Hunted
by the Western Technology
Africa and Koreans are both being
hunted throughout history. They were both invaded
and
controlled by foreign states with higher technology. They were occupied by
cultures they didn't know. It did not feel good. Also, both groups had part of
their population taken away to benefit the Empires that colonized them.
Africans were taken away to work for growing cotton farm and Koreans were taken
away to Japan for working in factories to reduce the production cost. It was
horrible time for them and we felt as if we were hunted by lions. Some of these
experiences caused both of the occupied cultures to have misconceptions forced
on them by the colonizers. They felt as if they were unable to handle
themselves, they were uncivilized, and technologically behind. It was
impossible for us to go up against countries such as the United States and
various European colonizers.
Most Asian are known to be less
diverse. The reason is because most of them don't want to become separate from
their culture. They usually live together and barely learn foreign languages in
places where they live. Koreans, however, adapt to certain regional areas and
become part of that culture. That is why Korean town did not form until long
after Chinese or Japanese towns formed in the United States. Another stereotype
is that they are genius. Well Asians are known to be geniuses, but not all of
them are. They are not geniuses because of their high IQ or having a better
brain, but having an extreme after-school program. “The ‘studious’ stereotype has no doubt emerged from
Korean exchange students that pour into the West. These students are from very
wealthy families. The average income in South Korea is $2300 a month. Many
parents of multiple children cannot afford the additional costs of private
education.” shows that it is not the person who is smart but because of harsh
studying condition. After
school, parents of Korea send their children to private tutoring center to make
their kids be successful in future. This academic madness started because of
competitive environment. Each parent wanted their children to be better than others.
Koreans are known as a small country between major powers. Even though Koreans
were invaded, they held off invasion forces for 500 years until neighboring
countries learned about western weapon technology. Koreans also had some great
military technology. One was a ship called Turtle ship. It can shoot a cannon
ball or shoot flame from its dragon head. It had iron spikes and iron armor on
the top so the crew was protected. The country was shown as a tiny, weak
country, but it was not as tiny and weak as it seemed.
Africa was mainly hunted by the Europeans and when the
Europeans left, most of Africa’s culture had influence from the western people.
The old western people’s story about Africa forced stereotypes on African
people. There were many misconceptions about Africa. Most people think that
Africans are uneducated, unintelligent, uncivilized and many other
un-adjectives. Achebe’s story fills the missing or lost stories of Africa. It
shows many different perceptions of Africans than common stereotypes. On page
108, Ekwefi was crying when she was showing the sign of gratitude: “Ekwefi did
not answer. Tears of gratitude filled her eyes. She knew her daughter was
safe.” This proves or shows that African’s are not savage people. It shows that
they care about their family and they are just like us. Also, another example
is Okonkwo’s angry speech. He asks if people ever felt sad after losing all
their children and yams. The speech shows how much grief that Okonkwo was in
and his seriousness which proved that Africans are just a normal people like us
with different culture and technology.
Most people think Africa is uncivilized and probably live
on the floor. However, they are not.
The passage from page 14 shows how much knowledge they have about how to protect
themselves: “The barn was built against one end of the red walls, and long
stacks of the compound was a shed for the goats, and each wife built a small
attachment to her hut for the hens. Near the barn was a small house, the
medicine house or shrine where Okonkwo kept the wooden symbols of his personal
god and of his ancestral spirits. He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola
nuts, food and palm-wine, and offered prayers to them on behalf of himself, his
three wives and eight children.” This shows how complicated the lives of
African people really are. They live in a completely protected house and even
have medicine house for the gods. This shows how much culture they are and that
they not savages who live like a caveman like westerners would like to believe.
African people and Korean people were both hunted. They
both got invaded and got their culture influenced by it. Most people think
Korea is just like any Asian country but it is not. We try to adapt with other
people and they are not stubborn and made no contact with foreigners. Also,
Africans are known for this stereotype of being uncivilized, but they know how
to build strong houses and grow crops to take care of their family. Our stories
were told by Hunters, but the Lion will always tell the true story.
Bibliography
Cassels, James V.
"Top 10 Misconceptions About South Korea." Listverse. Listverse.com, 20
Dec. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
Lee, Grace.
"Opinion: Koreans Are 'good,' 'bad' and Everything in between." In America RSS. CNN.COM, 22
Apr. 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
Paul. "Top 10
Misconceptions of Koreans." Teaching
Kimchi. TeachingKimchi.com, 1 Apr. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
