Heart of Darkness

The Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, was one book that I can not say that I particularly liked. I think that for me the book had too strong of a word play for me really to follow what was going on. Conrad does not truly get to the point anywhere throughout the novel. He explains things in so much detail that I am spending more time trying to figure out what exactly he is talking about, and less time truly being able to grasp his story.

Though the book was a hard one for me to read, and not one of my favorites. That does not mean that the novel is not worthy of the credit that is due. Conrad wrote about a great story in history, one that more people need to learn about. There are many through out history who proclaim this to be one of the greatest novels that display the nature of what it was like within the Congo during the time of Kind Leopold. Since I wanted to be fair I found a quote that I would say explains how most see this novel....

"Heart of Darkness has been considered for most of this century not only as a literary classic, but as a powerful indictment of the evils of imperialism. It reflects the savage repressions carried out in the Congo by the Belgians in one of the largest acts of genocide committed up to that time. Conrad's narrator encounters at the end of the story a man named Kurtz, dying, insane, and guilty of unspeakable atrocities. More recently, African critics like Chinua Achebe have pointed out that the story can be read as a racist or colonialist parable in which Africans are depicted as innately irrational and violent, and in which Africa itself is reduced to a metaphor for that which white Europeans fear within themselves. The people of Africa and the land they live in remain inscrutably alien, other. The title, they argue, implies that Africa is the "heart of darkness," where whites who "go native" risk releasing the "savage" within themselves. Defenders of Conrad sometimes argue that the narrator does not speak in Conrad's own voice, and that a layer of irony conceals his true views. "

This quote is a great explanation of the Heart of Darkness, though this is one that I feel that I was able to see for myself. If I was someone who had never attempted to read this novel, this particular quote would surely make me want to read the book. It shows that there is so much going on in the novel, and makes it one of those "must reads". I would advise to anyone who reads Heart of Darkness, to read it more than once and even to get one of the copies with the narrative explanations because it is worth the read, if you can understand it.

"History always seems to amaze me... "

After I finished reading King Leopold's Ghost I had to sit back in amazement of the things that occurred within in the horror of this novel. This particular novel was one of those stories that you read and really wished that they were just that, a story. According to the San Fransisco Chronicle Leopold's "heart of darkness" is an absorbing and horrifying account of the traffic in human misery that went on in Leopold's so-called Congo Free State, and of the efforts of a handful of heroic crusaders to bring the atrocities to light. Among other things, it stands as a reminder of how quickly enormities can be forgotten. I do not think that anyone could have said this any better.

The author Adam Hochschild does a great job at displaying tragedies within the book in such a way that it is one that I will honestly never forget them. He wrote the book with what I feel was pure passion which he used to get his point across in a manner that was moving and left readers shocked. Though what really makes the book, is not only the way the author wrote it, but the story itself. The story of what took place in the Congo during this time, is one of its own tales.

King Leopold II took greed for wealth and power to new extremes. He was the prime example of someone who let the idea of wealth and power turn them into what I would consider to be a monster. There are many accounts of people all throughout history who let money and greed control them, though this has to be one of the most horrific accounts ever.

Leopold II was a smart man, because spent the majority of his time in Belgium. He never even saw everything that was going on with his own eyes. He had made orders for such things to happen yet never got to see the horror first hand. I wonder if he would have had to actually stare what was going on in the face, if things still would have been the way that it was? Would he have allowed all of those innocent people go through those things?

Today yet there are still so many things going on within in the Congo, that still trace back to these events and other events that have happened with in the Congo. This video will hopefully add a little more insight in to the tragedies that have taken place and how it has left this country in shambles still today.

Since reading this book, I have what I call an eye opener. I have previously learned about traumatic tragedies that have taken place in other countries, but this surely takes the cake. This truly makes me wonder what other accounts of history am I missing out on? Or how many other situations that I have previously learned about were nothing more than sugar coated.?

All I know is that learning about history always seems to amaze me.

I have spent quite a bit of time trying to increase my knowledge by discovering what exactly was "Red Rubber" and what the correlation was between that and African colonization. After much research I finally found what I was looking for. Back when Kind Leopold II, was in charge of Europe's colonization of Africa there was there were dual campaigns of military pacification and economic explorations. These explorations of Leopold II's revolved around the harvesting of wild rubber.

Rubber is obtained for the tapping of rubber trees. This tapping allows for a milky secretion, which is referred to as latex to be collected. It is from the latex that we are able to create rubber.

Leopold II was a man focused on obtaining wealth no matter what. Him and his colonial representatives used force, coercion and extreme violence in order to obtain this new resource, that at that time was worth a nice amount of money. The United States and Europe heard many stories of Leopold II's actions, which they were very shocked and outraged. The reports lead to Leopold II's rule becoming tarnished by the image of "Red Rubber" - which is rubber stained by the blood of the Africans forced to gather it.

There are many resources that we use today,which most people are completely unaware of their origin. Many of these resources we have now are due to the exploration of the people that were many times forced to harvest them. Most of people are aware of how slaves were used to harvest cotton, yet we have been groomed to not think about it. It was something that was in the past and many choose to leave those thoughts there. Though in other countries even today, there are people that are still going through those same treatments for being ill treated in order to provide a majority with a product. The idea of "Red Rubber" is just another sad part of history where we learn that yet again another thing that we constantly use in our day to day lives has a sad history that many either do not know of or that they choose to not remember.

My First Visit

During my first visit to Village of Umofia, I really got a chance to admire the photographs. Seeing the photos definetely helped to put together more of an idea of the setting of the book Things Fall Apart. Reading the books descriptions of what life was like is not as interesting as the photos within the virtual world. The virtual world brings the book to life so much more, because the reader can not only hear about it, but this way they can actually grasp and idea of what things really looked liked.

One of the pictures that I really admired within the vistual world was this picture of the meeting room. I was amazed at all of the detail that was put into making this room. Giving when the book was said to take place, I would not have imagined that such detail and skill would have exsisted in such high quality. That is almost a sad thing to say. But many times when I have learned about African villages they are more remote villages with just huts. I have never really seen anything this detailed and honestly beautiful!

I also wanted to show a picture of the meeting hall. I find it interesting tthat even then the roof construction was very similar to what we do now. That shows that even after all these years somethings will always remain the same.

Things Fall Apart

Things fall apart, is a novel that keeps you interested. The story revolves around the life of Okonkwo and his trials in life. He has taken his fear and let it turn him into a great man within his clan at an early age, though it has also turned him into what seems to be almost a heartless husband and father. He has shows little emotions through out the story other than anger and disappointment. His actions through out the whole story shocked me repeatedly. I was surprised at the way that he treated his wife and his children. He was very cold hearted and there was not one time in the story where I can remember him expressing any honesty joy. He spent his whole life being more worried about how people saw him then anything else.

The only time where Okonkwo showed any emotion other than anger was when they village decided that Ikemefuna was to be killed. Ikemefuna was a young boy that was sent to live with Okonkwo for three years till the village could decide what to do with him. Sadly even after treating Ikemefuna as a son for those three years, he was till able to take part in his death which was a shock to me. Even though he Okonkwo was told not to. I could not imagine being that young boy, who turned to the man that he saw as a father for help before his death, only for Okonkwo to be the one to kill him.

One very interesting thing about this book to me was the Ibo people, who are from the southeastern part of Nigera. This book shows quite a bit of their culture and customs that I never knew of. One thing that interested me was their use of Yams and palm oil as parts of their main cuisine. They also had a large belief in mythology. They had many gods that they refereed to within the book such as Ani "the earth goddess" or Ifejioku "the god of yams".

The author of Things Fall Apart, Chinua Archebe did a great job of writing an informative novel. That not only told a story but gave the reader lots of information and insight into another culture that most people may not know about. It was definitely a book that I would recommend to anyone who is open to learning about new cultures.

African Slavery before Arabs and Europeans

What comes to your mind with you think of slavery?

Slavery, or involuntary human servitude was very different than what many people know of. People think of slavery as only being in the United states before the Civil War, but slavery actually existed many decades before that. Many people believe or only know of slavery as involving people from Africa being brought to the New World by Europeans and sold as slaves. To the surprise of many slavery was even in various countries, not only America, but even Africa. Slavery in Africa back then took many different forms that were actually quite different then what existed here in the United States. Slavery in Africa started a long time before Europeans or Arabs thought of taking the African people for a life servitude. It was not until the 7th century that slavery in African involved non-African groups. Before then African slavery involved normally a black owner and black slaves.

Slavery prior to European contact resided in all of Africa, in one form or another. Before the Europeans came, the process of how one became a slave or involuntary servant was very different. There were two different types of slavery, chattle and pawnship. In Chattle slavery means that the slaves were considered property. Pawnship slavery meant that a person was used as collateral for debt. Though some slaves were captivated as part of warfare, they were normally more of a bother than a benefit. Many times those captured from warfare were sold and transported to other villages father away from their homes to help with the ease of escaping. Also, quite often there were slaves that were part of the family or village. They were considered slaves due to their class or social status within their community.

The majority of people who were slaves in Africa did not have to live a lifetime of servitude, they would be slaves for only a few years out of their lifetime and then be free again. Unlike slavery here in the United States slaves in Africa had rights and were treated more like people. Slaves were allowed to marry, some were paid and even own land. Their children were born into freedom and many times adopted by the slave owner as part of the family.

Women in slavery were more common. They would do farming as well as economic things such as trade, and spinning. Women also had the responsibility of doing house hold chores and tending to children. Many of the owners would actually keep the slave women for wives or as a status of wealth. The men were used more for more manual work such as mining and herding.

I think that most people have a hard time learning about slavery because in today's society we see slavery as morally wrong. For many here in the United States, slavery is a hard topic to talk about due to the way the African people were treated. Even though they enslaved themselves way before the Arabs or the Europeans, they treated eachother better in my eyes. The Arabs and the Europeans brought about a new kind of slavery with the transatlantic slave trade. This trade was the start to a whole new meaning of slavery. Slavery that many people today are still mad over and they very well should be.

Now Introducing... ME...

This is my creative way of letting you know a little bit about me...

My name is Lashana Brown and I am currently a student at Western Michigan University. I am majoring on Food Service Administration with a minor in Business. I am focused right now on graduating from college and moving on to culinary school. My career goal is to own my own restaurant. I am very passionate about cooking and how food has a way of bringing people closer together. I would love to one day have a restaurant that is centered fully around affordable family dining with an atmosphere that is very inviting and unique. A place where busy families can still sit down and have a great home cooked meal for a great price.

I graduated from Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, MI before attending WMU. I loved my high school and my teachers. Though sadly I was not able to continue playing sports when I started high school due to an roller coaster accident. Yeah that's right! A roller coaster accident. I get a funny reaction every time I mention that. Most people cannot believe it. So instead I started a Principal Advisory committee at my high school. This committee allowed students the opportunity to have their voices heard regarding all of the changes being made throughout our school.

Outside of school I am a very energetic person who loves life. I love to spend time doing things that allow me to grow as a person and still have a life. One important part of my life growing up was being a part of the Kalamazoo Jeter's Leaders. This organization was a great thing for me because it allowed me to experience things that I never would have dreamed. But the organization as a whole is all about teens and healthy lifestyles. While pledging to be drug and alcohol free, I was able to demonstrate to my peers the benefits and importance of academic achievement, and social change. As an active alumni member today I am still proud of my program and all that is has come to be.

I spend the rest of my free time reading, cooking and spending time with friends. I believe that everyone has to find something that they truly love out of life, something that truly makes them happy! And what makes me happy is to relax and just enjoy my friends and family around me.