Taj Mahal, Architecture of a Love Story

         As the war between Khan Jahan Lodi and Shah Jahan prolonged, sad news arrived to Shah Jahan. Mumtaz Mahal had died while giving birth to their 13th child. The death of his beloved wife shattered the king’s heart.

          He went straight to his throne room, closed the doors and locked himself in the room for eight days. The only sound that the ministers who gathered outside his room could discern was a low, continuous moan.  He refused to take any food for those eight days.

          On the ninth day he opened the door. A huge difference occurred, he stated to renounce his title and become a fakir (he killed his four brothers to gain the throne). The court was surprised.

          Shah Jahan’s unceasing misery wants company; hence he ordered the entire kingdom to mourn. All celebrations were banned, none allowed to wear colourful dresses and all music and amusement were banned. Those who found doing these were executed no matter who they are.

           There is a myth saying before the queen’s death the king makes two promises to the queen. He would not have any more children after her death and he would by  build an enormous monument for her. The despaired king builds Taj Mahal in memories of his late wife.

           The building of Taj Mahal took 20 years and 20,000 manpower. Architects were brought from Persia. Billions of Dollars were used to build the building. 

             He blinded all the architects and cut the hands of all the workers of the monument so that no one can ever build a building as beautiful as Taj Mahal. Myth says that jewels from the tomb were stolen long ago.

              Now stand Taj Mahal a symbol of love in Agra, India. It stands magnificently for 352 years. The great architecture of love it is, Taj Mahal .

THINGS FALL APART: ANALYSIS

The Igbo society consider male as a dominant figure. Besides the society also emphasize on feminine. However, both masculine and feminine are interrelates to balance their daily life of the tribe. Discuss.           

             Masculinity and feminism are often defined as the traditional qualities of male and female, where male is brave and strong while female are soft and being famine. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe both male and female are interrelates to balance their daily life of the tribe. In this novel Chinua Achebe presents his ideas about gender through their participation in a function, villages internal affairs and agriculture.

            Both male and female have different roles in conducting a function. Their chores are divided by their physical strength and the talents that describe their gender. Women normally cook while man prepares the ingredients for the food. For instance in this novel Chinua Achebe describes the duties of both genders in the thanks giving function held by Okonkwo to thank his relatives in Mbanta for helping him in his rainy days. Okonkwo’s third wife, Ekwefi harvest cassava tubers in her farm with her daughter Ezinma and Ojiugo’s daughter Obiageli. The other wives are in charge of other ingredients such as smoked fish, palm oil and pepper. Meanwhile Okonkwo prepared yams and meat for the function. In short both male and female have their own duties to do when they are conducting a function.

            Besides that male have clear responsibilities in the village’s internal affairs. Men have clear duties towards his village such as protecting his village, being a spokesperson of the village etc. but women in the other hand does not have any responsibilities to her village. Chinua Achebe fails to show the readers the duties of a woman to her village. A woman is only in charge of her children. In this novel Okonkwo have clear duties towards his village. He is the warrior of the village, the spokesperson and an elder in Umuofia. Women were considered as the assistants for man. For example, Chielo is a priestess of the village.

            Next, men were a dominant figure in the agriculture. The main source of food in Umuofia is yam and cultivating yams needs a lot of physical strength.  Thus the heavy work was lifted on the shoulders of man. In this novel women were only viewed as sub coordinates rather than equals in agriculture. Man does all the heavy work such as plowing the land and harvesting the yam. In this novel, the man who can harvest more yams are considered as masculine. That’s why the villagers respect Okonkwo as he works hard in his field.

            In a conclusion, Chinua Achebe succeeded in interrelate the duties of both male and female in different aspects.