to dissect. Okonkwo sees his father an more of a female figure and he more strives to be a man from this.

There are several slanderous and cruel quotes written about the female race, not just in this book but also in real life. Napoleon Bonaparte says that, "Nature intended women to be our slaves...They are our property...What a mad idea to demand equality for women." Many more quotes and accusations were mad against and about women and the female race for no reason other than following what was said to be their “identity in society”. Men in the Ibo society held women to a lower standard just like many did in real life. My essay will be written around the ideas and standards that men have placed on women.

Technology: For the Win

Technology is always changing, always improving, and always evolving. Whether or not the vast steps being taken in the advancement of technology are beneficial still remains unknown. In Lev Grossman's article "2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal" there are some very fascinating predictions being made about the future. They discuss the topic of singularity, mans eventual merging with technology. I believe that if we continue to further technology, especially at the rate in which we are, it will eventually over take us and we will end up serving technology. In my opinion, everyone has already begun to rely on technology too much as it is, including myself, that if we were to throw things such as artificial intelligence into the picture humans would take it for granted, as we do now. The movie Walle is a perfect example of all of this; technology had become too advanced for even the machines to the point that it they had to live in a spaceship outside of Earth to prevent severe problems. People these days are just plain lazy, for example segways take away the “burden” of walking, it has become so hard for us to even walk to another area that we need a device to push us along at the same speed as we would move while just walking. Even Kurzweil himself said “Even at that time, technology was moving quickly enough that the world was going to be different by the time you finished a project” referring to when he created his first computer that composed music at only the age of 17. Singularity would make us less authentically human, we would pretty much just be the physical aspect while the computer that was in us did all our thinking, making all the decision, and ordering us around as if we were its slaves. 

Temptation and the Ring in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring

Kathleen E Gilligan wrote the article “Temptation and the Ring in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring” to provide her view on whether the book was a take on Christianity or not. It also discusses how the book itself is centered on the idea of temptation and the ways to succumb or to overcome the many tempting things we are presented with in our life. For example, Frodo is constantly tempted by the ring and succumbing to its evil nature. Gilligan, I feel, was trying to settle the issue with her point of view. The intended audience was anyone interested in the topic regardless of whether or not they had read the book or the article talked about by Anna Mathie because the author provided solid information from both sources used.

            The thesis of the article is that the book The Fellowship of the Ring’s main idea or focus is temptation. The view of temptation also can sound like you are referring to Christianity because of Adam and Eve, King David and Bathsheba, etc. Temptation is almost the foundation of what Christians see as the “truth”. If Adam and Eve had not eaten the apple, we would live in a perfect world with no sin. Temptation from the devil caused this to not be the case. Because temptation is what started the stories of the bible it is understandable that temptation reminds us of Christianity/God. The idea that the book is written about Christianity or has a “hidden message” of Christianity is justifiable by the stereotype of Christians and the religion in general.

            The author goes through the many different categories in where the reader could have been misled to believe that Tolkien was surreptitiously talking about Christianity throughout the novel. Gilligan begins with the overview of the story as a whole then breaks it down into the smaller components that make up the book itself. She mainly focuses on Gandalf and Sméagol and the different ways that they portray being tempted.

            Gilligan makes really smooth transitions during her whole essay. Everything flows right into the next and it all feeds off of the thing placed before making it easy to follow. She also is very good at going back to her thesis from the first paragraph to keep the main ideas with you so that you remember the points being addressed. The transitions are generally the last sentence somehow relating to the first sectence of the next paragraph she wrote keeping the whole essay at a consistent flow that keeps you caught up and in tune with the whole theme of the essay so you did not lose focus.

            The author does not build a strong ethos, they are very pulled out of the writing and make it seem like they are very professional while writing. The author is very straight forward but uses more of the other authors’ words to describe the different things being addressed and the categories of temptation and Christianity.