Paper 3- Psychoanalytic Theory of Everyday Use

                               When brothers or sisters are raised by the same mother and grew up together as siblings, people will think they will have things in common and be lovable but in the story Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," however, this is not the situation and they end up being completely different. The only thing Maggie and Dee have in common is that they were raised together but the reality is they are very different, personality and how they think. In "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, walker shows how completely different two sisters can be. Maggie is the youngest daughter and the quiet one and Dee is the one that is out there more and the one who want a better life. Maggie and Dee show psychoanalysis problems that Tyson talks about in, "Using Concepts from Psychoanalytic Theory to Understand Literature”. The theory of psychoanalysis focuses on events that we go through in life as we grow up shapes our psychological development, which shows as we get older. In, “Using Concepts from Psychoanalytic Theory to Understand Literature" Tyson describes psychoanalytic theory has "encounter life events, as we grow up, that shape our psychological development and these early experiences tend to 'play out' in our adult lives" (Tyson 23). Tyson says that psychoanalysis haves to deal with cores issues, which includes, Low Self Esteem, Insecure or Unstable Sense of Self and the defenses they face which are Avoidance, Denial, and Displacement. In this story you come to realize that these two sisters are going through some sort of psychological disorder. As we go through life one way or another we all have gone through psychological disorders at one point in our life. From birth to death we all go through problems which we repressed, our own psychological wounds

                          

                              In the story “Everyday Use” Dee is very different from Maggie personality wise, Dee is outspoken while Maggie is quiet. As Tyson psychoanalysis states Maggie shows “Low Self Esteem”. Dee affects Maggie and causes Maggie to be jealous of her, ever since the fire that happened in her house that that happened a long time ago which is the reason why she haves burns on her body. Maggie is jealous of her sister, as mama says “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes; she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe” (Walker, 274). Maggie’s is insecure about who she is because of the way her sister treats her, not much of a loving sister, and someone below her. Throughout Dee’s stay, Maggie was always quiet, nervous and very self-conscious of herself. She was also jealous of Dee’s much easier life. As Dee arrives, Maggie try’s to run back into the house but Mama won’t let her. Her fears, her jealousy’s took over at this point of time, in comparison to her sister it seemed as if they came from two different worlds, which made it extremely easy to grow a low self-esteem threw out time. ”Low self-esteem is the belief that we are less worthy than other human beings and, therefore, don’t deserve attention, love, or any other form of life’s rewards.” (Tyson26). Dee also shows displacement towards Maggie. Displacement is when “we take out our negative feelings about one person on someone else so that we can relieve our pain or anger without becoming aware of the real cause of our repressed feelings” (Tyson, 26). Dee is trying to convince and tell Maggie that she doesn’t like her life but it was really Dee who didn’t like her own life and tried to deny it and change it but Maggie is content with her life. She was trying to make her sister think like her. She tells her “you ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it” (Walker, 281).

                            

                          Another way Dee and Maggie is different from each other is the way they think. Dee thinks only about herself and how things benefit her while Maggie is not like that. Dee is insecure about how she looks and her core issue is known as “Insecure or Unstable sense of self.” “Insecure or unstable sense of self” is when we may have a tendency to repeatedly change the way we look.”(Tyson27). Dee always wanted a better life, an example was shown at her arrival visiting her mom and sister with Hakim-a-barber. Dee dressed very elegant and acted like she was better than others toward her mother and sister. Dee changed her looks, her name, and her persona. Dee also shows the defense of Avoidance. Avoidance is “we stay away from people, places, or situations that might stir up repressed experiences (Tyson 26).Dee is trying to avoid her family and forget where she comes from. “I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told they were old-fashioned, out of style” (Walker 280). The defense mechanism hat Dee shows is Denial. She does this by changing her name from Dee to “Wangero Leewankia Kemanjo” (Walker 278). The name was passed on from generation and she shows that she is ashamed of it and is denying where she came from and her family. “I couldn’t bear it any longer, bring named after people who oppress me” (Walker 278). Denial is “We are in denial when we believe an unpleasant situation doesn’t exist or an unpleasant even never occurred.”(Tyson 26).

                       

                     The way the sisters treated each other and how the differences between them made them complete opposites and led to the consequences of how they can’t be close sisters. As for example Dee only thinking about herself and how she can have a better life, and Maggie letting her low self-esteem take over her especially on Dee arrival and when she starts to act different because of that. Since Dee and Maggie are blinded by their own core issues they couldn’t act like real sisters.

                     

                    Maggie and Dee are two sisters who have nothing in common personality wise and how they think. Maggie is the quiet one and is happy with the way her life is while Dee is the one that is out there more and the one who want a better life. While the two sisters grew up together they are very completely in their own way and go through problems which repressed their psychological wounds. We also as human beings dealt with core issues and defenses in the way we thought it was right. The Characters of the story “Everyday Use” Dee and Maggie had a few core issues from the concepts of "Using Concepts from Psychoanalytic Theory to Understand Literature” Each character dealt with their psychological disorders in their own way. From Low Self Esteem, Insecure or Unstable Sense of Self and the defenses they face which are Avoidance, Denial, and Displacement to even changing their whole persona.

                                                               Work Cited

Tyson, Lois. Learning for a diverse world: Using Critical Theory to Read and Write about Literature .New York: Routledge, 2001.

Print.

Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use”. Learning for a diverse world: Using Critical Theory to Read and Write about Literature. Ed. Lois Tyson. New York: Routledge, 2001. 274-281. Print.

revised

                                        Okonkwo's Downfall in Things Fall Apart

                         For years, which still happen today, people continue to go through obstacles in life and not being able to handle all the challenges they have to face in the end. Such like Okonkwo which lead to his personal misfortune. The obstacles Okonkwo faces in life are a lot. Okonkwo's challenge came from himself. Okonkwo had problems with dealing with his family, trying so hard not to be like his father and making his son to be like someone he wants. As many people in the world, Okonkwo cares too much about what people thinks of him and that is the reason for all the things he done including to his sons Ikemefuna and Nwoye .He not only had problems with his family, but also with the white culture as well as in his own culture, as he becomes frustrated with tribal ideals that conflict with his own, he is a victim of his own anger, dignity, and determination, which eventually he ended up killing himself. The way Okonkwo faces his problems in Things Fall Apart eventually leads to his downfall.

                        Okonkwo was a proud strong man who with working hard was able to bring himself to be a respectable man in his clan. Okonkwo always let his anger get the best of him and showed no emotion to prove he was a real man and better than his father. Okonkwo fear of people thinking he was just like his father made him work hard since he was a child. This made him hate everything his father was made of, which was weakness and being lazy, “Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness” (Achebe 13).when Okonkwo father died he had been in a lot of debt, Okonkwo became obsessed with the idea of manliness in order to get over his father weakness. “It was the fear himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.”(Achebe 13). Therefore, Okonkwo only showed the emotion of anger. He strongly believed that "To show affection was a sign of weakness the only thing worth demonstrating was strength” (Achebe 28). Okonkwo’s life first began to fall apart when Ikemefuna, thet boy he considered as his son was killed. Ikemefuna went to live with Okonkwo's family because a woman from Umofia was killed in the Ikemefuna home land and they send Ikemefuna to Umofia as way of stating their peace. Umofia decided to leave Ikemefuna in Okonkwo care until they decided what to do with him. Ikemefuna lived with Okonkwo for three years and he considered Ikemefuna as one of his own sons, he actually cared about him. “Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the body inwardly of course. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it was an emotion of anger” (Achebe 28). When he is told that the oracle had decided to kill Ikemefuna, to show everyone he is not weak and is a real man he decides to kill Ikemefuna himself, even when Ogbuefi Ezeudu, a great and fearless warrior told him not kills him he still did.” That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death” (Achebe 57). Ikemefuna runs toward him saying "My father they have killed me"(Achebe 61). Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him done. He was afraid of being thought weak. He was affected by Ikemefuna death. Okonkwo dealt with a lot ever since that night.” He didn’t eat and sleep for days. Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna” (Achebe 63).

                          Another event that led to Okonkwo's life falling apart was when he was thrown out of the clan for seven years. Okonkwo's hopes and dreams from there had begun to fall apart. His hopes of being the highest member of the clan had been destroyed because of what happened. Okonkwo didn’t have his animals or farm. When Okonkwo had accidentally killed a fellow clansman when firing his gun at a traditional farewell ceremony, Okonkwo had to flee the same night. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land. He could return to the clan after seven years.” It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land, the crime was of two crimes male and female, because it had been inadvertent. He could return to the clan after seven years” (Achebe 124).

                         After seven years had passed, Okonkwo returns to his homeland. Only he returns        to learn that the missionaries had come and made many changes to his village:

Perhaps I have been away too long,' Okonkwo said, almost to himself. But I cannot understand these things you tell me. What is it that has happened to our people? Why have they lost the power to fight? Have you not heard how the white man wiped out Abame?' asked Obierika. I have heard,' said Okonkwo. But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards to compare ourselves with the men of Abame. Their fathers had never dared to stand before our ancestors. We must fight these men and drive them from the land. (Achebe 175).

Okonkwo didn’t listen to the new religious orders because he was scared of losing the social status he worked so hard for. He would fight and die for the way he viewed things and the way his life was before, and he did.

                        He feels betrayed when his son Nwoye transfer to Christianity and join the missionaries. He doesn't see how Nwoye can just give up his beliefs for a religion with values that seems unbelievable. “Now that he had time to think about it his son’s crime stood out in its stark enormity. To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination” (Achebe 153). But Nwoye sees the Missionaries as more understanding he thinks about everything his father did and how he treated him and how his father killed Ikemefuma he decides to leave his father and says he doesn’t consider Okonkwo a father. From that moment on Okonkwo thought why he had a son like Nwoye but he realize he wasn’t worth fighting for so he disowns Nwoye as a son, “Nwoye was not worth fighting for. Nwoye joining the Christians affected Okonkwo a lot. Why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son?”(Achebe 152).

                        Okonkwo is also very resistant to the rules of the missionaries. If the tribe was to switch over to the Christians then all his hard work and sacrifices such as the killing of his son Ikemefuma and the struggle he made to clear his father's name and show he wasn’t like him, would all have been all for nothing. The event that immediately led to Okonkwo's downfall was when he killed one of the head court messengers. There was a meeting and the head court messengers came to stop the meeting and Okonkwo was just fed up with everything so he killed him and that was his biggest mistake. ”In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow.it was useless. Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body”(Achebe 204).Okonkwo knew that the white man was going to find out and the word will spread quickly, and that they would imprison then kill him as an example. He also knew that Umuofia will not be strong enough and go to war especially since they let the other messengers escape. “Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action”(Achebe 205). Rather than to turn himself in to the white man, Okonkwo decided to kill himself, a sad way to die. In the end Okonkwo could not even be buried with his clansman. “It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offense against the earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansman” (Achebe 207). Okonkwo was a great man in a lot of people’s eyes and he could even be buried the right way, his dreams never came true

                        The consequences for all of the stuff the Okonkwo did was losing everything he loved, and which he did little by little and losing his two sons, because he did consider Ikemefuna a son. Okonkwo lost everything he worked for and what he had planned to become in life. For someone who head was held so high to end up taking your own life and not even being able to buried by your clansmen is brutal.” That man was one of the greatest men in Umofia. You drove him to kill himself, and now he will be buried like a dog.”(Achebe 208).

                        From all these events that led to Okonkwo downfall one could see that Okonkwo's life was a total failure. People who fear they may become someone eventually lead themselves to becoming it by trying so hard to be the opposite of the person. Anyone can see that Okonkwo had not achieved his goals which had a lot to do by the way he handled things, but instead, by the end of his life, he had become a failure like his father. As you can see Okonkwo's true devastation was his manliness and the way he viewed things.

                                                                      Work Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.

Print.

Paper 2

                                               Okonkwo's Downfall in Things Fall Apart

                          A lot of people go through stress and not being able to handle in the end. The obstacles Okonkwo faces in life are a lot. Okonkwo's most challenge came from himself. He not only had problems with the white culture, but also in his own culture, as he becomes frustrated with tribal ideals that conflict with his own. The way Okonkwo faces his problems in things fall apart eventually leads to his downfall. Okonkwo's dedication to his manliness is what leads him to these circumstances of violence and the way he thinks is the reason for his downfall.

                        Okonkwo was a proud strong man who with working hard was able to bring himself to a respectable man in his clan. Okonkwo always let his anger get the best of him and show no emotion to prove he was a real man and better than his father. Okonkwo was scared of people thinking he was just like his father so he worked hard since he was a child. This made him hate everything his father was made of, which is weakness and being lazy. ”Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness”. (Achebe 13).when Okonkwo father died he had been in a lot of debt, Okonkwo became obsessed with the idea of manliness in order to get over his father weakness. ”It was the fear himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.”(Achebe 13). Therefore, Okonkwo only showed the emotion of anger. He strongly believed that "To show affection was a sign of weakness the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.”(Achebe 28). Okonkwo’s life first began to fall apart when Ikemefuna, his supposed to be son was killed. Okonkwo considered Ikemefuna as one of his own sons, he actually cared about him. “Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the body inwardly of course. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it was an emotion of anger”.(Achebe 28). When he is told that the oracle had decided to kill Ikemefuna, to show everyone he is not weak and is a real man he decides to kill Ikemefuna himself, even when Ogbuefi Ezeudu, a great and fearless warrior told him not kills him he still did.” That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death.” (Achebe 57). Ikemefuna runs toward him saying "My father they have killed me."(Achebe 61). Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him done. He was afraid of being thought weak. He was affected by Ikemefuna death. Okonkwo dealt with a lot ever since that night.” He didn’t eat and sleep for days. Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna.”(Achebe 63).

                          Another event that led to Okonkwo's life falls apart was when he was thrown out of the clan for seven years. Okonkwo's hopes and dreams from there had begun to fall apart. His hopes of being the highest member of the clan had been destroyed because of what happened. Okonkwo didn’t have his animals or farm. When Okonkwo had accidentally killed a fellow clansman when firing his gun at a traditional farewell ceremony, Okonkwo had to flee the same night. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land. He could return to the clan after seven years.” It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land, the crime was of two crimes male and female, because it had been inadvertent. He could return to the clan after seven years”(Achebe 124).

                         After seven years had passed, Okonkwo returns to his homeland. Only he returns to learn that the missionaries had come and made many changes to his village. "Perhaps I have been away too long,' Okonkwo said, almost to himself. But I cannot understand these things you tell me. What is it that has happened to our people? Why have they lost the power to fight? Have you not heard how the white man wiped out Abame?' asked Obierika. I have heard,' said Okonkwo. But I have also heard that Abame people were weak and foolish. Why did they not fight back? Had they no guns and machetes? We would be cowards to compare ourselves with the men of Abame. Their fathers had never dared to stand before our ancestors. We must fight these men and drive them from the land”. (Achebe 175). Okonkwo didn’t listen to the new religious orders because he was scared of losing the social status he worked so hard for. He would fight and die for the way he viewed things and the way his life was before, and he did.

                        He feels betrayed when his son Nwoye transfer to Christianity and join the missionaries. He doesn't see how Nwoye can just give up his beliefs for a religion with values that seems unbelievable. “Now that he had time to think about it his son’s crime stood out in its stark enormity. To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination.” (Achebe 153). But Nwoye sees the Missionaries as more understanding he thinks about everything his father did and how he treated him and how his father killed Ikemefuma he decides to leave his father and says he doesn’t consider Okonkwo a father. From that moment on Okonkwo thought why he had a son like Nwoye but he realize he wasn’t worth fighting for so he disowns Nwoye as a son. “Nwoye was not worth fighting for. Nwoye joining the Christians affected Okonkwo a lot. Why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son?”(Achebe 152).

                        Okonkwo is also very resistant to the rules of the missionaries. If the tribe was to switch over to the Christians then all his hard work and sacrifices such as the killing of his son Ikemefuma and the struggle he made to clear his father's name and show he wasn’t like him, would all have been all for nothing. The event that immediately led to Okonkwo's downfall was when he killed one of the head court messengers. There was a meeting and the head court messengers came to stop the meeting and Okonkwo was just fed up with everything so he killed him and that was his biggest mistake. ”In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow.it was useless. Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body”. (Achebe 204).Okonkwo knew that the white man was going to find out and the word will spread quickly, and that they would imprison then kill him as an example. He also knew that Umuofia will not be strong enough and go to war especially since they let the other messengers escape. “Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action”. (Achebe 205). Rather than to turn himself in to the white man, Okonkwo decided to kill himself, a sad way to die. In the end Okonkwo could not even be buried with his clansman. “It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offense against the earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansman” (Achebe 207). Okonkwo was a great man in a lot of people’s eyes and he could even be buried the right way, his dreams never came true

                       The consequences for all of the stuff the Okonkwo did was losing everything he loved, and which he did little by little and losing his two sons, because he did consider Ikemefuna a son. Okonkwo lost everything he worked for and what he had planned to become in life. For someone who head was held so high to end up taking your own life and not even being able to buried by your clansmen is brutal.” That man was one of the greatest men in Umofia. You drove him to kill himself, and now he will be buried like a dog.”(Achebe 208).

                        From all these events that led to Okonkwo downfall one could see that Okonkwo's life was a total failure. People who fear they may become someone eventually lead themselves to becoming it by trying so hard to be the opposite of the person. Anyone can see that Okonkwo had not achieved his goals which had a lot to do by the way he handled things, but instead, by the end of his life, he had become a failure like his father. As you can see Okonkwo's true devastation was his manliness and the way he viewed things.

Work Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.

Print.

Take Home Quiz

FATHERHOOD

How might the problems between Okonkwo and his father, Unoka, influence the later struggles Okonkwo has raising his son Nwoye is but always to prove he is strong and not weak like his father was. Okonkwo's father was a lazy man who did nothing for his village. Okonkwo hated how his father was so weak and does everything he can to be nothing like him. He is hard-working and shows no weakness or emotional to anyone. Since early childhood Okonkwo’s embarrassment about his lazy father, Unoka, has made him want to work even harder and the man he is today. Okonkwo’s is terrified of being weak or "womanly" like his father. For the reason he behaves meanly and rough to his son nwoye to make him man up. Okonkwo doesn’t show emotion or shows he even cares about nwoye. Okonkwo continually beats Nwoye, hoping to change him and make him a man.”Okonkwo first son nwoye, was twelve years old but was already causing his father’s great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating”.(Achebe 13).Okonkwo didn’t have a father and son relationship with nwoye because Okonkwo believes that Nwoye haves the same genes and weaknesses that his father Unoka haves.

WOMEN’S RIGHT

In traditional ibo culture women have no rights or liberties. They always end up taking the men side, the men have all the privileges. For example in chapter ten when the wife family rescued her from her abusive husband, they had a right too she was constantly getting beaten to the point where the neighbors heard and even tried to intervene. Also the night when she was ill and he beat her to death. “Last year my sister was recovering from an illness, he beat her again so that if the neighbors had not gone in to save her she would have been killed”(Achebe 92) . He was beating her for years and she a right to leave. But in the end the evil forest took the husband side and all he had to do was bring a pot of wine and beg his wife for return. He did not get no punishment instead he got a reward, he got his wife back. His wife had no say in nothing, her family and her husband was debating where she should go no one really asked her for her opinion.

THE ENDING

Okonkwo commits suicide because he loses his place as a man in his culture, a place are now by the Church and Christian values.  From the beginning of the story, he worries about his manhood because of his father who was weak and lazy because he had no titles. Throughout the whole story, Okonkwo struggles with the changes taking place in his tribe. He is one of the strongest, most honorable men, but as the white man begins coming in and other tribal members begins to change and even his own son who converts to Christianity. Okonkwo can’t believe what is happening.  He sees these other clansmen as weak, like he saw his father was weak. What Okonkwo fears the most is weakness. Through everything Okonkwo has tried to remain strong against all the changes. Okonkwo kills the colonial official in the end, to show his way show the weakness and white man. No one have his back they all just stand there shocked. So Okonkwo kills himself rather than to be alive and the white man take over him, he already knew what was going to happen that’s why he killed himself. I don’t think it was an admirable choice because in the end he couldn’t even be buried with I don’t think it was an admirable choice because in the end he couldn’t even be buried with his clansman. “It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offense against the earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansman”(Achebe 207) I also believe for killing himself he showed everyone what he always feared to be and that is weak.