The Bride Price essays

The Bride Price essays This book was a story about a Nigerian family and the tradition of the bride price. Part of the story takes place in Lagos where Aku-nna, the protagonist, grew up. After her father dies she is forced to move to Ibuza to live with her father's brother in a whole different culture from her own. Her mother, Ma-Blackie married her husband's brother, Okonkwo, making him Aku-nna's step-father This entitled him to her bride price, which was expected to be exorbitant amount. Okonkwo needed this bride price to gain his Eze title. Unfortunately for him, Aku-nna fell in love with, Chike, the school teacher. But, because he was a son of a slave the Ibos wouldn't give their approval of a marriage. It is an Ibo tradition superstition that if a woman is married without the bride price being paid that she will die with the birth of her first child. Aku-nna and Chike ran away from a man that Aku-nna was forced to marry, and they got married. When Chike's father tried to pay a large bride pric e to Okonkwo he would not accept, wishing death upon his stepdaughter. In the end Aku-nna was pregnant and she died in childbirth. This book taught me more about African culture. I think that the bride price and the superstition behind it are interesting concepts. The idea that you can die because a certain amount is not paid to your father is a little absurd. This book basically ended up being a folk tale about the bride price, because at the end the author says that because she died, it was thought that this superstition was true and now the Ibos believe it as fact. The end of the book reminded of Farewell to Arms. The way in which Aku-nna died, the scene with rain, it was very closely related to the scene in which Catherine dies. Yet the baby lives in The Bride Price and the father can live on with a happy memory of his wife. It seemed like after all the obstacles that the characters face and once they are finally hap ...

How to Make a Lichtenberg Figure

How to Make a Lichtenberg Figure Lichtenberg figures are branching structures formed by an electrical discharge on or inside of an insulator. The structures take their name from Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, the physicist who discovered and studied them. Although you can  make your own Lichtenberg figure using polyethylene sheets and talcum powder, there is an easier method you may wish to try. Lichtenberg Figure Materials Sharp metal object (e.g., awl)Insulator (e.g., sheet of acrylic)Photocopier toner Make a Lichtenberg Figure Position the metal object so that only its tip is touching the surface of the insulator.If you have a Wimshurst machine or Van de Graaff generator handy, discharge it through the metal point into the acrylic. (Gray Matter has a cool video of what happens if you use a particle accelerator to create the Lichtenberg figure. Note that the hammer is insulated, thus preventing that persons skin from displaying a Lichtenberg figure. Be careful!)If you dont have a machine, youll have to generate static electricity another way, like by dragging your feet through a shag carpet and zapping yourself on the metal object... fun!In either case, you will create a Lichtenberg figure across the surface of the acrylic, radiating outward from the metal point. However, you probably wont be able to see it. If you (carefully) blow toner powder across the surface of the acrylic, the Lichtenberg figure will be revealed.