The Headstrong Historian By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Mariam Kone Ms. Chang and Ms. Salamon- Abrams English Class A May 19, 2015 ENGLISH PBAT Why are people so impatient to leave their own culture to adopt new beliefs? Throughout history, African countries have been full of Christian Missionaries who offered education, as long as people in the village convert to their faith and learn English leaving behind their cultural roots. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the British colonized Nigeria and built churches in villages to get individuals to practice their religion. Thousands of Nigerians started to accept Christianity and reject their own traditions. As time went by, European missionaries gained much power in these tribes and started controlling people. The British believed their culture was superior. They felt they were bringing civilization to primitive sinful cultures. Some individuals decided to escape the British colonial education system to reveal the truth about their history and renew their beliefs. This is presented in the short story â€Å"The Headstrong Historian† by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who writes to show the ways cultural conflict can influence different individuals in the same environment. Through her protagonist Grace, known as the headstrong historian, Adichie tells her own story and the story of her struggle to fight British ideologies. Adichie uses Grace s dynamic character to show that an individual can reconstruct her lost knowledge of her people when she finds a cultural and spiritual connection toShow MoreRelatedThe Destruction Of Igbo Culture : The African Perspective1367 Words   |  6 Pagesperspective of their colonization, but also as a way of showing that his culture was not simple and straightforward to understand; it was intricate and dynamic. Forty-nine years after the publication of Things Fall Apart, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie published her short story â€Å"The Headstrong Historian†. The story has the same setting as Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and begins at the time when missionaries had first come to Africa to convert Africans to Christianit y. The short story delves further into one aspectRead MoreThe Thing Around Your Neck2524 Words   |  11 PagesYWCA Indianapolis P.O. Box 40264 Indianapolis, IN 46240 T: 317-250-8593 EM: ywcaindy@sbcglobal.net www.ywcaindy.org Questions for â€Å"The Thing Around Your Neck† by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Cell One 1. What were your thoughts on this first story about the spoiled boy, Nnamabia who stole from neighbors and his own family and always got himself out of whatever jam he was in? 2. Why do you think his family let him get away with such actions for so long? Could you tell they treated boys differently