04/01/2003
Todayfs world is heavily driven by economics, yet people driven only by the economic point of view can tend to disrespect differences among people and culture. As a result, we have seen many problems exist throughout history, such as slavery, the increasing gap between poor and rich across the world, and air and water pollution.
Thus, my primary concern in this paper is about respecting differences among people and culture, and understanding each other, and I think that is about the ideal human dignity. And crucial to respecting other people and to respecting differences among all of us is being able to experience feelings of what it is like to be others. This way, we can appreciate differences among people and have a better understanding of each other.
In this sense, both stories gFrederick Douglas h and gThings Fall Aparth provide a great opportunity to experience the feelings and realities of others, including differences in culture, belief, values, and virtue. Both stories deliver powerful presentations in a depictive manner that draw a reader into the stories, and make the reader to feel what it is like to be the participants, as if the reader become a part of them. In this way, the stories help the reader to appreciate their culture, belief, value, and virtue.
In fact, while I was reading these two stories, I came up with tears, anger, despair, sorrow, and pains. Both stories are able to induce such emotions in a reader, showing how powerful these stories are. By putting a reader into the othersf shoesf, these stories provide the reader opportunity to reach common ground with all humanity ? respecting differences among people and culture, and understanding each other.
I am going to explain how I got these emotional reactions, and describe my understanding about their worlds as created by these two powerfully depicted works. Then, I will try to develop the experiences that I got from these readings to the ground of respect.
First, I will briefly describe the main character from Things Fall Apart, eOkonkwof, and eDouglasf from Frederic Douglas.
Okonkwo was a strong, self-determined, and ambitious man as well as he was rich man as he had three wives, yams and crops. He had an inferiority complex with his father who was poor, lazy, a coward, and an easy-going person. Okonkwofs fear was to fail and be thought weak. He put a great value on dignity.
Douglas was a wise man with great insight, and lived with enormous endurance. At the age of ten, he accidentally came across the opportunity to learn how to read and write. Due to his insight he immediately sensed the importance of literacy, in another words, of gaining an education. This education gained by reading newspapers, books, or sometimes asking to white kids on a street, made him exceptional as a slave, and made him eventually become a freeman. Throughout his slavery years, he almost always pursued the skill of literacy, even though this was prohibited by state law. His endurance and effort to educate himself are truly admirable.
A similarity between the two stories is that both Okonkwo and Douglas face the tragic fate of living under oppression and exploitation exercised by certain white men. But the stories are different in that while Douglas eventually achieves his dream of freedom, Okonkwo ends up killing himself. Because Okonkwofs commitment to his virtue, belief and dignity was so strong, when Okonkwo understood that his people had fallen apart, he determined that instead of putting his dignity in British colonizerfs hands, he should kill himself. Regardless whether his determination was right or not, this was Okonkwofs way of showing complete respect toward his Ibo culture, including what he believes is the Ibo requirement for dignity.
Some may want to discuss whether Okonkwofs final decision was right or wrong. Instead of discussing his decision, however, I want just to mention my feeling toward him. I certainly had compassion toward Okonkwo. This compassion was been created in me as I went on reading. Because I learned more about Okonkwofs virtue, and about Ibo culture, by the time I finished the story, I did not feel as if I was an outsider to Ibofs world anymore; I came more to care for Ibo people. I felt as if I were in their world. This is a mark of effective writing.
Another similarity between Douglas and Okonkwo is that both experienced betrayal; however, the way each perceives the experience of betrayal is different. Douglas seemed generously understanding of his friends who betrayed, so he has never complained about them. On the other hand, Okonkwo got obviously disgusted when he realized his people are not behind him at the time when his clan was trying to fight against British colonizers. Both stories showing examples of how people may betray each other when one lives under great fear of absolute power with armed forces or absolute authorities.
In both two cases, there was certainly great fear within people toward either British colonizers or slave owners. This is why people ended up making a betrayal; it is such a desperate consequence.
In deed, betrayal is often seen in todayfs competitive environments, such as political or business environment. For example, a politician sometimes changes his/her policy because of the fear of failing. Or when a war fair begins, members of the alliance often change their position by looking at the power; this can be also seen as the effect of fear.
Talking about both booksf writing style, Douglas uses visual writing, while Achebe recounts many oral conversations. Achebe often presents each turning point in the story through the conversations, which also tell of Ibofs cultural belief, virtue, and value.
In Douglasfs narrative story, there are many scenes that are described so visually. They seem very real and vivid; especially scenes of slave owners giving brutal punishments with whipping, beaming, sexually assault, and slaughter. The cruelties are just so inhuman. As I went on reading, I had to cover my eyes so many times.
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g ctie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose. The louder she creamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longestch (p51) gche commenced to lay on the heavy cow skin, and soon the warm, red blood (amid heartrending shrieks from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floorch(p52) |
These writings are so visual that they induced me emotional reactions, such as pain, agony, despair to be a slave, and hatred and rage toward white people.
However, my having emotional hatred toward white people was corrected when I realized Douglasfs effort seen in his writing that he named each master individually, rather than referring to them as gwhite men.h I think his effort is telling me about the importance of looking at people individually, in other words, of not looking at people by grouping by race. During the time of heightened hatred and fear, people tend to group others, and say, gI hate white men.h This tendency can easily make us blind.
Douglas also introduces us each individual slave owners distinguished by their personality.
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Mr. Serever was a cruel man who was cursing, raving, cutting, and slashing among the slaves in the most frightful manner. (p55) Mr. Gore was proud, ambitious, persevering, artful, cruel, and obdurate. (p65) He was ambitious enough to be contented with nothing short of the highest rank of overseers, and persevering enough to reach the height of his ambition. He was cruel enough to inflict the severest punishment, artful enough to descend to the lowest trickery, and obdurate enough to be insensible to the voice of a reproving conscience. He was a man of the most inflexible firmness and stone-like coolness. His savage barbarity was equaled only by the consummate coolness with which he committed the grossest. Master Andrew was always drinking alcohol, and the ill-minded man. (p90) Master Thomas was cheap that he did not provide enough food and time for slaves to eat them. (p.95) Captain Auld was only trying to aim at power over slaves; although he did not possess any abilities in himself. He could not manage, intimidate, obdurate over slaves well. (p.96) Many slaveholders enjoyed the sense of power over slaves. |
Douglasfs effort of naming each masterfs name and discuss each character as a distinct person therefore is very important so that it reminded me not to hate white men by grouping them.
Knowing how brutal and evil a human could be, if one had an absolute power
over people gave me a serious/fearful chill, at the same time this reminded me
slavery labors existing todayfs world, unfortunately, it is somewhere in south
Asian countries, south American countries, middle eastern countries, and so onc
Throughout readings, all the emotional reactions that I had were the absolute evidence of basic elements of humanity; eto feel what it is like to be them.f At the same time, I was also reaching the second stage of humanity, eto understand others/differences by putting oneself into the othersf shoesf as seen in my own emotional reactions.
Lastly, talking about the respect, slavery and exploitation were the obviously the ultimate in disrespecting others. I would not deny Okonkwofs final determination of suicide because I have a sort of sympathy to him by knowing his dignity and virtue, but also I would not agree with his determination, because I believe there would be ways to sustain Ibofs culture as far as one is still alive. In deed, this belief was nurtured by Douglas. Also, I would not deny Ibo people who did not support for the fighting against British colonizers, as well as Douglasfs friends who betrayed Douglassf escaping from the plantation, because of understanding their fear due to the cruelty of slavery.
I think these two books successfully introduced a reader to feel what it is like to be a slave or to be one of the Ibofs clan being exploited by British colonizers. When one can fully understand about being a slave or being exploited, one now can reverse back to their original position, then, one can really recognize what is right and wrong. Once one reaches to this key ground of humanity, that is to be able to respect differences among people and culture, I believe either slavery or exploitation will never to be allowed. After one can fully respect differences among people and culture, and understanding each other, problems like, poverty, racial discrimination, and pollution will be finally reduced.