Ngugi Reader Response

                                                              Minutes of Glory

             Ngugi’s stories were very interesting to me. They mostly talked about gender bias and European colonization of Africa. These to ideas were very present in Ngugi’s short story called “Minutes of Glory”.

            In “Minutes of Glory” the main character Beatrice hates herself. She thinks she is ugly because she doesn’t fit into the European colonial mindset. She has dark skin, she is a little over weight and she is unconfident. There is another girl named Nyanguthu who is more confident. She didn’t care about her looks as much as Beatrice. She was also more eloquent than Beatrice. Nyaguthu was numb though and didn’t have a lot of feelings. Beatrice, however, did have a lot of feelings.

            Beatrice went to the city thinking automatically things would get better. The city was horrible and she became a barmaid/prostitute. There was a lorry driver that came in and Beatrice stole his cash. She bough herself shoes, hose, a dress, and earrings. All of these things were disposable which was interesting to me. She could have gone home and helped her family with that money. She could have bought herself a house. She could have done so many good things but instead she bought disposable items. This ties into colonialism, because she thought she needed these things to be a beautiful better person. I see this all the time around me. I work in a store so I see what people buy. Most of the stuff they buy is disposable. They don’t need it, they just want it. We see things on TV and they automatically want it. I can’t say that I’ve never bought things that were disposable, because I have, but I try to spend my money on things I need.

            Nyanguthu escapes away from the European dream. She keeps her traditional name which is very interesting. She didn’t give into the European dream and she was much happier. At the end of the story she wept from Beatrice. At first, I was confused about why she wept. Then I realized that she was weeping because she saw how pathetic the false victory was. Beatrice went back to the bar where the lorry driver was to show off what she had bought with the money she stole from him. She was arrested and so Nyanguthu wept. This happens to me a lot. I see people wanting to win small victories that don’t matter. Sometimes they are pathetic victories, yet I feel empathy for the people.

            The story focused on gender bias too. The only women’s power was to be able to have sex with men. Women and men see power rules differently in the story. This was interesting to me too because I see this all the time. There are a lot of men out there that see women as objects only and that’s what happened in the story. Also, men and women in reality do see power rules differently.

            I do believe that Ngugi is right when he talks about European colonization and gender biases in the world. There is a lot of both going on. People want items that are unimportant just because we think it’ll make us better. Gender biases happen all the time. I really enjoyed his critique of this story.

            I would tell anyone who enjoys stories about European colonization, gender bias, or just a great story to read this book. It was interesting and I really enjoyed the story and critiques Ngugi brought up. I would love to read more of Ngugi’s stories.

            

Nadine Gordimer

                                          Good Climate Friendly Inhabitants Reader Response

                Nadine Gordimer so far is one of the most interesting African writers I’ve read. Her stories are fun to read and the meanings are always interesting to me. I really enjoyed reading her stories. Three of her stories are “Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants”, “Amnesty”, and “Six Feet of the Country”.

                In “Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants” the main character is a ditzy, racist, mean white women. She looks young except for her face and legs. This makes her ditzy because your legs and face are what you mainly see when you look at someone. If neither looked young then you don’t look young. She was racist and mean to the black people around her especially at the mechanic shop she worked at. There was a guy named jack who ended up being a voice of reason in the story. He had two different names. Jack and Mpanza Makiwane. He says that Mpanza Makiwane isn’t really a name because its African not European. He thinks Jack isn’t a name because its English and not African. He’s kind of stuck in the middle of two totally different cultures. Finally, there is a conman who is white. He says he’s from zymbabya but he’s not. He cones the narrator using her for food, money, a place to stay, and sex. He threatened her could of hurt her. Jack stepped in even though he didn’t always like the main character and sent the man away so he couldn’t harm her. The moral of the story was the world is full of people you can’t trust.

                I think the moral of this story is very interesting and true in my life and in the world. Personally for me it’s always hard to know who you can and can’t trust. This includes the government. English colonies in Africa don’t know if they can trust their government and the people around them also so this is on a world wide scale. This affects everyone. The world is full of crime and of people who take what they can get and try to con everyone else. I think people should become more aware of who they can and can’t trust in the world.

                I think this is a very important moral because there are so many people who use each other and con each other in the world. This sometimes includes the government and we have to be aware of this just in case it does happen.

                I really enjoyed this story out of all the other stories. Not just for the story line. The bigger picture and critique she includes just fascinate me. I really didn’t think much about this before until now and I really liked it. I would tell anyone who is interested in African literature, colonialism, or anyone in need of a good story to read this story.

Chinua Achebe

                                                    Achebe Reader Response

             Chinua Achebe’s stories were very interesting. His thoughts on culture and heritage were most prominent in his stories. Achebe also believes one should be tolerant of everything except intolerance.

                In Achebe’s story “Girls at War” irony was present. The story is ironic because Nwankwo was the minister of Justice and yet he hoarded food and didn’t help anyone except who decided should be helped. He was also married but he was sleeping with a prostitute. At the end he doesn’t even want to help the one legged soldier. He was a bad unjust person yet he was the minister of Justice. Then, there is a prostitute named Gladys who evolves during the story. First, Gladys had signed up for the militia. She was rejected so she joined the red cross. She had to search cars even the minister of Justice’s car (he got mad at that). Then she became a prostitute. She was dressed in expensive prostitute clothing .She was now a business women and she had protectors. She had to sell her body to survive. Finally, at the end she goes back to be a revolutionary and she abandons the “I need to look out for just me” idea. She tries to save the one legged soldier, but they both die. This whole story is Ironic because even though Gladys did some questionable things but was still a good person. She does die, but she dies to try to save someone else. This symbolized the dying of ethics. The Minister of Justice lived even though he is the bad person which symbolized the corruption that is still happening.

 In my everyday life I do see corruption. There is corruption everywhere, but there are a lot of ethical people amidst it all. I of course don’t live in a war torn totally corrupt country, but I see it on t.v. all the time. I do see struggles of race and racism which Achebe talks about in is other short story “Image of Africa”.  I do think it’s important to learn about what Achebe writes about because it is happening. We sometimes ignore the fact that there is corruption and a struggle in Africa.  My views on the world have changed a lot. I knew that there was a lot of problems in Africa but nothing to this extent. I really believe knowing about the world is important.  Achebe’s writing really illustrates the problems of the world and that really interests me.

The stories were really interesting and entertaining.  I really enjoyed them. I think his views are very interesting and they make for good stories. I would recommend these stories to anyone who is interested in African struggles and history.