“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” (Albert Einstein Quotes) Albert Einstein says that using imagination can take you everywhere meaning that you can become anything or anyone and understand what is going on while you are that person or thing. Fiction activates your imagination and has you connect with the character to better understand what that character is going through. Fiction would then be valuable to historians because it helps them see the emotions of people during the time they are studying. To prove this, this essay will test the historical accuracy of The Headstrong Historian , by Chimamanda Adichie, by comparing it to nonfiction accounts, the vital truth of colonial Nigeria will be established,
…show more content…
QUOTE TRANSITION “The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade did not mean an end to domestic slavery, and the need for people to work as producers and carriers contributed to local slave raiding and the extensive internal use of slaves. Missionaries and imperialists seeking territories to conquer used domestic slavery as justification for intervention.” (Falola 4-5) This shows that one of the excuses people gave to conquer Africa was that they still used slaves which is what Ayaju is showing in The Headstrong Historian but, there is no dialogue by the christian characters talking about how slavery is bad. The non-fiction source talks about what the Christians did and in The Headstrong Historian, the only relationship is that Ayaju’s son goes to a Christian school (Nothing about how slave descent is bad is mentioned by Christians). This shows some of the limitations of fiction sources such as that they cannot show everything that occurred during the time period because there is too much information to tell. Another way that trade has a role in colonization is in The Headstrong Historian when the white men try to tell the Africans how to trade. This is shown when “Nigeria’s mostly peasant farmers were induced (by the desire for profits but also in order to pay heavy colonial taxes) to orient their farming toward the production of export …show more content…
A vital truth of Colonial Nigeria was Great Britain’s Hubris, or excessive pride. This is proven by the passage, ”At every level, the colonial authorities were always obsessed with upholding their prestige and authority that they were quite happy to administer quick and brutal force when discussion and negotiations might have worked.” (Falola 27) This shows Great Britain’s Hubris and how it was a factor of why the British were so violent. It is shown during the passage when Father Shanahan (The Catholic missionary school head) talks about changing Anikwenwa’s name to Michael because he cannot learn under a heathen name. (Adichie __) The diction of a heathen name shows that the British, specifically Catholic missionaries, had so much pride in their culture and religion that no other culture and religion was even close to as great as Christianity and so they gave no importance to the Nigerian culture and religion and made that culture a heathen. One of the vital truths of Colonial Nigeria is Great Britain's Hubris and it is shown in The Headstrong Historian through the Christians who call African culture a heathen culture and give it a lowly
QUOTE TRANSITION “The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade did not mean an end to domestic slavery, and the need for people to work as producers and carriers contributed to local slave raiding and the extensive internal use of slaves. Missionaries and imperialists seeking territories to conquer used domestic slavery as justification for intervention.” (Falola 4-5) This shows that one of the excuses people gave to conquer Africa was that they still used slaves which is what Ayaju is showing in The Headstrong Historian but, there is no dialogue by the christian characters talking about how slavery is bad. The non-fiction source talks about what the Christians did and in The Headstrong Historian, the only relationship is that Ayaju’s son goes to a Christian school (Nothing about how slave descent is bad is mentioned by Christians). This shows some of the limitations of fiction sources such as that they cannot show everything that occurred during the time period because there is too much information to tell. Another way that trade has a role in colonization is in The Headstrong Historian when the white men try to tell the Africans how to trade. This is shown when “Nigeria’s mostly peasant farmers were induced (by the desire for profits but also in order to pay heavy colonial taxes) to orient their farming toward the production of export …show more content…
A vital truth of Colonial Nigeria was Great Britain’s Hubris, or excessive pride. This is proven by the passage, ”At every level, the colonial authorities were always obsessed with upholding their prestige and authority that they were quite happy to administer quick and brutal force when discussion and negotiations might have worked.” (Falola 27) This shows Great Britain’s Hubris and how it was a factor of why the British were so violent. It is shown during the passage when Father Shanahan (The Catholic missionary school head) talks about changing Anikwenwa’s name to Michael because he cannot learn under a heathen name. (Adichie __) The diction of a heathen name shows that the British, specifically Catholic missionaries, had so much pride in their culture and religion that no other culture and religion was even close to as great as Christianity and so they gave no importance to the Nigerian culture and religion and made that culture a heathen. One of the vital truths of Colonial Nigeria is Great Britain's Hubris and it is shown in The Headstrong Historian through the Christians who call African culture a heathen culture and give it a lowly