Literary works like Things Fall Apart, the Ramayana, and the Analects of Confucius are masterpieces which come from different places and different times, but all of them are able to depict globalization, education, and trade. This is because these books are based on the culture of the society that conceived it, and globalization, education, and trade are some of the elements that play important roles in a society. Reading these books gives us a glimpse of their society, as well as the culture of the people in that society.
In the context of Globalization, we can see that Things Fall Apart discussed how the white men came into their tribes and converted some of their members. After Okonkwo’s exile, he came back to his town to find out that there were a lot of changes brought about by the white men (Achebe).
On the Ramayana, globalization is depicted by the wars being fought by Rama against Ravana. Globalization can be associated to this because it is an attempt to unite different people, so misunderstandings could really arise (Center for Alternative Development Initiatives).
In Confucius’ Analects, globalization is seen in the holistic approach of Confucius. He takes people as his students, no matter who they are, as long as these students wanted to learn. This opens up to a another important element of the society which is education. Confucius states that he only teaches those students who wish to learn (The Internet Classics Archive).
In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a strict father who rules his family with an iron hand.
The Essay on Things Fall Apart And On Earth Strife And Goodwill Towards Men
The burden and calling to reach out and help others, enfold many people in society throughout the world. Rich or poor, young or old, black, red or white, the motive is helping those with a need. As Chinua Achebe points out in his book, Things Fall Apart, though there is the aspiration to lend a hand, it can sometimes becomes deadly, and even fatal to the lives of people. Although the missionaries ...
He imposes that his family should learn well from his ways, and his mode of educating them is by teaching them the harshness of human life. In Ramayana, education is depicted as a continuing process, wherein Rama learns more about his world as he travel in search for his wife Sita. The last element which is similar in the stories is the concept of trade. In the Ramayana, trade is depicted by the coexistence of different races in just a single world (Crocker).
They coexist not because they don’t have problems, but because they are benefiting from each other, which in essence is trade (ARDictionary. com).
In Things Fall Apart, trade was manifested as a form of settlement when one tribe has wronged another. In order to avoid any war, a virgin and a boy served as payment to the other tribe. This is a trade because a set of goods or services is traded for another.
Works Cited: Achebe, Chinua. “Things Fall Apart”. 1958. April 13 2008. <http://www.sparknotes. com/lit/things/>. ARDictionary. com. “Trade”. 2006. April 13 2008. <http://ardictionary. com/Trade/5682>. Center for Alternative Development Initiatives. “Globalization”. 2003. April 13 2008. <http://www. cadi. ph/globalization. htm>. Crocker, John. “The Ramayana”. 1998. April 13 2008. <http://www. crock11. freeserve. co. uk/ramay. htm>. The Internet Classics Archive. “The Analects by Confucius”. 2000. April 13 2008. <http://classics. mit. edu/Confucius/analects. html>.
