ipl-logo

The Fortunes Of Wangrin Summary

1431 Words6 Pages

Amadou Hampaté Bâ is extremely detailed throughout the book, The Fortunes of Wangrin, in explaining the colonial world in West African societies. He provides multiple examples in this work of fiction that precisely describe the factual aspects of African colonialism that we have discussed in class. I will point out a few of the examples that Bâ uses such as: limitations colonial governments set on Africans, the Métis relationships within colonies, and issues that arose, not only between Europeans and Africans, but within the native African communities as well. I will then point out certain details from the book that do not perfectly reflect the components of colonialism that we have studied in lecture. The French colonists created many discriminatory laws in the colonies they dominated and the native Africans were commanded to obey …show more content…

For example, the Commandant, and many other European colonists, fell in love with African women and the African men were at a disadvantage. Generally, African women would choose to marry the white man because of the probable wealth and fortune that she could receive. These African women were sometimes able to have control over trade and French involvement in it, when their French husband died (HIST 130, 2/7/18). Another Métis relationship shown in the book is that between Wangrin and Madame Terreau. Madame Terreau is an example of a European settler that came to Africa to make a life for herself because of the poor quality of life she lived in Europe. Wangrin became fascinated with her, but as their relationship moved forward, Madame Terreau began to ask for more and more from Wangrin. Eventually, she takes everything from Wangrin and is one of the leading causes of Wangrin's downfall. This I think is an important part of the book because it eludes to the hardships that Europeans created for

Show More
Related
1027 Words | 5 Pages

With Martin, she only ever stuck to the duties a woman normally sticks to, but Arnaud is a merchant. When a woman’s husband is a merchant, she is allowed to engage in merchant activities as well, thus with Arnaud Bertrande’s sphere of freedom expands. She gets more opportunities to experience the world around her aside from the normal confinement a woman has to her house. Bertrande seizes this chance for independence to the fullest, and “What Bertrande had with the new Martin was her dream come true,” (44). For not only does she get more freedom with him by being a merchant, but she also fulfils her previous more mature independent desire for a partner she genuinely likes.

Read More
655 Words | 3 Pages

George Washington Williams, an African American legislator, and Kande Kamara, an African colonial subject, both experienced some of the most brutal products of European Imperialism. Williams, in the late nineteenth century, toured the Belgian controlled Congo and witnessed the harsh measures King Leopold implemented to maintain absolute control and bleed the country of its resources. Kamara, on the other hand, bore witness to the end result of overzealous imperial ambitions when he was forced to fight for the allies in the trenches of WWI. These two men’s experiences, although considerably different, both shed light on Europe’s colonial philosophy of racism and ethnic superiority and its position of immense power during this period.

Read More
515 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, the reader follows the main character Wang Lung as he lives in the shifting nation of China. The novel begins on Wang Lung’s wedding day as he travels to the great house of the city to marry his new wife- a former slave named O-Lan. Wang Lung never truly loves O-Lan, but respects her for her hard work. Together the two work on the family’s small plot of land. O-Lan successfully births three children, and all is well until the famine strikes.

Read More
587 Words | 3 Pages

The Zhou dynasty was in power between the years of 1046 - 256 BCE. It was longest dynasty. It came after the Shang dynasty. The Qin dynasty took it over and ended it. It ended in 256 BCE when the Qin state took over the city of Chengzhou.

Read More
784 Words | 4 Pages

In The Legacy, Basil Davidson discusses the legacies of colonialism in Africa and gives an insight on modern Africa and the successes and downfalls that it possesses. Moreover, he states that many of the issues seen in modern day Africa are not new and have their roots in the long years of European colonialism that profoundly shaped and continues to shape the continent. Throughout the documentary, various themes regarding postcolonial Africa are mentioned in depth. A few of the themes that Davidson highlights are modernization, ethnicism, corruption, inequality, dictatorship, and neocolonialism.

Read More
173 Words | 1 Pages

The novel, The Good Earth, is set in a time period where the terrors of war are brewing and people are starving. Plagues of locust, floods, droughts, and famine afflict the nation. The protagonist of this novel, Wang Lung, and his family experience these adversities along with the rest of China; however, the countless hardships that mark the early 20th century cannot stop Lung from fighting for his family. He takes advantage of every opportunity that crosses his path. When they are starving, he strips bark off trees to calm the aching stomachs of his children.

Read More
715 Words | 3 Pages

Since the time of colonialism, Blacks and Indigenous peoples fell under the totalitarian ruling of colonists who have obviously favored their own race over others in order to expand their political, territorial and economic powers. As a result, the non-whites (notably the Blacks and Indians) were unjustly segregated and classified as inferior to the

Read More
551 Words | 3 Pages

Beginning in the mid 1800’s, the scramble for Africa proved to be one of the most important events in World History. The term “scramble for Africa” describes the rush and uttermost important desire that European countries had to imperialize the countries in Africa. Imperialism is the dominance of a stronger country over a smaller one politically and economically. Stronger countries imperialize weaker countries in order to gain new resources and acquire a better trade system. The Europeans desire to imperialize Africa was driven by their perception of god, gold, and glory.

Read More
552 Words | 3 Pages

Each African county was placed under the imperial powers rule. The European powers quickly imposed foreign domination and colonized their African countries. During the colonization of Africa, the African states political, social, and economic structures changed. A prime example of the damage that can be done by an imperial power invading Africa is Great Britain’s annexation of Kenya. We see the impacts of colonialism in the British colonies as an examples of the consequential impacts caused by the British.

Read More
439 Words | 2 Pages

Rosa Parks: Who is Rosa Parks? Rosa Parks (born Rosa Louise McCauley) is a civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. She was born in 1913, Tuskegee in Alabama and she tried to end racial segregation and racial discrimination for African American people. What kind of racial discrimination and racial segregation was present in the 1950’s?

Read More
1585 Words | 7 Pages

Colonialism is the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. In addition, a colony is a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country. Following the end of the slave trade, between the period 1871- 1914 European nations rushed on the African continent to exploit its large fields of raw materials and precious metals. Also known as the scramble for Africa, different territories on the continent experienced various forms of colonisation. This paper will focus on the Algerian case.

Read More
435 Words | 2 Pages

Quite simply put, Europeans viewed Africans and Native Americans as inferior to themselves. They were considered to be heathens and barbarians by the Europeans. And, at least initially, they were not Christian. It was believed that Europeans could save both Native Americans and Africans not only spiritually but also economically and socially. This type of attitude also most likely made it much easier for the Europeans to discriminate and exploit them.

Read More
167 Words | 1 Pages

All in all, Lung’s sons are very greedy and do not understand the real aspect of their lives and traditions they were born into. As one of the most famous presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt said “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” In the novel Wang 's eldest son thought having the possession of money was the most valuable thing in the world and thought the universe revolved around it. Wang and his sons do not have the same values and that is not good for his sons because Wang has good values for his tradition and to make sure the next generation is stable to live like he did. But his sons do not care about anyone but themselves and all they do is what is best

Read More
311 Words | 2 Pages

In this past week, we studied three differently unique kingdoms of Africa, consisting of new innovations, intense strategy, and well light rules of civilization. These three kingdoms were named Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, all being intriguingly fascinating. The African kingdom I choose to live in is Songhai because women are given the privilege to mingle with men freely, Muslims had spoken many common languages, and they set up and efficient tax system. To begin with, most countries have limits on how a woman should be with a man, by only being chose to be married, rather than choice. However in Songhai, women weren’t held down to one man, but rather choose who she feels happy with in her life, which is sort of like today's society.

Read More
1753 Words | 8 Pages

Moreover, Western civilization became the ideal civilization, and became way superior to African “civilization.” As a consequence, African tradition became perceived as primitive, outmoded, and sadly not welcomed by the rest of the world. Unfortunately, a lot of Africans experienced a trend of a dying out culture. (2) It can be implied that even the Africans’ self-perception dropped because the only lifestyle they knew was suddenly taken away from them and they were taught that it was substandard. Therefore, the indigenous inhabitants of the colonies, the Africans, had to adapt to a new, “superlative” culture and view it as more sophisticated than theirs.

Read More

More about The Fortunes Of Wangrin Summary

Open Document