A Brief Summary Of Chinua Achebes Life English Literature Essay

A Brief Summary Of Chinua Achebes Life English Literature Essay Chinua Achebe in full Albert Cinualumogu Achebe was born at the 15. November 1930 in Ogidi in South-east Nigeria. His father was a teacher at an evangelical Christian missionary school. His parents christened him Albert from Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. They installed in him many of the values of their traditional Jgbo Culture. 1944-47 Æ’Â   He attended the primary school, before he went to the Government College in Umuahia. 1948-53 Æ’Â   He was educated at the University College of Ibadam, where he studied English, history and theology. 1953/54 Æ’Â   He worked as a teacher 1954-66 Æ’Â   He worked for the BBC and later for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos. 1967/70 Æ’Â   He was the special representative of Biafra. He became engaged in the Struggle for independence of the state of Biafra. 1970/71 Æ’Â   He began to teach African literature at the University of Nigeria. 1972-75 Æ’Â   He taught at American Universities (e.g. Amherst / Massachusetts; Storrs / Connecticut) 1976-90 Æ’Â   He went back to Nigeria and taught at the University Nsukka. 1990-97 Æ’Â   He had a terrible road accident and confiued to a wheelchair. He went back to the USA and taught at the Bard College. 1998 Æ’Â   He was guest lecturer at the Harvard University in Cambridge. 2002 Æ’Â   He got the Peace Prize from the German book trade. Now Æ’Â   Chinua Achebe lives in the USA. The story played in the era of Cross- Culture Experiences: Transition and Conflict. The white people have not learned to understand the native people. The white people took no notice of their culture, so the natives got in trouble with the white people. In the story the natives pulled a school building down and trampled all the flowers down in relation with the barbed wire around the unused path. 2. Summary of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Dead Mens Path The short story Dead Mans Path written by Chinua Achebe, 1953, of the book One Language many Voices is about a man called Michael Obi and his wife Nancy who try to lead a Central school in Africa. But there (are) many problems with an old path, the Dead Mens path, which cross the school premises. The whole story deals with the setting and the culture of the natives, the biggest subjects in story. Michael Obi is the headmaster of the Ndume Central School. He gets an order to reform the unprogressive school in the neighbourhood bushes, Africa, into a modern and beautiful school. His wife Nancy in infect by his passion for modern methods for a long time. They stick together and work hard to improve the school. So they are saw lots of flowers, tidy up the whole school and build a barbed wire around the path. This was a big mistake, because they take no notice of the culture of the natives, who lived in a village near the school. This is a big mistake because they do not follow the culture of the natives, who live in a village near the school. In this way the conflict with another important person is unavoidable. Days later the village priest, call Ani, come to school and give Obi message about the path and the culture of the natives from the village. He pleases him to take the barbed-wire away, so that the people can take the path of their ancestors, but Obi is not interest in it. The village-priest go away and some days nothing happen. One day Obi wake up and the school he have improve is only a ruin. The flowers are trample, the barbed wire around the path is destroyed and one school-building is pulled-down. This day a white man comes to inspect the school. It is a bad report for Obi and Nancy, but what happen with them? 3. Identify devices of reductionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ General information about Short Storys Short stories exist for a long time. In the fifteens century the first short stories were written and often the poor people like farmers read it. The farmers had a bad time, because they had not enough money and have to give up lots of recourses to their masters. So they read the stories to entertain themselves and to forget bad situations. The short story Dead mens path A short story is set at only one place. In the short story Dead mens path it is set up at the central school near the neighbourhood in Africa. No person has left the setting. There is for example the priest, who comes from a village, but his action plays only in the school. It is important, too, that a short story just contains one situation. You have no information what happened before the story has started and what happened after the end. So you can not find out what happened with Mr. Obi, Nancy and the school after the Supervisor has inspected the destroyed buildings. But in our way the story contains not only one situation, because the setting is change and so the situations of the people, too. Another point is, that the in the main characters and particularly the setting in this story described exact. The other characters, like the wives in the story, are spoken very rare, you can see at page 110 line 13 The wives of the other teachers would envy her position. In the short story the setting plays a particular role and is so described very well, to give the reader lots of information about stranger culture and living-standards. The most important point of a short story is the message of the author. So this story will inform us in our thesis about the stranger culture and living-standards and those foreigners must accept it. They can not do all the staff they have in their head, before they talked with the natives because it is in this way not their country. 4. Describe the Settingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ In the story à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Dead Mens Path the setting change themself, from unprogressive to beauty and than into ruins. First there was an unprogressive, untidy school in Africa, Nigeria with there less educated ones. Then a white man with a promotion to a headmaster and his wife came to school in Africa. It was the Ndume Central School and the characters called Obi and Nanny. They accepted to turn this untidy place to a place of beauty. So they built a fence around, tidied up the whole school and plant new flowers. The school compound was now a place of beauty and the garden from Nancy came with the rain to life. All the flowers blossomed. There were blossomed beautiful hibiscus and allamanda hedges in lots of different colours on the school premises. That was surrounded of the rank neighbourhood bushes. It was an almost disused path from the village across the school compound. Where the path entered and left the school premises was a fence with barbed wire. After a time the priest of the village came to school and told them the history of the old path. Mr. Obi had built a fence with barbed wire arou nd the path, which cross the school compound. But Obi did not accept destroying the fence around the old path. So the old priest went away and some days nothing happened. After a time Obi woke up and the school was only a ruin. The hedges were torn up, the flowers were trampled and one of the school buildings pulled down. It turned into a place of horror. The setting contributes to the atmosphere and the way of life to represent it. The story Dead Mens path is coined by the setting since the setting changed three times in the progress of the history. Furthermore the fit adjectives contribute to imagine the story, the setting and the characters in the mind. So you can also say that the setting is very figurative described. Beautiful hibiscus and allamanda hedges in brilliant red and yellow marked out the carefully tended school compound from the rank neighbourhood bushes. (book p.111 / l. 40-42) 5. Identify the narrators point of viewà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The story Dead Mens path is written in the third person perspective. He was appointed headmaster of Ndume Central School in January 1949. (book p.109 / l.2-3) There are many reasons, why the author takes this form. The omniscient narrator knows everything. Her little personal misfortune could not blind her to her husbands happy prospects. (book p.110 / l.23-25) So he can describe the whole characters and know their thoughts. She began to see herself already as the admired wife of the young headmaster, the queen of the school (book p.110 / l.10-12) The effect for the reader is that they can find out the thoughts from the characters, also they can see the future from the characters (What they will do or react at something) The reader has the impression that the priest destroys the school with the village people because this behaviour was a little bit angry. 6. Characterisation Michael Obi Mr. Obi is the main character. He is only a twenty-six old man, but looks like thirty or more. He is stoop-shouldered and trail his leg. In his present posture all his bodily strength seem to have retire behind his deep-set eyes, giving them an extraordinary power of penetration. He has married his wife two years ago. He is the headmaster of the Ndume Central School since January 1949 and his wife helps him by this connection very well. The author argues that the main character is self-centered, when he is solely concern with his own needs and wants. He sees the first piece of evidence of this self-centeredness when Michael and his wife talk about the school and the wives of the other teachers. So they work together to creating the beauty school which was before a unprogressive and untidy school. It is also explain that we see the second piece when Michael and one of his teachers are talking about the park. Nancy Nancy is the wife from Michael Obi. She becomes completely infected by Obis passion for modern methods and his denigration of these old and superannuated people in the teaching held who would be better employed as traders in Onitsha. So Nancy is easy to convince. Michael infected her in their two years of married life. She sees herself now as the admired wife of the young headmaster, the queen of school. She wants to set new standards because of that the other wifes of teachers envy her. Considering that Nancy feels himself better than others wifes or persons. The Priest The priest of the village is called Ani. He is an old man and walk with a slight instruction slood. In the story he has the instruction to inform Mr. Obi and Nancy about the old path. This path is blocked for the native people and the ghosts of the ancestors. In our opinion he has an ellect badly laugh and he is arrogante. I have no more words to say, said the old priest already outside. (book p.113 / l.39) The role from Michael Obi Michael Obi was very zealous, in order to reform and structure the school. He invested a lot of time and Energy in the school. Through the zeal, he do not show considering for the foreign cultures, the past and the ancestors who has used the path. So he seals the evil destiny for his school. 7. Comment on the short storys themeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Christian R. My thesis to the theme Colonialism is that is not correct to do something like this. The colonial powers exploit the mineral resources from the colonial countries. In the colonial countries the natives culture and the natives were oppressed. The natives had to speak the language of the colonial powers. That is not correct, everybody has the right to live their culture and speak their language in their own country. In the story the white people ignore the culture from the natives, refer to destroy the school. The commerce is authorized in order to show the white people or the colonial powers what can happened when someone oppressed the culture from the natives people. All in all I am against the Colonialism era and hope that something like this never come back. The author of the story dead mens path used many suitable adjectives, so you can imagine the setting, the characters and the atmosphere from era of colonialism good in your mind. Although the story is short, nevertheless the author brings the message to reader how the colonial era was and how the natives feel about it. So in my opinion the author has written a good story. Christian K. In my opinion the short story à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Dead mens path described the alliance between the natives and the colonial powers, very well. The short story gives us much information about the culture of the natives in Africa, which is not accepted by the white men. I am sorry , said the young headmaster. But the school compound cannot be a thoroughfare. It is against our regulationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.' (book p. 112-113 / l. 34-38) This is an important part, because it tells us the bad situation and the suppression of the natives. You can see that the natives learned a lot of things from the white men, for example the language. However the white men were not interested in the habits of the natives. So I think that the colonialism and the suppression of the natives was a dark side in the history of the humans. I hope that this dark time never comes back. So I come to the conclusion because of the adjectives in the story, which could give me a big view in the important situation. Literature proof We have only used the book and our heads! We know a lot of things about the Colonial era from the history lessons. Dictionary: http://www.leo.org; MS Word XP Dictionary; Duden

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Speech Essay

Abraham Lincoln begins his second inaugural speech on March 4, 1865, in which he addresses the nation on the ongoing civil war and his high hopes to unite the nation once again under God. Lincoln began his speech by saying that the war has taken so much time and energy out of the country and that there is no need to report on it. He declares himself an equal with the public and says he has also felt the wars effects. â€Å"The progress of our arms†¦is as well known to the public as to myself.† He states that he isn’t going to attempt to predict the war but he expresses his hopes for the future and encourages the public to be optimistic as well. Lincoln looks back four years prior to his first inaugural address. He says we were all awaiting a civil war but were hoping to stop it and save the Union. However, insurgent agents hoped to divide the Union. Lincoln says one party would make the war and the other would accept it. PARAPHRASE Today is the second time I am addressing the nation as your president. I no longer see the need to have a drawn out speech, rather I hope to eventually unite us as a country again and help rebuild our future. We all know how the war has played out and there is no reason for me to further discuss it. The war is coming to a close but the outcome is still a mystery. Today is a time to come together and look ahead towards our hopeful future as a nation. At this time, four years ago, all efforts were on controlling the oncoming civil war. The war seemed a necessity at the time in some American eyes and attempts to start a national tragedy were achieved without much hesitancy by opposing parties. No negotiations would resolve the issues so a civil war did come.

My Last Duchess Practice Commentary

We know that it is from a first errors perspective as personal pronouns are used and we know that the narrator is Nell because she comes in other stories from the same anthology such as With Art of Cooking and Serving'. The first paragraph starts with the first line from the poem and introduces the character Of Miss Bessie. The line from the poem creates a literary allusion and shows how the poem by Browning is connected to this story. It is clear that Miss Bessie is a teacher in this story addressing a class of high school students.The nouns â€Å"Gorilla, Scrip, Hippo† are used for other teachers. This name calling is comical but also shows how Miss Bessie is different from the other teachers as she has a comparatively more respectful name among her students. There is a use of colon before listing the names and Miss Besides dialogues are given in quotations. The paragraph ends with Miss Bessie asking a question to her class. The purpose of this paragraph is to introduce the character of Miss Bessie, briefly give the setting of the classroom and show how that poem by Browning is connected to the story.The second paragraph is a lot more secretive about the classroom and the setting outside the room. We get a lot of visual imagery of the sky outside which is described as a â€Å"hazy blue, a warm, drowsy color†. These words give the reader a sense of laziness and the relaxed atmosphere outside the classroom. Also the fact that the students â€Å"couldn't see anything out of them[the windows] except the sky† suggests that classroom is confining. She then goes on to describe the sky in even more detail as â€Å"at the edge of eye sight, huge and featureless and soothing, rolling on and on like the sea†.Here the writer makes a simile between the sky and sea but the sky could also be a motif for Knell's future after high school as she is about to graduate soon and doesn't know what she wants to do, but her time is passing away just like t he sky. We also get an auditory of other the some flies â€Å"buzzing† and â€Å"bumbling† in the classroom. This shows that Nell is distracted as she is paying attention to these tiny details instead of paying attention in class. She also says she â€Å"couldn't risk turning [her] head† to see the flies which makes the action sound more dangerous than it should be.The paragraph ends with her saying â€Å"l was supposed to be thinking about last†. This takes Nell and the reader back to the class where Miss Bessie is discussing the poem. â€Å"Last† being the last sentence in the paragraph also gives a sense of ending to the reader. The purpose of this paragraph is to contrast the confined setting inside the classroom with the freedom and space outside the classroom and also show a indirectly characterize Nell. The third paragraph starts with the word â€Å"last† repeated which says that Nell is really thinking about the poem.We also get an i nsight into what Nell thinks a duchess is like when she describes it as an â€Å"instituting rustle, a whispering: taffeta brushing over a floor†. Such an auditory and visual imagery gives the reader a sense of royalty and luxury. She then goes on to describe the sleepy atmosphere in the classroom saying â€Å"it was hard to resist dozing off, drifting down into reverie or half sleep† and this contrasts with the lively atmosphere outside the classroom as â€Å"the trees outside were flowering' and â€Å"pollen was eddying everywhere†. She says this is during the month of May which gives us he wider setting and the season which is spring here.Words such as â€Å"classroom†, â€Å"metal framed desks† give us a sense of confinement. It mullein's thoughts and views are confined by what she is being taught in the class. The classroom with â€Å"the vibration of it's newness† is juxtaposed with â€Å"the old smell in the room† given off by the adolescents in there. This shows how even though something may change over time, others remain unchanged. This gives a sense of timelessness. We also get some unpleasant olfactory imagery when she describes the old smell as â€Å"fermenting', â€Å"LIFO', â€Å"salty†.The fourth paragraph starts with the word â€Å"last† just like the previous paragraph. This creates parallelism with the previous paragraph which also started with the same word. It shows how Nell diverged from the topic for a bit and is again thinking about it. She creates a simile between the number of duchesses and a chorus line to help us visualize how many duchesses there might have been before. The words â€Å"gone, over with, left behind† create negative diction to imply that something terrible might have happened to the duchess.In terms f structure this is a short paragraph compared to others so far and gives a sense of abruptness. The purpose of these first four paragraphs of the s hort story is to introduce two of the main characters, the protagonist Nell and her English teacher Miss Bessie, give the audience the setting and show how the poem in discussion is an important part of the story. The audience for this short story is adolescents in high school as the protagonist herself is a teenager and is going through an important transition in her life that the adolescents can relate to.

Subjective Case Definition and Examples

In English grammar, subjective case is the case of a pronoun when it functions as one of the following: the subject of a clausea subject complementan appositive to a subject or a subject complement The subjective (or nominative) forms of English pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we, they, who and whoever. The subjective case is also known as the nominative case. Examples and Observations Mark TwainMy mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but  I  think  she  enjoyed it.Steven WrightI  had a friend  who  was a clown. When  he  died, all his friends went to the funeral in one car.Edward R. MunrowWe must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.Olivia de HavilandI heard a scream and I didnt know if it was me who screamed or not--if it was I who screamed.Theodore RooseveltThe credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause. Subjective Case Usage Notes Robert DiYanniIn conversation, you may sometimes use objective case forms of pronouns when formal written grammar requires subjective case forms. For example, in responding to a question such as Are you Carmela Shiu? you might answer, Yes, thats me, rather than Yes, thats I. Me sounds more natural because that form of the pronoun is used more often in speech. However, I is grammatically correct in this instance.Edward D. JohnsonIf the subjective case sounds stilted, as perhaps it does in John has dated girls taller than she, enough of the elliptical clause can be supplied to make it obvious that than is functioning as a conjunction and that the subjective case is required. Usually this means simply adding a form of the verb do, be, or have. [Thus wed write, John has dated girls taller than she is.]Laurel J. BrintonThere is no distinction between the nominative [subjective] and objective form of it, nor of you (though historically the nominative form was ye, as in the archaic expressi on Hear ye, hear ye). The Lighter Side of the Subjective Case Loyal Jones and Billy Edd WheelerSt. Peter was standing at the Pearly Gates watching an assistant check in new arrivals. The assistant had a roster and was calling out names as the spirits lined up.James Robertson, he read off, and a fellow said, Im him. Then he read William Bumgarner, and another fellow said, Thats me. Then he read, Gladys Humphreys, and a woman answered, I am she. St. Peter leaned over and whispered to his assistant, Another damn schoolteacher. Pronunciation: sub-JEK-tiv