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89 Lots 29-30 Greater Lagro, Novaliches, Quezon City │8880 9681

HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

AY: 2020 – 2021

LEARNING MODULE #1

ENGLISH 8

Name _________________________________ Grade and Section ________________

Teacher’s Name _______________________ Date ______________________________

Title African Literature

Objectives - Read the informative text about Africa, National
Parks in Africa, African Art, and African Literature

- Discuss the information found in the different

reading texts

-Express what do these pieces of literature reveal

about African characters and how do African
respond to the challenges of modernity through
Aralinks forum

Concept Notes:
• Africa, the second largest continent (after Asia), covering about
one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth.

• Africa has 3,000 tribes and 2,000 languages and dialects.

• African Literature is in oral in nature. It may be in prose or in poetry.

• Storytellers in Africa is using the call-and-response technique.

• Poetry is often sung or recited in a sing-song voice.

• The “praise” singers, known as “griots,” tell their stories with a musical
background.

Reading Text 1
Africa: The Dark Continent

Africa

Africa is called the Dark Continent not because of the complexion of

the original inhabitants but because most people know very little about
it. Africa is not a dark continent; it is a land flush with sunshine and vivid
light. It is the last of the continents to feel the influence of Western
civilization; therefore, many people consider it a backward continent.

Africa covers an area as large as the United States, Western Europe,

India, and China put together. It has one-fifth of the entire land surface
of the globe. It is an unbelievably rich continent. It contains ninety-eight
percent of the gold mines of the world and fifty-five percent of the gold
mines. It produces two-thirds of the world’s supply of cocoa and three-
fifths of the world’s supply of palm oil. It has immense reserves of water
power.
Archeologists are now becoming increasingly sure that the first man
appeared in Africa. Fossilized remains of man have been found there
that, when given the carbon dating test, show man roamed the African
continent two million years ago. No such fossilized testimony is available
anywhere else in the world. Stone implements have also been found in
certain parts of Africa that testify to two million years of human
occupation.

National Parks in Africa

The animals alone in Africa make the continent extremely interesting

and unique among all continents. Nowhere else in the world are they
found in such variety and abundance. There is also no other place
where man can see them in their natural habitat and not in zoos. The
Africans have always lived very close to wild, savage animals. The
people fear them, eat them, and worship them. Animals play a
dominant role in African mythology and folk stories.
 At the national parks, you can see wild animals in their natural
habitats without risk of being harmed. The national parks are zoos in
reverse. At a zoo, animals are caged and the men are free to walk
around. At the African national parks, wild animals roam around freely
without wires or cages and people have to remain safely enclosed in
cars or trucks. The animals can approach the cars, but as long as the
people remain inside, no animal will attack a car or any vehicle – with
the exception of the rhinoceros that sometimes do so. This might be
because they dislike the smell of metal and gas. These smells conceal
the smell of men. The smell of rubber also offends them.

There are two basic rules to follow when in national parks; first, never
get out of your car; second; never use, fire off, discharge, or explode
any kind of firearm. Since the animals are never heard the sound of a
gun, they feel secure and feel no threat from them.

The parks are very extensive, some are over forty square miles. The
animals are not accustomed to people on foot, so visitors at the parks
stay in their cars not only to protect themselves but also to protect the
animals. If the animals get used to the sight of men walking around, they
might be tempted to wander into town where they might attack people
and get shot.
The British, the Rhodesians, the South Africans, and the Portuguese
have all created national parks where hundreds of wild animals and
birds live together. These should not be called parks because the land is
in its natural wild condition, and the scenery is truly spectacular. The
Albert National Park in Congo is over a million acres.
The National Park outside Nairobi is famous for the fact that it is only
five miles outside the city. It is easily accessible by taxi, and the ride takes
only fifteen minutes. The park contains about 14, 000 wild animals in
Africa. Good roads wind through the park and in a few hours, one can
see a mother lion feeding her cubs, a pair of tigers making love, a giraffe
peacefully eating the leaves of a tall tree, elephants stalking along,
innumerable species of monkeys, and a spectacular variety of smaller
beasts. The profusion of bird life is astonishing – from the large ostrich to
birds on their migratory way to Europe. There are larks small enough to
hide in an ordinary pipe.
 African Art
In recent years, primitive African art has been copied and imitated
by Western nations. Government museums and private collectors have
completed in acquiring primitive African ceremonial masks. Wooden
figures with distorted limbs have aroused wonder and admiration.
African intricate carvings have been fantastically praised.

African art is closely associated with religion. It is very primitive in

nature and is closely associated with superstitions. Masks are terrifying
because they are intended to frighten away evil spirits.
Contemporary dance music is based on African music with its short
rhythm based largely on the drum beat. African music is bound up with
religious ceremony, composed as a prayer for rain and for success in
hunting and in war. The drum, being the force in African music, comes
in different types. Drums may be entirely wood, hollowed, and slit; they
may be made of wood and hide – elephant ears are especially valued
for this purpose. It is believed that the invention of the drum was related
to the ritual of driving the spirits of the dead away.
African drums are so constructed that the sound travels over a long
distance, more than eight or nine miles. Relays of drummers can easily
send messages with astonishing speed over very long distances. A
“drum message” can be sent a hundred miles away in two hours. In
some parts of tropical Africa, drums never stop beating; they drive
foreigners mildly crazy.

African Literature
Literature that has been written for or by the African people is called
African literature. Their literature, often oral in nature, may be in prose or
in poetry. Storytellers in Africa often tell stories using the call-and-
response technique. This is because an African storyteller would expect
his/her audience to give responses or comments. Poetry is often sung or
recited in a sing-song voice.

Poetry types include the narrative epic, occupational verse, ritual verse,
and praise poems to rulers or other prominent people. The "praise"
singers, bards sometimes known as "griots," tell their stories with a musical
background. Also recited but most often sun, are love songs, work songs,
children's songs, epigrams, and riddles.
Processing Questions:

1. Why do you think people know very little about Africa?

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2. Is it fair that because Africa was one of the last to feel the effects of
Western civilization, it is considered as a backward continent? Why?
Why not?

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3. What are the minerals and treasures found in Africa? What is the irony
there considering it remains a very poor continent?

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4. Differentiate a zoo from a national park.

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5. What is the main inspiration for African art?

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6. What was the purpose of the masks?

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7. What musical instrument is used and what is usually the main purpose
of the music?

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8. What are the common forms of African literature? Describe them.

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Reading Text 2
Things Fall Apart
By Chinua Achebe

The bulk of the novel takes place in Umuofia, a cluster of nine villages on
the lower Niger. Umuofia is a powerful clan, skilled in war and with a great
population, with proud traditions and advanced social institutions.

Okonkwo has risen from nothing to a high position. Through hard work, he
has become a great man among his people. He has taken three wives and his
barn is full of yams, the staple crop. He rules his family with an iron fist.

One day, a neighboring clan commits an offense against Umuofia. To

avoid war, the offending clan gives Umuofia one virgin and one young boy. The
girl is to become the offended party's new wife. The boy, whose name is
Ikemefuna, is to be sacrificed, but not immediately. He lives in Umuofia for three
years, and during that time he lives under Okonkwo's roof. He becomes like a part
of Okonkwo's family. In particular, Nwoye, Okonkwo's oldest son, loves Ikemefuna
like a brother. But eventually the Oracle calls for the boy's death, and a group of
men take Ikemefuna away to kill him in the forest. Okonkwo, fearful of being
perceived as soft-hearted and weak, participates in the boy's death. He does so
despite the advice of the clan elders. Nwoye is spiritually broken by the event.

Okonkwo is shaken as well, but he continues with his drive to become a lord
of his clan. He is constantly disappointed by Nwoye, but he has great love for his
daughter Ezinma, his child by his second wife Ekwefi. Ekwefi has born ten children,
but only Ezinma has survived. She loves the girl fiercely. Ezinma is sickly, and
sometimes Ekwefi fears that Ezinma, too, will die. Late one night, the powerful
Oracle of Umuofia brings Ezinma with her for a spiritual encounter with the earth
goddess. Terrified, Ekwefi follows the Oracle at a distance, fearing harm might
come to her child. Okonkwo follows, too.

Later, during a funeral for one of the great men of the clan, Okonkwo's gun
explodes, killing a boy. In accordance with Umuofia's law, Okonkwo and his family
must be exiled for seven years.

Okonkwo bears the exile bitterly. Central to his beliefs is faith that a man
masters his own destiny. But the accident and exile are proof that at times man
cannot control his own fate, and Okonkwo is forced to start over again without
the strength and energy of his youth. He flees with his family to Mbanto, his
mother's homeland. There they are received by his mother's family, who treat
them generously. His mother's family is headed by Uchendu, Okonkwo's uncle, a
generous and wise old man.
 During Okonkwo's exile, the white man comes to both Umuofia and
Mbanto. The missionaries arrive first, preaching a religion that seems mad to the
Igbo people. They win converts, but generally the converts are men of low rank
or outcasts. However, with time, the new religion gains momentum. Nwoye
becomes a convert. When Okonkwo learns of Nwoye's conversion, he beats the
boy. Nwoye leaves home.

Okonkwo returns to Umuofia to find the clan sadly changed. The church
has won some converts, some of whom are fanatical and disrespectful of clan
custom. Worse, the white man's government has come to Umuofia. The clan is no
longer free to judge its own; a District Commissioner judges cases in ignorance.
He is backed by armed power.

During a religious gathering, a convert unmasks one of the clan spirits. The
offense is grave, and in response the clan decides that the church will no longer
be allowed in Umuofia. They tear the building down. Soon afterward, the District
Commissioner asks the leaders of the clan, Okonkwo among them, to come see
him for a peaceful meeting. The leaders arrive, and are quickly seized. In prison,
they are humiliated and beaten, and they are held until the clan pays a heavy
fine.

After a release of the men, the clan calls a meeting to decide whether they
will fight or try to live peacefully with the whites. Okonkwo wants war. During the
meeting, court messengers come to order the men to break up their gathering.
The clan meetings are the heart of Umuofia's government; all decisions are
reached democratically, and an interference with this institution means the end
of the last vestiges of Umuofia's independence. Enraged, Okonkwo kills the court
messenger. The other court messengers escape, and because the other people
of his clan did not seize them, Okonkwo knows that his people will not choose war.
His act of resistance will not be followed by others. Embittered and grieving for
the destruction of his people's independence, and fearing the humiliation of
dying under white law, Okonkwo returns home and hangs himself.

Source: English Communication Arts and Skills Through Afro-Asian Literature

 ENGLISH 8
(Afro-Asian Literature)

Name: ____________________________________________ Date: __________________

Grade & Section: __________________________________ Teacher: ______________

STORY FRAME
Things Fall Apart
By Chinua Achebe

The characters in this story are

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In this story, the problem starts when

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After that
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Next
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Then,
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The Problem is finally solved when

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The story ends with

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Reading Text 3

When Negro Teeth Speak

(Ouologuem Yambo)

People think I am a cannibal

But you know what people say
People see I’ve got red gums but who has
White ones
Up the tomatoes
People say there are not nearly so many tourists
Now
But you know
This isn’t America and nobody
Has the money
People think it’s my fault and is scared
But look
My teeth are white, not red
I’ve not eaten anybody
People are rotten they say I scoff
Baked tourists
Or maybe grilled
Baked or grilled I asked
They don’t say anything just keep looking uneasily at my gums
Up the tomatoes
Everyone knows in an agricultural country there’s agriculture
Up the vegetables
Everyone knows that vegetables
Well you can’t live on the vegetables you grow
And that I am quite well developed for someone underdeveloped
Miserable scum living off the tourists
Down with my teeth
People suddenly surrounded me
Tied me up
Threw me down
At the feet of justice
Cannibal or not cannibal
Answer
Ah you think you are so clever
So proud of yourself
Well we’ll see I’m going to settle your account
Have you anything to say
Before you are sentenced to death
 I shouted up the tomatoes
People are rotten and women curious you know
There was one of these in the curious circle
In her rasping voice sort of babbling like a saucepan
With a hole in it
Shrieked
Slit open his belly
I’m sure father is still inside
There weren’t any knives
Naturally enough among the vegetarians
Of the western world
So they got a Gillette blade
And carefully
Slit
Slat
Plop
Slit open my belly
Inside flourishing rows of tomatoes
Watered by streams of palm wine
Up the tomatoes

Processing Questions:

1. What idea or feeling is conveyed to you as you read the poem?

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2. What do you think is the purpose of the author in writing this poem?
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3. Do you agree with the ideas in this poem? Why?

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Sum It Up
In your past activities, you were given the time to read an informative text
about Africa, and the literary texts “Things Fall Apart” and “When Negro Teeth
Speak.” These have helped you to know and understand Africa, its culture, and
people.
Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe talks about slavery, colonialism, Africa,
and African Diaspora in the video. Watch the video using this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNdjcFOoVi8

Forum Questions:
1. What does literature reveal about African characters?

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2. How do Africans respond to the challenges of modernity as revealed in their

literary pieces?
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