Things Fall Apart in China

Achebe's Things Fall Apart contains the distinction between the colonizer and the colonized, the assimilation of both cultures and potential clashes between the two. While reading Things Fall Apart, I noticed that the novel for my midterm paper, Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses, contains a setting that closely resembles the colonial clashes of Things Fall Apart. The Hundred Secret Senses contains a separate frame tale that takes place during the Taiping Rebellion. Like Things Fall Apart, the main character's homeland is met with the likes of European missionaries. Of course, the native people find the missionaries to be odd but not harmful. So, they allow for the assimilation of these colonizers. However, when battles turn violent it is too late for them to fight back, as many of the locals have already joined with the other side. Much of the same symbols are used for the spread of western culture in both texts. The Hundred Secret Senses' pastor amen is much like like Mr. Brown in their adaptation to cultures and spread of Christianity. General Cape and The Commissioner both show a spread of government and capitalism.

Come See The Nutcracker Tomorrow

A good 4 hours of my day was spent rehearsing in the pit for the Nutcracker Ballet (Come to the Ford Community Performing arts center in Dearborn on 12/2 at 7, 12/3 at 1, or 12/3 at 7 to see the ballet!) . Being a christmas tradition in the united states, I delved deeper to find out why the Nutcracker has the become the christmas staple it is. At its premier, the Nutcracker as a ballet recieved rather poor reviews, and didnt recieve widespread acclaim until 1954, when George Blanchines staging premiered in New York. Prior to this, the concert suite was widely popular. However, this differs though from the full Ballet as it only includes a select few dances from the second act. These of course, are the most popular tunes that people associate with the Nutcracker. Pieces like "The waltz of the flower", and "Trepak" are some of the most widely renown works, not only during the holiday season, but for classical music as a whole. As to why audience members enjoy these tunes so much, one could look at the concert suite being composed of mainly waltzes. This correlates with a more lively and engaging experience for many people. The first act, mostly composed of eastern european dances in odd time signatures may not be the most enjoyable to the average listner. Also the length of the first act may be rather tiring to the listener, as it is considerably longer than the second act. The Nutcracker ballet's setting is based around the christmas holiday, and thus is likely as to why performances revolve around the christmas season. But its popularity has to do with nothing except the pure writing genius of Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky.