Essay on Obi Struggles to Balance His Two Cultures: Chinua Achebe's 'The Sacrificial Egg'

The short story "The Sacrificial Egg," by Chinua Achebe, expounds more about a young African native called Julius Obi who dwells amidst two conflicting cultures. Chinua narrates this story to had taken place in Umuru, as a small village in Africa in the mid-1900 (Achebe, 24). Although Obi is not an Umuru native, a young African native, he is trapped between the western culture, beliefs, and his own culture. Even though he seems assimilated to the western norms, after a series of events, he finds himself coming back to normalcy to accept his own beliefs. The writer uses the two cultures to portray the clashes in cultures that young men face. Even though the young men might have got the mastery of western civilization, they still go back to their own beliefs.

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Chinua writes about a small African village situated at the banks of Niger River, which has a unique story that can only be described by the wise and older men. During its own time, the small African village was used as a market and was commonly called Umuru. A deity on a particular day known by the residence as Nkwo day cast a spell inviting people from all four corners and walks of life to converge at the market to sell and buy products (Achebe 28). Chinua gives the narration of the diety as "It was said that she appeared in the form of an old woman in the center of the market just before cock-crow and waved her magic fan in the four directions of the earth in front of her, behind her, to the right and to the left- to draw to market men and women from distant places" (Achebe 28). From this quote, readers can see how the beliefs and traditions highly cherished in this small village.

Chinua belabors on the point that the tradition of the small village was driven from the ancient myths. The writer asserts that "The market, tough still called Nkwo, had long spilled over into Eke, Oye, and Afo with the coming of civilization and the growth of the town into a big palm oil port" (Achebe 29). From this quote, the readers understand that the market, Umuru had been westernized, people who reside in the village still follow and observe their traditions. Chinua writes of characters who have learned coming together and putting their difference aside to accept westernization. The story uncovers the truth behind the mother to Julius' partner to be, Ma, who even if she has been westernized via religion conversion, still holds respect about the community.

Similarly, Kitipa drinks in the same cup as Ma as the story narrates that "Such was the state of the town when Kitikpa came to see it and to demand the sacrifice the inhabitants owed the gods of the soil," (Achebe 27). In the small village Umuru, Kitipa was widely known as an evil deity supported by the quote, "Ma explained to him very gently that he should no longer come to see them until the situation completely changed.

Marxist criticism follows the idea of materialistic dialectic which argue that "what drives historical change are the material realities of the economic base of society, rather than the ideological superstructure of politics, law, philosophy, religion, and art that is built upon that economic base" (Woods 1088). However, Marxist further argues that stable societies create sites of resistance especially to the contradiction that can develop into a social system that contributes to developing a new society to take over the old and social revolution.

In the short story "The Sacrificial Egg," by Chinua Achebe, the character Obi does not abide by the Marxist approach (Rosenfelt &Newton 30). In essence, he becomes westernized while at the same time do come to his own beliefs. For that reason, the readers can understand that small African native village does not comply with the concept of resistance of society to comply with other culture. Readers can know through characters such as Ma that even though the culture has a stronger deity who can command people to come to the Umaru market, it is not that strong as other cultures can manipulate it (Achebe 27). The changes in this society are driven by religion such as evil deity, Kitipa. For instance, Ma expresses her enthusiasm about Kitipa's idea of demanding the sacrifice of the inhabitants who owed the gods of the soil.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the short story "The Sacrificial Egg," by Chinua Achebe, explains the different culture of a young Umuru man, Obi. The story has it that Obi, just like Ma, likes both the native culture of Umuru and western culture. Based on Marxist criticism, readers can argue that Umuru culture is not as strong as compared to western culture. In essence, if Umuru culture was that strong, there could be no reason for Obi and Ma to emulate western civilization. In other words, the concept of Marxist criticism still since the historical change of materialistic realities is driven by religion instead of an economic base.

Works Cited

Achebe, C. The Sacrificial Egg: And Other Short Stories. 1962.

Rosenfelt, D., and J. Newton. Feminist Criticism and Social Change (RLE Feminist Theory): Sex, class and race in literature and culture. Routledge, 2013.

Woods, A. The First World War - A Marxist Analysis of the Great Slaughter. Wellred Books, 2019.