Tradition: Lost And Kept :: essays research papers

Tradition Lost and Kept     Each culture in the world follows its get customs and traditions. Thesetraditions, however, are sometimes broken to allow a compromise in their society,or are still kept throughout the cultures existence. In the storey The Rain Came,an African tribe faces a harsh and desolate time because their tribe isexperiencing a severe drought and as a result the strain is dying fromdehydration, the crops are drying out, and the tribes Chief is called upon toremedy the situation. Following their tribes tradition on a scrape upg the gods forassistance, the Chief discovered the only way to eliminate the drought is bysacrificing his daughter in a traditional ritual. The events that follow willshow how the tribes customs will be kept and lost.     Tradition is shown in many sort out of the story. The first example oftradition is evident in the scene where the Chief speaks to the ancestors tochange the sacrifice he loves his onl y daughter dearly and does not wish her todie. Unfortunately, he could not abandon his position as Chief and let thepeople die from the drought either. In the tribe, it was customary for the Chiefto have some(prenominal) wives and children. The Chief married five wives and the fifthone brought him a daughter. Another tradition that was shown in the story wasthe explanation of how Oganda (the chiefs only daughter) detectd her name. Hername meant "beans" because her skin was smooth, very much like the skins ofbeans. A last example of tradition is the sacrificing of Oganda. She isscheduled to be sacrificed to a lake monster in order for the tribal villages toreceive precipitation and water. In modern days, we would check the localsatellite forecast for the area and determine when to conserve water during adrought. However, in this story, tradition must be followed to allow the peopleto live and thrive, or does it?     Revealing the parts of the story whe re tradition is kept is important inorder to compare with the part where tradition is lost and compromised. TheChief keeps tradition when he arranges a meeting with all the family membersexcept Oganda to discuss her sacrifice to better the chances of survival foreveryone else. Oganda believes that her family is discussing her marriage andher morale and hopes increase until her family informs her of the situation. Tothe villagers, it was a great honor to let a womans daughter to die for hercountry. To the Chief, it was a great and sad loss for his only daughter would