"An Image of Africa", "Girls at War", "The Madman"

"An Image of Africa" written by Achebe was sort of dry and boring to me. However, it was written that was for a reason. Achebe wanted to prove that he could write just as well as a white man could. He wanted to prove that he possessed the same skills if not better skills. He used the worst british english just to insult Conrad because he thought Conrad was racist. Conrad made very racists comments about africans not being real human beings and referred to white people as "glorious". He would say that Africans were just like white people only ugly. Conrad wanted to take everything problematic and put it on Africa. I can relate because there will be times where I will have a big meal and maybe end up wasting some of it and I will say "I feel bad because there are children starving in Africa" when they are children starving in many other places. His solution is that there has be hope. He wants to start education on thinking of Africa as equal.

"Girls at War"  written by Achebe was a lot more entertaining for me to read. It's a story about a man named Nwankwo who falls in love with a girl named Gladys. He noticed how she changed greatly over time. She became a hooker and told her story of how she had to sell her body to make money. In the end, she ends up dieing because she ran back to help the driver get of the car. She was trying to do something good for someone else and was instead killed. Irony is something that happens to people on a daily basis. I've tried to do the right thing before and have ended up being the one punished. It's a cruel world we live in sometimes.

"The Madman" written by Acheve was at first confusing but then humerous to me. It's a story about two people, the Madman and Nwibe. It was hard for me to distinguish who was who at first. Nwibe seems crazy right away to me. He treats the highway like a person and feeds it water. He tells the highway not to worry and that he will return. He was determined to make it to this market where he just ends up embaressing himself by invading other people's huts. He comes into this woman's hut and acts like it's hit. Naturally, the woman calls for her husband and Nwibe is beaten away. He's really just a vagrant walking from market to market. Then, he meets the Madman at the river. The Madman steals Nwibe's cloth (or pants) and proceeds to laugh at him. Nwibe was outraged and embaressed to be standing there naked while this Madman had his cloth. Without any clothes, Nwibe had no status. Obviously society views a naked person walking down the street as classless and crazy. However, is Nwibe crazy? no he's just been driven mad because of how the people were treating him. After being sent to three doctors, he is "cured" when he really didn't need any curing at all. In the end, if he had just not chased the Madman then he would have looked less crazy and might have been elected to the council of elders. Where is the irony? Well, the good doctor couldn't help him because he knew there was nothing actually wrong with him. The fake doctor was one who got money for "curing" Nwibe. The moral of the story: Look around at your world and be observant. If you start to believe it you can become crazy.