The Effect of European Values on the African Society

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The Effect of European Values on the African Society

Dead Men's Path is written by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian who has grown

up with European customs effecting traditional African society. In

this short story he explores these effects on African society.

The story follows Michael Obi, a young headmaster recently appointed

headmaster of Ndume Central School. Obi is a very desirable man and

wanted to turn the backward school into a modern, successful school.

He is completely against traditional views of older Africans and does

not hesitate to condemn their views. He expects nothing but true

dedication from his unmarried staff and he sets work on making the

school compound into a beautiful place. There is a path which connects

the village shrine with the villager's place of burial. Obi is shocked

by this and immediately plants heavy sticks across the path.

A few days later he is confronted by a village priest who had heard

about the blockage of the path. Obi remains stubborn and does not

remove the sticks. A few days later Obi awakes to find that his

beautiful compound has been destroyed, every hedge has been torn up,

every flower has been trampled on and even one of the school buildings

has been pulled down. On this day the school inspector comes and

writes a bad report.

Obi had put all his efforts to make the school marvellous and

beautiful. Still, one morning, Obi woke up among the ruins of his

work. He was influenced by European customs and he disrespected the

views of the villagers and for this he paid the ultimate price.

Snapshots of a Wedding is written by a South African, Bessie Head.

Neo is a well educated girl but i...

... middle of paper ...

...his shows that she feels sorry for the old man.

She thinks it is wrong that he has bought the lion for a cheap price

when it such a beautiful piece of work which would have taken a long

time to make.

In all three stories, European customs are shown to affect African

society. In Dead Men's Path the headmaster is influenced by European

beliefs and he shows no respect for the African beliefs and pays the

price for this, in Snapshots of a Wedding Neo has a western education

and pays disrespect to everyone. The man who marries her is not

interested in her as a person but the money he could gain from

marrying her. Finally, in the Train from Rhodesia an old man who is

fighting mass production is exploited by a European as the old man has

no choice but to sell the item cheaply so he can get some money to

feed his family.

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