How to write about Nerds

How to Write about Nerds

            First of all, if you don’t mention RPG’s like DnD, and RTSG’s like Warhammer, you are doing it wrong. All nerds play both those things and more. You probably don’t know what those mean. And there are hundreds more. Not to mentions the new computer games that have come out. Most nerds have played mass effect, fallout, and elder scrolls for 1000 hours each.

 The only way you can mention the word “girlfriend” is with a not in front of it. The same goes for the word “shower.” Thus all nerds smell like sweat and cheeseballs. All nerds also lack athletic capability. The only class they fail is gym.

Nerds are pasty because the spend fourty hours in there basement, and eight in school.  ALL NERDS ARE VIRGINS. Additionally the nerd community has bad allergies and acne. They are often sick and seldom attractive. They never break a rule or argue.

            All nerds are exceedingly smart. Nerds tend to have straight A’s. They will only have two or three friends. All of these friends have to be nerds as well. IN the halls of school, the nerd is a common target. To mention him as anything else is wrong. The wardrobe of a nerd is limited. Plaid overalls, ankle socks, white T-shirt with pens in the pocket, and horn-rimmed glasses are required. They are prone to wedges, swirlies, and purple nurples. If you don’t know what those are, you have lived a good life.

            No discussion about nerds is complete without mentioning the references. All nerds reference a wide range of things, from movies to comic books that you have not heard of. Their favorite series is either Star Wars or Star Trek. And they spend hour’s arguing about it. A nerds will spend all his money on comics, games, books, and the products of superhero movies.

Things Fell Apart

I honestly do not know where things went wrong. It seemed everything was fine, up until Okonkwo killed his son. That will haunt me for as long as I live. And that event is what lead to Okonkwo’s death. After that day Isaac, formerly Okonkwo’s son, began to hate his father. That festering wound of the soul lead Isaac to join the missionaries.  Okonkwo hated the missionaries even more after that. The poison that is the white man’s religion affects everyone differently. For some, it is an immediate takeover, this was the case with the untouchables and Isaac, at least in spirit. For others it was a slow spread that overwhelmed without alerting the afflicted. And the last group rejected it completely and ran anyway possible. Okonkwo killed himself when he realized he was losing power. He killed himself, and left us to deal with this encroaching doom. But of course, it was not his fault. The lack of unity amongst the groups is what failed us. In order for our society to work, it depended on everyone doing their part. Each person had someplace in ruling of the tribe. Some greater than others it is true. But once people began leaving in flocks, we could do nothing. And we watched silently as our society, our culture, our faith, and our language came down around our ears. And this all thanks to words on the tongue’s of serpents, and phrases from an old book.

The use of context

It is impossible to look something impartially. You will always have an opinion on the matters at hand.That is why it is so important to understand the context of creation, and the context of reception. The latter is how the text is received based on your particular set of circumstances. It is important when reading and interpreting a text to be able to put yourself the context of the time. Without the ability to do so, the text loses most of its meaning and purpose. That being said, learning about the context of creation help me significantly in understanding several moments in the text.

The greatest example of this was Ikemefuna’s final moments. In chapter seven, page forty four, “’My father, they have killed me’ as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down.” When I read this for the first time, I put the book down and walked away, on the brink of tears. When it came up in class no else seemed to share my reaction. It occurs to me now that I put that scene into my own context, not that of the book. By making the scene similar to the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, Achebe sought to soften the blow, make it seem as though Okonkwo was trusting a higher power. In my case, when the scene occurred in both instances, my reaction remained constant. Weather this is due to my beliefs I cannot say. However, I did not grow up reading the stories in the bible.

Another instance where the context of the book was necessary to understand was the locusts. In chapter seven, page forty, “’Locusts are descending’ was joyfully chanted everywhere…” Personally, I hate bugs. So needless to say the fact that they caught and ate them was revolting at the time. Though I still would not eat them, I actually understand why they did what they did. Throughout the rest of the book, you see very little variety in the food. So when this new and exotic food goes to sleep all over the village, it makes sense that they decided to eat them.

Page 98 presents yet another mystery to modern thinking. In it, we see the family of Okonkwo’s uncle, and Okonkwo himself, unable to say why “Mother is Supreme”. Now, women have an equal role is society. So saying something along those lines is common place, not only that, it is widely believed.  So their inability to express why mother is supreme, or even important, is shocking. However, where many may see sexism, is present only ignorance.

The final example was the twins. On page 144 it mentions several of the less desirable peoples of the village joining the church. The concept of the undesirable is understandable to a degree. Though you cannot contract their luck from them, several ailments that go along with poor nourishment and poor living conditions can. However the fact that they are considered this because of who they are makes no sense, unless taken in the context of the culture. They have neither land nor title, and they do not act as society says they should. Sounds familiar? The gays went through something similar. Bu they were able to overcome the adversity, not these people in the book. So they sought refuge in faith. What makes even less sense is the people reaction to twins. They believe them to be evil, one is a demon the other the real child. Instead of risking getting the demon, they throw them out. Until you realize that this is what they believe, their reaction is completely uncalled for.

In conclusion, in order to really understand a text, you must look at it in its context.