Okonkwo's tragic flaw

Okonkwo is not your ordinary hero, he is no superman or spider man, who saves the day and is claimed to be a ‘superhero.’ Okonkwo is a tragic hero. Aristotle narrates "Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all." This quote accurately describes Okonkwo and his experiences.  

Okonkwo’s story is not an ordinary story either. Achebe characterizes Okonkwo as a man of valor and prestige. However, his motive for success is driven by his tragic flaw (“hamartia”), which is his fear of weakness and failure. This fear arises from his desire to oppose the traits of his father, as he believes he is an effeminate, lazy, weak, idle, profligate and gentle man. Okonkwo attempts to adopt opposite ideals in order achieve financial and social success. His tragic flaw is also his fixation towards hyper-masculinity. He equates manliness with rashness, anger and violence, which ultimately beget his downfall. This trait is a result of rejecting all his father’s values. Okonkwo refuses emotions in order to attain his epitome of success. He also holds excessive pride (“hubris”), which is also characteristic of a tragic hero.

Chinua Achebe cunningly crafted such a character as a symbol to depict the Igbo society falling apart. Okonkwo being a tragic hero allows the reader to feel sympathy and compassion for Okonkwo as his life begins to go downhill. Ultimately his story is shaped as follows, he experiences a rise to wealth as a result of diligent hard work, and attains a position of respect. His life approaches downfall as he commits an accidental murder and gets exiled. Similarly Igboland experienced a downfall as a result of colonization. Colonization persisted due to the flaws that plagued the Igbo society. As a result Okonkwo’s character personifies his society, after all he is a product of his society. Okonkwo’s downfall leads to his inevitable demise, and as a result is symbolic of the demise of Igbo culture and customs. Achebe does this in order for the audience to recognize tragic flaws that led to the downfall of his culture as a result of colonization. And additionally allow the audience to fully immerse themselves in his writing.  

Igboland Guidebook

An Interview with Chinua Achebe - Most Meaningful Takeaway

The media is rife in our society, as we live in a world that has thrived for innovative technological advances. The media is the main outlet of mass communication, and with such can emit news that has the potential to deceive a myriad of individuals worldwide. Chinua Achebe deprecates that the “media coverage of Africa is one-sided,” and merely “focuses on the famines, social unrest, and political violence.” Yet, those who are responsible for these media outlets bestow their societies as the epitome of success in comparison to weaker powers. The stories are a result of cynical intentions, “those who win tell the story, those who are defeated are not heard.” Chinua Achebe is referring to colonization, as a big part of Africa was colonized by white power, who exploited their land for resources. The colonizers or oppressors are the winners who tell the story in this case. The skewed coverage of Africa displays the rudimentary aspects of their values, and disregards their felicitous folklore. This is a direct example of a one-sided story, whereby only the fruitless qualities of Africa are revealed to the general public. A subliminal bias against Africa is formed, as often times the number of ideologies that juxtapose what is presented by the media is infinitesimal.

Society’s paradigm of bigotry against Africa is similar to the discrimination towards Arabs. As an Arab I can tell you that the media disseminates a one-sided story surrounding our values. The idea of violence, aggression and terrorism is often associated with Arabs. Yes, there may be some people who fit the generalized standard that the media displays, however there is much more that has been shunned. There may be individuals from all cohorts that fit this tawdry standard. This deplorable representation of Arabs as merely wrongdoers begets pernicious consequences. Individuals “who only hear one side of the story… have no understanding” of the truth that lies behind the curtain. The media cunningly paints all Arabs with a single brush. When in reality with everything bad comes something good, thus it is feckless to simply consider the fallacious side of the story. Arabs have unique customs and traditions that are truly representative of their values. It is imperative to live in a society with “a balance of stories where every people will be able to contribute to a definition of themselves, where we are not victims of other people's accounts.”

The media is like a human body, whereby if not all its organs work collectively, bodily mechanisms and functions will distort. In context of the media, if not all stories are told, the news articulated will be corrupt. With that being said, I was able to appreciate the cultural context in Things Fall Apart, as I was able to recognize that Africa is more than bruised representations the media displays.

Paper One Commentary: Hilary Clinton Political Speech Analysis

The text is a political speech delivered by Hillary Clinton to the 4^th U.N. World Conference on Women Plenary Session, on 5 September 1995, in Beijing, China. It embodies the conventions of a political speech through its style and structure. The speech addresses sensitive issues surrounding women’s rights. Clinton strives to inform her target audience of the detrimental circumstances women live in, and the inequality and discrimination women are subjected to worldwide. She weaves in a multitude of literary devices to do so, and simultaneously call for action. The success of Clinton’s speech is a result of her fruitful use of rhetorical devices and techniques in order to heighten the importance of women’s rights and solidify an understanding of feminism within the audience. 

            Clinton employs stylistic features and language that ultimately fulfill her purpose and hone the target audience’s attention. Clinton’s speech is directed towards the United Nations council. This is a significant target audience as the realm of her speech deals with human right’s affairs and conveniently the U.N. is responsible for such matters. In addition, she effectively targets an international and multicultural audience. This is evident as she addresses global issues and asserts that this conference should be “the world’s – call to action.” Clinton’s audience is also governments and organizations as well as individual females. This is evident as she encourages governments and organizations to allow women and men to be equal in terms of treatment, salaries and so forth. This political speech has multifarious purposes, all in which intertwine. The main purpose is to prompt the world to take action for the meager number of human rights women possess. She does this as she educates the audience regarding gender ambivalence and dicrimination. She attempts to “empower women to take control over their own destinies,” and “promote internationally recognized human rights.” She opined that gender inequality is often either ignored or "silenced" and thus it goes unresolved. As a result she wishes to change this silence and call for action.

            An imperative aspect of this speech that contributed to its success is the content Clinton chose to include. Her overt motive is clear throughout the entire speech. Clinton establishes that women play an imperative role in raising children, providing their skills in the workplace and their contributions “as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, learners, workers, citizens, and leaders.” However, the voices of these women go unheard and the struggles they face are unspoken of. These struggles include violence, economic and social imbalance in society between men and women. Women are unaccredited for their contributes. And she continues by including the ramifications if their rights were violated. The consequences include weaker family ties, psychological and physical detriments to women, un-encouraged women who undermine their potential and so forth. If women were “empowered” they would be able to contribute even more than they do and as a result “nations will flourish.” The main gist of her oration is that “human rights are women’s rights.” Clinton's earnest plea is to convince the audience to make a change. She then suggests that the solution to this issue is to “come together” and put forth all our efforts to resolve gender inequality. She addresses that the human body becomes the most powerful entity when united. The structure of her speech employs a problem-solution format to fully engage with the audience.

            The primary themes that are predominantly established throughout are family, equality and hope. This is demonstrated through her lexis as she uses words such as “family,” “equal,” “peaceful,” “prosperous” and so forth. These three themes work in conjunction to one another and appeal to a diverse audience. The motif of family is cunningly developed as the speech progresses. She highlights that “families will flourish” given that “women are healthy and educated,” “free from violence,” and “have the chance to work.” She uses symploce as she begins her phrases with “if women” and end them with “families will flourish,” to further enhance her message and create a reverberating image in the audience’s mind. Clinton presents the audience with an irrefutable argument, as she is addressing an issue that not only affects women but nations as a whole. Family is a common ground for most individuals globally as it is an integral part of one’s upbringing, thus is a concept is one the majority can relate to. This coax’s the audience to take action with Clinton as she appeals to pathos and moral beliefs. She continues by emphasizing that if families and communities flourish, nations will as well. This allows her to fully grasp the audience’s attention and allow them to recognize that if women’s rights dwindle, society will not prosper. The theme in addition to this is feminism, which acts as a political movement to establish political, social, personal and economic rights for women.

            The tone she choses to direct her speech in retains urgency yet is encouraging. She begins her speech by expressing the magnitude of the issue. Here she employs a tone that depicts urgency to provide aid to the women “who are dying from diseases that should have been prevented or treated” and those “denied the right to go to school.” As she establishes her argument she creates the need to urgently help the situation through her lexicon and syntax. However, as the text proceeds she begins to exclaim that it is possible to make a change in the lives of women worldwide. She instills hope into the audience as she uses logos and allusion to display that the world has progressed, and women have been provided with human rights in other regions of the world. She uses a didactic tone to instill hope into the audience by explaining that the world “recently celebrated the 75^th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage,” and “it took 150 years… for women to win the right to vote.” These rights should be omnipresent worldwide, and by using such a tone she enhances the idea that with time and dedication women will attain an equal status to men, and will achieve the necessary human rights. The hopeful mood burgeons as she uses distinctio to reveal “it was a bloodless war… without a shot fired.” Clinton interlaces an encouraging tone to ultimately fulfill her purpose of mitigating the struggles of women in our society. The message from this statement infers a confortable environment and discards any concerns or ramifications that the audience may have considered, in terms of the fight for women’s rights. Hope is an imperative theme as it is the driving force to have a vision for a prosperous future. She concludes her speech by indicating that “the time (to take action) is now,” which displays urgency. This is further displayed as she uses anaphora to repeat phrases such as “we must” and “let us.” The use of a tone that has a hint of urgency depicts the enormity of the issue, and the demand to extrapolate a solution. In addition, the use of “we” and “us” creates an atmosphere that demonstrates a sense of unity and serenity. This allows the audience to be comfortable, and convinces them to take action collectively.

            The overall speech includes a myriad of rhetorical devices, presented in a chronological structure, in order to fully adhere to her purpose and develop the content she desires to bestow. These literary devices are effectively weaved throughout the entirety of the speech. A salient device that is used to highlight the turmoil is repetition in a variety of forms. Often times she applies anaphora when utilizing pronouns, such as “let them,” “we,” “we must,” “I have met” or “they are.” This is done to fully connect with their audience at a personal level, as it is repeated a sense of safety is consistently availed as she opens her statements. Clinton includes a somber list of the many human rights violations that women and children face on a day-to-day basis, which is perhaps the most evocative section of her speech. Through this list she explains that gender discrimination is still a ubiquitous globally, and is emphasized through the use of anaphora. Each statement in her elaborative list is begun by “It is a violation of human rights when…” She follows her statements by addressing that “babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated” because they are females. Here she vocalizes the prominence of gender ambivalence and uses polysyndeton to emphasis the plethora of contentious acts baby girls are subjected to. She is also able to use individual’s innate need to nurture in order to allow the audience to sympathize with the issue. Clinton is able to kindle with the audience’s emotions as she highlights the egregious violence that act as a “violation of human rights.” The violence she refers to include women being “sold into the slavery of prostitution” without their will, they are burnt to death and raped “as a tactic or prize of war.” Clinton continued her reminiscent list of human rights violations that women still face today, including the brutal practice of “genital mutilation.” The use of anaphora prior to each violation is a constant reminder than such acts are deplorable and inhumane, and thus a subliminal bias is formed in the audiences mind. Clinton purposefully uses the idea of human rights, as human rights are the basic privileges every human being must attain. It is convenient that the speech was delivered at the U.N., as the audience would appeal to maintaining international peace and security. If such matters are not resolved security is lost. This further elaborates that “human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.” The use of chiasmus further elaborates and instills her ideological standpoint.

Clinton establishes ethos as she exclaims her credibility as she “participated in a World Health Organization forum” and discussed “the health problems of women and girls.” And she will be attending “the United Nations Development fund for Women.” This validates her aforementioned argument. Her credit is further built as she uses pronouns to show that she acts as a witness to see women whose voices go unheard. Clinton mentions a superfluity of examples from personal experience and global issues whereby women are in need of aid as they are discriminated against as a result of inequality. She exclaims the magnitude of the issue when she says, “women comprise of more than half the world’s population, 70% of the world’s poor, and two thirds of those who are not taught to read and write.” This appeals to logos. This statement proclaims that women are suffering as they are statistically lacking more rights than men. She continues by demonstrating that women have meager rights worldwide. The use of pathos, ethos and logos work in conjunction to solidify a logical argument that appeals to one’s emotions and displays credibility. With such trust is established. Pathos arouses interest in the audience to take action and eradicate gender inequality, as they fear the emotional consequences.

            Another literary device she uses to fully indulge in the audience’s attention is the use of hypophora, when asks the rhetorical question of “Wasn’t it after all – after the women’s conference in Nairobi ten years ago that the world focused for the first time when the crisis of domestic violence?” Clinton engages with the audience as she gets them thinking, and conveniently uses the theme of hope to drive the rest of her speech. She also intertwines the rhetorical device of expletive, and uses it again as she says “—and highly successful programs—“ which is seemingly used to again inculcate hope. The use of expletive allows for a pause in her speech in order to allow the audience to understand the successes, and the idea of success is hopeful. Asking the question arouses the curiosity of the audience about the answer. In addition, as she asks a question she is creating an intimate dialogue between herself and the viewer, and thus they will be more comfortable with her and her message.

            Throughout Clinton’s speech she continuously refers to the idea of a voice. As she says, “I want to speak for those women,” after she explains the malnutrition, poverty, lack of sanitary, education and so forth. The idea of a voice is mentioned several times again. Clinton “want(s) to speak up for mothers… for older women… for women everywhere” who are undervalued even after their immense efforts in their work place and home. She uses climax to enhance this idea and bestow the breadth of gender inequality in terms of women being unable to speak up for themselves as are not hegemonic in such a society. And again as she exclaims “the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words. But the voices… must be heard loudly and clearly.” She ends her statement using assonance to truly emphasize the need for a voice. The idea of voices is discretely interlaced into her dialogue, as she attempts to highlight that women deserve “the right to be heard.” She expresses this idea that these women are disparaged to an extreme point that they are unable to express their feelings. This goes with the idea of freedom, which she also explains is a human right. She takes ownership and feels the need to vocalize their struggles as they have been silenced. To be silenced insinuates that they are demeaned to an extent whereby they no longer take ownership for their wellbeing.

            Clinton closes her speech using pathos and scesis onomation as she explains “the potential of the human family to create peaceful, prosperous world.” She employs asyndeton and once again displays hope and used the motif of family to unite the audience. Family ties unite the audience as families are connected both biologically and socially. She furthers this as she explains “for our children and our grandchildren.” Again this demonstrates hope when looking into the future and utilizes the motif of family. The use of family and the need for nurture allows the audience to empathize with the issue and have the urgency for change. Her concluding statement utilizes a sententia as she says, “The time is now.” This effectively closes her argument because she was able to connect with the audience and build “a common ground.”

All in all, Clinton’s speech strives to promote an egalitarian society. She is able to capture an international audience’s attention through the use of her potent rhetoric. Her purpose is fulfilled as she laces phrases that cause the audience to sympathize with the mishaps happening to women around the world. Clinton vocalizes the struggles of women by explaining the odious circumstances women withstand. She does this by using the motif of family, among other themes, in which she exclaims the losses families would have if their mothers were treated in such a manner. This triggers an emotional response from the audience. A cornucopia of literary devices, such are ethos, pathos, logos and anaphora, are used to enhance this message and ultimately advocate a bright and hopeful future where women are treated as equals. However, she remarks that this success will only be achieved if the world comes together to do so.