IOC mini passages

Empathy In, "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

In what ways could this novel specifically develop empathy and emotional intelligence, as well as contribute to the self-awareness of the reader?

In the novel, “Their Eyes Are Watching God”, the reader experiences Janie go through her journey of becoming self-aware. We see her go through learning experiences and discover new parts of herself. In the essay, the main theme was being too self-centered and finding perspective in your life. By reading the essay, I already had a shift in the way I would usually think about the world. I feel as though in this day and age most of this don’t enjoy the daily, “day in day outs”. Many of us, especially people my age are too focused on social media and our phones that we seem to forget the world around us, while walking around disconnected. That is an example of how I became self-aware while reading the essay. When reading the novel, “Thier Eyes Were Watching God”, I wouldn’t describe as it a novel that had this deep effect on the way I view the world. Through the characters though, especially nanny, and hearing her experiences and stories, did allow me to understand how detrimental pre-assumptions can be. My first impression of nanny was that she was a narrow minded elder that would not allow her granddaughter to blossom and learn through experiences and rather just throw her at a man. Later realizing that nanny had plenty of trauma and scarring experiences in her life. This immediately made me question the importance of empathy with whoever I might cross paths with. Seeing as I felt tremendous empathy for the way nanny was trying to raise her daughter, and trying to lead her down a path that was much different than hers. Yes, I don’t agree with the premise of what she was trying to do, marrying her off to a man much older, but who knows what I would have done in that situation. That to me is empathy. That is what will resonate with me till the end. That is what “Their Eyes Were Watching God” has taught me. 

Power of language

In the midst of stressing about school work and university applications, my family and I took a trip to Quebec. Specifically, we went to Quebec city. The city was filled with historic artefacts that I absolutely fell in love with. I explored the city down to its roots and got to know the journey that the Quebecois people took to get to where they are. I learned that the majority of the people living in the province are actually settlers from France. Due to this, French is the primary language in Quebec. My french language education lasted 7 years but still wasn't perfect. This meant that I was more comfortable speaking in english when wanting to ask for directions or any general inquiries. Little did I know this was frowned upon. As I approached an elderly woman with her children, I started speaking english thinking she would understand, as the majority who speak french also speak english, and she looked at me in confusion. I then started tried again in french this time and built up sentences with basic words that I know. As she saw me attempt to speak in french, she started answering my question in fluent english. This exact encounter frequently occurred as we were meeting people. I soon found out that when you initially approach and begin speaking in english, they take offence to the idea that you expect them to speak the english. They intern, out of respect, would rather us attempt to speak in french when approaching. If it is evident that they can’t understand they will then begin speaking in english or guide us to get help. This power dynamic occurs because of the history that Quebec was built around. It was first the French settlers that came in from France and took over the area making “french speaking”. Being the only French speaking province in a mostly English speaking country allowed for the people of Quebec to feel like minorities and powerless due to their language barriers. This leads them to expect that anyone coming in to Quebec should attempt to speak in their native language as I a sign of respect. 

The Influence of Dialects...

As many already know my life consists of constantly moving around from one culture and country to another. Going back and forth from the U.A.E. and Canada language for me consisted of constantly having to accommodate to the native tongue of the majority around me. Currently, I live in the U.A.E. and spend most of my time primarily speaking english. Considering the fact that I attend an international school in the U.A.E., the dialect of english that I speak with the classmates and friends is repeatedly modified as I am having to converse with dialects from all around the world. Unconsciously, I have picked up different pronunciations of certain words. This wasn't noticeable to me when I was in the U.A.E., but only became evident as I travelled back to Canada this summer. From the moment I started speaking with my friends and family in Canada, they immediately noticed a shift in the way I was speaking and told me that I wasn't speaking “proper” english anymore. It really made me think the extent in which people are quick to judge wether it is standard english or not. To my friends back in Abu Dhabi the english I spoke was considered above average as to many, english was not their first language. Having this experience really made me feel disconnected with my identity, the reason being when I spoke arabic with my family they would then tell me I have an english accent. I felt as though in both cultures and languages I didn't identify with their criteria of perfect speech. 

Lesson Consolidation

In a novel, some crucial elements to develop the meaning of the story are genre and structure, not only will these influence meaning but also be influenced by the context. In the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe is a combination of both historian and realistic fiction. As Achebe has 2 identities of both christian and igbo, he felt the need to create a story where there is a dominant western perspective on the African culture. Historical genre is a where the novel is set in a time and place that is in the past that will help the audience learn about those said social conditions at the time. Realistic genre is comprised of stories that are realistic enough to occur in real life. In the novel Achebe chooses to discuss the historical impact of colonisation in the igbo culture. He also incorporates events that are very likely to happen and that are purely based off of hegemony. In “Things Fall Apart”, he also chooses to discuss the story using a their person omniscient. This helps with direct characterisation and enables us to see the story from multiple perspectives. 

HIstory and Achebe

The personal history of an author can have a significant influence on the way meaning is constructed in his/her writing. Comment on specific instances of such influence in Things Fall Apart.

Achebe though “Things Fall Apart” was trying to to cub the influence of the western world on traditional culture and values, Chinua Achebe, and other African writers sook to preserve the African heritage by tell stories through African eye. This is what motivated secondary characters such as Mr. Brown to appear. Mr. Brown is a reflection of Achebe and how he wants his religion (christianity) portrayed. Part of what motivated Achebe to write Things Fall Apart was the desire to capture the voice of indigenous African identity. Achebe is trying to communicate the similarities and the differences between Igbo religion and christianity. In the novel it shows that both religions have a supreme god however the Igbo religion also has minor gods which are worshipped whereas in the christian religion there is only one. Achebe is trying to show that despite the religions’ differences, they are also quite similar and thus alludes to the idea of both religions coinciding with one another.  Achebe communicates that Igbo culture is seen as inadequate in the eyes of the missionaries and the tribesman that have converted to christianity. Achebe is trying to show that christianity has influenced Igbo people to desert their religion and thus it displays the tensions within the Igbo society. 

IOC link

 https://youtu.be/txnXpOcopqo