In my soliloquy, I tried to give Mr. Brown a bit of an inside personality where he actually believes that the Igbo are violent, savage people. However, he pretends to be nice to the Igbo because it is part of his two-step plan. In the end, Mr. Brown hopes to accomplish what every Christian missionary does, and that is to assimilate the Igbo. Also, Mr. Brown's personality is not really shown in the novel so I decided to make him a generally optimistic person who is an intelligent and determined missionary.
In the beginning they had the nerve to laugh at me. They laughed at my religion, conservative clothing, white skin and brown hair. But little did they know, I had a plan. I built a trading store, a school and a hospital for the village. I became friends with the respected elders of the clan. Eventually I was presented with a carved elephant tusk. I was told that it was a symbol of dignity and rank. To me it was a symbol that part one of my plan had gone perfectly well. *hold plan sign* I had successfully gained the trust and respect of the Igbo people.
*unfold sign* The second part of my plan was to offer the Igbo something that they were lacking. This would make them come to my side and follow the civilized Christian way of life.
I noticed that the Igbo were very violent people. I was appalled at how they killed baby twins and how husbands brutally beat their children and wives.
I decided that the root cause of all the violence was a lack of education. An educated man knew that beating others was wrong and that violence was not the answer.
In the beginning, the people who came to my school were people of low status and were not accomplished in their society. They often questioned what their culture expected of them. I taught these people how to read and write and also about cilvilization and Christianity.
Week after week went by and I began noticing new people in my school and at my church. These people were accomplished men and women, people of status in Igbo culture. My plan was succeeding!! I had nearly assimilated everyone in the village!
*sadly*Unfortunately I had to return to England. All I can say is I hope Mr. Smith, my replacement continues my plan. I hope he continues to bring peace, Christianity and civilization to these people.
Reading this reminds me of your stellar performance, Lauren. And I detect a bit of that post-colonial attitude in your words, which also gives some sort of depth to Mr Brown. Strong last sentence. Your props made your presentation really interesting, too. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI remember the good use of your pictures during the performance, it was really effective and different from the others. I like how you made really bias opinions from Mr. Brown's point of view, such as how Igbo people are uneducated. This captured the underlying message of the whole novel.
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