Lion
Project Essay
Achebe, in his
novel Things Fall Apart, and
Tonuouchi, and in his play “3 Year Swim Club,” both break single stories
through culture, language, and strong intelligent individuals. Achebe proves to
us that the Nigerians are not savage, but are traditional through their Ibo
language and have a structured system of society and rules. Tonuouchi proves to
us that the Japanese Americans on Maui are people who not only work on the
plantations, but also are athletic individuals and capable of fulfilling and
chasing after goals they have for better futures. Achebe and Tonuouchi both
show that the Nigerians and the Japanese Americans on Maui are people, they
have beauty and flaws, wisdom and incompetence, excellence and sins. Achebe and
Tonuouchi break the single story of these people through expressing their
emotion, hardships, and accomplishments.
Achebe
shows us that the Nigerian people are not barbarians, starving, and stupid,
because of their traditions and structured system. The Ibo people have many
traditions that show each other respect and reverence through their complex
religion. The people want to show their adoration and thanks to their guests,
elders, and any other welcomed man, “He worshipped them with sacrifices of kola
nut, food and palm-wine, and offered prayers to them on behalf of himself, his
three wives and eight children.” (Achebe 14) Achebe wants us to see that the
Ibo people had beautiful traditions that included a simple ritual integrating
parts of nature. Such an emotional and well-kept act proves that these people
are fully capable of beautiful works of art, and maintaining this emotional tradition..
He allows us to see a normal and typical Nigerian praying, but he proves that
they have a religion that is strong and influential in their society. The
people are devoted to their religion, proving that they follow their culture
with an open mind and heart, allowing themselves to be protected and saved by their
religion.
Continuing, the
Nigerian people have a structured law, by which they stick by and have no doubt
in. “The law of Umoufia is that if a
woman runs away from her husband her bride-prince is returned,” (Achebe 92)
Achebe proves that there is a system, laws, punishments, and people who are
apart of this working system. This law has a heavy influence by the religion,
therefore making it just and fully understandable to the people. The law is
also strong, where no one doubts in its judgment, there is a trust between the
people and their law, what is put down is right for the guilty and for their
society. The “white man” before always judged African people as being incompetent,
and incapable of participating in conventional system working areas, such as a
legal system. They have a “judge” or a head council of men to make a just
decision, and we see that they have strong intellectual abilities and have a
smart sense of what is equal and what is not.
Achebe also proves
to us that these people are just as flawed as anyone, because he wants us to
connect to them as bothers and sisters, and for us to get on the same level as
they are. To look at the Ibo people as we see ourselves, we have to acknowledge
that they are just as tempted to evil as the rest of the people in this world,
and are not perfect. “Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer
act as one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have
fallen apart.” (Achebe 176) He shows us that the Nigerians, who were held
together strongly by family and passionate obligation to their society, can be
broken. These people try so hard to be one and together, but when they are
given a new alternative, and with the new generation on the rise, the love for
family and traditional bond slowly fades away. Achebe gives us a new
perspective of the Nigerian people, he wants us to see that they are full of
family, society, religious fears, and determined people.
Just as Achebe has shown us the love of family
and adoration of religion with the Ibo people, Tonuouchi proves to us that the
Japanese Americans on Maui are people who not only work on the plantations, but
also are athletic individuals and capable of fulfilling and chasing after goals
they have for their futures. Lee
Tonouchi is a Japanese American author who writes novels and plays, mostly in
pidgin, the Hawaiian way of speaking. He wrote the play “3 Year Swim Club,”
which is about Japanese Americans on Maui, during the 1930’s and 1940’s era,
working and growing up on the plantations. The kids were coached by Soichi
Sakamoto to swim in the irrigation ditches, and made it their goal to make it to the
1940’s Olympics. They worked tirelessly and surprised the world by winning
meets. However, the 1940’s Olympics was cancelled, because of the World War..
And yet the Maui swimmers still continued in their swimming success, never
forgetting their motto, “Olympics first, Olympics always.”
Tonuouchi sees
that Japanese Americans on Maui are associated with being only plantation
workers, but they were much more. He proves to us that these people are capable
and passionate athletes, who not only have goals of greatness beyond the
plantation fields, but that they achieve their goals of becoming legends. They
pursue their dreams, but they were also able to make a life away from the plantation,
they chose a different path and became a huge success. Tonuouchi coming from
the Hawaiian islands has a great sense of pride for his home, and “Wants to show others that Hawaii can
represent the country just as well as the mainland,” (Site 1) Tonuouchi wants
us to look at Hawaii in a different limelight, we all know about it’s sunny
beaches, beautiful flowers, and palm trees, and when Hawaii comes to mind most
people think “vacation.” The single story of Hawaii also goes along with the
lazy islander status, islanders who just surf, make a shaka out of their hands,
and dance hula in grass skirts and coconuts. He proves that these Hawaiians are
not just lazy islanders who only eat potluck or plate-lunch and wear Hawaiian
shirts, but are capable of becoming representatives of America, that these
people are just as red, white, and blue as the New Yorker, Californian, or
Texan. These Japanese Americans on Maui want to live the American dream, to be
seen by the public as America’s best swimmers, the best in all of the United
States. They want to prove Hawaii could give talented, smart, and capable
athletes just as anyone one else in America.
The members of the
3 Year Swim Club were determined to fulfill their Olympic dreams, and to do so
they work hard to get better whenever they could. Their work ethic spreads from
the plantation workers, “Steady, steady,” keep working, never give up, and your
future is bright was what the workers would live by, as did the swimmers. Tonuouchi
says, “To me the story was inspiring because being from Hawaii, we always think
that we’re second class to the US continent. We always think things and people
from the continent are better than things from over here. But then (I) thought,
here’s some guy, Soichi Sakamoto, he (created) new swim techniques that people
from the mainland wasn’t using at the time,” Tonuouchi shows us that not only were
they smart but the Japanese Americans on Maui were revolutionary in the sport
of swimming. They creatively came up with ideas that no one used at the time to
improve swimming, the swimmer, and yet still keep the beauty and poise of the
individual and the sport.
Tonuouchi, through
his play, proves that the Japanese Americans on Maui were respectable athletes,
who through all the doubt and speculation became champions. However, just like
the Achebe Tonuouchi allows us to see the Japanese Americans flaws so we can
relate to them even more. “Things that are happening in the war, their dreams
being squashed,” (Jones, “Three Year Swim
Club Reaches the Mainland At EWP”) Tonuouchi shows that they did not have
the easiest road to their goal. They
have to persevere though friends, family, and themselves going to fight in the
war, and then later live through the Japanese American Internment. From giving
their lives to their country, living their lives to represent America, and hoping
to show Japanese Hawaiians are just as American, then betrayed and questioned
by their fellow American brothers and sisters. As the Ibo people were so family
oriented, so were the Japanese Americans, but with the war families were torn
apart and sons and daughters were never seen again. But, the Japanese Americans
from Maui did not lose hope on family, they stuck together in the camp and
rebuilt their lives with each other. Though common sense, hard work, and a
strong faith in God, the swimmers and the people continued with their lives.
The swimmers stayed true to their goal, and against all odds and hardship, the Japanese
Americans on Maui prove they are not just plantation workers, but respected
athletes and revered people.
Achebe and Tonuouchi
both show that the Nigerians and the Japanese Americans on Maui both break
single stories through culture, language, and strong intelligent individuals.
Both Achebe and Tonuouchi prove through the traditional language of their
people that there is a sense of history and strong ties of culture and
ancestry, which has not been forgotten and is integrated in the modern society.
Tonuouchi says, “I tink everybody should talk pidgin. So long dey sincere and
trying to learn.” (Thompson, “Lee Tonuouchi: Pidgin Poet”) they both are
exposing the culture in new ways, proving there is a civilized manor to these
people. Also, they both have elements of dance and music in their works, such
as the women dancing and the mention of instruments in Achebe’s novel, and the
hula movements and the playing of the ukulele in Tonuouchi’s play. Again they
are demonstrating cultural resilience and adoration by the people, they are
showing how the people are expressive and emotional. They prove that through
dance and music there is a joint conclusion that it portrays their society, and
has a special meaning to their past, present, and future generations. Achebe
and Tonuouchi both have strong individuals in their works, Achebe using Okonkwo
and Tonouchi using Soichi Sakamoto, who both prove determination, passion,
love, power, a father figure, a leader, persistence, and many more qualities
that make any person great.
Achebe and
Tonouchi break the single story of these people through expressing their
emotion, hardships, and accomplishments. The Nigerian people and the Japanese
Americans on Maui, each are shown though Achebe and Tonouchi, that they are
deep and expressive people, they have fallen, and they have risen. Achebe shows
the Nigerian people are not animals, but are a family oriented community where
they participate as families and come together as a whole society. Tonuouchi
proves the Japanese Americans on Maui are not incompetent farmers, but smart
and hard working athletes never giving up on their goals for a brighter future.
And together, Achebe and Tonuouchi teach us more about the beauty of the African
and Hawaiian culture, hoping to spark an interest and appreciation for their
cultures that live on today. Achebe and Tonuouchi break the single story of
their people, proving they come from so much more, and their people are nothing
less than anyone else.
Works Cited:
1. Jones, Stephanie. “Three
Year Swim Club Reaches the Mainland at EWP.” LA Stage Times. 14 Feb. 2012. Web.
June. 2009.
2. Thompson, David. “Lee Tonuouchi: Pidgin Poet.” Honolulu
Magazine. Jan. 2012.
3. Tonouchi, Lee. Three Year Swim Club. Honolulu Theatre
For Youth and Hawaiian inter-Club Council of Southern California. LA: East West
Players. 20 Nov. 2011.
4. Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books,
1959.
