What Falls Apart?

One of the most celebrated text of African literature 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe aptly displays how gradually with the influence of other culture the native morals customs and culture are lost. 

 “Does the white man understand our custom about land?” “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? 

The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”

The above mention quote comes in the last chapter 20 which clearly states the crux of the whole novel and the idea of Achebe to display the ability to position precolonial Igbo society in opposition to an encroaching colonial culture. Achebe underlines the indestructible elements of Igbo culture while sensitively depicting its process of disintegration under the impact of the white man' arrival.From its very title, 'Things Fall Apart' foreshadows the tragedy which the novel depicts. The first four line of the poem 'The second Coming' clearly  states the point of downfall of culture. A.C.Stock mentions that Yeats and Achebe related to Things Fall Apart mainly is very insightful and highly philosophical. 

The novel casts itself in a dual structure, with the first part seeking to present a meticulous portrait of Igbo society before colonialism In his write up ' The Role of the writer in a New Nation' he points out,

"African people did not hear of culture for the first time from Europeans; that their societies were not mindless but frequentlu had a philosophy of great depth and value and beauty." 

Africa was not a premordial void but has a history, a religion and civilization. In turn, the second part of the novel narrates the traumatic process in which this culture loses its autonomy in the face of the colonial encounter. E.M.Foster points to the duplicity in the novel 'A Passage to India' that the character thinks " This pose of seeking India" was only a form of ruling India. The same thing Achebe notes as 'understanding the native and controlling him went hand in hand.' the traditional and well- knit society falls apart.

At the end the question confronts of what is the solution of retriving that culture and Achebe marks ,

" I believe it is impossible to write anything in Africa without some kind of commitment, some kind of message, some kind of protest--- because there were people who thought we didn't have a past. what we were doing was to say we did- HERE IT IS."

Impact of Media on Society

      Impact :Positive and Negative     

 Media plays a vital role in every one's life. In today's modern society media has become a part and parcel of our life. Its duty is to inform, educate and entertain. It is considered as the 4th pillar of our society. In modern age 'Media' has become one of the most nuclear part of people's life. Briefly it can be stated as another virtual world in which a man lives. It has its positive influences a lot that keeps another man or any thing in the world just a click, touch, swipe away. Nevertheless as coin has two sides, Media creates its two fold influences on society. 

Media plays a very important role in the building of a society. Media has changed the societies of world so much that we can't ignore its importance. First of all we should know what the media is. Media is a source of information or communication. Media includes sources like print media and electronic media. Newspapers, magazines and any other form, which is written or printed, is included in print media and in electronic, media radio, television and Internet etc. are included. Media has lot of responsibility on its shoulders people today's society is very much influenced by the role of media. People believe in what media projects to them. We change our minds according to the information provided through it. Considering this fact that media has the power to influence society, it should know its responsibility towards society. It should feel its responsibility to educate the society in a positive way. It should be giving us fair analysis and factual information.

It is being debated what are the media functions in a society and what are its impact on an individual. Getting information is good, but getting information from right source is the best. Information on the latest happenings reaches people in just a matter of minutes. The vision of media reaches even the remotest corners of the country and makes sure that everyone is aware of what is going on in the country. The easy and swift availability of any given information makes media one of the most reliable sources for forming public opinion. It bridges the gap between the leaders and the masses by becoming their channel of communication.

 

It brings into open the innumerable achievements that are going on in the country. Media gives ordinary people the power to reach out to the society as a whole. It can make heroes out of ordinary men. The media acts as a deterrent on corrupt practices and keeps a check on the working of the government. Media has significantly promoted social causes like literacy, health management, anti-dowry practices, discouraging female feticide, AIDS awareness, etc.

 

On the Contrary…

Media can adversely affect the thinking capability of individuals and instill negative or destructive thinking patterns in the society as a whole. As already said before, media has the power to form and alter opinions. This means media can portray an ordinary thing so negatively that it may force people to think or act in quite the opposite way. Media glorifies violence and contains graphic descriptions or images. When viewed by the vulnerable portion of the society, i.e., the children, it can have grave effects on their upcoming and thinking patterns. 

The media can sometimes go out of the way in advertising or glorifying certain issues. Usually, a bad or detrimental message is packaged in a glorious way and is made accessible to the public. Movies that depict filthy rich thieves who don’t bat an eyelid before killing someone or extorting someone and the getting away with it, sure give entertainment to people. At the same time, it encourages them to act in a way that promises adventure and thrill in life. This way, media glorifies the bad aspects of people and encourages them to act in forbidden ways.

For what does a 'HOUSE' stand for? With reference to 'A House for Mr. Biswas'

  House

 A 'House' is a symbol of safety and dignity. one always aspires to have one's own home as a mark of social life and social stability. In his novel 'A House for Mr.Biswas' V.S.Naipaul depicts the aspiration of a immigrant Indian for his home which becomes the mark of finding his own self as well as social stability.


Search for Dwelling and Identity in ' A House for Mr.Biswas'by Naipaul

Naipaul's world is one of homeless nomadic migrants, making a middle passage from Africa or India to the West Indies, thence to England and back again, for, after three hundred years, there is no society and no system of values in which they can take root. Against this indistinct and dissolving background, the characters try to seize upon something to give permanence and to arrest the flux. 'A House for Mr.Biswas' is also written with the same backdrop of Mr.Biswas's desire for a house, root and his own identity.

'House'' in the novel stands as a symbol of stability, consistancy, root, relief etc. It is an Indian belief to have one's own home and one wants to die peacefully under its roof. In the novel, primarily, house symbolises material satisfaction and achievement through which Mr.Biswas strives totransform it into Home. Unlike four walls and a roof he wants to have peace, comfort and stability to find his identity, his self free from all the shakles. Meenakshi Mukherjee rightly observes,

"The novel is all about the unaccommodated man's repeated attempts to find a state location in a ramshackle and random world."

From the very outset of the novel Biswas was misfit, unlucky first at his own home and then in hanuman Hiuse at Trinidad. Throughout his life he has the only desire. Finally he gets his house after struggling a lot.

"As a boy he had moved from one house to another;... and now at the end he found himself in his own house, on his half- lot of land, his own portion of the earth."

Actually, Biswas' s striving and aspiration comes from the diasporic effect and lack of emotional environment at his own and others home. The same thing is depicted by Nissim Ezekiel in one of his poems, 

" Home is the place where we have to make our grace."

Whether a person be abroad or anywhere in the world the ultimate solace and peace is there at home. that is what Biswas craves for. In movies also starting from the tradition of the song 'Chitthi Ayi Hai'(Movie 'NAAM') up till I Love INDIA (the latest serial on SAB TV) the immigrants have tried to come back to their root in India. Naipaul has presented this novel with the same backdrop in post-colonial world.