It would be a grave mistake to underestimate the power of storytelling. Stories are not only a common method of communication, but also “encapsulate the deepest fears and hopes, dreams and nightmares of the people; within these emotional images, thinkers pass on to those of us who care to listen the thoughts and ideals of our forebears” (Scheub 2). In this sense, stories reflect and affect the societies in which they are told. Stories are derived and created from the society of the storyteller. Conversely, the perpetuation of these stories then influences the societies in which they are told by passing on “thoughts and ideals.” This cyclical relationship between stories and society illustrates why stories are not only entertaining, but are
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A hero can be defined as someone who contains “past ideals and a future vision; because of this ambiguity (the past and future both containing destructive and creative potential), he is able to lead the people from one (the past) to the other (the future)” (Scheub 198). This definition places the hero at the center of social change as he or she leads people into a new future. Thus, the depiction of a successful or unsuccessful hero reveals the qualities one must have in order to instigate social change. Both Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero narrate the journey of a hero in order to assert who is and isn’t able to successfully lead people to a new social order. The protagonists in both of the novels are faced with oppressive social forces that lead them to a cross roads of whether they will fight established social constructs or accept things the way they are. While Okonkwo must cope with the presence of colonization in his village, Firdaus navigates the struggles of being a woman in a patriarchal society. Although both characters meet their death at the end of the novels, one can still assess their roles as heroes and whether or not they truly made an impact on the societies in which they operated. Ultimately, a side-by-side comparison of the heroes depicted in Things Fall Apart and Woman at Point Zero reveals that one must actively defy social norms and hierarchies in order to successfully lead people into a new social
A hero can be defined as someone who contains “past ideals and a future vision; because of this ambiguity (the past and future both containing destructive and creative potential), he is able to lead the people from one (the past) to the other (the future)” (Scheub 198). This definition places the hero at the center of social change as he or she leads people into a new future. Thus, the depiction of a successful or unsuccessful hero reveals the qualities one must have in order to instigate social change. Both Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero narrate the journey of a hero in order to assert who is and isn’t able to successfully lead people to a new social order. The protagonists in both of the novels are faced with oppressive social forces that lead them to a cross roads of whether they will fight established social constructs or accept things the way they are. While Okonkwo must cope with the presence of colonization in his village, Firdaus navigates the struggles of being a woman in a patriarchal society. Although both characters meet their death at the end of the novels, one can still assess their roles as heroes and whether or not they truly made an impact on the societies in which they operated. Ultimately, a side-by-side comparison of the heroes depicted in Things Fall Apart and Woman at Point Zero reveals that one must actively defy social norms and hierarchies in order to successfully lead people into a new social