All three of the stories by Chinua Achebe, ("Girls at War", "The Madman" and "An Image of Africa" were all surprising very interesting to read and kept my attention. I most enjoyed the one title "Girls at War". It seemed so scary to me to have think that a women would have to do sell herself or other stolen goods just to get money for her family. Not to mention all in the same time having to worry about not getting killed. I partically enjoyed the ending where you find out that the good woman dies by trying to help someone and the bad man lives. Life is unfair this way. It happens everyday. There is a famous quote that says "only the good die young", in this story that proves true. It gets your attention from the beginning and keeps you hooked. I could see this playing into a good movie some day. Also the fact that Africa is actually this way is just frightening. I never would have imagioned a place being like this. It made me realize even more how grateful I am to live in the country that I do. By the end of the story I felt bad for the women even though she was kind of given a bad reputation. She was only trying to defend for herself and survive the world. As I think about this now I can't see myself ever having to stoop to that but in all reality I don't know how I would be in that situation.
Also in the story "The Madman" this also proves that the good doesn't always win over the bad. Granite no one dies but in the end the actual good person is labeled as crazy while the true crazy person is believed to be the normal good one. This also spiked my interest. It's scary to think about how someone completely sane and just your average person could be labeled crazy and the whole city start to believe it too. I can't even imagion having that happen to me. That would be so scary. I wouldn't even know what to do with myself. Especially if there is no way that you can prove the truth that you are sane. Society today is a lot like this. For one little thing you do that is considered out of the normal you can be labeled. People are so judgemental these days that they are quick to label you.
Both of these stories were scary to read and actually think that they could happen. This made both however very interesting to read.
Isn't irony entertaining. Certainly, it is depressing sometimes, but it is always interesting. You do a good job identifying the irony in both of these stories, and you relate it to your own experiences well. In your next posting, see if you can also explore the metaphorical issues covered in the stories with the same analysis that you do here for the direct points in the stories.
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