Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Traditional religion as well as religious beliefs and practices are important issues which are discussed in ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe. The major theme focuses on the conflict between the Igbo society and culture as well as the religion of the colonists. The Umuofia society is religious as it is characterized by the worship of Chuckwu the chief the god, spirits and the ancestors. It is clear that the religion practiced in Umuofia is animistic in nature similar to other  traditional religions in other parts of Africa.   The people of Umuofia believed that most of both the living and non living things had the ability of possessing souls and the spirits. For instance, members of the society believed that forests like the evil forests had sprits of  evil and that is why twins were abandoned there as they  were considered to carry bad luck. Further studies indicate  that it was possible for a man to buy a craving in the market and make it to be an object o f worship after invoking his spirit in it.   There were other spirits like the spirits of rivers, lakes, wells and the earth, to name just a few.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the Umuofia society, men and women were regarded differently as they did not hold the same positions. For instance, men were rulers as well as leaders while women were considered   Ã‚  as servants. Therefore, the spirits of women were inferior to the spirits of men although women were also allowed to carry out religious rituals since they could become priests. According to Achebe (pp. 30), the Umuofia community had a female deity who was known as ‘Ani’. In addition, there was also a male deity who was known as Agbala or the ‘Oracle of the Hills and the Caves’ (Achebe pp.30). According to Achebe, (pp. xxxv) ‘chi’  was a personal god for an  individual  which had the ability to  follow people throughout  their whole life.   One of the major characteristic of ‘chi’ was the fact that it was  capable of either  being  good or bad.   Such a characteristic was very important because  it  determined the success of an individual. Therefore, incase someone had a good ‘chi’, such a person ended up being successful while people with a bad chi were full of misfortunes. However, although ‘chi’ was powerful,  a person had the power of determining his destiny. In addition, medicine men could intervene and help someone with a bad ‘chi’  to become successful. The Umoufia society was powerful among its neighbors and was greatly feared. The neighbors considered going into war  with it as a last option, incase all the  other options  failed.   The priests and medicine men who were vey powerful contributed  greatly to  its  superiority.    Its source of the military power was the war medicine although the age of the same was not known.   The medicine  which was the source of  the strength was known as agadi-nwayi which meant an old  woman. Villagers  believed that an old woman with one leg was often seen by someone who passed by the shrine which was centrally placed in the evenings.   Since  the villagers believed that she was sacrificed when the village was being formed, that explains why she was capable of being powerful.   In addition, the villagers believed that performing religious practices and rituals made someone to be powerful. As a result, the woman could have derived  her power from the sacrifices  that took place during the formation of the village.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Achebe, Chinua. Things fall apart. Oxford: Heinemann, 1996. Print.

Mineral Photos - How to Take Great Photos of Minerals

Mineral Photos - How to Take Great Photos of Minerals Do you want to take great pictures of your mineral specimens? Here are some tips and tricks to help your mineral photos turn out looking wonderful. Mineral Photography Tips Know your camera.You can take wonderful pictures of mineral specimens using a disposable camera or cell phone; you can take terrible photos using a high-end SLR. If you know what works in terms of distance and lighting for the camera you are using then youll have a much better chance of taking a great shot.Be accurate.If you are taking a photo of a mineral out in the field, then take the picture of the mineral where you found it rather than moving it to a pretty location.Take multiple pictures.If youre in the field, approach your specimen from different angles and take a variety of shots. Do the same back home. Taking ten shots of the exact same angle, background, and lighting is less likely to give you a great photo than taking several different photos.Make the mineral the center of attention.If possible, make it the only object in the photo. Other objects will detract from your specimen and may cast nasty shadows on your mineral.Choose your background wisely.I take the majority of my pictures on a white plastic cutting board because it doesnt cast reflections back toward the camera and because I can apply light behind the mineral. White is great for specimens with good contrast, but it doesnt work as well for light-colored minerals. Those minerals may do better with a gray background. Be careful using a very dark background because some cameras will take a picture that washes the detail out of your specimen. Experiment with different background to see what works best. Experiment with lighting.You are going to get different pictures in sunlight than you will under fluorescent or incandescent lights. The angle of the light makes a big difference. The intensity of the light matters. Look criticially at your photo to see if it has distracting shadows or whether it flattens out any three-dimensional structure of your mineral specimen. Also, keep in mind some minerals are fluorescent. What happens in you add black light to your specimen?Process your image, with care.Pretty much every device that takes pictures can process them. Crop your images and consider correcting them if the color balance is off. You might want to adject the brightness, contrast, or gamma, but try not to go beyond that. You might be able to process your image to make it prettier, but dont sacrifice beauty for accuracy.To Label or Not To Label?If you are going to include a label with your mineral, you can photograph a (neat, preferably printed) label along with your mineral. Otherwi se, you can overlay a label on your picture using photo editing software. If you are using a digital camera and arent labeling your specimen right away, its a good idea to give your photo a meaningful name (like cordundum rather than the default filename, which is probably the date). Indicate ScaleYou may wish to include a ruler or coin with your specimen to indicate scale. Otherwise, when you describe your image you might want to indicate the size of your mineral.Try the ScannerIf you dont have a camera, you may be able to get a good picture of a mineral specimen by scanning it with a digital scanner. In some cases a scanner can produce a nice image.Take NotesIts a good idea to jot down what works and what fails miserably. This is especially helpful if you are taking a large sequence of pictures and making a lot of changes.