Week Seven Essay: Stories From the Congo

The Congo. National Geographic.

The unit of Stories from the Congo was definitely an interesting one.  I really did enjoy the readings and accomplished my overall goal, which was to learn more about life in the Congo and life in the area. We can learn so much about a culture and a group of people by their stories and their myths and legends. From this unit, I learned that magic, farming, and nature were a big part of life for the people living in the Congo.

Something I found very interesting from the unit was the amount of talking animals in the stories. For instance, the story of the Antelope and the Leopard revolved solely around two animals and their interactions with each other. Also, the story of How the Spider Won and Lost Nzambi's Daughter was interesting to me. In the story, a spider is married to a human. This fusion of nature and human life was apparent in many of the stories, showing the importance placed on nature and its components on daily life in the Congo.

I enjoyed many stories from this unit, however my favorites were How Kengi Lost her Child, The Jealous Wife, and The Twin Brothers. I liked that these stories told us more about the human experience of those living in the area. It is always interesting for me to read about the lives of those around the world because no matter where you go around the globe, human nature does not change.

The notes of the unit were very helpful, as some of the terminology used in the stories is a little different than our society knows. Having those helpful tips on many of the stories was very helpful and did positively contribute to my reading experience.

Overall, I really did enjoy this unit. I loved that there was a nice mix in stories of normal people and their lives, magic, and talking animals. It was a very diverse reading unit and I really enjoyed it.