Things Fall Apart

I shall be choosing the post-colonial Theory as my lens for analyzing parts of the novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe. As this is a topic which i am for one more interested in but also because i have a greater understand of Post-colonial Theory. 

One Extract which really made me think was the quote which stated “Likewise, the assumption that Western Europeans, and in particular, the British people, were biologically superior to any other race." This idea of the white man being superior is shown a lot in the Novel Things Fall Apart and is one of the things which the natives have to overcome as they are trying to keep the culture which has been passed down to them for so many generations where as the white man comes in and thinks that he can help them by enforcing their own style of living as according to them the natives or not civilized enough and need their help. 

Also through Post-colonial Theory the Natives who are too young to understand or who are easily impressionable are left feeling either confused or now take on a  “double consciousness” as they are now wondering which structure of society they should trust or is right for them as what they were led to believe before is being questioned by the new settlers and they seem to know a lot more than the natives and their now have to face the decision of to abandon the morals and foundation set by the older generation natives or disregard all that the new settlers are trying to teaching them as it might taint the very foundation which has been set for them  

Things Fall Apart

I shall be choosing the post-colonial Theory as my lens for analyzing parts of the novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe. As this is a topic which i am for one more interested in but also because i have a greater understand of Post-colonial Theory. 

One Extract which really made me think was the quote which stated “Likewise, the assumption that Western Europeans, and in particular, the British people, were biologically superior to any other race." This idea of the white man being superior is shown a lot in the Novel Things Fall Apart and is one of the things which the natives have to overcome as they are trying to keep the culture which has been passed down to them for so many generations where as the white man comes in and thinks that he can help them by enforcing their own style of living as according to them the natives or not civilized enough and need their help. 

Also through Post-colonial Theory the Natives who are too young to understand or who are easily impressionable are left feeling either confused or now take on a  “double consciousness” as they are now wondering which structure of society they should trust or is right for them as what they were led to believe before is being questioned by the new settlers and they seem to know a lot more than the natives and their now have to face the decision of to abandon the morals and foundation set by the older generation natives or disregard all that the new settlers are trying to teaching them as it might taint the very foundation which has been set for them  

Technopoly Can it become the future

Technopoly is described to be a civilization which is more focused on the efficiency rather than the traditional ways of the people. This text has many similarities to the book which we are reading in class brave new world. As they would bother work on their efficiency rather than the beliefs and the ideals of the common person. Technopoly is only allowed to form when technology is allowed to spiral out of control and no one is there to stop it or like in Brave New World where there is someone like the Director, who disposes of the few who resist it. 

Neil Postman also relates to how Brave New World is a utopian society when he says “dozens [of utopian societies] were tried in an attempt to reduce the human costs of a technocracy.” This just shows how they are so closely intertwined with one another as they both talk about the perfect ideal society were the production of people and the use of technology is all that is required to bring the world to its full potential in the eyes of the people who think technology is the future. However there are also a lot of people like the so called “savages” in brave new world who still think that morals and religious views are very important. These ideas or religion tend to be cast aside when technology is put as the number one goal because as more people get into the idea that technology has all the answers the reason so believe in an higher power starts to fade away. This is because the thing which are said to be only possible by gods are now being done by ordinary humans which leaves not much for God to be superior over if now people can heal themselves, fly, move as fast as sound, and much more. 

Singularity

It is clear to me that the future is going to bring great seeing at the rate which technology has spiked up in the past 10 years. There is also no denying that soon there will be artificial intelligence which can sustain itself or even do a better job than a human. However it can be portrayed as something terrible as you see is some movies but as it says in the text "Maybe the artificial intelligence's will help us treat the effects of old age and prolong our life spans indefinitely." This just goes to show that technology can enhance someone’s life by so much and any technology used is just an extension of one’s self. Also the concept of humanity being lost is one which does not make sense to me as is humanity not what one makes for themselves. if humans manage to revolutionize the way that the body works wouldn't that just become the next stage of being human. So to me it seems like a very positive thing which is going to bring innovation to everyone's life and help them to recover from old injuries and illnesses and even prevent new ones from occurring. So if we can use the upcoming technology to improve our physical state to take us were our mind desires is that really taking away from the authenticity of being human because is it not in ever persons mind to become better and use whatever resources and technology available to do so. However there is also a limitation to this, which is far surpassed in the book brave new world as improvement is one thing to manufacture the right kind of person is something which should not be tampered with as it can lead to one loosing there whole identity and then just becoming like a machine, so improvement is great and all but we should never loose sight in the fact that we do all this improving so that we can enjoy our lives more and what kind of life do you have when you’re not in full control of your emotions and cannot decide whether something is worth sending time on for yourself. So with this i think Bernard is correct in believing that humans have lost what it means to be human in that book, which to me means the ability to think completely for one’s self and be able to carry out the actions and thoughts without having any restrictions from others.