Exercise - Intro to Lit Theories 24-25 PDF

There came a soft knock on the door. Fasseke knew the visitor was Nmadi Ouro, an old friend now poet, whom he had summoned for his virulent writings to his government. To Ouro, he wanted to show the progress to which he had led his country. “Have a seat” he told his old school mate, and then started...

There came a soft knock on the door. Fasseke knew the visitor was Nmadi Ouro, an old friend now poet, whom he had summoned for his virulent writings to his government. To Ouro, he wanted to show the progress to which he had led his country. “Have a seat” he told his old school mate, and then started without even waiting for the waiter to serve the water as it was usually done. “We have begun operation of a fast breeder nuclear reactor. It is a nuclear-powered plant, conceived to be the first in a network of such plants designed to create power for the industry this continent needs and will develop. We will become a giant among giants because we have every intention to convert the waste product into materials for nuclear weapons”. He paused a second to drink his own water and, as if to anticipate a protest from his friend, he continued: “We cannot stop them, we cannot bargain with them without such a weapon. The fact is, the Americans presume they can control the destinies of nations smaller than theirs; that they can determine which nations will have what and when. […] I, together with our neighbor and good friend, President Taiwo shaguri of Temien, determined […] to help our people and all of Africa that is truly Africa, to select our own destiny”. This text is an extract from the novel Jacob’s Ladder (1987) by John Alfred Williams Negotiations were going on, and the yards were full of talk of a strike. The old scale had dealt with the wages of skilled men only; and of the members of the Meat Workers’ Union about two-thirds were unskilled men. In Chicago these latter were receiving eighteen and a half cents an hour, and the unions wished to make this the general wage for the next year. It was not nearly so large a wage as it seemed, and in spite of the fact that it was hardly too much to keep a family on, the employers were unwilling to pay it. They rejected the union demand and put down the wages of about a thousand men to sixteen and a half cents, and it was said that Chief Manager had vowed he would put them to fifteen before he got through. All this was in June; and before long the question was submitted to a referendum in the unions, and the decision was for a strike. Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)