In The Sacrificial Egg , the author, Chinua Achebe presents the conflict between an African civilization called Igbo

and Westernization, specifically European. (Joaq uin, 2003) The protagonist, whose name is Julius Obi, is a product of European a nd African culture-- he is a Western educated Igbo. The story begins in the empt y market named Nkwo. Since Umuru people think the god of smallpox is staying at the market, they are afraid to come. Julius Obi thinks such folklore is a kind o f superstition. He is careless of the warning sign that traditional native peopl e tell him, and he has a frightening experience. Before the Westerns came, Nkwo was a quiet, clean and small market. The Westerns carry the business and dirt to the market. The smallpox and fear come following one after the other. The story shows the differences between viewpoints of the colonials and traditional Africans. Because of the difference, conflict happens. Being Western educated, Julius believes from what he has learned that the smallp ox is a kind of disease. But native people think it is carried by Kitikpa, a god of smallpox. His girl friend s mother, Ma, warns him to stay at home as long as p ossible, because Kitikpa is in the street. Chinua Achebe is one of Africa's most influential and widely published writers. (N YS Writers Institute, 1998) He was born November 16, 1930, in Ogidi, in eastern N igeria, the son of a mission-school teacher, one of the early converts to Christ ianity in his community. (Hastings, 2001) His name in full is Albert Chinualumogu Achebe. He was educated in Western missionary schools and obtained an arts degr ee at the University College in Ibadan. As the author of one of the enduring work s of modern African literature, Achebe sees post colonial cultures taking shape story by story. (Bacon, 2000) He uses English in writing African fiction, in order to make Europeans understand African culture and tradition more directly and tr uthfully. He also writes to...(rest is only for paid members!!) The sacrificial egg in the story is an analogy of Julius's soul. Julius no longe r believes in superstition and sacrifice because his education teaches him scien tific evidence. People do sacrifice to hope a good life for themselves. The soci ety sacrifices Julius' innocence to make him earn money for the company. Julius is the scapegoat that is sacrificed for money. When Julius breaks the egg, he fo rgets about it quickly. Similarly, the society neglects Julius feelings when he undergoes the loss of innocence. The sacrificial egg is made to pray for fortune , and people ignore whatever happens to the egg. As a scapegoat, Julius has to c are the struggle by himself, and thus experience his loss of happiness, love and innocence. The market represents the hollowness in Julius' heart. Due to the corruption of the society, Julius lost his innocence, which leads to his loneliness. The marke t is described to be clean and nice, but as the white people come to do business , the whole place becomes busy, crowded and dirty. Julius is like the market. Be fore his education helps him to find a job at the company, his mind and soul is unpolluted and innocent. The Sacrificial Egg alludes to numerous issues which confronted African society during colonialism. The conflict presented by Achebe is that of the clash betwee n traditional African beliefs and way of life with the modernization and reshaping of entire nations brought on by colonialism. Urbanization, missionary schools, population growth, change in economic structure, religious pressures ; all are m entioned, and all contribute to the widening gyre of colonial influence in Africa. The theme of change from traditional practices is established immediately at the beginning of the story. This market, like all Ibo markets, had been held on one of the four days of the week. But with the coming of the white man and the growt h of Umuru into a big palm-oil port, it had become a daily market. The market is

no longer held on its traditional day, when the market was blessed by spirits, a nd people were drawn in to trade. Achebe then writes in the past tense, describi ng a vibrant market and trade system, which is spoken of as if it has been lost. The feeling of nostalgia in this passage is very strong, as if thinking back fo ndly. It is suggested that this way of life is but a distant memory now. Achebe uses a canoe as a metaphor for this passage of traditional life into a memory, f ading into the distance. As evening approached, they took up their paddles and paddled away, the water sh immering in the sunset and their canoe becoming smaller and smaller in the dista nce until it was just a dark crescent on the water's face and two dark bodies sw aying forwards and backwards in it. Replacing this traditional way of life and trade is bustling market, crowded and noisy, so much so that the main character of the story had to learn to work against the background of its noise . Just as African society as a whole h ad to attempt to learn how to live with the background noise of pervasive and po werful European influence. In the case of Umuru, the port city in which this sto ry takes place, that European influence has made the city busy, sprawling, crowde d, and dirty , where before it had been a little village swept and kept clean by it s handful of inhabitants . This represents the basic shift in economic priorities that took place in many parts of Africa. No longer were market days and trading simply done between individuals and tribes for subsistence and day to day life. Export became one of the primary goals of production. Villages such as the Umuru of this story underwent fundamental, irreversible, uncontrollable changes. The f alcon cannot hear the falconer , events cannot be reversed or recalled. To the per spective of an African, developments seemingly have a life of their own. Traditi onal ways of understanding life have also been significantly altered. The very w orldview of the people of Umuru has been altered, as can be seen by Julius observ ation that There must be many, many people in the world . This very simple line ca rries extreme weight; it demonstrates the immense scope of the re-adjustment to Africa s place in a global context, a concept that simply didn t exist prior to Euro pean contact. The spirituality and belief systems of the characters in the story are also dramatically changed and end up as far from tradition as Umuru is from its village past. Achebe repeatedly refers to the conflict between traditional spirituality with E uropean religion. Traditional spirituality is shown to be in conflict with Europ ean life in many instances. Firstly, in the way the markets are now run, no long er entirely the way it used to be, only on the days when the market is blessed b y a spirit. This conflict between European and traditional beliefs is most clear ly demonstrated in the character Ma who is described as a devout Christian. She even calls on the power of Jehovah to see them through the crisis of the smallpo x. Yet, she also describes some of the women in the market as mammy-wota from the river a very traditional superstitious view. It can also be found in Julius, and educated man who sings in the church choir yet still fears the night spirit. Bo th of these characters represent an absolutely fundamental collision of culture as both characters attempt to adapt and live in their new reality. The other effect of colonialism presented in the short that cannot be ignored is smallpox. The narrator of the story repeatedly refers to smallpox and devastati ng impact it had on society. In the story, the power of smallpox has made the big market become empty. Whether this is because of how many have died or because of a fear of going out in public is not established. Regardless, just as happened in reality, in the story smallpox has clearly been devastating. It is important to recall here that the city of Umuru is cramped and dirty because of the change s brought on by colonialism. That means that colonialism set up the conditions f or the disease that colonials brought to Africa to spread like wildfire. Julius describes the disruptions caused by smallpox in detail; entire villages are cut off as soon as there is a trace of the disease. Young couples are forced to stay

apart; not to mention the loss of loved ones that is exposed by the end of the story. This brings us to the biggest impact of colonialism on African society that Ache be represents in this story: emptiness. The theme of emptiness recurs repeatedly throughout the story. The baskets of trade at the beginning of the story are em pty, the market is empty and houses are empty as families have been taken away d ue to smallpox. The entire present day is empty, devoid of detail. The detail gi ven the way things used to be in Umuru is rich and full while all descriptions o f the present in the story are stark and minimalist in detail. The concept of em ptiness is especially strong in the final lines of the story: As Julius stood at the window looking out on the empty market he lived through t hat night again. It was only a week ago, but already it seemed to be separated f rom the present by a vast emptiness. This emptiness deepened with the passage of time. On this side stood Julius, and on the other Ma and Janet, who were carrie d away by the smallpox. Africans were forced to try and reconcile their traditional lives with so many c hanges, left to try and find ways to adapt. Colonialism impacted progressively m ore and more of daily life. Turning and turning the widening gyre . So many aspect s of their lives spun out of their control, and they could not simply return to what they had before. Colonialism seemingly took on a life of its own. The falcon cannot hear the falconer . In many cases their entire way of life and belief str uctures were destroyed by colonialism. Things fall apart; the center cannot hold . Their previous existence was thrust into a new, global reality. The ceremony of innocence is drowned . What is left after that destruction of innocence is a vast emptiness between present day African culture, diluted by European influence, a nd its lost traditional history. An emptiness that grows with the passing of tim e as people move further away and those who remember the way things used to be d ie, from whatever cause. Europeanised Africans like Julius move forward on one s ide, while others are left behind either by social inequality, or simply being l ost in the shuffle. Africa , as it were, has in many ways disappeared thanks to col onial influence and a great emptiness remains where it once was. The story deals with the psychological and physical toll exerted on people by a smallpox epidemic in an Igbo town, Umuru, in the 1920s. The people in town beli eve that the deadly epidemic is the handiwork of a local deity, Kitikpa, who is angry with the community, thereby emphasizing the power of superstition and crea ting an atmosphere of fear and helplessness.One of this story's intentions is to demonstrate what appears to be a conspiracy between colonialism, human failure, and nature in instigating the suffering of a community. The protagonist, Julius , is a Standard Six certificate holder who works as a clerk in the offices of "t he all-powerful European trading company which bought palm-kernels at its own pr ice and cloth and metalware, also at its own price" (44 - 45). To the economic e xploitation his community suffers at the hands of the imperialists is added the scourge of the smallpox, which, we learn, not only killed its victim, but also " decorated" the survivor (46). The town itself has evolved from a small rural setting to a suburban locality, a nd with that have come a number of petty crimes and fear of the ghosts believed to haunt its big market. However, the thrust of the story is the tragic encounte r of the protagonist with a deadly destiny through a doomed love affair. When Ju lius seeks the hand of Janet in marriage, he receives her mother's support becau se of his Christian faith. One fated day, however, Julius and his girlfriend par t under foreboding circumstances. Julius is returning home in the night when he suddenly steps on a sacrificial egg. "In his hurry he stepped on something that broke with a slight liquid explosion... Someone oppressed by misfortune had brou ght the offering to the crossroads in the dusk" (47). In a story dominated by tr aditional fatalism, there is an indication that one's destiny cannot be averted; this is why, despite Julius's firm attachment to the tenets of Christianity and his conviction that his education has freed him from traditional taboos, he see

ms to end up a victim of diabolic forces. Shortly after he breaks the sacrificia l egg, his girlfriend and her mother become afflicted with the deadly smallpox v irus. While the reader may well see the breaking of the egg as a foreshadowing s ign and a reminder of the townspeople's superstition, it is clear that this is n ot the cause of the smallpox. However, for the actors in the story, the breaking of the egg and the deadly disease signal cause and effect. In "The Sacrificial Egg , the author, Chinua Achebe "presents the conflict betwee n an African civilization called Igbo and Westernization, specifically European. (Joaquin, 2003) The protagonist, whose name is Julius Obi, is a product of Euro pean and African culture-- he is a Western educated Igbo. The story begins in th e empty market named Nkwo. Since Umuru people think the god of smallpox is stayi ng at the market, they are afraid to come. Julius Obi thinks such folklore is a kind of superstition. He is careless of the warning sign that traditional native people tell him, and he has a frightening experience. Before the Westerns came, Nkwo was a quiet, clean and small market. The Westerns carry the business and dirt to the market. The smallpox and fear come following one after the other. The story shows the differences between viewpoints of the colonials and traditional Africans. Because of the difference, conflict happens. Being Western educated, Julius believes from what he has learned that the smallp ox is a kind of disease. But native people think it is carried by Kitikpa, a god of smallpox. His girl friend's mother, Ma, warns him to stay at home as long as possible, because Kitikpa is in the street. But he still meets his girl friend in such dangerous days and stays outside because "being educated he was not afra id of whom he might meet . (Gary, p4). Finally he meets trouble. He finds night s pirits are real. He can hear them. The native people use some eggs as sacrifices . Julius can't image the eggs are so important, but the reality tells him they a re. When he crushes the egg, he realizes what the eggs mean. He finds misfortune comes to him, and many horrible things frighten him. At last, regardless of his former belief, he has to believe he can't go outside at will during this time o f smallpox

Chinua Achebe s short story The sacrificial Egg illustrates the life of a young Afric tive Julius Obi, and the arising conflicts between two cultures. This short stor y takes place in a very small village in Africa, called Umuru in the mid 1900 s. Thi s young African Native, although no native of Umuru finds himself trapped betwee n his own culture, beliefs and the westernized culture. Although Julius has embr aced the western culture, after certain events he eventually finds himself comin g back to his own beliefs. Achebe, uses these two very different cultures to dem onstrate the clash it produces in this young men s life and, how no matter how hard he has embraced the western culture he was always going to go back to his own be liefs. The small African village in this story has being taken over by the western cult ure. Westernization is shown in the beginning of the story. Julius Obi sat gazing a t his typewriter. There was an empty basket on the giant weighing machine. In these uotes the typewriter and the weighing machine, odd objects for the African nativ e of this village show perfectly how this town has being westernized. Julius Obi wa s not a native of Umuru. He had come like countless others from some bush villag e island. Having passed his Standard Six in a mission school he had come to Umur u to work as a clerk in the offices of the powerful European trading company This quot e shows how Julius has himself being westernized. Westernization wasn t welcomed by many of the Umuru natives. The natives had long prayed for their town to prosper and grow. The strangers who came to Umuru came for the trade and money, not in sea rch of duties to perform This shows that people who now came to town, came strictly fo r business and money, which tells the reader how the town isn t what it used to be. And as if it did not suffice, the young sons and daughters of Umuru soil, encourage d by schools and churches were behaving no better than the strangers. They negle

cted all their old tasks and kept only the revelries. This show how even the young ones of this village have being westernized to the point, where they completely neglect their own traditions and beliefs. The small African village located on the bank of the river Niger has a story of its own, that only the old and wise are able to describe. In its own time this v illage was a market, called Umuru. During one particular day called the Nkwo day , a deity would cast a spell which called men and women from the four corners of the world to come buy and sell products. 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 t he right and to the left- to draw to market men and women from distant places. This quote comes to show how these traditions and beliefs were once born in this vil lage. It also shows that these traditions go far back to ancient myths. The market, tough still called Nkwo, had long spilled over into Eke, Oye and Afo with the c oming of civilization and the growth of the town into a big palm oil port. This quo te in particular shows that even if this market has being westernized, people wh o live there still believe in their traditions. There are two characters in particular who have both learned to accept westerniz ation without putting their own beliefs aside. One of them is Ma, the mother of Julius s bride to be. Although Ma has been westernized trough the conversion of reli gion she still holds respect for what happens in the village, like Kitikpa. Such wa s the state of the town when Kitikpa came to see it and to demand the sacrifice the inhabitants owed the gods of the soil . Kitikpa was an evil deity. Ma explained to him very gently that he should no longer come to see them until this thing is over, by the power of Jehovah. Ma although westernized does not put aside her beliefs. T he other character is the Chief Clerk. The next morning, at the office the Chief cl erk, a son of the soil spoke bitterly about last night s provocation of Kitikpa by t he headstrong youngsters who has launched the noisy fleet footed mask in defianc e of their elders The Chief clerk also shows how he respects the traditions and beliefs of this town. Julius, on the other hand has being westernized to the point where he doesn t really believe in Kitikpa, or anything related to his own culture. After going for a w alk with Janet, he decides to go along the bank of the river. Being educated he was not afraid of whom he might meet, so he went to the bank of the river and just walked up and down it. During his walk he soon hears a gong. He immediately set out fo r home, half-walking and half-running, for night-masks were not matter of supers tition; they were real. This shows how suddenly Julius, although westernized finds himself face to face with this culture he had decided to put aside. While runnin g, Julius finds himself stepping on to something and realizes that he has steppe d onto this egg, this egg that was brought for offering. Soon enough Julius find s himself onto the ground hiding from these night-masks fearing for the worst. Y ou can see that Julius who had tried to run away from his old beliefs had finall y come back to them and knew that by stepping onto the egg he had wronged Kitikp a. This story in general shows how people more often than we think forget about the ir origin, where they came from, and what their cultures and traditions are. The tr ouble was that the disobedient youths had never yet experienced the power of Kit ikpa themselves; they had only heard of it. Julius being there that night had exper ienced the power of Kitikpa himself. He knew his life would now be forever chang ed. Julius was now going to respect these beliefs he had long forgotten about. In The Sacrificial Egg Chinua Achebe presents the conflict between an African civiliza tion called Igbo and Westernization, specifically Europeans. The story focuses o n Kitikpa, a god of smallpox, ravaging the people of Umuru as seen from the empt iness of the market named Nkwo and the story s main character Julius Obi as he indir ectly experiences the effects of the evil god (Votteler 14). Being of African de scent Achebe believes that no African writer can betray his heritage (Landow). A

s the story progresses the effects of the Europeans coming into contact with the Igbo people unfolds as it is seen from the prosperous Nkwo market, the fear imp osed by Kitikpa, and the emptiness Julius experiences. The setting of The Sacrificial Egg provides the reader with a historical background re garding the issues seen in the story. The story takes place along the Niger Rive r in Africa during the large up growth of European colonization as seen througho ut Africa. The great market situated on the Niger River was still busiest on its or iginal Nkwo day (425) despite it s overflowing effects onto neighboring civilizations. Through the colonization of Umuru, many other close by inhabitants of Africa muc h like Julius Obi with Standard Six certificates discover work opportunities as clerks of the European Palm Oil trading company (Votteler 14). Sometimes when the C hief Clerk was away he [Julius Obi] walked to the window and looked down on the vast anthill activity (426). The people of Umuru believe the market s prosperity to be connected with the deity who cast spells since its ancient times, taking the sha pe of an old woman, conflicting with the arrival of Europeans. Who would have believed that the great boisterous market could ever be quenched lik e this? (426) thought Julius as he looked upon the empty market, distinguishing the past from the present. However, this was the power of Kitikpa, the incarnate power of smallpox. The intimidating power of Kitikpa was felt from villages both near an d far, as his presence halted crossings between villages he struck. Those he killed were not killed but decorated (426) with the pustules characterizing smallpox. Jul ius experiences the effects of Kitikpa as Ma (Janet s mother) tells him he should no t see them for quite a while. In the last moments together, Julius and Janet [shake ] hands, which was very odd, as though parting for the night were something new and grave (427), foreshadowing the future fate of Janet. With the presence of small pox, or Kitikpa if you will, emerges conflicting ideas of the cultural beliefs o f a divine being presiding over the village. In contrast, the mundane reality is that of the disease being brought forth from the coming of European settlers sh ared also with the Christian converts. Julius, however, clung to the former, in that he believed there to be a presence of members of the spirit world in the world of the living (Stine 23). Following the last moments between the girl he was going to marry, Julius walked up and down the bank of the river rather than heading straight home, because he wa nted desperately to cling, even alone, to this strange parting (427). As Julius hur riedly sets out for home, the night-masks swirl past him in the dark; he steps o n an egg that has been sacrificed (Votteler 14). Such was the state of the town whe n Kitikpa came to demand the sacrifice the inhabitants owed the gods of the soil. (426) Surrounding the crushed egg were decorative palm-fronds, however, Julius percei ved the entire visual before him as another house to which the terrible artist b egan work. The egg represents Janet and Ma, as insinuated by Julius s own perception of the accident, perhaps even an egg sacrificed by either of the two to a great er extent. The emptiness Julius looks upon in the market throughout the extent o f the story while reminiscing of former days represents the feelings he feels in side. He feels desolate, empty, lost. It was barely a week ago on this side stood Juliu s, and on the other Ma and Janet whom the dread artist decorated. (428) Despite the goods and riches that came with the Europeans, it still brought prob lems much like the case of England s Black Plague. As the reader, one can perceive t he egg as being the protector of a life, or lives; or the entire incident can be viewed as being a coincidence clashing with the problem of smallpox. With his a nd the village s conflicting beliefs, Julius may never completely understand what ha s happened and why. The influence of Achebe s strong cultural feelings is evident in The Sacrificial Egg , stating, unless our culture begins to take itself seriously it never get off the ground. (Landow) The conflict between beliefs held by generations is presented and gives light to situations occurring to this day (Stine 23).