Acehbe Essay

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.