Monday, May 19, 2014
Odili's Hypocrisy?
In your opinion, how fair is Odili being when he criticizes his father as a colonial middleman who did not care about the needs of his people and who has been a selfish womanizer? After all, Odili recognizes that figures like Nanga (figures who are the new powerbrokers) are corrupt and mostly looking out for themselves instead of for the needs of the people. Odili also tentatively realizes that Nanga has his own appetites for women. Nonetheless, Odili chooses to travel to the city to live with Nanga and to embrace the wealth and glamour of someone of Nanga's position. In your view, which is worse, Odili's father helping a colonial administrator or Odili seduction by power and his relationship with a man like Nanga?
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I think that Odili is a very smart man and is using the connections he has with the minister to his advantage. In such a place and such a time these connections are crucial to someone’s success, so I don’t judge Odili for taking advantage of them. However, I think that rather than criticize his father, Odili must consider why his father did what he did. I agree with Odili that his father was not a good person, but I don’t think that Odili should be so harsh when he is acting similarly.
ReplyDeleteI think Odili isn’t being fair at all in his criticism of his father. While I do think his father’s actions aren’t perfect, Odili should by no means be the one to criticize someone for being selfish. Odili is essentially living the life–he lives with the most powerful and wealthy man in the land without much responsibility. He has access to cooks, women, and cars. I’m not blaming Odili for this; who wouldn’t do what he is doing? I’m just saying he should be that harsh on his father for making decisions to benefit himself. On the other hand, I do think Odili is just in criticizing his father for not caring about his children. Odili acts selfishly, but he doesn’t have much responsibility for others. He doesn’t have a wife (or 5) or any children like his father, so has the right to worry about himself.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Odili’s relationship with Nanga is equal to his father’s role as an interpreter. They both put themselves before their community, and do what’s best for them. Odili wanted to have influence, and being in his position serves his best interests. His father wanted money, so he did what he needed to do in order to be wealthy. Neither of these actions are terrible, but both involve doing something that isn’t necessarily right for money and power.
It's hard to say, because like we talked about on Friday: the story is told in 1st person. Our perspective as the reader is bias because we're receiving information through Odili. It is hard for me to criticize Odili because I understand his motivations. He knows that Nanga is a very powerful man who can help him, and he is using his connections to his benefit. That being said, by staying with Nanga, Odili is going back on many of the morals and beliefs he held himself to in the first chapter, so I do not think he is in a position to justly criticize his father. I am not condoning his father in any way, I just think Odili should not be so quick to judge.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sylvia: because the reader is allowed to view the situation only through the lens of Odili's view, it is difficult to make a definite judgement about any of the characters. However, from what we have seen, I absolutely think that Odili is being hypocritical, although not consciously so. The irony of the story is that he does not realize that he is quite like his father in the tactics that he uses to get ahead; both men live in a world where, they believe, they must use connections to succeed. In this way, I do not believe that either man is worse than the other. They simply manipulate their different situations to help themselves do what they want to do.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Odili doesn't recognize the similarities between himself and his father made me thing about the larger universal message Achebe may have been sending through these characters. How often do we, as human beings, criticize another's actions while failing to recognize that we do the same thing? I specifically thought back to my initial reaction on the way Africa is perceived-- it is easy for us to criticize the problems faced there, but much more difficult to acknowledge that we face similar (although certainly very different as well) problems here in America.
I think that Odili is not quite (or not yet) being hypocritical; he could argue he is only taking advantage of Nanga, who would have otherwise had an empty house. He has not yet done anything to help Nanga directly. But he is moving towards Nanga and maybe coming to admire him too much, so he could soon become much worse. He has not yet come anywhere near his father in terms of power, (and he is not married or having children whom he cannot provide for,) and he will remain un-hypocritical in my view as long as he leaves the capital doing hardly anything more. To answer the last part of the question, I think that what Odili's father did was worse, given the limited knowledge I have of the differences in conditions under the English Empire and under the new free, or "free," state.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to judge Odilis because, like Sylvia mentioned, the novel is written in 1st person so I understand his motives. He is using the power that he has to his advantage. This makes a lot of sense, especially when you fact in the the time period. However, I do think he is being hypocritical. He's very quick to judge his father. This is pretty ironic because he's very similar to his father. He sees the flaws in his father that he has himself and judges him on it rather than reflect on himself.
ReplyDeletethe hope of africa
ReplyDeleteI feel as if Odili is being hypocritical when he yells at his father for acting the same way that he is acting. No I don't blame Odili at all for they way he has handled this situation, and for taking advantage of it, but to turn on his father and criticize his father is way out of hand. There are many different ways he could have handled this situation. However like Syliva said, it I very hard to dislike Odili and create criticism towards him because this is told in first person and Odili is the narrator, we know all of his background information and his motives.
ReplyDeleteOdili and his father put themselves over the community, but I think it’s understandable why. He moves in with Nanga in a big mansion, living the good life, and that’s completely understandable for me. He feels like he is superior, like he deserves these things. But criticizing his father isn’t right because him and his father probably have similar ideas. I don’t think it’s necessarily right what him or his father is doing but it’s definitely understandable. I think that before Odilli criticizes his father he needs to reflect back on his own choices.
ReplyDeletebelieve that Odili is a very educated man who in ways is smarter than the minister. He has a relationship with the minister that he uses much to his advantage because the minister is the most powerful and influential person in his community and he looks up to and admires Odili, who can then like he does in these chapters use this to his advantage. Odili is smart in a way that he knows that he can benefit from his relationship with the minister and it would not be advantageous to make him an enemy because of all the power he has. It is better that he gets along with the minister for the time being and learn from all the experiences he is able to have through this relationship, though all the while still holding on to his personal beliefs and ideas about what kind of a man the minister really is, so as to not allow the power to go to his head. I am very torn in what is think about Odili criticizing his father because on one hand he is changing up some of his morals that he stated very clear and strongly in the beginning of the book, i think while Odili does hold the right to question his fathers action he should instead of being so quick to criticize him. Take time to reflect on why his father acts the way he does and why he made some of the choices that he did, Odili should take the time to walk in his fathers shoes and see if he would not have acted in the same way.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinoion, I feel like it is pretty hard to judge odilli because his reasons are understandable. The power that he has obtained, he is using it to his advantage. He is coming to admire Nanga, but not too much to the point where he changes. Also, I do think he is being hypocritical. he is very quick to judge his father. I think that Odilli must take into accout why his father did what he did. I don't think that Odilli should be so harsh when he acts so similarly as his father. BUt, I do agree that his father was not a "good" person.
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