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The Sacrificial Egg Short Story

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The short stories titled “The Sacrificial Egg” by Chinua Achebe and “The Elephant Vanishes” by Haruki Murakami deal with transitioning into a societal order succeeding the previous one by searching for the element that the new order deprives them of but the old order gives them. However, the characters faced with this conflict have contradictory responses. In “The Sacrificial Egg”, Julius Obi, a Western-educated Igbo, eventually comes to recognize the influence of “Kitikpa” (traditionally believed to cause smallpox) to Umuru, making him recognize his lack of acceptance of local tradition as he had grew up in a modern, post-colonialist lifestyle. In effect, the recognition of prevailing superstition humanizes Julius. However, in Murakami’s “The Elephant Vanishes”, the townspeople including the unnamed narrator are fear being enveloped in the new order of urban pragmatism and dehumanization as the town strived to care for the elephant even if the zoo closed down and …show more content…

Since the story is set in a suburb—near an urban area—it means that it exhibits an urban atmosphere, most evidently in terms of human relationships. Generally in urban areas, people live close together, but there is a slim chance that they know each other. This means that in urban areas, people lack intimate relationships. This applies to the townspeople, therefore they look up to the elephant and its caretaker, Noboru Watanabe, as their symbol for such. However, when they vanished, the people were so frantic for their disappearance that it reached the mayor and a search was called for but the search became futile as. The townspeople here are being subjected to a change in societal order as the elephant, representing the old order—the one involving intimacy and closeness—vanished, suddenly giving way to the new order that they [the townspeople] struggled against since the beginning of the

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In the passage, the reader will notice a tone that is serious, informational, and formal. At one point in the passage it states, “In training trials, a mahout would walk with his elephant to the single available rope end and train his animal to pick up and pull the rope by using vocal commands,” (4). This shows the author of the passage was giving out information in a formal tone because he was giving straight information about the training trials of the elephants. Unlike the passage, the article has a more engaging conversational tone. In the article it says, “Elephants know when they need to lend a helping hand- or rather trunk,” (1).

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In the beginning of the essay, the elephant manifests an unbending tantrum. The rampage kills a local man and destroys much of the village. Orwell, by using a tumultuous elephant destroying the village, is a reference to imperialism and its disastrous effects. Orwell writes, “He was lying on his belly with arms crucified and head sharply twisted to one side… (Most of the corpses I have seen looked devilish.)” to show how imperialism’s devastation was the opposite of the initial extension of Britain 's influence through colonization. You can see in Orwell 's writing the diction he uses such as “crucified” and “devilish” in the essay show that the religious influence of imperialism takes a large toll on the culture of the Burmese people and British officers there.

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Although many readers tend to blame the missionaries for the disastrous end to the Umuofian society, Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, suggests that the real culprit is the clash of customs between both the Africans and Europeans because of the Africans unwillingness to change their customs, the Christian’s feelings of superiority, and the inclusivity of Christianity. The loss of culture signifies the lack of unique views, values, and a sense of belonging. The differing customs of the Africans and Europeans were important factors to the destruction of the Umuofian society due to the Christians disdain for the African’s religion. For example, the Europeans believe they "have to put an end to the awful misery” (Source A).

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In George Orwell 's short story titled “Shooting an Elephant” presented an event that changed a countries civilization. George’s life in Burma, and the prejudice placed by the people he oppressed inspired his writing through the uses of setting, style, and theme. In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell no specific event influenced this piece rather it was an accumulation of many small events of prejudice and hate by an opposing group of

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Although they believed they succeeded, the villagers were unable to fully determine the elephant’s appearance because they could not fully assess the situation; the traveler take advantage of their foolishness, as he believes he already knows the essence of the elephant. Several villagers begin to describe parts of the elephant, based on touch, as “a leather fan,” “a rough, hairy pillar,” “a cool, smooth staff,” and even an “overturned washing tub.” Eventually the villagers conclude “that the elephant was in fact an enormous, gentle ox with a stretched nose. ”(Mays 14)

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