Things Fall Apart chapter 15

This chapter shows the arrival of the white man in one of the villages. Obierika comes to give Okonkwo the cowries and says that a white man came on an iron horse. They kill the man and tie his iron horse to a tree. Obierika says that before they kill the man, he talked "through his nose" and muttered a word that sounded like Mbaino. Then, the white men came back and shot everyone at the market and Abame was wiped out. The iron horse that the white man brought is most likely a bicycle. In retrospect, a bicycle is a very tame invention that they could have introduced to the villagers. An interesting part is when Obierika mentions that a white man came, and Okonkwo immediately assumes that it was an albino. What will happen when the white men venture further into Africa and go through Okonkwo's current and former village? How will the differences in culture further separate the two people? Because of the ignorance that the Ibo people show to technology, the white men are most likely going to disrespect them and view their confusion as unintelligence. Since the white man's burden is what drives them to Africa, will the culture further strengthen their resolve to westernize Africa?

Things Fall Apart Chapter 7

The main topic in this chapter is the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye. As we have seen in previous chapters, Okonkwo refuses to appear weak and views gentleness as a weakness. Nwoye on the other hand, seems to resemble his grandfather instead of his father. As opposed to the previous chapters, we gain insight into Nwoye. We knew that Nwoye had become close to Ikemefuna and viewed him as an older brother, but now we see that Nwoye views him as a role model where Okonkwo is concerned. Although Okonkwo is inwardly fond of Ikemefuna, when Nwoye is told that Ikemefuna is "going home" he is beaten because he shows affection toward Ikemefuna. When one of the most respected men in their town comes to tell Okonkwo that he is not to take part in Ikemefuna's murder, he does it anyway so he doesn't appear weak. Will Okonkwo's desire to be strong further alienate Nwoye? Because Nwoye is now afraid of Okonkwo, will he still take over the family after Okonkwo is dead?

One Day in the Life of John Smith

-Because Ivan is the Russian form of John and is supposed to be just an ordinary guy, my character John Smith is the English version.


John's face hovered near the glowing screen of his computer. His eyes were not even halfway open, but he had to finish this paper. A burst of light filled the room. John jumped and looked around wildly, only to see his mother standing in the doorway.
"What's wrong?" John asked.
"Nothing, it's time for school," his mother replied with a look of confusion on her face. "Were you up all night?"
John nodded. Even after ten straight hours of typing, he still wasn't done with his paper. He'd finish it at school, he thought, and started to get ready.

"Late again, huh John?"
John looked up and saw the dean of students. He sighed. It wasn't his fault he was late; there had been a fatal accident on the 51 and it had blocked up traffic. Frankly, John was surprised that he even made it for his first class.
"Yeah, there was a car crash," John responded resigned. His excuse wouldn't get him anywhere.
"You know the rules. That's the third late you've gotten this week - detention."
John groaned.
"My office after school."
He hurried off toward the office to sign himself in. It was 8:15 and he hadn't called the school to tell him that he'd be late. He'd probably get another detention for his unexcused absence. John's stomach growled. He had been planning on eating at school. Unfortunately, he had classes all morning and didn't have time to go grab a bagel. He sat down at the back of the class and rested his head on the desk. Slowly, he got out his notebook and began to take mediocre notes.
"Psst, John."
Up near the front of the class his best friend was holding something.
"I got you a muffin. Where were you?"
"Accident on the 51," John said as he bit into the muffin greedily. Finally, he could concentrate.

The rest of the morning went by slowly. He dozed off during his biology class and missed some important notes. His teacher understood; everyone had been up late writing that paper. As his last morning class rolled around, John couldn't decide if he actually wanted to write his paper or risk a bad grade by sleeping through the rest of the day. As he dropped off his books at his locker, John spotted something peculiar near his right foot. John crouched down and reached into the tuft of grass. Eureka! Five dollars! John glanced around sharply before pocketing the money. Looking at his watch, John realized that he had enough time to catch his friends in the parking lot before they left. And he did. John returned happy that he didn't have another bland school lunch. But even that couldn't lift his spirits when he thought about the paper he had to finish and his detention after school that day.

John's first afternoon block was a free so he rushed into the library to work on his paper. He had already finished all the actual writing and all he had to do was go through it and add his footnotes. John snorted. All he had left to do. Understatement of the century. John banged his head softly on the desk and grumbled to himself until a cheery freshman grew concerned and moved to the other end of the library. He diligently checked each line for any borrowed material until five minutes were left in the block. John figured that his teacher would only check some of the footnotes and hurriedly entered in some random sources to the last few pages. The bell rang and John sighed in relief. He turned it in electronically and went to his last class of the day.

After school John headed over to the dean's office to serve his detention. Luckily, all he had to do was pick up trash around the school for an hour. John picked up the trash in the quad as fast as possible and then sauntered around the campus for the rest of his detention. He would be judged mostly on how the quad looked. An hour passed and John went back to the dean to say that he was finished. He looked around John and scanned the quad. It appeared to be flawless. John rushed to the parking lot to get into his car and go home. He needed to sleep. Thankfully, it was just another day.