Examine the images above. One is an artistic representation of Okonkwo, the other is a relatively modern take on the urban male of today. Please compare to two images, and by seeing what Okonkwo is not, how do we find out more about what he is?
Aspects to think about are clothing, jewelry, and the visual background.
Please make your response THREE paragraphs in length.
Due: B Block: Wednesday, 12/1
A Block: Thursday, 12/2
To compare a modern day man to Okonkwo, there are just so many things different that it's hard to see where to start. So I'll be good and abide by the aspects already written down. Number one, clothing/jewelry. Obviously, because there is just so much differences in the lifestyle of Okonkwo and a modern day man, they have totally different clothing and jewelry. In my opinion, Okonkwo looks more intimidating than the modern day man probably because he has on that headbandish thing and painted face. Also, the sticks protruding from his mouth and nose make him look so utterly different. The modern day man does not have as much jewelry, but he looks colorful and bright.
ReplyDeleteAs for the the visual background, in Okonkwo's picture, there is no background. Yet I think the black and white photo portrays the colorless, and (all most) emotionlessness of Okonkwo. As for the other, he has bright colors as said before, and although we can not tell for sure, it kind of feels like the man is having a nice or at least okay life.
I think that by identifying what Okonkwo is not, it helps us know his character more. I know now how sad and colorless Okonkwo is now by comparing him to the modern day man. Understanding a character can be done in many ways, and I think comparing the character with other things are one of the ways and can be quite useful.
Zen
A2
First of all, the clothing between them is very different. The modern guy is wearing very colorful clothes plus he is wearing sunglasses. Despite being, Okonkwo is almost naked with some thin cloths and necklaces. You can easily see the big difference by looking what they wear.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I would like to talk about their faces. Okonkwo’s facial expression looks very sorrowful, but the modern guy is enjoying what they do. Besides, relating to the story of faces, Okonkwo is very skinny that there is not enough fat to cover his bones.
Lastly, the way how Okonkwo paints his face shows the African traditions, which is extremely different than what we do. Nowadays, people have a right to do whatever they want such as hairstyles, and fashions. However, Okonkwo is from small village in Africa, therefore he needs to put small accessories and put paints on his face in order to obey the rules.
The modern day man and Okonkwo, a man from Africa, is very different, even looking at their pictures. First of all, their clothes are very different. I can assume that even though it doesn’t show, Okonkwo wears less clothing than the modern day man. The modern day man is heavily clothed, with a long shirt and pants. Second of all, they have very different accessories on themselves. Okonkwo is heavily accessorised. He is wearing lots and lots of necklaces and things to accessorise his head as well. The modern day man is not wearing so many accessories except for some sunglasses. Also, he is on a skateboard while Okonkwo looks like he has no idea what a skateboard even is.
ReplyDeleteThe visual background of the picture is also very different. In Okonkwo’s picture, it is a blank grey. It is not that interesting and it kind of symbolises that Okonkwo is not so content with his life. The background of the modern day man is very colourful, showing the busy city with cars and modern buildings. This shows that he is very up to date with the modern technology and that he is a city boy. They both have very different visual backgrounds.
By knowing what he’s not, we can assume certain things which he is. For example, by comparing the two pictures, I can see that Okonkwo is not a city man who is up to date with the modern technology. With this information, we can predict that he is a man who lives in the country side in a poor country which is not up to date with the current technology.
Lisa He A1
By looking at the pictures, Okonkwo's clothing is more of a religious type, and the other one is more of its own fashion. Okonkwo has some face painting, which looks traditional. And his fashion is not that cool(I'm sorry to say that...). And now, there is lots of clothes, plus accessories and hats. And I think Okonkwo didn't have any choice about clothing because I think they didn't have alot of technologies yet.
ReplyDeleteBy looking at the picture, the background of Okonkwo's is simple and there's nothing. On the other one, there is buildings. It tells that there weren't any tall buildings like now.
Now, young people hang out when they are free. But Okonkwo worked most of days, especially farming. Now, young people don't farm. But in Okonkwo's time, they needed food supplies in order to live. So it means that Okonkwo didn't really have any freedom. Since he had to work, and had no choice of fashion.
B4 Shiori Hishinuma
There are many differences, but one big part is clothing. Unlike the modern day, they didn't have as much colorful clothes. They also didn't have jeans, sneakers, and sunglasses. Now a days, we normally wouldn't have some kind of paint or something on our faces out in publicly.
ReplyDeleteAnother big difference you can see is the background, and for example, in the modern day, there are cars unlike before. Something they never had that there before at their time were like skateboards, which the man in the picture is riding. There also weren't concrete roads in Okonkwo's time, but there was a lot more nature there than now in the cities. But you can also notice that there were no pictures back then, unlike now.
By knowing what Okonkwo is not can help identify what he is. For example, You can see that he is not a current modern boy who would be in L.A. or New York City. He's more like a man who has tradition in how he dresses and shows power, just like the real him.
Comparing Okonkwo with the modern man has many things to point out. firstly, their style of their clothing. On the picture of Okonkwo on the left, he wears many necklaces; and for the picture of the modern man on the right, he wears a jacket, jeans, what we all wear. Modern man wouldn't wear many necklaces like Okonkwo does. Their clothes are colorful; and what they are made out of is very different.
ReplyDeleteSecondly; I cannot understand what is the white tape (?) on Okonkwo's face. I don't think not much people would also understand what that is. But if we make it Okonkwo's point of view, I don't think he would understand what the board with wheels are on; which is a skateboard. There are many differences between these two people; mainly because of their differences of its period of time.
Thirdly; the visual background. Just by looking them roughly, you can realize that the modern picture is more rather colorful; since the picture of Okonkwo is in black and white. And also; the visual background of the modern picture has cars, buildings, and all the other things that it didn't have in Okonkwo's period of time.
Suzu Hiroyama
Lit A1
12/1/10
There are a lot of differences between these two images of Okonkwo and the modern man. Firstly, the two mens clothing are very different. Even though we really can't see Okonkwo's body, we can guess that he is wearing something shabby and frail, and something not really expensive. As for the modern man, his clothing is bright and colorful, very modern.
ReplyDeleteAnother difference between the two men are their jewelry. Okonkwo has a lot of beaded necklaces around his neck while the modern man has nothing around his neck. Okonkwo also has a funny stick coming from the bottom of his lip, and has white streaks on his face. I think this might be due to the fact that it is part of his religion or beliefs.
Thirdly for the visual background, Okonkwo's picture has nothing but whiteness. It shows how dull and hard his life is. On the other hand, the other picture has a rather bright and happy background, and it has a feeling of freeness and openness. So, by looking at these two images, we can see there are a lot of differences.
Lisa Shimazaki
A1
Janet Choi
ReplyDeleteWorld Literature A1
There are many differences between the modern day man and Okonkwo. First of all, their clothing is very different. It is able to say that the modern day man and Okonkwo are wearing clothes of the opposite style. The modern day man is entirely dressed with colorful clothes, while Okonkwo is wearing fewer clothes. Instead of clothing, Okonkwo is wearing lots of jewelry. He is wearing lots of necklaces and head bands. His face is also painted. The modern day man, however, is wearing less jewelry.
The visual background is another thing that clearly distinguishes the two of them. The modern day man has cars and roads in the background which makes him in a way advanced compared to Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s representation has no interesting background, but just has a frame with some patterns. This can tell us that Okonkwo lives in a place that is less developed. Also, Okonkwo’s picture is in black and white, while the modern day man’s is colorful. This emphasizes Okonkwo and makes him look stronger.
Knowing what Okonkwo is not helps us to identify what he is. You can see that he is not wearing heavy clothes like the modern day man. Therefore, we can know that Okonkwo lives in a land where people wear fewer clothes and can predict that he lives in a hot place.
As we can see in the picture, we can differentiate the clothing, the trend,the style etc. To begin with they are both wearing different jewelry. Okonkwo is wearing (?) lots of jewelry, and he has a pierce on his jaws. The modern boy has not much accessories compared to Okonkwo; since he only has sunglasses and a bracelet on. As a matter of fact we can tell that Okonkwo wears SO much jewelry possibly about 10 necklaces around his neck, and 2 headbands etc. Modern men don’t really wear necklaces like Okonkwo is in the picture, which describes the difference on cultural fashion as well as the meaning for the photos. Jewelry may be an important for many men around the world, but significantly, we can tell that both of these men have different types of jewelry.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, we can tell about his face painting and clothing. Many indigenous people have tattoos, as well as face painting, like Okonkwo. I think they probably mean something important to them. It seems like tattoos are more modern, but they are also worn by people like Okonkwo. Clothing is also an aspect that shows the difference, in the picture. The modern guy is wearing colorful, clothing. I am not really sure if Okonkwo is wearing anything in this picture at all, but clearly we can see that there are some difference.
Visual background and the color is also an issue to discuss here, and one major difference is that the modern one has colors and is focused on the main guy. Okonkwo’s picture on the other hand is monochrome and dull. To prove my point, I can tell by the pictures that Okonkwo has a sad expression in the picture. The guy on the other picture looks satisfied, living in the city, good food, good technology, good clothes etc. Modern day people do not need to worry as much as Okonkwo, since he doesn’t have all of these things that all we modern people have. So Okonkwo had more work, more labor overall, that is clearly shown in the picture.
It's very easy to discern the picture of Okonkwo from the modern male. The most recognizable thing is that Oknokwo is wearing lots and lots of jewelry, especially around his neck, and he also has a mysterious pierce-like thing under his mouth. He also has paint on his face. I presume that he is not wearing anything on his upper body, which reveals even more savageness. This gives off a very scary and ferocious image. It actually looks a bit scary. The picture of the modern male is wearing normal, casual clothes that we would wear today. I can't really point out anything particularly special about it.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of the modern male has a typical modern-day background with buildings, cars and he is even riding a skateboard. It's also very bright and sunny which gives a positive image towards its viewers. Its somewhat typical and boring as well. As for Okonkwo, his background is plain gray and the whole picture is black and white. Because there is just one colour as the background, it emits a wave of negativeness towards us. Its also mysterious and the expression on Okonkwo's face looks very stern.
By comparing Okonkwo to the modern male, we can learn that his culture and way of life is very different. By knowing that he paints his face and heavily decorates himself with jewelry its easier it easy to see that he is savage-like and somewhat primitive. Okonkwo does not walk on asphalt with sneakers with a smile on his face. We can most likely say that he walks on bare ground with bare feet with a war-hungry expression on his face.
There is great difference between the two pictures. Oviously the picture that represents Okonkwo has a more African fashion to whereas the modern picture is more of the clothings we wear in or everyday life. Okonkow's looks is more of what a aborigene would look like. He is half naked with big necklaces and white smudges on his face with a pierce on his chin and head bands around his head. The man in the skateboard on the other hand is simply wearing t-shirts and pants with sneakers. By looking just at the picture i would say Okonkwo was not as civilized as the other modern man. You could also easily view how accessories can be extremely different due to the culture. Whereas Okwonko has big thick necklaces the other man just wears a sunglass.
ReplyDeleteThe visual background of the two pictures pops out the difference between the two clearly as well. The man in sunglasses seem to be more modern in the picture. The coloring is the point, since its in colors it shows or modern day life clearly and there are also cars in the background which can tell us that the picture mst be in the modern days. on the other hand, Okonkwo's picture has a more portrait feeling to it. It is all gray and white and black with only the color of the frame which makes it more look like something in the past.
By looking at the differences. We can know that Okonkwo was definitely not a person who lived in the modern days. His appearance also shows that he must have been in a tribe in africa, not a person who lived in civilized areas. Though it doesn't really show what the meaning of the white smudges on his face are or if the necklaces and headbands represent any kinda of power, you can also see that during his time and place, people wore many accessories.
A1 Catherine
Even though I actually posted my response here a few days ago, I guess it got deleted.. So here it is again.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first took a look at the pictures, then read the assignment, I didn't even know where to start with suggesting the differences between the images. Setting my opinion aside, I'd first like to talk about the difference of fashion in the two opposing pictures. The traditional artistic representation of Okonkwo, was probably like the modern image of fashion at his time. He is dressed with, although not really shown in the picture, what it looks to be like a simple sleeveless shirt, which is probably made from animal skins, or something simple that anyone could make back then. Compared to this picture, the man in the right image presents a really modern style of wardrobe choice, with a graphic pullover shirt with capris, and red sneakers; a typical casual look for many men now. Although we can say that fashion has not only changed its overall colors through the years, but has also made changes with the shapes of the clothing, quite dramatically. There were most definitely no pullover hoodies when Okonkwo was growing up, so we can say that these types of shirts were made to suit us in this present generation. As for the accessories, this is also very different when you compare the two pictures. Okonkwo is shown with heavy tribal makeup, head bands, a lower lip piercing, and is also adorned with beaded necklaces. To me, this shows how devoted he is to the tribal traditions of his village, and how he respects them, by decorating himself with these items. Unlike most jewelry today, the jewelry that Okonkwo was wearing represents an aspect of something. It can act as a charm or mark that he earns. Most of us today can get a piercing or put on some makeup just because we feel like it; not because it was a huge aspect of our lives. This is what I think are the fashion differences between the two images.
As for the background of the to pictures, I think that the back scenery is just to suit the purpose of the two men that are pictured. Okonkwo's background looks like that, probably because it 'sets the scene' really well, while the scenery of the second image pictures an uptown street background, that many of us can see even today. It illustrates that there is a big difference between the times of Okonkwo and how we live today.
Just from looking at the two pictures, we can basically tell about both of the mens' personal backgrounds. Okonkwo's picture tells us that he could be a very devoted villager in his region, and from his expressions, we can tell that he can be a very stern individual. From the image on the right, we know a lot more about this man's personal background, because he probably relates to us more than Okonkwo. The first impression that I received from the second picture was that the man probably has a carefree personality. This may sound stereotypical to some, but whenever I picture a person strolling around on a skateboard with sunglasses on, I get the impression that this person knows how to have fun, and tries to leave out the boring parts out. This is basically my take on how the two differentiating pictures of the two men can tell us a lot about them, and how we relate to the two images.
Rina Dishman
B4 Literature
We can see how different a modern day man is from the representation of traditional and african man, Okonkwo. First of all, as i think a lot of people said, the clothing and the jewelry are the most obvious difference in those two men. One is wearing the traditional and native painting on his face and also wearing a lot of probably religious jewelries around his neck. In contrast, the modern man has sunglasses, shirt, pants and sneakers which are common to our daily-life. We can see the change that happened within those long years and change of culture.
ReplyDeleteWe can see from his face that Okonkwo is a serious and religious. His stick on his chin is probably for something religious and is representing his pride and honor to be a man. The white lines written on his face are also drawn for a similar intention. It is hard for us to actually how he is supposed to look like because we don't know some of the symbolic meanings of the representation. On the other hand, the modern man is familiar to our world so it is easier to see his background. We can see that his clothes are colorful and bright which make us understand that he is more open and expressive. Also, because he is riding his skateboard, he can be seen as an active and sportive person. From these differences, we can recognize that they live in two different time and cultures.
Looking at those two pictures, the differences immediately pop out. The change of culture and time show us how different those people can be. This comparison with the modern day man helped us identifying Okonkwo and his character as well.
Kana Ikezawa
A2 Literature
There are a list of things that differentiate these two men. Okonkwo, a native of Africa, (I assume) is dressed in clothes that were made out of natural resources, and I presume he made it himself, while on the other hand, the modern day man would be wearing manufactured clothing that are a combination of different fabric and chemical dyes. The modern day man above is dressed casually and is more conscious about the way he looks and how he presents himself, more than practicality. Compared to the modern man, I assume Okonkwo is clothed more appropriate for the dry and hot weather that he experiences, therefore I believe he would be wearing less clothing than the modern man. I also think his clothes are more practical and instead of expressing himself by wearing expressive clothing, I believe he is expressing himself by wearing a lot of jewelry and also painting his face, which could be both symbolic of himself, and of his tribe and village. The modern day man, compared to Okonkwo, is obviously wearing less jewelry and/or makeup but if he was to wear jewelry or makeup, it would be to express himself but with no symbolic meaning behind it.
ReplyDeleteThe visual background also tell us the difference in time between Okonkwo and the modern day man. The background of the modern day man is colorful and it shows visuals of cars and buildings which shows how advanced we are, compared to the technology in Okonkwo's time. In the visual background of the picture of Okonkwo, it is very simple as it is just plain white. This, I believe, makes Okonkwo stand out because the background is not busy, therefore the focus of the image is Okonkwo, making him look like an important and bold man.
I think by seeing what Okonkwo is not, we can learn more about his image and how people perceived him. We can also learn more about his characteristics and personality by how he represents himself, and how he is represented. We can also see the difference in culture between what was Africa then, and the world we live in now and come to understand what everyday life was for Okonkwo. I have learned, by identifying what he is not, that he, unlike the modern day man, had to go through a much more rough and life-threatening like.
Shannen Romero Perez
A2 Literature