Archive for December, 2006

The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger

This is a written task of about 1100 words written in English A2 on Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Its full title was “Excerpt from The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger“. It is an excerpt from the book that the District Commissioner plans to write in the last chapter of Things Fall Apart.

As you are probably aware of, our glorious Queen has sponsored a mission on behalf of the Church to tame the wild, native population of Africa. I was chosen as the District Commissioner for the District of Lower Niger, and in an attempt to ease the pacification of further tribes, I will share my experience here.

Seven years ago, our first ships arrived on the west coast of the continent. We began – as planned – by setting up a simple base of operations, after which we sent a missionary on a bicycle to the closest village. Unfortunately, his arrival in the village, which they called Abame, ended in a violent murder of the missionary.

Our research had led us to the conclusion that these natives, as expected, wield a very simple mindset. Upon encountering an unknown situation, they instinctively act in favour of their own well-being, just as animals do. That is why they killed our messenger. In a successful attempt to remove this unwanted behaviour, we went on to display the Queen’s might and thereby induce terror into the tribes. It is a well-known fact that simpletons are easily affected by fear. By entering the village with our army and punishing their hostility by executing the entire village, we succeeded in our task. Their futile resistance was of no danger to us.

Immediately after this victory, we sent more men to nearby villages. It is important to act quickly after such an act, because the natives might otherwise draw the conclusion that we are in doubt after the execution. The missionaries, who were sent to the village which the natives call Umuofia, managed to set up a church. It was built in a remote forest, which was thought to be haunted. Since the belief that the forest was “evil” was widespread among the natives, we could use this superstition to our advantage by displaying the power of God. Doing so was an important step in making the natives realise that their gods were false.

Mr. Brown was sent as the head of the church in Umuofia. He spent much time both collecting followers and communicating with the head of the natives’ religion. Their beliefs are very peculiar: they are certain that there is a personal god for every habitant in their tribe, who decides the success of that native in life. Clearly their so-called gods are less, if any at all, capable than our omnipotent God, because they are unable of looking after more than one follower each. They also make regular sacrifices to other gods, who have divided the world amongst them. An example is Ani, who is given sacrifices in the form of animals, and Ifejioku, for whom dry bushes are burnt. The natives believe that their gods will reward them for sacrificing. Of course, this would not work since the only God rewards he who deserves it.

The tribe seemed to be held together with a primitive, hierarchal structure, where the natives who possessed the largest farms and most palm-wine ruled. Since the rulers were the ones most eager to conserve their heathen ways in order to retain power, we systematically attracted the natives to the true religion in an ascending order of social status. We began with offering acceptance to the outcasts from the village, and thus gained a strong base. At first it seemed difficult to enjoin even the lower-class natives because of their firm belief that the outcasts were of no good, but when they were enlightened by the teachings of God, they realised that they were as much worth and that the differences between them posed no problem.
Soon, the converted natives were taught to write. This, too, was an important part of the pacification of the wilds, since we were able to promise good lives with jobs of high status to the educated ones. Although the process took several years, the natives slowly realised that the new order was advantageous and thus joined us. Another important factor was that we baptised the turned natives and renamed them. A young boy, who was formerly called “Nwoye”, we renamed to Isaac. I believe that this contributed to the connotations of education and superiority that the natives seemed to have about us.

As our settlement grew, a functioning court was built, and logic law was enforced upon Umuofia, as opposed to the primitive ways of justice that were practiced by the heathen. An example of a completely illogical custom was to abandon twins in an “evil forest”, as if they were less liked by God than other natives. This is clearly a cause of their praising to the false gods, who demand sacrifices and esoteric rituals. We consider this the point were our success was given, since the false gods’ will did no longer govern.

A series of interesting events occurred shortly after the establishment of the court, probably as the consequence of the return of a native who had been in exile for several years. Note that this never would have happened under the Queen’s rule, and was only caused by the tribe’s incorrect ways of justice.

The newcomer convinced the clan that the church had to be razed, and so a command squad was sent to do so. Thanks to the effective ways of our government, we quickly arrested the perpetrators and jailed them for a couple of days. Note that this, just like the battle of Abame, was done in order to both make justice and induce fear. A short time after the release of the captives, the troublemaker killed a messenger in a completely unprovoked manner. A squad was swiftly sent to bring justice to him, but we were surprised when we encountered his corpse, hanging from a tree. I let one of my men cut the body down – it is very important that the natives retain their respect for the district commissioner, and thus I could not be seen cutting down someone from a tree.

Suicide was seen as a crime, even by this simple tribe. Therefore, it is interesting that the troublemaker had committed it: one would have thought that he would attempt to pull his clan back to their old beliefs, or flee to another village. One explanation is that he realised that it would be impossible of no use to attempt to convince the clan, because they were already enlightened and knew that the ways of the false gods only led them wrong. Since this man was much respected in the formerly primitive clan, I believe that he had realised that the end of his reign had come, and thus saw no way out but committing suicide.

It is mesmerizing, what an end a false religion can lead to.

Haiku #35: Consoles Reviewed

First came three-sixty
Hot like burning Dell laptops
Green, mutated X

Then PlayStation 3
2^8 kilogram apples
I could buy for that

Enter saviour, Wii
Nunchuck and Twilight Princess
Wii Move You — my heart

I’ll probably wait for Super Smash Bros for Wii before buying the wonderful console anyway, but I’m still biased. Who would not be happy with a near-wireless Nunchuk?

This post was written as part of ProBlogger’s group-writing project on reviews and predictions.

Haiku #34: Dean Hunt

Viral marketing.
Lies provoke and bait backlinks.
Dean Hunt. Smart bastard.

I read about Dean Hunt’s so-called bizarre Google request — he’s gotten a request from an un-named company to climb down a few notches in the Google SERPs for an undisclosed keyword. Are we supposed to believe this? Just a few days earlier, he posted that he actually was going to start a viral-marketing campaign.

Even Slashdot covered the story, though it lacks any evidence at all. Sorry Dean, but i nofollowed that link for a reason (as if it’d matter now, when you’re cemented in the first spot).

Anyway, it was cool in a twisted way. I’m just bitter because I didn’t come up with it first.

Notes for Things Fall Apart: Chapters 10-13

Here are my notes for a seminary on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The seminary was about the position of women in Umuofia and how justice is carried out in the Ibo society (which incidentally had been written as IBO on our paper).

Women

• So far, women have been portrayed as weak and inferior.
• “the ceremony was for men” — Men have their say in the village politics, as opposed to women.
• “If a woman runs away from her hsuband” — Women hare the property of their respective husbands. They are like pets.
• Ekwefi’s pursuit of Agbala’s priestess and Ezinma: Both genders care, but women show it more.
• “we are giving you our daughter today. She will be a good wife to you. She will bear your nine sons like the mother of our town.” — Women are treated as a kind of goods, and their main purpose is to carry children.
• “He raised his voice once more twice in manly sorrow”, “the endless wailing of women” — Women are portrayed as more emotional than men are. Men cry in a specific way.

Justice

• There is no corruption and no jail. However, different people are valued differently, and there is exile.
• “a crime against the earth goddess” — Crime against the gods, not against the people.
• “[Obierika] sat down in his obi [...] why should a man suffer so grievously for an offence he had committed inadvertently?” — Obierika questions the system, but he ignores it anyway because it belongs to the Igbo people’s paradigm.

Specific Heat Capacity of Water (H2O)

Introduction

The aim of this investigation is to determine the specific heat capacity of H₂O (water). This is accomplished by measuring to which temperature a certain amount of energy takes the water. The independent variable of this experiment is the amount of current put into the water. The dependent variable is the water’s temperature over time. The controlled variables are the initial temperature of the water and the amount of water.

Materials and Methods

The following materials were used:

• scale
• calorimeter
• stirrer
• thermometer
• stopwatch
• power supply
• multimeter
• 385 g H₂O

The calorimeter was filled with 385 g of water, after which a measured current was applied to it the water. The temperature of the water was measured in increments of one minute, while the water was stirred with the stirrer.

The experiment was conducted only once, and thus the independent variable was not varied.

Results

P (the power) was derived with the following formula:

P = V * I

Since an accurate stopwatch was used, the error margin in the time-column is negligible. The thermometer used was difficult to measure with because of unclear display, which approximates to an error margin of 1 degree Celsius. There is a clear, linear trend visible in the data.

The specific heat capacity (c) was calculated using the following formula:

C = Q / (m*dT)

Where m is the mass of the water and dT is the change in temperature. Q is the heat added, which equals P times the time passed. Since the trend in the data is regular and lacks anomalous results, the total data can be used for this calculation. The calorimeter’s effect was neglected.

c = Q / ( m * dT ) = ( 47.43 * 60 * 22 ) / ( 0.350 * ( 52 - 16 ) ) = 4969 J(kgK)^-1

Conclusion

According to this experiment, the specific heat capacity of liquid water at 16 degrees Celsius is 4969 J(kgK)^-1. Comparing our result with literature values, Giancoli’s Physics (fifth edition) states that this value is 4186 J(kgK)^-1. Since our result was larger than Giancoli’s, we must have disregarded another loss of heat. This is because we assumed that the water absorbs all heat, which is not the case. Some heat is lost to the surroundings, e.g. the calorimeter and the air above it.

Note, also, that the current varied slightly during the investigation. It started as 3 A, but when the experiment had been completed, it had risen by approximately 0.1 A. From this, we can draw the conclusion that the resistance of water decreases by a small amount when it is heated between 16 and 52 degrees Celsius.

Evaluation

The method used is flawed on several points. The main weakness, though, is the fact that energy is lost to the environment. The calorimeter was a polystyrene cylinder with a mass of approximately 0.2 +/- 0.1 kg. Polystyrene has a specific heat capacity of 1.3 times 10^3 J(kgK)^-1 according to Wikipedia. The c*m factor of the formula for heat added (derived from the formula for specific heat capacity) is then for polystyrene 1.3 times 10^3 times 0.2 = 260 JK^-1, while the respective factor for water is 4.969 times 10^3 times 0.350 = 1739 JK^-1. Thus, the polystyrene calorimeter stands for a significant part of the heat lost. Heat was also lost to the heating apparatus as well as to the stirring stick and the thermometer, although these objects had low masses. By using an even more0 insulating calorimeter, with a lower specific heat capacity, we would decrease the heat lost to the environment.

The primitive method for stirring is another reason for heat-loss. A stick with a ring in attached to the end was used to manually stir the water, which led to exhausted arms and an inability to maintain stirring for a prolonged period of time. This could have been solved by using an automatic stirrer.

Notes for Things Fall Apart: Chapters 1-9

These were my notes for a seminar on chapters 1-9 on Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. More specifically, we were to discuss the traditional African society met in Umuofia (beliefs, rituals, values, traditions), the proverbial Ibo/Igbo language and its function, and comment on the characters of Okonkwo, Unoka, Nwoye and Ikemefuna. The notes are quite unstructured, but I find that easier to work with (or I’m just lazy).

• 3
  • “he had brought honor to his village by throwing [...]“ — Physical strength is important
  • “He was tall and huge”, “His wives and children could hear him breath”, “[...] he would use his fists” — Again, the physical prowess is very important among the Ibo.
• 4
  • “Unoka was [...] a debtor” — Unoka had failed in his life.
• 6
  • “sentences in proverbs”, “the art of conversation is regarded very highly” — Speech is an art
• 8
  • “warned not to whistle at night” — Religious or supersticious
  • “when the moon shines, the cripple becomes hungry for a walk” — Proverb
• 10
  • “Hiswives [...] lived in perpetual fear” — Okonkwo showed his manliness
• 11
  • “Okonkwo’s prosperity was visible in his household. He had a large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth.” — Red earth shows status.
• 13
  • “People came from far and near to consult [the Oracle Agbala]“ — Religious and believing
• 14
  • “[Unoka] said sadly, ‘before I put any crop in the earth, I sacrifice a cock to Ani [...] I also kill a cock for the shrine of Ifejioku” — Unoka is weak and tries to taket shortcuts to prosperity
  • “He neither inherityed a barn, nor a title, nor even a young wife” — Women are objects, a kind of currency. They are inherited.
• 16
  • “an old woman is uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb” — A meta-proverb! The Ibo are hard-core proverb-users.
• 17
  • “Eneke the bird says that since men have learnt to shoot without missing, he has learnt to fly without perching.” — Another proverb. Everyone adapts.
• 18
  • “Yam [...] was a man’s crop” — Further downgrading of women.
• 19
  • “Since I survived that year [...] I shall survive anything.” — Okonkwo is positive, iron-willed and resilient.
  • “It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone.” — Unoka told Okonkwo this semi-proberb. Did he refer to himself, failing alone?
• 21
  • “Ikemefuna should be in Okonkwo’s care for a while.”, “At first Ikemefuna was very afraid.” — About Ikemefuna’s arrival in Umuofia
  • “He came into the hut with a big stick in his hand and stood over him [...]“ — Okonkwo cold-heartedly teaches Ikemefuna manners, ignoring the fact that he is just a child.
• 23
  • “You have committed a great evil” — A friend, Okonkwo, is less worth than the accurate worshipping of the Ibo gods.
• 26
  • “Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo’s family.”, “He and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each other” — Nwoye felt at homem which also helped Nwoye on an emotional stage.
  • “Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he should live alone” — About the song that tells about Nnadi, cooking and eating alone. Nwoye is naïve and innocent.
• 28
  • “Every man whose arm was strong” — If his arm is not strong, he is not worthy of participating
• 29
  • “He pressed the trigger” — Okonkwo’s personality with aggressive tendencies is shown. You can draw parallells to John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men: In both, a main character’s aggressivity is gradually increased and foreshadowed. They also have similar endings, and both the books’ names are inspired by poems.
• 32
  • “Nwoye’s mother” — Nwoye’s mother’s name is never mentioned, which makes Nwoye the central person instead of his mother. A parallell is the non-naming of “Okonkwo’s wives”‘.
• 33
  • “Sit like a woman!”, “No, that’s a boy’s job” — Okonkwo keeps to principles and gender-discrimination. He forces Ezinma, his daughter, to behave like women should.
• 34
  • “The whole village turned out on the ido” — wrestling (physical prowess) is important
• 38
  • “For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo’s household” — Ikemefuna’s life
  • “He was an elder brother to Nwoye” — Ikemefuna was helpful and important for Okonkwo’s son
• 39
  • “Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell” — Nwoye believes that his father is right and that he himself is weak. Therefore, he sacrifices himself for him.
• 41
  • “Umofia has decided to kil him” — The end of Ikemefune
  • “He calls you father” — Fathership is very important, since Okonkwo is encouraged to disobey the laws of the clan in order to honor it.
• 44
  • “Okonkwo [...] cut him down [...] afraid of being weak” — Pride and status is more important than the family, according to Okonkwo.