The Authors' Comments on Social Issues in The Sacrificial Egg

Lu Xun and Chinua Achebe were very acclaimed writers for their time. They were both from different time periods as their writings portrayed their surroundings. Intricately, Lu Xun and Chinua Achebe’s stories are representations of how the authors comment on social issues in their work. In Chinua Achebe’s “The Sacrificial Egg”, the main character, Julius Obi, did not believe in such superficial beliefs and customs until he stepped on a sacrificial egg and is frightened that he had woken the night spirit and bestowed bad spirits upon himself.

That is a symbolization of how Africa is currently caught in between its traditional customs and the new ways of western civilization.

The quickly urbanizing town of Umuru and how dirty it has become is a representation on how Achebe feels about the urbanization of Africa itself. The town is a symbol of the idea of Africa reeling towards urbanization it loses a touch of its individualization that Achebe is so honored to be from.

In the short stories of Lu Xun, “Medicine” and “Diary of a Madman”, Xun comments on social issues through his work symbolizing cannibalism. In “Diary of a Madman”, the diarist that seems to be going crazy is convinced that everybody surrounding him, including his brother, are eyeballing him and preparing to have him for dinner.

Xun’s emphasis on cannibalism in this story reflects on China’s current social issues with the uprisings after the Qing Dynasty had been overthrown in 1911. During this time in China, being different was at a point where it was unacceptable and these new uprisings were there to conform any person wanted to be anything but traditional.

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The idea of conformity and shaping a man’s perspective in his own philosophy was in Xun’s opinion, a way to eat a man alive. In Xun’s story, “Medicine”, Little Bolt’s parents buy blood from a recently executed man as they believed this would cure their son of the fatal tuberculosis. The boy still dies of tuberculosis with no relief from what the medicine was supposed to be. The title plays an ironic role in the story. The story is based around old traditions and homeopathic remedies that civilians believed to work at one point.

The moral of the story in Medicine is that much of China’s custom and traditional ways are “empty, meaningless gestures” (Norton Anthology of World Literature, 243). Literature is a very delicate and wondrous thing if it is read carefully. Stories are not just stories, but portrayal of real life for millions of people hidden behind symbols and adjectives. Lu Xun and Chinua Achebe represent two very different cultures at two different times. Their stories are not only a captivating read, but a history lesson all in its own. Through their stories, they showed millions of readers their opinions of their current surroundings of their homes.