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What is the moral of The Sacrificial Egg?

What is the moral of The Sacrificial Egg?

Strength of Indigenous Culture “The Sacrificial Egg” demonstrates the tug-of-war between Western influences and native traditions and beliefs. Although he acknowledges the traditional beliefs of his people, he doesn’t consciously adopt them as his own.

What does The Sacrificial Egg symbolize?

The title “The Sacrificial Egg” refers to the egg on which the main character Julius steps in the crossroads. It was left there as a religious sacrifice by someone who was trying to reverse their bad luck. When Julius crushes the egg, he inadvertently takes that person’s misfortune onto himself.

What made the Umuru market empty explain?

Julius thought about these things as he now stood at the window looking down at the empty market. Who would have believed that the great market could ever be so empty? But such was the power of Kitikpa, or smallpox. When Umuru had been a little village, it had been swept and kept clean by its handful of inhabitants.

Where does The Sacrificial Egg take place?

Umuru
Chinua Achebe’s short story “The sacrificial Egg” illustrates the life of a young African native Julius Obi, and the arising conflicts between two cultures. This short story takes place in a very small village in Africa, called Umuru in the mid 1900’s.

What’s the meaning of Kitikpa?

Perhaps more significant was what this expansion of commerce with the outside world brought with it: Kitikpa (smallpox). Smallpox was so misunderstood and feared that it found a place in Igbo mythology, personified as an “evil deity” with victims not able to be mourned lest the deity be offended and punish them .

Who is the author of the sacrificial egg?

The Sacrificial Egg by Chinua Achebe. It was written in English and published in the collection of Girls at war and other stories (1972). An earlier version of “the sacrificial egg” published in The Atlantic in 1959.This story illustrates the life of the African natives and the arising conflict between two cultures.

What are the main events in the sacrificial egg?

There are three main events in “The Sacrificial Egg”—Julius’s conversation with Ma about the smallpox quarantine, his mad flight from the night-masks, and his loss of Ma and Janet. These take place within the span of a week.

What does smallpox mean in the sacrificial egg?

“Smallpox” doesn’t convey the inherent evil the villagers associate with Kitikpa, and there is no English word that accurately describes mammy-wota.

What do the Igbo call the disease in sacrificial egg?

The Igbo call the disease “Kitikpa,” personifying it as an evil deity who “demand [s] the sacrifice the inhabitants owe the gods of the soil.” They describe the telltale pustules and scars as the work of an artist who decorates his victims.

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