During my first visit to the village of Umuofia, I was struck at the differences in the buildings in the village.The first building I went to visit was the Meeting Hall. It appears like it was built by the people and was made with materials that were native to the area. I remember the book saying that the weather there was hot and dry for a portion of the year and rainy for another portion, therefore it makes sense that the building would be close to the ground and have such a large covering.
I decided to enter the Meeting Room and was amazed at how detailed it was compared to the appearance of the Meeting Hall from the outside. The Meeting Room has intricate painting on the walls and what I am assuming are gods in the center and corners of the room. It also appe
ars like there is seating the the people who come to meet.I then thought it was interesting to view the Christian Mission. It is built with different materials and has walls on the sides. It also has a front section with an overhang which I assume is the entrance. The building seems to have a solid foundation and more diversified construction than the Meeting Hall. As I thought about these differences, it made sense to me that this building would be different than the Meeting Hall because the missionaries arrived a long while after the Ibo people had settled and probably brought their ideas about the construction of buildings with them.
The final building that I looked at was the District Commissioner's Headquarters. This building, to me, seems the most advanced. It has two levels and a staircase. There are square windows and pillars to support the building. The thatched roof is still present, but that is about the only thing that truly signifies that this is a building in Africa.
5 comments:
I wonder why the meeting room is so detailed? Its very cool looking, but its the only one I noticed that was really decorative. I'm curious as to why that is...
Wonderful comparison of the buildings -- that is what I wrote about, too!
I find it fascinating that the newer buildings deviate from the style of the older ones, but use many of the same building materials (thatched roofs, etc). What else were they going to use, right?
I picked the two story building too. I thought it out of place for an African nation.
I have one request here if you don't mind. As a requirement for our assignment, we need to create a story map of the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Can i use some of your picture here for the sake of my assignment? I am a trainee teacher form an institute and currently a scholar in TESL (Teaching English as A Second Language) in Malaysia. So, on behalf of my group members and also not to violate the copyright property of yours, I would like to ask permission from you to use this picture as the front cover of our book. The picture is very unique & extravagant and we are very interested in it. Therefore, I hoped that you wouldn't mind if we use it. We guaranteed that your copyright property is protected by all cost. Lastly, I really hoped to hear a good news from you. Thank you very much.^^
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