Sydney Bowden
December 10, 2013
English 3140: African Literature
Final Exam
5. How does colonization affect the characters we met in the books we read?
Colonization took a major toll on the characters within each book that we have read. Starting out with Things Fall Apart we are introduced to a village of individuals that take pride in their many religious practices and everyday mannerisms. Colonization created a negative had a very negative affect on these villagers because it was the cause of the destruction of Okwonkw’s village, people, and culture because of the colonist. Examples that would support this would be the enforcing of the laws that prohibited their cultural practices. We learned early on that the Igbo people went about everyday life by following their religious texts, words, and practices.
With the destruction of their religious symbols such as the snake that is killed by a former village member that was convicted it really took a toll on these people. Because of colonization they were lost as to how they should go about their everyday lives. With the white European

man telling them that what they are practicing is wrong they are easily persuaded because they feel that because these men have introduced them to new modern things that they have all of the answers, which was wrong. Due to colonization the village was destroyed and as a result a man that everyone looked up to in the village, Okonkwo, took his own life. Colonization became too much of a burden.
Another novel that touched on colonization was Xala . Our main character, El Hadji, became the modern definition of colonization in his town. With the aspirations of becoming a wealthy European businessman it became his drive towards power and modernization.
Like father, like daughter El Hadji eldest daughter, Rama, uses her
French tongue to try and talk her way out of a ticket to mock the police officer. In their town, only rich people use French so as a aspect of colonization she displayed that she was rich and that she was above everyone else that used the lands native tongue. Higher class people know and can fluently speak French where in contrast the local people were only accustom to speaking their local language.
The final novel that I would like to elaborate on that underwent colonization was Wangari Maathai’s Unbowed . As a child she was

forced from her village where her land was later then destroyed because of colonization. To be exact, colonization was the primary reasoning for why she started up the Green Belt Movement.
Colonization destroyed the vast majority of her native forestry leaving a need for the movement to begin. In being the accomplished and dedicated woman that she is she took necessary measures to start a movement that would empower the people of this village to do something great by replanting the trees and grass that was once there.
To conclude, colonization played a major role in several of the books that we read this semester. Colonization affected the people the most in the books Things Fall Apart, Xala, and Unbowed. It was done by destroying their lands, creating laws and enforcing them by sending people to jail, and by self-motivation to become wealthy.
6. Which book spoke to you the most?
The book that spoke to me the most was Xala . Though I cannot personal relate and sympathize with the characters within the book I

can surely empathize with them. I received so much enjoyment from reading this book on account of the fact that it was short, and it grab my attention from the very beginning. Learning about Polygamy really interest me because as a western woman I could not really understand how a woman can allow for her husband to marry other women as well. Throughout the entire book I raised so many concerns as to how Adja Awa Astou had to feel within the book being the first wife and watching the man that you’ve been committed to for most of your life marry another woman. Throughout this book each character individually spoke to me with their different characteristics.
Beginning with El Hadji, he’s this wealthy businessman that wants everyone to know his place in the town in which he lived in. A negative quality that he has was that he was selfish. Although he was not greedy and selfish towards his family he was still selfish toward everyone else. I can totally relate to El Hadji on the standpoint of wanting to be successful in life and making sure that everyone notices his hard work. I myself am the same way because I go to school and take pride in my internships to ensure that I become successful in the near future. I want for my success to be noticed and for my hard work to be noted because nothing in this life is given to

you so what you plant now you will harvest later. I felt that though that quote did not come from the book itself it still relates because he had to really work to get to where he was. On the topic of his selfishness,
I totally disagree with it because I feel that being a selfish person will only set you back two steps from where you started and at the end of the book I believe that he realized that his selfishness was not worth losing all of his wealth.
Other characters that really made me think were the wives.
Starting with Adja Awa Astou, she was the very first wife, and the one that says the least. I don’t personally understand how you can watch the man that you are still currently married to marry two other women.
Although I don’t understand I have to understand that this was the type of marriage that she agreed to so all in all she has no choice, but to accept the consequences. But why not at least give an opinion?
Instead she allows for her husband to take advantage of her kindness by allowing for him to stay longer then his mandated moome’ time with wife number two which is really Ludacris to me because she deserves more respect than she is given. With that being said it leads me into talking about wife number two Oumi N’ Doye. She is definitely selfish and controversial. Throughout the entire book I did admire her

for speaking up when she went against something I just didn’t like how she went about it. Involving the children in grown-ups business was a little extreme because they were just born in this polygamy mess so they should ha ve just stayed in a child’s place. And wife number three N’Gone didn’t really say much in the novel. She really didn’t provide an opinion especially on account of the fact that her family arranged her marriage. Overall instead of the wives sticking together and trying to come together as a family they were too busy being in competition with each other for the attention of El Hadji.
The final group of characters that grabbed my attention was the children because this was a situation that they did not ask to be in.
My mother is my life so I could totally sympathize with Rama with wanting to see her mother happy instead of being slumped over a man. Me being me I know that I would have defied my father as well if
I was against something that he was doing. Rama noticed, as she watched her mothers’ emotions about this third marriage that his third marriage was going to take a toll on their family. Although El Hadji was roped into marriage number three, as a child I would not have understood why my father was taking my mother through the same mess that he’d taken her through once before by adding another

addition to the family especially if she was my same age. With all of the controversial issues that were present within this book I just couldn’t bring myself to putting it down and that’s why it became my favorite.
Another novel that I found interesting was Unbowed . Although this book did not speak to me as much as Xala I still was able to get a lot out of it. First off, let me start by saying that I admired the woman that Wangari Maathi was! When all odds were against her she never gave up instead she used all of the negativity as motivation to help shape her into the successful woman that she is today. She came across a problem and worked towards a solution every time and she wasn’t selfish. Because of colonization she created the Green Belt
Movement that not only regrew the land that was once there, but also by providing jobs for several women as well. By providing those jobs she was able to give a lot of women a sense of individuality. She encouraged these women to go out and make their own wages so that they can feel independent in knowing that they are able to provide for themselves without depending on their husbands.
Another event that stuck out to me that she helped with was helping to release the nuns’ sons out of jail. Due to political justice

they were pretty much put in jail for no reason at all. So these moms came to Wangari for help and instead of turning them away she did all that she could to help them and her help was a success. She’s just a very inspirational woman that I did heavily admire throughout the course of this class.