TFA+Journal+4+(Sarah+B)

Chapter 9 - 11

Text-to-Text:

In Chapter 11 of __Things Fall Apart__, as Ekwefi was chasing Chielo in the forest, she started talking about the things she feared in the dark forest. One of them was the Ogbuagali-odu, which is the "evil essences loosed upon the world by the potent "medicines" which the tribe had made in the distant past against its enemies but had now forgotten how to control" (p. 104). When I read this line, I was immediately reminded of one of the many short stories we had read in clss this year: //The Feeling of Power//.

In __Things Fall Apart__, the tribe has forgotten how to control the evil essences, that were once helpful to fight against its enemies. In //The Feeling of Power//, we see that our future generations have forgotten how to do simple mathematics without a calculator or a computer, and later 'discover' how to multiply using paper. In both stories, the society has forgotten a skill that has been useful to them in the past. Although in __Things Fall Apart__ the message does not play a big role in the theme of the novel, I think both books show how societies are always evolving and changing.

Question: What skill have we forgotten over the years? Why has this skill gotten lost?

I responded to Minji's Question