Comparison and contrast essay structure and techniques

CC Mandabi-Things Fall Apart

A comparison of Things Fall Apart and Mandabi

African society has been shaped by a variety of influences including native African tribes and imperialistic and colonialist countries such as Britain and France. Through a comparison of Things Fall Apart, a 1958 novel by Chinua Achebe, and Mandabi (the Money Order), a 1968 film written and directed by Ousmane Sembene, one can see how traditional cultural traditions and values are maintained and how they are transformed by outside forces.

Things Fall Apart revolves around Okwonko, a well-respected man who has worked hard to earn respect, wealth, and property in his village. Achebe describes Okwonko as "well-known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements [who] had no patience with unsuccessful men."[footnoteRef:1] the predominant reason that Okwonko has no patience with unsuccessful men is because of his father, Unoka, who was "lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. If any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine, called round his neighbours and made merry…Unoka was, of course, a debtor, and he owed every neighbor some money."[footnoteRef:2] Similarly, in Mandabi, Ibrahima Dieng and his nephew, Abdou, share several of Okwonko's and Unoka's characteristics. Abdou, like Okwonko, is determined to become successful regardless of his family's background. He has moved to Paris to work because he recognizes that there are no employment opportunities in Dakar. However, he does not turn his back on his family and sends money home to help support his mother and uncle.[footnoteRef:3] on the other hand, Ibrahima shares many characteristics with Unoka. He refuses to get a job, and almost immediately after receiving a money order from Abdou and before cashing it, begins to borrow money and spend it recklessly. He does not appear to have any ambitions other than to run his household and appears unwilling and too stubborn to get a job of his own.[footnoteRef:4] [1: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, http://l-adam-mekler.com/things-fall-apart.pdf (accessed 8 April 2013), p. 1. ] [2: Ibid.] [3: Mandabi (the Money Order), directed by Ousmane Sembene, (1968; France/Senegal: New Yorker Video), Netflix Instant Streaming (accessed 8 April 2013).] [4: Ibid.]

In Things Fall Apart, the reader can see how the British and French began to institute their governing and belief systems. Achebe writes, "[Apart] from the church, the white men had also brought a government. They had built a court where the District Commissioner judges cases in ignorance" and the prisons were "full of men who had offended against the white man's law." [footnoteRef:5] Furthermore, Achebe comments on the integrity of men before the white man began to institute his laws and traditions. In Things Fall Apart, Okwonko laments, "Worthy men are no more…Isike will never forget how we slaughtered them in that war…Before the end of the fourth market week they were suing for peace. Those were the days when men were men."[footnoteRef:6] Ibrahima's ability to cash the money order is hindered by a corrupt bureaucratic process with which Ibrahima is unfamiliar with, and which ultimately leads to him losing the money sent to him in its entirety. It is through this bureaucratic process that the audience can see how life differed before colonialism and how outsiders such as Britain and France have changed it. While Ibrahima attempts to lead an honest life, he realizes too late that the only way to get ahead in Dakar is to be a crook, like all the men that cheated him out of the money he was sent and desperately needed. [5: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, http://l-adam-mekler.com/things-fall-apart.pdf (accessed 8 April 2013), p. 61.] [6: Ibid, 70.]