Achebe

Achebe reaches out to his readers in a way to inform them on ideas they may or may not know a whole lot about.  He either directly tells his readers exactly what he means or he makes them guess by the way in which he says it.  I particularly liked "Girls at War" and "The Madman" for different reasons.

I liked "Girls at War" because it gave insight on how we would act in terms of crisis.  Would you do everything you could do to survive, such as Gladys does in terms of becoming a prostitute?  Or would you think yourself to be superior because it's not affecting you directly so there is no reason for your assistance, such as Nwankwo and his Ministry of Justice title and "it's not up to me" attitude?  This story brought the term "virtue" to mind while reading this story and how one could seek it even in war.  Nwankwo had the upper hand with his status and yet did nothing to help those below him, that is anyone besides Gladys.  Whereas, Gladys was a virtuous person even though she had so little, she did what it took for her survival but also did what she could to help others.  Naturally, in terms of crisis this is not an easy decision to make, how much of yourself can you truly give away?  Though Nwankwo certainly could have given more.  This story looked at virtue ironically, Nwankwo had everything in the beginning though his survival was in vane.  However, Gladys died virtuous in the attempt to save another's life.  Could Nwankwo have done something to help Gladys from losing her life?  Would he have done something differently if it were his life in danger?  Then again, is virtue worth your own life?

"The Madman," however, was very much different to "Girls at War."  This story confused me quite a bit when I first read it.  I wasn't aware that Nwibe and the Madman were different characters at first.  It did, however, spark my interest due to the insanity of it.  The whole point of the story is to show that even when you yourself, or in this case Nwibe, are not crazy, if people tell you your whole life that you are you will soon believe it.  This story took me back into those good old high school days where most people considered me depressed because I always wore black.  I was not actually depressed, I just liked black, it was slimming and a dominant color in my closet.  I was told so many times that I dressed so doom and gloom that I seemed depressed and I started to believe them.  I was actually (and still am) a generally happy person but with how many times I was told I looked depressed, I ended up believing I was depressed.  A similar thing happened to Nwibe, only difference being context.

Both of these texts were very enjoyable and kept me thinking throughout the story.  I personally love stories that make me think and can relate to it through past events, I feel I find a much better understanding of a story if I can relate to it versus just reading it to read it.  As previously stated, Achebe gives his readers insight on ideas they may not be aware of such as racism.  We may be aware that racism still exists but we sure are not aware of the amount.  By reading Achebe, I feel we escape ourselves and begin to understand the worlds outside our bubbles.