Two Sisters By Ama Ata Aidoo

Two sisters, two perspectives. Mercy and Connie. Two Sisters written by Ama Ata Aidoo in 1940s Africa questions is it right to use manipulation for the sole reason of benefiting yourself? Powerful and successful men use their wealth to essentially receive what they want from women? Is this bringing down the generation of women as a whole? Connie the older sister and motherlike figure to Mercy certainly thinks so yet her husband opening admits jumping from mistresses even though he is not classified under “Big Men” in Africa. James, Connies husband asks, “Why shouldn’t she?”.Connie struggles against these morals even when she herself receives a gift from Mensar-Arthur. Mercy is on the other-hand in in a purist of happiness and Connie does not want her to be used. Moving from man to man after Mensar-Arthur is imprisoned? But are Mercy’s intentions true for her pursuit of happiness or is she just after material possessions. Waiting for a man to give her a house, car, money while she doesn’t invest in herself for an education or job. “Women allow men to behave the way they do instead of seizing some freedom themselves.” “Girls” are keeping all other women down. Women’s insecurities gives men the power. Both Connie and Mercy are at fault here. Connie for turning her cheek and asserting her own marriage and Mercy for her acquired taste of the unearned finer things. Who is more to blame?

Chinua Achebe “Chike’s School Days”

In “Chike’s school days”, Chinua Achebe effectively shows contrast between two different cultures. He tries to show attitudes from both sides. He starts with the culture that white men brought from the neighbor’s view who was not converted to Christianity at the time. When the neighbor offered food to Chike, he said they don’t eat heathen food and rejected, she murmured under her breath “even an Osu was full of pride nowadays, thanks to the white man.” (828). This shows how traditional African culture was very restrictive, class hierarchy discriminative and prejudice fulfilled. On the other hand, it also shows how the “white culture” was tearing neighbors, furthermore nationality, apart. It sat barrier between people who have different religion because Christians started teaching their next generations to be apart from other religion, even not to eat with them. Christianity changed people deeply, from their lifestyle to their conduct. Traditional spiritual religion looked it as “insanity.” Overall, people who stayed with” African religion” was offended by how “white religion” makes people change and invading their norms and traditions.

Chinua also shows difference between two culture by comparing role of education. Chike’s grandmother was once converted into Christianity, but later renounced. She obviously raised by traditional religion. From her point of view, the diviner man was the most respectful and she looked up to him. He was” a man of great power and wisdom” (828). The diviner man wasn’t an educated man. He has more of practical experience and  knowledge of life; and that is what Chike’s grandmother had respect for. It seemed education wasn’t important for her. In fact, she might resemble all the people who have African culture. In contrast, Chike, the person who raised by “white culture”, had respect for his teacher because he was such a well educated man who like to use sophisticated English words and show off his elevated education. Education was definitely intrigues Chike and it was important him. By having “white culture”, Chike could learn about sciences and expand his knowledge. It gives him freedom to think and not to restricted by prejudices that African culture had.

 

Chinua Achebe, “Chike’s School Days” (1960) Ama Ata Aidoo, “Two Sisters” (1970)

Chinua Achebe

Chike’s last name, Obiajulu, means “the mind at last is at rest” (Page 827) in the Igbo language. The meaning of this seems to be obvious to the people of his community, that he is his family’s only child or only son since his parents wouldn’t need to worry about having their family name die out. However, after reading the second page of this short story, the meaning of Obiajulu can instead refer to how the mind itself is at rest and no longer active. In Chike’s community, he is classified as an Osu, the lowest caste in the Igbo class system and would be expected to be looked down upon but he instead looks down on his neighbor and calls her a heathen for not following in the ways of the white man. Under any normal circumstance no four year old boy would dare call their neighbor a heathen let alone do so fully meaning it and even if the neighbor did not control herself, whatever actions she may have committed would have been justified. It is also interesting to note that during one of Chike’s classes they sang in honor of Caesar, a man who may have been ruler of his world at one point, but was ultimately backstabbed and murdered by those he trusted.

Ama Ata Aidoo

The two sisters Mercy and Connie, while having very similar lives, are so very different. On the one hand you have Connie, a married woman who has a baby with another on the way who works as a school teacher. On the other, you have Mercy, a typist who has affairs with rich, well-known, and older men. Although they have opposing personalities and beliefs, they are two sides of the same coin as their lives are actually nearly the same. While dutiful to her husband, Connie knows that her husband has affairs with many other women but is seemingly fine with this as she states : “Because I love James. I love James and I am not interested in any other man.” (Page 997) Mercy responds to this short excerpt with contempt as she does not understand why her sister lets the husband get away with having affairs while not indulging in the act as well. Although having many romantic pursuits, Mercy denies the men who truly appreciate her for herself as they all lack wealth and prestige and so she has affairs with those who will grant her expensive gifts. These two sisters are unique in that one is a woman who knows her husband has affairs with other women while the other is a woman who is the one having affairs with other women’s husbands. It is also surprising that Connie’s husband attempts to use the fact that Mercy is having affairs with influential men to his family’s own advantage. A story lacking morals, and two main characters in harsh conditions, would you rather be in Connie’s shoes or Mercy’s new shoes – gifted to her by Mensar-Arthur?

Chike’s School Days

Chinua Achebe’s “Chike’s School Days” has a title that is misleading, but this title effectively draws attention to some of the realities of the effects of the West on the lives of Afticans. The story tells of a Chike, an only son, who was raised “in the ways of the white man.” Raised as a Christian, Chike has the opportunity to go to school to learn subjects such as arithmetic and English. He grows fond of English and admits that some English words “simply filled him with elation.” Chike’s exposure to a new language and culture has stretched his imagination and filled him with possibilities that he would not have considered had he grown up in the same way as his ancestors had for generations. As far as Chike is concerned, his Western education has been mostly positive and admittedly saw the stories and literature as he said as “a window through which he saw the distance in a strange, magical world. And he was happy.” What Chike does not understand is what he loses as a result of the Christian influence on his culture. While the title of this story is “Chike’s School Days,” Achebe wisely pays attention to the causes of Chike’s unique childhood. Achebe tells of an instance where Chike refuses the food of a neighbor because she is a “heathen.” Chike belongs to the lowest class of his community but Christianity has given him the feeling of superiority to his neighbor. Achebe also focuses on the chain of events that have led Chike’s father to this social class and acknowledges that he has wandered away from the main idea of the story. I believe that Achebe deliberately gave his short story a misleading title and deviated from the “main story” in order to make the reader question the influence of Christianity on Africans. An account of the different experiences that Chike had as a child would have little meaning without a background to his situation. This story calls attention to the changes that communities such as Chike’s were experiencing as a result of Christian influence and gives the reader the opportunity to understand the pros and cons of this influence. Whether these changes are positive or negative remain to be seen but the structure of this story hints at the author’s attitude towards the situation.

Two Sisters by Ama Ata Aidoo

Aidoo switches perspectives in every scene. By alternating these perspectives, we the readers are able to see the thought process of the characters as the scene plays out in real time. Aidoo even gives inanimate objects like Mercy’s shoes life. As Mercy walks to Connie’s home the shoes sing “Count, Mercy, count your blessings” The author chose this song for the shoes to sing to Mercy to shows it’s thoughts on Mercy. It is later revealed that the shoes were a gift from Mensar Arthur, a wealthy old member of parliament that she is using to acquire things. The shoes are trying to steer her in the right direction by reminding her to “count her blessings” If you take a look at the lyrics the song is based on you can see that it’s message is to be grateful for what you have even during difficult times. This is the message the shoes want her to receive.

On pg. 995 the shoes are described as “more realistic than their owner” The shoes want Mercy to be realistic about her situation. While Mercy wants to as she desires “to sleep deep and only wake up on the morning of her glory.” The shoes are telling her to be grateful for what she has for it is her reality. She can’t wish for something to be true. You have to take action for that to happen. Those shoes are a reflection of that message. For they were not acquired through her own work but by relying on the work of Mensar Arthur, whose asking price is her body.

Aidoo also gives life to the Guinea Sea by personifying it as a god. When the sea god says, “People are worms, and even the God who created them is immensely bored with their antics.” He uses the word worms to describe humans as weak. He criticizes the way humans handle their problems like Mercy does. He criticizes the way men think highly of themselves the way Mensar does. The sea god finds their feelings of superiority absurd for in actuality God is superior to them. The sea god as well as God is tired of seeing humans make the same mistakes after it has given humanity multiple chances.

It is ironic that Mercy is named Mercy when she shows no mercy to herself or others. She doesn’t care how it affects the wife and children of the men she is having affairs with or herself. She doesn’t respect her body or her mind. She yearns for something greater but instead of feeding herself the necessary nutrients she needs to grow she decided relying on men would be an easier way of getting the things she wants. James explained it best, she is surrounded by girls who sell themselves to get what they want. She doesn’t really have a role model. Her mother died when she was young. She didn’t spend as much time as her older sister Connie did with her mother. Connie and Mercy also don’t see eye to eye. Connie is a traditional woman who is content with taking on the role that is expected of her by society. Mercy is sexually liberated. She has no problem using men for her own gain. She considers dating a taxi driver or her boss just to have the convenience of a car. Mercy may also think she knows better because her sister has an outdated viewpoint on how women should act. Instead of being compassionate towards her sisters grief over her cheating husband she laughs and tells her to cheat too. Mercy’s response to Connie in line 3 on pg. 996 reveals Mercy’s desire for more out of life than what is expected of her and the differing viewpoints among sisters. Although women have made some progress like being allowed to work and be more sexually open about themselves, they still haven’t made much progress. Women still have boundaries imposed on them: They have limited career options (ex. typist, secretary or teacher) and are still being controlled by men to an extent. Powerful rich men use girls like Mercy to get what they want and women like Connie still lack the power to leave a bad relationship. Mercy could rely on her own work to get what she wants but chooses not to and thus, dooms herself to a life of unhappiness in doing so. Connie is described as self reliant but when it comes to her husband she can’t bring herself to leave a cheating man who doesn’t love her the same way and thus also dooms herself a life of unhappiness.http://http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/irving_berlin/count_your_blessings_instead_of_sheep.html

Anthology Assignment Breakdown

As stated on your assignment handout, timely and satisfactory completion of the various assignments leading up to the anthology will be factored into your grade as follows (the anthology in total is worth 25% of your grade):

Proposal: 5%

Short essay: 5%

Introduction draft: 5%

Active attendance at both days of presentations: 5%

Complete Project: 80%

Lack of fathers in Walkers’ *In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens* accidental or purposeful?

When I first started reading In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens: Womanist Prose, I thought, you know, I don’t know much about the lives of African American women post-World War I. But by the end of the essay, seeing that it was written in 1974, I questioned, where are the fathers? Were dotting, supportive African American husbands non-existent back in 1974? Why are men demonized in every story we’ve read since “Hedda Gabler”? (In this essay it is unclear who abuses the women, only that they were abused, always; on page 233 there’s an “ignorant and depraved white” overseer, but he’s the only male abuser described.)

It’s possible that because this essay is about the secret that feeds the deprived souls of African American women, men are not in the focus and are rarely mentioned. However, in the few instances that men or fathers are mentioned, I’m led to believe that they’re either trivial or uncompassionate beings—far cries from the dotting, supportive male figures I imagined them to be. Take quote in page 233 for example: “And men took our mothers and grandmothers, ‘but got no pleasure from it.’” Let me mention that sexual abuse of black women is often referred to in this essay, starting from lines 3 and 4 on page 232; that being said, in context, “took” can either mean to have intercourse with, or marry black women. But why claim that no man got pleasure from the act? Did they never love their women? Why does Walker argue this? Unfortunately for me, she doesn’t elaborate further.

If men, specifically of color, were unsympathetic or compassionless towards African American women, then perhaps that’s why Walker wrote that they didn’t get pleasure from their relationships. However, on page 238, there’s an intriguing image that Walker paints, one with her mother and father working side-by-side on a workers field. The one instance where Walker mentions her father is brief but says, “During the ‘working’ day, [my mother] labored beside—not behind—my father in the fields.” This image tells me that her father cared enough about her mother to let her be his equal, let her work beside him, instead of forcing her to work behind him. Nonetheless, Mother’s Gardens leaves me begging the question, what did African American husbands do to support their African American wives creatively? If creativity and “respect for strength” are things needed to nurture one’s soul, then what did men do to facilitate women’s ability to express either one? Or were they simply trivial, passive beings back in 1974? Again, unfortunately Walker does not elaborate further.

Virginia Woolf, “A Room of One’s Own*” (1929); Alice Walker “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens*”

 

In Alice Walker’s “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens,” she states that:

“Virginia Woolf, in her book A Room of One’s Own, wrote that in order for a woman to write fiction she must have two things, certainly: a room of her own( with key and lock) and enough money to support herself.” (Page 235)

Immediately after this passage, Walker goes on to critique this thought as false using the example provided in the life of Phillis Wheatley. Although I initially agreed with Woolf in that the prerequisites for writing fiction were as she described, after reading through In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens, I found myself disagreeing with Woolf. While a room along with funds are certainly important for a person’s state of being, the only real necessity for creating works of fiction is the drive to do so. If Phillis Wheatley, a slave who didn’t even own herself was able to create great poems through great effort to herself then why can’t any other striving female writer?

Walker further goes on to talk about how while many great stories were first thought up by one generation, they simply did not have the resources necessary to publish their thoughts and had to instead pass down their stories to their children in the hopes that their children would be able to publish the stories. Two of the most famous and well known pieces of fiction, The Iliad and The Odyssey, were passed down through the generations through word of speech until they were finally published once the tools were available to do so. Unfortunately for many of the black mothers described by Walker, their names will never be accredited to the stories their children wrote. Walker herself gives credit to her mother for several of the stories she has published but personally, there is no need to.  Much like the title, In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens, the role of the first generation of female slaves is to provide the seeds from which the second generation will grow from along with the decayed compost from which the second generation will gather nutrients from until the cycle repeats with the final generation producing fantastic results, which in this case will be great works of literature.

From a Room of One’s Own by Virginia Wolff

What if Shakespeare had a sister, would she of had the same opportunities to make it as a writer? In order for a woman to write she must have a room of her own and enough money to survive. Woolf’s unconventional style speaks of women and fiction. “It would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare.” Woolf says even if Shakespeare had a sister she never would have had the same education or he same opportunities. Limited education to women and lack of opportunities they have. She does not only address the male and females conflict but also societies class system. Address men that say women don’t have ability to be artists. “Have you any notion of how many books are written about women in the course of one year? Have you any notion how many are written by men? Are you aware that you are, perhaps, the most discussed animal in the universe?” Asks, why are men writing about women if they “are not” threatened by them. She is very sassy throughout her lectures on her thoughts and how frustrating it was for a woman. Woolf wants women take away with them is freedom, freedom to write without consequences, free to be themselves. Virginia talks about women before her and how they went against the grain, went against everything they’ve been told. Reading Woolf’s work really kept bringing me back to a previous story we read, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. They share a lot of the same ideas and similar styles in expressing themselves.

From a Room of One’s Own by Virginia Wolff: Is Reflection the reason for oppression?

When first reading  “From a Room of one’s Own” by  Virginia Wolff I thought  the title should have been renamed as  “True Detective” featuring Virginia Wolff. She seemed to be solving a case rather then writing a literary work. Although,by the second chapter Virginia wolf started to make valid meaningful points on how women were being oppressed due to men seeing themselves as superior and how women were being forced into a life of poverty where they were forced into a life of survival instead of having a life of meaning. But there was one point which I had to question and that was did men really oppress women because they saw them as mirrors? I mean its obvious that women are being oppressed but is it because men see themselves as heroes in the way women are forced to rely or worship them and is that the reason they feel the need to force them into a role of inferiority. The reason I question this motive is because I always believed that oppression was founded on differences rather than their likeness in their victims. For example slavery was practiced on black men as well as black women. In these times black were compared to monkeys and were looked as the low of the low. Considering these circumstances it would be difficult to see the men during these times seeing their reflection in people they considered no better than animals. In this case wouldn’t superiority arise from looking different than those who you see are in a lower status? This could be said the same for women even though they may be the  same race as their oppressor they are biologically different. Maybe this difference is what enables the oppressor to feel superior to women. By keeping a sex that looks different than you in poverty you can then justify your superiority in that said difference. For example the belief that their not as strong and their not as hairy so our sex must somehow be better .Furthermore if women were mirrors to men then wouldn’t it be more reasonable to build them up then tear them down because the better the mirror the sharper you look.