Our ancestor did some dumb things that makes alot of people laugh. Do not get me wrong, I love my ancestors dearly but they did some messed up things.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.... A whiteman went to a village by bicycle, parked it outside a house and went in the house....when he came back did not find his bike where he parked .. he looks up and sees his bike hanging from a tree.. one villager approaches him hoping to be patted on the back by the whiteman, for the good job he did... Sir, "Your Iron horse has been tied up there in fear of it running away while you were in the house. Whiteman lands at the shore and see alot of villagers working and fishing. When a whiteman see all this, decides to show how prestigious he is, so he lights up a cigar with so much confindence to earn respect of the villagers.. the minute he exhales smoke is everywhere, white man looks at the villagers with a smile and ego flying.. one fisherman sees that smoke and grabs a bucket full of water and pours it on him.. whiteman gets mad and asks why he did that...fisherman turns around, grabs somemore water and asks his colleagues to help him put out the fire because the whiteman is on fire.
Just because I go hunting does not mean a hate the hunted.
"Okonko was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond, his fame rested on personal achievements. As a young man he brought down Amalinke the cat....." By chinua Achebe
Wow!! you have reminded of the old good English days. That was fun. I just hope you didn't take everything you read literally. Like the hanging of the bicycle, I am sure that just meant to add some flavour to the story. Nice of you though for bringing me back those good memories.
Even in those days Okonkwo was not a man of many words.No sooner had Ekwefi, the mother of Enzinma entered his Obi, in the semi-darkness he started to fumble for the loose end of her cloth....
Things Fall Apart is one of the greatest books on Africa and our cultural progression from being heathens to what we are today.(Winning Oscars even)
Most importantly though the mistake herein lies in that the book is about ma kape a ku West Africa. We the banthu were better than that .Our foolishness is exemplified in nthano za Kalulu.
The point where I would agree with the main proposer is how as a people we were so weak that we were sold into slavery by the inept Mlozi and company!
While our contemporaries were building fortresses around their kingdoms we were busy hunting and hiding in caves.
We see this intellectuall backwardness ,low self-esteem and general aloofness of mind even today.
okonkwo was scared of his son growing up like his father....remember okonkwo's father never worked and owed a lot of people, a thing which led to okonkwo being ridiculed by society as he never inherited anything, and he had to work hard to gain his worth and all the tittles he had....so all we can say was okonkwo wanted his son to be a hardworker and not end up like a woman as he would put it.
On February 11, 1888 the beginning of the end came when Lobengula signed the Moffat treaty, believing it to be the renewal of a limited treaty signed by Mzilikhazi. This placed Matabeleland directly in the sphere of British influence with a concomitant influx of Europeans.
Here are (some) of the details of the oral part of the treaty. The Europeans approached LOBENGULA and said, "we need some land to cultivate food that will feed both our and your people, but we will need total control of it". Lobengula accepted being a gentleman as he was. But he was clever to tell himself that he is going to give them very little land which was not being used by the villagers. When the Europeans saw him pointing at the area that did not look inviting, they came up with a different plan. They said to Lobengula, "Why don't we make it easy on you". Sure, easy is always good he said. One european pulled out a piece of gum from his pocket and said, "We need you to chew on this gum and do not swallow it, it will slowly disolve in your mouth till completely finished". Lobengula joked with his men, "They want me to chew that small thing, they do not know I finish five plates at a time from my wives". So they all busted into laughter. The Europen said he will take steps to cover the radius of the land he wants and will stop when the gum is completely disolved. The land that he covers will be owned by the Europeans. Lobengula agreed, and that is how the Europeans became to own alot of land in Zimbabwe.
Its time for Mugabe to kick the Europeans out.
Just because I go hunting does not mean I hate the hunted, guys.
Well you have definitely crossed the line this time my fellow Malawians. I was about to start reading the book and now that y'all have revealed most of the plot I don't feel like reading it anymore. Thank you very much people. Now I'll never feel like a real African scholar.