Struggle in The River Between
In the book "The River Between" we find traditional values of the tribe challenged by tribal members who had converted to Christianity. The novel focuses on the struggle between two conflicting interests: First there was the interest to convert Africans to Christianity, and the second was the tribe trying to keep their traditional values in the midst of Christianity. The most contrasting characters in the story were Waiyaki and Joshua.
Waiyaki was a strong influence on the people of the land, and his father, Chege, was a man who had powerful visions of his son's future: "Salvation shall come from the hills ... Arise. Heed the prophecy" (Pg. 20). Waiyaki’s father put the burden of this prophecy
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some good, some truth shone through it" (Pg. 141).
Joshua instead believed in rooting out all pagan traditions and rituals: "He renounced his tribes magic, power and rituals. ... his people worship the Gikuyu god the Prince of darkness" (Pg. 29). "All the tribe’s customs were bad. That was final. There could never be a compromise" (Pg. 84). As is true in every religious movement there are those who become fanatical and try to push their ideas. Many people will not understand what your beliefs are, and so they will be fearful and most likely reject anything that you say. Fanatics come out when they think they know better than the people they are trying to convert, as is true in Joshua's case. Joshua, and a few others grasped the Christian ideas and fully took hold of the beliefs. He, Joshua, went as far as judging everybody around him who would not convert to Christian ideas: "'There is none righteous, no, not one.' ... 'for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God'" (Pg. 84).
Both of these characters become different when faced with Western ideas. Waiyaki takes to heart the idea of education in helping his people, and the need to learn like the white people do. In the case of religion he knew that some of the teachings were beneficial, but he also knew that if they gave up all their traditional rituals their society would disintegrate. Waiyaki
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He was the object of curiosity, because no one knew anything about him. There was something that magnetized him, and drew the people to him. To everyone, Joshua was a simple woodcarver, but at the same time not so simple. He was God’s Son, but no one suspected. Joshua was friendly with everyone. They talked with him about everything. He was very intelligent and almost everyone liked him. Mainly he talked about religion, the religion that Jesus taught, a religion of freedom and without authority. Many people agreed with him, but a few strongly disagreed: some priests, pastors, bishops and clergy in general. As a result of this disagreement, things became very difficult for Joshua. He had to go to Rome to a congregation of bishops for a proceeding against him. He told the bishops what he believed. After the proceeding he simply went away, without saying anything to anybody. The bishops voted for censure. The bishops agreed that Joshua showed a hostile attitude towards authority, that his criticism lacked understanding of the realities of life and the authority of Christ on earth. Joshua had to cease talking about these matters to the faithful, under penalty of further censure. But Joshua had disappeared already. His mission was over, so he went
Throughout the stories told in both Mohawk Saint and The Unredeemed Captive, the unintended consequences of attempting to convert the American Indians to Christianity are powerful players in the unfolding events. When these Christian groups arrived in the New World, they came armed with the word of God that they wished to share among a group of people that have never before encountered the concept of Christianity. While eventually these relationships improved and Christians and American Indians began to have closer contact, there were still results from the conversion process that no one could have expected when the progress had started. In both of these stories, the unintended consequences of the encounters between Christian religious and
In his essay “Of Christians and Indian Loggers” author Tom Swift Bird uses rich imagery and figures of speech to detail the cultural and religious differences between the Indian people and American Christians, as well as state his views on modern Christianity. He speaks to the people who live outside of Reservations in a strong attempt to get them to understand the importance of culture in his life and the lives of his fellow Native Americans. He uses a narrative focused on the tale of three Indian loggers, hired by Christian men, in order to convey his message of cultural erasure.
The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbra Kingsolver, draws the reader into the chaotic African Congo, where the Price family is dragged into on a mission of God, to help the unsaved souls of this “wasteland”. Leader of the missionary family, Nathan Price is a man who is bent on eternal salvation for all the people of the Congo –whether they want it or not– and will not quit in his mission, regardless the consequences. Price is a volatile man, as Kingsolver points out by Nathans’ religious fervor, apparent sexist attitude, and belligerent nature.
Wow! When we ride around on dirt roads every weekend, we always see people with nice and exciting fourwheelers or golfcarts going to the sand pit.Sometimes people will take their fourwheeler to the sand pit in Axson, even a new fourwheeler.They will go in deep water with it. If I had one I would not go in water with it, at first anyway.But in Axson now, there is water over the roads, because the Satilla River is out of the banks.The water is so much out of the banks, you can not go under the bridge at Axson.
In Drown, a collection of short stories, author Junot Diaz presents readers with an impoverished group of characters through harsh, but vivid language. Through the voice of Yunior, the narrator throughout the majority of the stories, Diaz places the blame for Yunior’s negativity and rebellious nature on the disappointment caused by his father and the childhood illusion of America. Diaz, through language and symbolism, forces readers into an emotional bond with Yunior while exposing the illusory nature of the American dream. Although intertwined with each story, “Fiesta, 1980” allows for a more concise discussion of Diaz’s purpose. Diaz’s language, even at first glance, appears very different from conventional authors:Mami’s younger
Hicks, Jennifer. “Overview of the Lottery.” Chattanooga State. Detroit: Gale, 2002. From Literature Resource Center.
Soon after the missionaries began to teach the tribal people about the Christian faith, their tribal customs began to be questioned. This caused a sense of unrest in the village. The missionaries were trying to bring with them new ways of life, and mostly better ways of life. Mr.Achebe tries to show us that the missionaries showed people who were hurt by
One might believe that because capital punishment plays such a large role in Charles Dickens’ A Tale Of Two Cities, that Dickens himself is a supporter of it. This just simply is not true. Dickens uses capitol punishment as a tool to define the evil embodied in both the French ruling class, and the opposing lower class during the French Revolution; as well as comment on the sheep-like nature of humankind.
The first of the two stories I chose to compare and contrast is titled “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and the second story is titled “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence. I will compare each of their themes, characters, and plot developments in which they are both similar and different. One of the strongest comparison would be that both stories deal with the subject of luck in one sense or another. The Lottery being considered a game of chance in which luck plays an important factor in being the chosen winner but Luck in the Lottery has a different twist of fate because the winner of the Lottery is actually the
Waiyaki can be described as brave and having strong leadership along with his father, Chege, who also kept to himself when the tribe countered him. Chege once told the tribe about the white men coming over to take over the land, but the elders ignored him and ever since then Chege kept to himself. The relationship between the two seems almost like a business relationship. Waiyaki knows his father and know that he is an important man but sometimes he fear his father. Like for example, Waiyaki is called to Chege’s man hut and the book describe Waiykai strong and bold. The only time he felt any connection was when they took a journey out to the sacred grove to talk about Waiyaki’s next step after his circumcision event of becoming a man. Waiyaki even felt that “Chege had laid his bare soul for a second” (59) to tell him about his main goal on that journey. On the other hand, Joshua, his is shown as strict and very close to the “white men religion.” He is against his old ways and the tribe ways, such as circumcision of males and females. He has two daughters, Nyambura and Muthoni. Nyambura is obedient to her father and mother. Whatever her father says goes. On the other hand, Muthoni is the completely opposite. She stands up for what she believes, which is being circumcised that will make her a woman. Yet, she still believes in the religion her father believes in, which is Christianity. However, her fate said
A Tale of Two Cities Jarvis Lorry, an employee of Tellson's Bank, was sent to find Dr. Manette, an unjustly imprisoned physician, in Paris and bring him back to England. Lucie, Manette's daughter who thought that he was dead, accompanied Mr. Lorry. Upon arriving at Defarge's wine shop in Paris, they found Mr. Manette in a dreadful state and took him back to London with them. Mr. Manette could not rember why he had been imprisoned, or when he was imprisoned. He was in a state of Post Tramatic Stress Dis-order.
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Bluegill, Crappie, Catfish, and Striped Bass. I am a part of of the Spotted Bass