Sunday Reading Task : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

 Hello!

I am Nidhi Jethava and I am a student of MK Bhavnagar University department of English. In this blog I am going to discuss some of the important topics about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (/ˌtʃɪmɑːˈmɑːndə əŋˈɡoʊzi əˈdiːtʃeɪ/ born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer whose works range from novels to short stories to nonfiction.[5] She was described in The Times Literary Supplement as "the most prominent" of a "procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors [which] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature",[6] particularly in her second home, the United States.

1.Did the first talk help you in understanding postcolonialism?

Answer:- 

Yes, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first talk helped use In understanding postmodernism. In her talk we can easily find the aspects of postcolonial criticism. Adichie's talk is about how Americans consider African people. In her talk we came to know about four critical aspects.

She talks about Cross-cultural interaction.

Identity 

Language

Hybridity and lots of things. 

Here, I would like to discuss all the things in her speech. In her speech Chimamnada Adichie said that when she was child she just thought and read about foreign literature. It means she talks about pony tales. She mentioned that her characters were with skin and blue eyed. They played in the snow and they ate apples. Now Chimamand talks about her type of people. Postcolonial writers like Chinua Achebe and Camaro Laye. She mentioned that when she read African literature then her concepts were changed. 

2. Are the arguments in the second talk convincing?

Answer :- 

Yes the arguments in this video whatever she takes his concerning. In this video she talks about feminism. She mentioned one incident from one hotel. She walking alone in and one waiter consider her as sex worker. She felt angry. Then she talked about in Nigeria how women were treated. She talked a lot about how men were superior and women considered inferior.  In this video she talks about “ Gender as it functions today is a grave Injustice.” Next she talks about how differently we treat boys and girls. Next she talked about the marriage system. And she quoted “ we teach females that in relationships, compromise is what women do.”  In this video whatever she makes is connected with all colonized countries. 

3. What did you like about the third talk?

 

Answer :-

The third talk I like the most is her satire on one lady who pronounced her name incorrectly. 

A few years ago, I spoke at an event in London. The English woman who was to introduce me had written my name phonetically on a piece of paper. And backstage she held on tightly to this paper while repeating the pronunciation over and over. I could tell, she was very eager to get it right.

And then she went on to the stage and gave a lovely introduction and ended with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Chimichanga.”

I told — I told this story at a dinner party shortly afterwards. And one of the guests seemed very annoyed that I was laughing about it. “That was so insulting”, he said, “that English woman could have tried harder.”

But the truth is she did try very hard. In fact, she ended up calling me a fried burrito because she had tried very hard and then ended up with an utterly human mistake that was the result of anxiety.

So, the point of this story is not to say that you can call me Chimichanga. Don’t even think about it.

The point is that intent matters, that context matters. Somebody might very well call me Chimichanga out of a malicious desire to mock my name, and that I would certainly not laugh about. But there is a difference between malice and a mistake.

We now live in a culture of calling out, a culture of outrage, and you should call people out. You should be outraged. But always remember context and never disregard intent.

 

4. Are these talks bringing any significant change in your way of looking at literature and life?

Answer :- 

Yes, these talks bring changes in my way of looking at literature. First I think that only I read is literature but after reading and listening to Chimamanda I can understand that whatever is happening near us is also literature. My perception has totally changed. 

 

Thank you