After reading the first chapter of this book, I am not so sure how I feel about it. The names are very ethnic, and I am going to guess that as more characters are revealed I am going to get them mixed up. The author is very poetic with the way that he writes. He uses a lot of similes and a ton of imagery. I looked up the word harmattan because it was in the first chapter a few times. If you are wondering, it is just a dusty wind from the Sahara that blows toward the western coast of Africa during the winter (I got that from dictionary.com). At first I didn't quite get why I was reading and doing this, but now I totally get it. The whole different customs thing is so weird. So far, I have just made a few observations of them. First of all they have wives (plural), and they make sacrifices. Then when they were doing that and the last sentence of the paragraph was like "then painted his big toe" (page 6) I thought that maybe this could get interesting.
Here is a question, when the author mentioned snuff did he mean modern day snuff or can that mean more than one thing?
Also what are these titles? Are they like positions in the tribe? Or are they like a form of government or what?
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I think that I am also going to have some issues with the names. It's kind of like Crime and Punishment all over again. Right now I'm ok, but as the story progresses, I will probably have to continually look them up. I think it will be interesting to learn about some of the different customs, especially because they are so much more different than our's.
I completely agree on the names they are going to get very confusing.. but that is probably just because were are not use to them. Thanks for the definition I was wondering what that word ment now I know. I got interested at about that exact same part about painting the big toe... weird.
Sometimes when I read a book with strange names or lots of characters I sometimes sketch a family tree on scrap paper. This can help keep things straight. I think you'll find these names will settle down in time. Okonkwo is the main character.
Using dictionary.com to find a word. AWESEOME! Mrs. Fox would be proud we are building your vocabular right? ;-) You may want to build a link on the side of your blog to dictionary.com? Ask Madeline how to do so, she figured it out yesterday.
Yes, the point of the book is to emerse you into a west african tribe. You get to experience daily life from their perspective which only a book can do. Think of this book as a bunch of short stories and customs shown in each chapter. I have to admit, I hated the ending of the book, but that said, I got a lot out of Achebe's stories and cultural explinations.
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Here is a question, when the author mentioned snuff did he mean modern day snuff or can that mean more than one thing?
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Possibly the English form of snuff, which was powdered tabacco which you would sniff up your nose?
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Also what are these titles? Are they like positions in the tribe? Or are they like a form of Government or what?
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Both. You will find that the tribe is run by a council of elders who hold titles and make decisions for the tribe. It's kind of hard to explain, but I think given time you'll understand.
Keep up the great comments!
Mr. Farrell
I agree with you on the name thing. They are all really crazy and i can't really pronounce them. I already get mixed up with whos who.
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