Adichie

In our class discussion on Wednesday, I was drawn to the idea that was brought up about Adichie’s letter relating to time through the unit of a lifetime. Admittedly, I was struggling to understand how this letter related to the time theme of this course prior to hearing this interpretation. However, I now see that Adichie uses the unit of a lifetime to express how generational change can be implemented. Each lifetime is a new chance to reset the clock in a sense - a chance to start over. 

Adichie’s main purpose for writing the letter is to influence her friend to raise her daughter in ways that they were not raised. In each suggestion, Adichie proposes a new way of raising daughters - a way that defies social norms that often constrict women. Adichie addresses how social norms have the potential to be changed; “Because social norms are created by human beings, and there is no social norm that cannot be changed” (Adichie, 51). Adichie understands that with perseverance and hardwork, social norms can be reconstructed. Although the reconstruction of these norms will not affect Adichie and her generation, it will create a world with more acceptance for the next generation. Hence, the idea of generational change. Adichie uses the time unit of a lifetime to express that social norms that currently stigmatize women, may not always be the case. 

I think this idea of relating changing social norms to the unit of lifetimes is extremely impactful. Sometimes when addressing social issues, it can be overwhelming because people feel the actions they are taking are not making a difference. However, with structural issues, change takes time. Working now will benefit future generations. Therefore, it is important to use units like lifetimes to track progress because tracking progress through days or weeks may cause one to feel unmotivated and feel as if they are not creating change. 

Adichie does a good job of separating the past (her experiences growing up) and the future (how girls should grow up) to create the idea that the current and future generations should live in different social times. Meaning, the world for women of the future should be vastly different from Adichie’s world.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hamilton

  Will Pikus             Lin Manuel Miranda’s play “Hamilton” took Broadway by storm when it was released. Personally, I remember my parents looking into getting tickets for the show. We all realized it wasn’t worth it since tickets were over eight-hundred dollars per person. The play itself also struck me as kind of strange. I questioned why everyone was getting so excited over the ethnically swapped show. One character within the show was especially strange. King George is right where he was supposed to be the entire time. The tyrannical King is laughing maniacally after each of his songs about how “You’ll Be Back”. While this is likely an accurate depiction of King George, one big question comes to mind. Why is he still white?             As a student brought up last class, why was Hamilton’s story choses by Miranda? It’s one of the oldest whitest stories in th...
Read more

Woodson, Literature, and Social Justice

  Katie Roessel 21st Century Lit. and Time Oct. 25th 2022 Woodson, Literature, and Social Justice Jacqueline Woodson’s “brown girl dreaming” is a memoir written entirely in poems, describing her life as a black Jehovah’s Witness growing up in the south during the 1960s and 1970s. In the beginning of the novel, in the poem “the beginning,” she writes of the beginning of her literacy journey. It was then when she asked her sister “Will the words end.” Her sister replies “Nope,” promising Woodson “infinity.” Woodson, through the description of her own life, portrays the idea that the whole world can be found through written words.           This idea of the infinite world of literature brings to my mind the written works of social justice figures throughout modern history. I think about the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. I think about the written speeches of Malcolm X. I think about Nelson Mandela’s various essays. I...
Read more

A Tale for the Time Being – "to live"

In the final third of Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being, old Jiko gives Nao and her father a seemingly simple – yet to them, a difficult – task: “to live” (362). While her final request to her descendants affects them deeply because of their suicidal ideations, it is also Jiko’s final comment on Zen Bhuddism. In the practice of Zen, one must be rather than think about being in order to truly be alive, so, Jiko’s request of Nao and Haruki #2 tells them to stop worrying, stop planning, stop thinking – just to live. Neither Nao or Haruki #2 actively lived in the moment before Jiko’s death, instead, they planned for the moment they would cease being. After her death, reporters, priests, and those who admired Jiko assumed that the meaning of her final writing, just the singular character for the phrase “to live,” was complex, deep, and mysterious. However, Nao and Haruki #2 are the only ones who understood the true intention of her final word. She simply tells them to be alive. By doing s...
Read more