Safe Topic: The foils of Ifeoma and Amaka to Mama and
Kambili respectively, and comparing and contrasting their relationships within
those units and to each other. How Adichie develops the relationships between
each combination of these characters (Kambili to each of them, as well as
Ifeoma to Mama) and how that changes the scope of Kambili’s outlooks and attitudes
and her way of approaching conflict and her nuclear family. Are these
relationships symbiotic or are there more clear influences? How does Adichie
use structure and diction to draw parallels between these character units and
how does she show that they intersect? Why are they important relationships in
the story? How does the relationships being completely independent from men
shape their nature?
Likely: How does Kambili’s relationship with religion reflects
her relationship with her father. Her father and Father Amaldi can both
represent different aspects of religion and I would include an analysis of how
her relationship with these two men and her motivations/attitudes surrounding
them reflect that of her relationship and attitudes about religion. What
influence does religion have on her life? Which man symbolizes how religion has
affected/treated her? What does this say about Kambili’s future in the Catholic
church and is Adichie intentionally setting us up to make this prediction?
Finally, does Kambili’s relationship with religion seem organic or is it
forced? Is it out of fear that she loves Jesus? How does this relate to her
father and what can we learn about how she feels about her father from what we
know about her view on religion, or vice versa?
Risky topic: Comparing the character development of Jaja to
Kambili. While Jaja’s influences are more internal – discovering things that he
likes, feelings that were simply triggered by external forces such as being
taken out of his family unit and particularly away from his father, Kambili’s
development comes from very external factors – who she meets and interacts with
and learns from when she travels to Nsukka. How does Jaja’s development help us
to understand his behavior/acting out at the beginning of the novel? How is the
novel setting us up to predict how these developments will manifest themselves?
Do Jaja and Kambili act as foils for each other?
Looking at the relationships between characters is a good idea, especially the relationships between all of the women. I also really like your second topic choice. I think the aspect of religion is vital in the story. There are so many different ways to look at religion so you could approach this topic in many different ways.
ReplyDeleteI like your likely topic. I think it is really important to show the difference between Father Amandi's view of religion and Eugene's. Also, I think that Kambili's relationship with religion starts out forced but becomes organic. I think that turning point is when Kambili sees the Virgin Mary with Aunty Ifeoma and Father Amandi.
ReplyDeleteI really like your second idea! Religion is such an integral part of these characters' lives and the novel that by looking at the way the characters view and relate to religion (catholicism and also the traditional religion) we can also understand more about the characters and the relationships between each other.
ReplyDelete