Brave New World, Chapter 17&18 - 'Brave New World is the Best Society Ever'

"In a properly organized society like ours, nobody has any opportunities for being noble and heroic. Conditions have got to be thoroughly unstable before the occasion can arise. Where there are wars, where there are divided allegiances, where there are temptations to be resisted, objects of love to be fought for or defended-there, obviously, nobility and heroism have some sense. But there aren't any wars nowadays. The greatest care is taken to prevent you from loving any one too much" (Huxley 237).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefits humanity is demonstrated when Helmholtz, John, and Bernard are brought to the Controller after being taken away from the hospital for throwing away soma. Once they were brought to the Controller, John, asked questions to why the people in the brave new world are conditioned to not believe or do certain things. The positive affects to living a world where people can be conditioned to believe in certain things is that people would not disagree on topics, there would be no crime, wars can be avoided at all costs because people would not get into conflicts about wanting to take over certain lands or having disagreeing views. The negative affects to living in the brave new world is that it could get boring at times because the people in this society do not have their own opinions on certain issues such as having women born sterile and children not having any parents to care for them.

Brave New World, Chapter 15&16 - 'Shakespeare is Dangerous'

"Why don't you let the see Othello instead? I've told you; it's old. Besides, they couldn't understand it. Yes, that was true. He remembered how Helmholtz had laughed at Romeo and Juliet. Well then, he said, after a pause, something new that's like Othello, and that they could understand" (Huxley 219).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefits humanity is demonstrated when the controller saw that John, the Savage had been reading his Shakespeare book and commented that the book is prohibited but he is one of the only people who have actually read because he can break the rules when he wants to. John then asked why the people in the brave new world are not allowed to read works such as Shakespeare and the controller claims it is because they do not people to have a liking to old things like Shakespeare but really it is probably because he does not want people to get any ideas and overthrow the society. The positive affects of restricting what people in a society has a like and dislike to is their would be no trends towards certain things and people would not bicker over what music is the best or what is best for their society. The negative affects to controlling people's likes and dislikes is if someone like John could come into the society and could start giving people in the society new ideas that could eventually lead to riots, wars and the destruction of the brave new world society.

Brave New World, Chapter 13&14 - 'Death is at Your Doorstep'

" Disgraceful? But what do you mean? They're being death-conditioned. And I tell you, she warned him truculently, if I have any more of you interference with their conditioning, I'll send for the porters and you thrown out" (Huxley 203).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefits humanity is demonstrated when John  get angry at some of the children that come into the hospital to be conditioned on the topic of death and they keep coming towards Linda's bed and disturbing her and John. John tried to get the nurse to remove the children from the hospital room but she would not allow it because she saw that it was no the children that were the problem it was John who was disturbing their conditioning. The positive affects of death-conditioning children at fairly young age is as they older the children will know how to react when someone they are close with is sent to the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying which means that a person will not return to the brave new world society once admitted and that they will more likely be forgotten by the people close to them. The negative affects of death conditioning children at such a young age is that when someone such as John is visiting someone close to them in the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying, they will be disturbed continuously by the loud children asking many questions such as why are the people in the beds in the hospital to begin with and will not leave the people on their death beds die in peace.  

Brave New World, Chapter 12 - 'Danger to Society'

"A pity, he thought, as he signed his name. it was a masterly piece of work. But once you began admitting explanations in terms of purpose-well, you didn't know what the result might be. It was the sort of idea that might easily decondition the more unsettled minds among the higher castes-make them lose their faith in the happiness at the Sovereign Good and take to believing, instead, that the goal was somewhere beyond, somewhere outside the present human sphere; that the purpose of life was not the maintenance of well-being, but some intensification and refining of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge" (Huxley 177).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefits humanity is demonstrated when Mustapha Mond reads a paper on Biology which was written by one of the conditioned scientist's in the brave new world. Once he reads it Mond finds the paper fairly interesting but it would be a threat to the society so he chooses for the paper to not be published and for the author to be sent to St. Helena. The positive affects of living in a society where everyone is conditioned and to only believe in certain aspects of the world is that the people in this society rarely have to think about what something is if they do not know what it is such as trying to know what the difference between a prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. The negative affects to living in this type of society is that when someone such as the scientist who wrote the paper on biology are seen as a danger to the brave new world society because they could possibly decondition some of the unsettled minds like Bernard's and then they get sent away to far more worse to live and can never have their opinions heard seriously by their peers.

Brave New World, Chapter 11 - 'Judgement by Appearance'

"Finally-and this was by far the strongest reason for people's not wanting to see poor Linda-there was her appearance. Fat; having lost her youth; with bad teeth, and a blotched complexion, and that figure (Ford!)-you simply couldn't look at her without feeling sick, yes, positively sick" (Huxley 153).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefits humanity is demonstrated when Linda returns from the reservation in New Mexico and her appearance had changed since she had been in the brave new world. All of the people in the brave new world wanted nothing to do with her because she had aged past thirty, got fat probably from having her child John, and had horrible teeth. The positive affects of being able to look young until someone dies is that people do not have to worry about health problems and a person does not have to deal with growing wrinkles on the skin which most people would have to usually worry about. The negative affects of not aging past thirty is that when someone such as Linda comes from the reservation people are utterly disgusted by them because they are actually aging past thirty, and their figure is different from everyone else's such as the women because in the reservation women actually give birth to children instead of children being born in a hatchery in the brave new world society.

Brave New World, Chapter 9&10 - 'Drugs Are Life'

"Lenina felt herself entitled, after this day of queerness and horror, to a complete and absolute holiday. As soon as they got back to they got back to the rest-house, she swallowed six half-gramme tablets of soma, lay down on her bed, and within ten minutes had embarked for lunar eternity. It would be eighteen hours at the least before she was in time again" (Huxley 140).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefits humanity is demonstrated when Lenina and Bernard returned from the reservation in New Mexico Lenina, felt disturbed from her day there and decided to take a large amount of soma to get away from the horrifying day she had. The positive side to using soma is that it will allow someone to retreat from any stressful things happening in their lives and depending on how much of it a person takes they can away from their problems for hours on end. The negative side to using soma is that once someone starts taking the drug to get away from their problems it makes them completely dependent on it to use to get away from any stress or problems a person may be experiencing in their life instead of actually dealing with their problems or stress head on.

Brave New World, Chapter 8 - 'Information Memorization'

"What are chemical? he would ask. Oh, stuff like magnesium salts, and alcohol for keeping the Deltas and Epsilons small and backward, and calcium carbonate for bones, and all that sort of thing. But how do you make chemicals, Linda? Where do they come from? Well, I don't know.You get them out of bottles. And when the bottles are empty, you send up to the Chemical Store for more. It's the Chemical Store people who make them, I suppose. Or else they send to the factory for them. I don't know, I never did any chemistry. My job was always with the embryos" (Huxley 130).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefits humanity is demonstrated when John asks his mother Linda, some questions he had after reading the she gave him to improve his reading which was on the conditioning of embryos. But since Linda had grown up in the brave new world could not give John any straight answers, she only answered him with only the things she knew from the job she had as a Beta in the Fertilizing Room. The positive effects of only knowing the information that was sleep taught to you for you needed to know for your future job is that when someone becomes of the age to start working they would not have to look at multiple different positions to apply for to get a job, they would automatically have a job waiting for them because of the information thy already know for that position. The negative effects to this is that when someone asked them questions about there job like John did with Linda asking about where chemicals come from, that person would most unlikely be able to answer it correctly because they only know the information that was sleep taught to them for the potential jobs they would go on to do. 

Brave New World, Chapter 7 - 'Things Are Not as They Seem'

"We preserve them from diseases. We keep their internal secretions artificially balanced at a youthful equilibrium. We don't permit their magnesium-calcium ratio to fall below what it was at thirty. We give them transfusion of young blood. We keep their metabolism permanently stimulated. So, of course, they don't look like that. Partly, he added, because most of them die long before they reach this old creature's age. Youth almost unimpaired till sixty, and then, crack! the end" (Huxley 111).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefits humanity is demonstrated when Lenina and Bernard are touring around a reservation in New Mexico where people actually get married, give birth to children, and physically age older than thirty years. Lenina saw an older man and asked why he looked so bad and Bernard responded because he was old. But Lenina did not understand the concept of ageing so Bernard explained what their society does to not look like the older man. The positive effects to having a scientific advancement to allow the people in the Brave New World society to not physically age past thirty and being unable to get sick is that for one they can forever look beautiful or handsome until they day that they die and they don't have to worry about getting some type of disease transmitted by others in their society. The negative effects to these scientific advancements is that even though the children born in the hatchery do not have nor an get a disease from the people around them they could still get a disease from the people they are around if they go somewhere that people do not get preserved from diseases and spread throughout their society and could eventually kill off the society

Brave New World, Chapter 6 - 'We Do Not Live in a Free World'

"Don't you wish you were free, Lenina? I don't know what you mean. I am free. Free to have the most wonderful time. Everybody's happy nowadays. He laughed, yes, everybody's happy nowadays. We begin giving the children that at five. but wouldn't you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own, way, for example; not in everybody else's way" (Huxley 91).


In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefit humanity is demonstrated when Bernard and Lenina were talking on their date and he brings up how he wishes that they were free to do what they would like for example get married to someone you love instead of having multiple partners and give birth to a child instead of a child that is born with different genetic advancements and not know who their parents are. The positive side to being brought up in a world where women are infertile, children have no parents, and automatically being put into a specific social class is that people would not have to have any emotional attachment to someone. In the Brave New World society the citizens are almost free to do what they want like, they can have intercourse with as many different partners as they would like and they would not get judged for it. Although they are pretty much free to do what they want the citizens still have certain things that they are not allowed to do such as, getting emotionally attached to someone like, when Lenina wanted to only be with Henry Foster and women cannot give birth to a child, they are all born to be infertile so that children are only born in a hatchery. 

Brave New World, Chapter 5 - 'Someone Will Remember'

"She saw again the beam of moonlight, the row of small white beds; heard once more the soft, soft voice that said (the words were there, unforgotten, unforgettable after so many night-long repetitions): Every one works for every one else. We can't do without any one. Even Epsilons are useful. We couldn't do without Epsilons. Every one works for every one else. We can't do without any one... Lenina remembered her first shock of fear and surprise; her speculations through half a wakeful hour; and then, under the influence of those endless repetitions, the gradual soothing of her mind, the soothing, and smoothing, the stealthy creeping of sleep..." (Huxley 74).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefit humanity is demonstrated when Lenina remembers that when she was younger she heard the recording of the voice that would teach children in their sleep to act and do certain things but, to Lenina it was a whisper that she felt haunted her sleep. The positive effects of having a recorded voice that children will listen and learn from in their sleep is that these children would be able to memorize certain facts that they should either know in life, for school, or even for future jobs. The negative effects of having children listen to a recorded voice in their sleep is that like Lenina they could wake-up from their sleep when they are not supposed to and start to think that there may be something going on in the world they live in and could start to think and do things differently than what the society that they live in would like them to believe. 

Brave New World, Chapter 4 - 'Size Matters'

"Bernard's physique was hardly better than that of the average Gamma. He stood eight centrimetres short of the standard Alpha height and was slender in propprtion... Indeed, a hypnopaedic prejudice in favor of size was universal. Hence the laughter of the women to whom he made proposals, the practical joking of his equals among the men. The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects. Which in turn increased his sense of being alien and alone" (Huxley 64-65).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefit humanity is demonstrated with how the Brave New World society there are multiple different castes such as the Alphas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Bernard Marx's is a part of the Alpha caste but, he is different from most of the Alpha's he is shorter than most of them so the other Alpha's treat him differently because he is not like the rest of them and this is because the rumor is that when he was in the decanting room they accidentally put alcohol in his jar mistaking him for being a Gamma. The positive effects of having people who are around the same height and share the same characteristics is that people will have more in common with others, and will not have a difficult time, like in our society, to find friends. The negative effects to having people who should be around the same height and share the same characteristics is that someone could have what happened to Bernard in the decanting room and turn out different from the others in their caste system, which will make their peers treat them differently and make them feel like outsiders.  

Brave New World, Chapter 3 - 'Women Shall Not Conceive'

"Dr. Wells advised me to have a Pregnancy Substitute. But, my dear, you're only nineteen. The first Pregnancy Substitute isn't compulsory till twenty-one. I know, dear. But some people are better if they begin earlier. Dr. Wells told me that brunettes with wide pelvises, like me, out to have their first Pregnancy Substitute at seventeen.So I'm really two years late, not two years early. She opened the door of her locker and pointed to the row of boxes and labelled phials on the upper shelf" (Huxley 38).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefit humanity is demonstrated in this part of the book when a woman named Fanny talks to her friend Lenina about how she will start her Pregnancy Substitute, (which is similar to birth control), at a young age because Dr. Wells told her that women like Fanny who have wide pelvises need to start the Pregnancy Substitute at an earlier age. The positive side of taking this Pregnancy Substitute is the sexually active young adult women will not have to worry about getting unexpectedly pregnant if they were fertile, and they would not have to worry about having an extra expense to pay by raising a child on their own. The negative side to taking this Pregnancy Substitute is after a woman takes it for three months they would not have a chance to conceive a child if they wanted to for three to four years because that is how long the substitute allows women to stay infertile before they need to retake it again.   

Brave New World, Chapter 2 - 'My Mind is Not My Own'

"We can electrify that whole strip of floor, bawled the Director in explanation. But that's enough, he signaled to the nurse. The explosions ceased, the bells stopped ringing, the shriek of the siren died down from tone to tone into silence. The stiffly twitching bodies relaxed, and what had become the sob and yelp of infant maniacs broadened out once more into a normal howl of ordinary terror. Offer the the flowers and the books again. The nurses obeyed; but at the approach of the roses, at the mere sight of those gaily-coloured images of pussy and cock-a-doodle-doo and baa-baa black sheep, the infants shrank away in horror; the volume of their howling suddenly increased" (Huxley 21).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefit humanity is demonstrated in this passage when the Director ordered the nurses to electrify the children from favoring flowers and books to having a strong dislike towards them. The positive side to electrify children at a young age to either favor a certain things such as favoring a certain genre of music or to dislike things such as having a string dislike for drinking alcohol or any type of drug. The negative side to electrify children to have a strong dislike towards something can be horrible because when you electrify a child's brain to dislike a certain group of people such as the Deltas in the novel, it can cause serious harm towards others if the scientists are not careful. In the past the white race developed a group known as the KKK that was for people who hated the African Americans and the KKK would set the African Americans houses down with them in it, and many other things. But the children who grew up around that kind of attitude to dislike a certain race of people they would have it already set in their brain to not like that minority race and may not have their own opinion.

Brave New World, Chapter 1 - 'More Identical Twins is Beneficial to Society'

"Still leaning against the incubators he gave them, while the pencils scurried illegibly across the pages, a brief description of the modern fertilizing process; spoke first, of  course, of its surgical introduction-"the operation undergone voluntarily for the good of Society, not to mention the fact that it carries a bonus amounting to six months' salary"; continued with some account of the technique for preserving the excised ovary alive and actively developing" (Huxley 5).

In arguing on both sides of how scientific and technological advancement benefit humanity is demonstrated in the passage when the Director explained to the new students of what they do at the facility to increase the human population. The director first off lets the students know that the eggs have been taken willing by women who wanted to donate their eggs and that they even get paid for their willingness to do so. The Centre uses the eggs to increase the number of embryos that can be fertilized from them eggs than just getting one human life. Having this technology can be good for society because we would not have to worry about the population being too big or too small. But this technology can also have some consequences such as since there would be about ninety-six identical twins born from these embryos would allow more people to get away with serious crimes because the police would not know for sure which twin could have done the crime if there were to be ninety six of them.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 24&25 - 'The End Of Things'

"Why can't you take him down yourselves? he asked. It is against our custom, said one of the men. It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offense against the Earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansmen. His body is evil, and only strangers may touch it. That is why we ask your people to bring him down, because you are strangers. Will you bury him like any other man? asked the Commissioner. We cannot bury him. Only strangers can. We shall pay your men to do it. When he has been buried we will then do our duty by him. We shall make sacrifices to cleanse the desecrated land" (Achebe 207-208).

In this part of the book the Commissioner has come to the village of Umuofia for Okonkwo but it was too late because Okonkwo has killed himself. The villagers had known that Okonkwo was dead for a while but had not cut him down from the tree he had hung himself on when the Commissioner had arrived. The Commissioner and his followers found it odd that the villagers had not done anything to get him down and give him a proper burial and this was because to the village's culture Okonkwo has committed a sin to the Earth by committing suicide. This traditional culture in Umuofia where they will not touch the dead body of a person who has committed a sin in their culture would be challenged by an imperialist country because in an imperialist country whether a person who died had killed themselves or not or does not die from natural causes they would be given a proper burial with their loved ones and other people from that place would touch the body.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 22&23 - 'How Could You'

"They agrees and were already retiring, when Enoch boasted aloud that they would not dare touch a Christian. Whereupon they all came back and one of them gave Enoch a good stroke of the cane, which was always carried. Enoch fell on him and tore off his mask. The other egwugwu immediately surrounded their desecrated companion, to shield him from the profane gaze of women and children, and led him away. Enoch had killed an ancestral spirit, and Umuofia was thrown into confusion" (Achebe 186).

In this part of the novel the annual worship of the earth goddess is happening in the village of Umuofia and this worship happened to be on a Sunday. This angered one of the converts Enoch who has become extremely devoted to his new Christian religion and he does one of the worst things imaginable, he removes the mask from one of the egwugwu which kills the sacred spirit. Imperialism is encouraged through Enoch's patriotism towards his new found beliefs with the Christian religion. Enoch shows his patriotism when he courageously turns against everything he has known and he does the one thing he has known is wrong which is to take the mask off one of the egwugwu spirits believes that they are disrespecting his new Christian religion by touching a Christian. When Enoch the whole village of Umuofia is in total shock to what Enoch did because it showed that he has abandoned his beliefs and the lengthens he would go to show his patriotism to the Christian religion the white man brought to Umuofia.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 20&21 - 'How Should One Be Punished?'

"When he killed Oduche in the fight over the land, he fled to Aninta to escape the wrath of the earth. This was about eight days after the fight, because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds. It was on the seventh day that he died. But everybody knew that he was going to die and Aneto got his belongings together in readiness to flee. But the Christians had told the white man about the accident, and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. In the end Oduche died and Aneto was taken to Umuru and hanged" (Achebe 177).

In this part of the novel Okonowo is learning from his friend, Obierika the things that have happened in his fatherland Umuofia and how the white man is changing a lot of the culture they have known for so long. One of their traditional cultures that is challenged by imperialism is when a man kills another man he is to flee from his fatherland with his family into exile for at least seven years. But when one man named Aneto got into a fight with Oduche where Aneto beats him to the point of being on the verge of death and his opponent Oduche is able to name who did this to him. Unfortunately for Aneto the Christians told the white man about this incident and before Aneto could flee his fatherland, he was taken away as well as his family to prison in Umuru and Aneto was hanged for his crime. Compared to the traditional culture of Umuofia where Aneto could have fled to another village and return to his fatherland after the crime he has committed, the imperialist culture would not see to that and punished Aneto for his crimes in a different way by hanging him.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 17-19 - 'Religion Is the New Imperialism'

"Unless you shave off the mark of your heathen belief I will not admit you into the church, said Mr. Kiaga. You fear that you will die. Why should that be? How are you different from other men who shave their hair? The same God created you and them. But they have cast you out like lepers. It is against the will of God, who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name. The heathen say you will die if you do this or that, and you are afraid. They also said I would die if I built my church on this ground. Am I dead? They said I would die if I took care of twins. I am still alive. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood. Only the word of out God is true. The two outcasts shaved off their hair, and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith" (Achebe 157).

In this part of the book Mr. Kiaga who is in charge of the congregation is sick and tired of Mbanta's superstitions of how if you have twins they must be left in the Evil Forest to die and that outcasts must never cut their hair and cannot go to any of the tribe's assemblies or live in house. Traditional culture is challenged by imperialism because when Mr. Kiaga tells the two outcasts that they will not be punished by their "heathen gods" if they shaved off their hair because he was also told that he would die if he built the church in the Evil Forest and yet he is still alive after many months. The two outcasts grow courage from Mr. Kiaga's words because if God did not punish Mr. Kiaga for having the church in the Evil Forest and taking in abandoned twins then he would have died long ago instead of staying alive so the two outcasts shave off their long hair and become some of the most devoted people of this new faith. Imperialism through the new religion disproves the traditional culture the Mbanta tribe knows because if their gods were truly real than Mr. Kiaga would have been punished which makes some people convert to Christianity and believe in only one God.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 15&16 - 'Outcasts'

"But there was a young lad who had been captivated. His name was Nwoye, Okonkwo's first son. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. He did not understand it. It as the poetry of the new religion, something felt in the marrow. The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul-the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed. He felt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. Nwoye's callow mind was greatly puzzled" (Achebe 147).

The white people have come to Umuofia to spread their beliefs to the people in the nine villages and try to convert from believing in the egwugwu, and multiple gods and to just believe in only one true god. One of the villagers who is interested in these new beliefs and wants to convert is Okonkwo's eldest son Nwoye. Imperialism is encouraged through religion in this part of the book because the missionaries who are not from Umuofia are trying to convince everyone in each of the nine villages that they should not believe in their many gods and only believe in this one god. The missionaries, through an interpreter told the villagers that the gods they believe are evil because they tell you to kill others and destroy innocent children and that they should turn away from them and believe in the true God the missionaries are talking about who will reward them in life and in death.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 13&14 - 'Funeral Dos and Dont's'

"Ezeudu was a great man, and so all the clan was at his funeral. The ancient drums of death beat, guns and cannon were fired, and men dashed about in frenzy, cutting down every tree or animal they saw, jumping over walls and dancing on the roof. It was a warrior's funeral, and from morning till night warriors came and went in their age groups. The all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal" (Achebe 121).

In all the nine villages they were waiting to see what has happened when they heard the sound of the ekwe. Then when they announced that something that happened in the village of Umufia, Okonkwo was and everyone else was curious as to what happened and finally it was announced that Ezeudu who was the oldest man in the village had died. Ezeudu was a very important man in this village so they threw him a proper funeral for a warrior where guns and cannons were fires and the men of the village would kill any animal or tree they saw. This traditional culture for the village of Umuofia would likely be challenged by imperialism because in an imperialist country such as England they would have a grand funeral for someone as important as Ezeudu was but they would not have done some of these crazy things like kill every animal or tree they saw, fire guns and cannons, or have their bodies painted up. People at a funeral in an imperialist country would be dressed in black from head to toe giving their respects to the departed at any time with their families and not with people in their age group.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 11&12 - 'Food Is Worth It'

"Tortoise turned to all the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you. The custom here is to serve the spokesman first and the others later. They will serve you when I have eaten.' He began to eat and the birds grumbled angrily. The people of the sky thought it must be their custom to leave all the food for their king. And so Tortoise ate the best part of the food and then drank two pots of palm-wine, so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell" (Achebe 98).

Ekwefi is telling her daughter, Ezinma a story about how a tortoise who tried taking advantage of the birds' great feast and the consequences he suffered by doing this. In the story the second wife is telling, there is a famine in the land so tortoise was very hungry and would try anything to get some food and drink. Imperialism is showed in this story that is being told because the tortoise uses his knowledge of certain cultures to eat most of the great food and drink that the birds had prepared for their feast, before any of them could get a chance to have some. But when tortoise uses his knowledge of cultures to fill his growing appetite, the birds grow angry of how the tortoise took advantage of the birds' kindness to let him come to their feast and just use his superiority of knowledge of certain customs to eat all their food. So the birds also show imperialism through an act of patriotism towards their kind to get back at the tortoise, they tell his wife to bring out all the hard things instead of soft things so when he fell to land at his home he broke his shell.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 9&10 - 'Which Heals You Best?'

"Okonkwo returned from the bush carrying on his left shoulder a large bundle of grasses and leaves, roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. He went int Ekwefi's hut, put down his load and sat down" (Achebe 85).

Okonkwo is notified by his second wife Ekwefi that their daughter Ezinma that she is supposedly dying but, Okonkwo concludes that Ezinma has got iba which is a fever. Okonkwo goes to a large amount of grasses and leaves, roots and barks to use to make some medicine for Ezinma which will help her recover from her sickness iba. In rural countries such as Nigeria which Umuofia is located in it is common to find that the medicine that they use is made from plants and herbs whereas in Western civilizations medicine is more advanced. In these Western civilizations they would mock the kind of medicine that the village of Umuofia uses to heal their illnesses. Any imperialist European would replace this form of medicine of using herbs and plants their more modern form of medicine to heal the sick. Although Okonkwo's medicine made of herbs and plants is different from the imperialist countries form medicine is should not matter which is better as long as they will both heal the person who is sick.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 7&8 - 'True Love?'

"We had not thought to go below thirty. But as the dog said, 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me, it is play'. Marriage should be a play and not a fight; so we are falling down again. He then added ten sticks to the fifteen and gave the bundle to Ukegbu. In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries. It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement" (Achebe 73).

In this part of the book Obierika (Okonkwo's friend) is discussing with the suitor Ibe and his father Ukegbu who were discussing the bride-price of Obierika's daughter Akuke. Obierika makes an offer of thirty broomsticks to give to Ukegbu in exchange for Ibe to marry his daughter but, they settle with giving twenty bags of cowries for the two to marry each other. This exchange between the two parties would not be tolerated if they were being ruled by an imperialist country. For example when France had control over some countries in Africa they tried to bring things to their standards by bringing Christianity over to the countries that they had control over. If the people in these villages had been ruled by the French and were practicing Christianity they would not have discussed the marriage between Akuke and Ibe in this manner at all. They would have been discussing whether or not that Ibe would be able to provide enough to take care of Akuke and have her as his only wife instead of having multiple wives like most of the men in these villages did.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 5&6 - 'Never Disrespect Me'

"His anger thus satisfied, Okokwo decided to go out hunting. He had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofia long ago. But although Okonkwo was a great man whose prowess was universally acknowledged, he was not a hunter. In fact he had not killed a rat with his gun. And s when he called Ikemefuna to fetch his gun, his wife who  had just been beaten murmured something abut guns that never shot. Unfortunately for her, Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun, ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children. He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn, and there lay the woman, very much shaken and frightened but quite unhurt" (Achebe 38-39).

Prompt Part II- ​How is imperialism ​encouraged by patriotism​, religion​, &/or a sense of cultural​/ racial superiority ​in Chinua Achebe’s ​Things Fall Apart​ ​/ the past​?

In this quote Okonkwo shows the power that he has over his wives and children by beating up his second wife Ekwefi who disobeyed him by stating that he could not properly shoot a gun. This is an example of imperialism because Okonkwo is demonstrating the power and influence he holds in his household over his wives and children by punishing his second wife for muttering something that is very disrespectful towards Okonkwo's skills in hunting. Okonkwo's beating of Ekwefi showed his other wives and children a piece of what could happen to them if they ever decide to disrespect their father or husband in any way. The beating of Okonkwo's second wife is much like how slaves would get treated in the United States in the 1800s because when a slave did not do what they were told or disrespected their owner in anyway the owner would beat them with a whip on the back to set an example towards the other slaves to show them what could happen to them if they do the same thing.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 3&4 - 'Fear Okonkwo'

"That was why Okonkwo had bee chosen by the nine villages to carry a message of war to their enemies unless they agreed to give up a young man and a virgin to atone for the murder of Udo's wife. And such was the deep fear that their enemies had for Umuofia that they treated Okonkwo like a king and brought him a virgin who was given to Udo as a wife, and the lad Ikemefuna" (Achebe 27).

Prompt Part I- ​According to the text(s), what effect did imperialism have on people who lived  through it?


In this quote it is clear that everyone in the nine villages all agree that Okonkwo is the best person to send to any rival tribes if they ever have a problem and give them the ultimatum to either go to war with Umuofia or give up a young man and a virgin. Okonkwo has more responsibilities than any of the other villagers because of some of the great things he has done in his past like being known as the best fighter in the land. This is similar to how the Belgian troops who had imperialized Rwanda (a country in Africa) favored one of the two groups the Tutsi's over the Hutu's. The Tutsi's were favored more than the Hutu's they got to rule their land and were assured the best jobs and better treatment from the Belgian's. Although this time of Imperialism in Rwanda may have been great for the Tutsi's, it was not for the Hutu's who ended up growing to grow a powerful hate towards the Tutsi's. Imperialism in Rwanda had different perspectives where one group got to live a great life while the other group did not and had to work as slaves. 

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 1&2 - 'You Must Choose'

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 1-2, You Must Choose

"An ultimatum was immediately dispatched to Mbaino asking them to choose between war on the one hand, and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation. Umuofia was feared by all its neighbors. It was powerful in war and in magic, and its priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country" (Achebe 11).

Prompt Part II- ​How is imperialism​encouraged by patriotism​, religion​, &/or a sense of cultural​/ racial superiority ​in Chinua Achebe’s ​Things Fall Apart​ ​/ the past​?

The Mbaino tribe had just killed a woman from the Umuofia tribe, the Umuofia tribe wanted to avenge their lost daughter's life through their superiority and patriotism. To show how much more power they have over the Mbaino tribe they gave them an ultimatum of going to war with them which they probably would not win or sacrifice a young male and a virgin to pay back for their indiscretion. This shows the Umuofia's power and influence through military force with their superiority because they clearly frighten the other tribes with their strength in war and if the Mbaino tribe decides to go to war with Umuofia they would most likely lose. But on the other hand Umuofia is saddened by the loss of one of their daughter's so they show remorse to the Mbaino tribe by allowing them to choose to either go to war with them or to bring them a young male and a virgin to replace the daughter that the Umuofia lost. These factors shows how much more imperial power the Umuofia tribe has over the Mbaino tribe.