The Thing Around Your Neck - Marriage and Faithfulness in the Nigerian Culture

In Nigerian culture, marriage is not typically something chosen by two in love; marriage is arranged between a man and a woman by their respective elders.   A few of the short stories in The Thing Around Your Neck, author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shows readers the different cultural norms Nigerians follow in regard to marriage and loyalty differ tremendously from that of typical American culture.
The chapter "On Monday of Last Week" demonstrates the idea of loyalty to a spouse despite his/her absence from the spouse's life for several years without much explanation.  In this chapter, Kamara and Tobechi are the main characters, a married couple from Nigeria, that are living in separate countries for several years.  Kamara patiently awaited in Nigeria for her husband to invite her join him in the United States to work and help support their new life together.  While this is a norm for a couple who is a part of the Nigerian culture and trying to immigrate, people from the U.S., for instance, may view the separating of one's spouse for many of years odd and have thoughts (or even actions) about infidelity throughout their years apart.  But in the case of Kamara and Tobechi, their separation was a very typical plan that many other Nigerian had probably had to follow as well to successfully immigrate and rebuild their lives together in a new country.
Another norm of Nigerian culture is the act of arranging marriages.  This is demonstrated in the arrangement of a marriage between Chinaza and Dave in the chapter "The Arrangers of Marriage."  Dave, a medical school student in the United States, has agreed to come back home to Nigeria to please his parents are marry the girl of their choice, Chinaza. She, as well, is being forced into the arranged marriage by her aunt and uncle who see Dave as a future success.  Once introduced, Dave and Chinaza had only two weeks to get to know each other before becoming wed. While the marriage does not turn out to be successful, a reader can infer that neither Dave nor Chinaza was too heartbroken about the failure of a marriage they shared because the two were never truly in love.  Even though their arrangement is not ideal, it is the norm and what they both have grown up expecting to have one day.  On the contrary, people of the United States grow up expecting to marry someone they love, not someone chosen for him/her.
One could say that there are pros and cons to the marriage norms in Nigerian culture.  The faithfulness that couples display is definitely an aspect of the culture that outsiders would definitely want in their own respective relationships.  However, arrange marriages to people that are not of the same or similar culture may see it as a forceful trap that could make life for people wedded by arrangement a living hell.  It is all about prospective and what one has grown up seeing as a norm.

A Prayer for Owen Meany - Tabitha Wheelwright's Effect on the Plot

When Tabitha Wheelwright, the mother of the narrator in A Prayer for Owen Meany, is first introduced, a reader may just an attractive sexual object as Owen described her as having "THE BEST BREASTS OF ALL THE MOTHERS," and smelling "BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE, TOO." (32-33).  Almost immediately into the book, Irving shares the freak death of Tabitha who is stuck in the temple by Owen Meany's foul hit in a Little League game. However, it is not until the after her death that Irving introduces the reader to a more multi-dimensional Tabitha, one that was a great mother, loyal daughter, and loving wife, whose presence has made a huge impact on the novel's plot at large.  After losing his mother, Johnny is adopted by Dan Needham, who provides Johnny with a father figure he never had or had even known.  Dan's presence and adoption of Johnny turn out to be two of the best things that have ever happened in Johnny's life.  Dan is the best "Dad" Johnny could ever picture.  With Dan as a parent/mentor/left-hand man, Johnny begins to find himself as a person and eventually loses the deep desire to discover who his real father is.
While the death of a parent or loved one should never be seen as positive and hurts many around, like Johnny and Dan, it is how one continues with their life post death that can drastically change their own personal state of being.  Johnny and Dan both mourned the death of Tabitha and continue to miss her, but because of her death, they have come together as mutual loved ones and grown closer. Johnny and Dan's growing relationship and existence in each others' lives as a result of a life-altering tragedy has definitely benefited them both and has made their lives feel a bit more complete.

A Prayer for Owen Meany - 6 word story

"The abrupt death that changed everything" ... While the death of Johnny Wheelwright's mother Tabitha is one of much tragedy and pain for Johnny and her husband Dan, her death ended up having a more positive impact on Johnny's life in the long run.  While it may sound terrible, the death of Tabitha completely changed Johnny's life around.  He was able to learn more about his mother after her death, discovering that she was a singer that went by the name "The Lady in Red."  More importantly, he was legally adopted by her mother's lover from the Boston and Maine, Dan, who ended up being the best father figure in Johnny's life that he had so longed for when he was young. On the flip side, Johnny was never able to find out the name of his biological father, which left him feeling a bit incomplete.

How to Read Literature - Author's Casual and Humorous Language

In the informative and enjoyable book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, author Thomas C. Foster does an exquisite job of conveying important and knowledgeable information to readers eager to learn about literature.  Foster does so by using very casual language, referring to his audience in the informal "you" tense and making use of several relate able metaphors and analogies.  The comprehensible and simple language that Foster uses along with his humorous yet credible tone makes this book an enjoyable read for a variety of readers. Foster's language and overall tone is the complete opposite to what one would immediately perceive by reading simply the title of the book.  While at first glance an AP Lit student may see this book as a drag of a summer read, his/her mind will quickly be changed within the first paragraph of book by the author's captivating way of displaying important knowledge about reading literature in a fun and enjoyable read.

A Prayer for Owen Meany - Fate and Predestination

In the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, author John Irving focuses on the idea of predestination, which he expresses through the dialogue of his main character Owen Meany.  Owen, a small boy with the belief that he is God's instrument on Earth, is the best friend of narrator Johnny Wheelwright, who the reader later discovered is impacted tremendously by Owen's faith. The idea of predestination is revealed early in the novel when Owen hits a foul baseball ball right into the temple of Tabitha Wheelwright, Johnny's a hot-commodity of a mother, which kills her immediately.  Owen's baseball hit that kills Tabitha makes him believe that he is an instrument of God. Furthermore, Irving reveals through this tragedy the belief that "everything happens for a reason."  This idea of pre-decided faith is something in which Owen strongly believes.  This theme is especially relevant in his own life, as God's plan (in Owen's mind) led him to join the army, which ultimately led to his death.   Owen's upbringing in Church and strong religious faith has fostered his belief that God has predetermined the faith for all human beings.