Heart Of Darkness
Part I In the novel, Second Class Citizen, the main character, Adah, is a strong, Nigerian women who faces sexism from within her own culture since she was born. She explains, "She was a girl who had arrived when everyone was expecting and predicting a boy... She was so insignificant" (Emecheta 7). In the Ibo culture that Adah grew up in, being a girl was looked down upon. Giving birth to a boy was a major accomplishment, whereas giving birth to a girl was an equally major disappointment. Girls were taught to be useful, not intelligent: "A year or two would do, as long as she can write her name and count. Then she will learn to sew" (Emecheta 9). In Ibo culture, girls ...
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to say to her: ‘It is allowed for African males to come and get civilsed in England. But that privileged has not been extended to females yet’" (Emecheta 36). Francis is a pure reflection of the values held by the Ibos. All Francis wanted from Adah was money, to pay for his education, and sex: "As far as he was concerned marriage was sex and lots of it, nothing more" (Emecheta 41). To Francis, Adah was a sexual object. As far as he was concerned, her feelings didn’t matter, she was not a real person. Adah knew she was up against the enemy when she challenged Francis, but she was able to rise about he sexism and leave Francis. Not only does she go against her own culture, but she wants her children to reject the sexist attitude as well: "My sons will learn to treat their wives as people" (Emecheta 121). Adah is a strong women who will not let herself be objectified and will not let the sexism of her culture keep her down. Adah would dislike the way that ...
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that women are out of touch with reality, even though it is clear that his Aunt’s views about Africans reflect the popular view of the time. That view being to Christianize Africa and get rid of their traditional culture. This view was held by the likes of Rudyard Kipling, Leoplod II and other prominent men of the time. Marlow does not recognizes his Aunt’s views simply because she is a women and he doesn’t think women belong in the real world. He says, "They [women] live in a world of their own, and there had never been anything like it, and never can be" (Conrad 11). Marlow expresses the fact that women live in sort of a alternate universe, that is that they are out of ...
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Heart Of Darkness. (2008, April 24). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Heart-Of-Darkness/82605
"Heart Of Darkness." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 24 Apr. 2008. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Heart-Of-Darkness/82605>
"Heart Of Darkness." Essayworld.com. April 24, 2008. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Heart-Of-Darkness/82605.
"Heart Of Darkness." Essayworld.com. April 24, 2008. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Heart-Of-Darkness/82605.
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