Ancestor Stones

So far I'm not really a fan of "Ancestor Stones."  I mean, some of it is interesting but it's kinda a drag to read.  I don't know, maybe as time goes on I may begin to like it but as of now..... Nah!!!

Even though I said that it doesn't really catch my attention, it still has some parts that, as I said, I found interesting.  For instance, the whole ordeal in the second chapter of how Asana and Alusani go on the trip and see the "moon shadow man" and he offers Alusani a salted covered egg.  Was the egg poisoned?  Because it just seems funny to me how after eating this egg, he began to act strange.  I understand that he had a brain tumor but even with the tumor, I think that the egg had a lot to do with his passing.  Another interesting thing that caught my eye was how they are all related; however, when Mariam was taking about the places that she would go with Bobbio, you would have never guessed that they were related.

The book was a little hard for me to follow.  Call me slow or whatever but it took me the longest time to understand that the following chapters after Abbie's were letters that were written to her from her family.  If I'm wrong, please correct me because that it was I'm getting from it.

Xala

What I found extremely interesting is how quickly the Africans accepted the European ways.  I understand that they were forced to learn about nothing but Europe in school; however, why not fight to hold onto your traditions and lifestyle.  One person that I liked was Rama, even though she had accepted some European traits like the hatred of polygamy, her modern views intrigued me.

It was also great to see how the wives felt about polygamy for a change.  It never dawned on me that maybe they would hate the idea of being wife number  so and so.  Just by my pride alone, I would hate to be just a number to my husband.  I could understand the jealousy of the first wife.  She has been forced to give up time with her husband to a spoiled brat.  Even though I really didn't like the second wife, she was the most realistic to me.  Before the third wife came into play, she basically had El Hadji to herself.  Polygamy was fine, as long as she was the one getting most of the attention.  However, as soon as the roles switch and there is another wife in town, there is a problem.  

The moomes are nowhere near long enough for me to really get a chance to really fall in love.  Speaking of love, did they ever really fall in love?  Take the third wife for example, she was practically forced to mary El Hadji.  And the Xala?  I believe that El Hadji was just plain and simply getting old.  The thought of having a young girl excited him so much to that point that he became impotent by her sight.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

I don't know about anybody else but reading How Europe Underdeveloped Africa really bothered me. It is sad to read how Africans were droved through trickery and enforced into slavery. And why? All because they weren't "civilized" enough for the British, French, and the Arabs. Who determines whether a culture is civilized or not? Just because you can't understand the way a person lives doesn't mean that they aren't civilized.



What is also funny, is that the same people who aren't "civilized" were forced to grow their food and do all of their manual labor. How lazy can you be? Not even that but how heartless can you be? Millions were killed because of your laziness and it doesn't bother you one bit! The only reason that they were able to encapture the Africans were because of their guns and ammunition. How cowardly is that. Speaking of guns and cowards, they had the audacity to use Africans in the front lines of a war as "tephlon" for themselves. What is that? For them to be so strong and brave, where was that bravery and courageousness during the war when there is a gun and a rifle pointed at you.



The whole white supremacy ordeal is plain and simply stupid. Which person told you that you were the divine, ideal human of mankind? The only thing that made them supreme at the time were their guns, and chains. Other than that, had it not been for Africans and their homeland sending them money for food, they would not have even been able to survive.



Also, how could you practically force a person to do all of your manual labor and pay them practically nothing. But your lesser white counterpart get paid practically millions compared to the Africans. And the school system? Pathetic. Of course Africans had to learn about Europe or Brittain because that's all the teacher knew. And also, because learning about Africa and how they were forced to do all of your labor was not important at all.