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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Tension Between Old and New

Obi and his wife are emblematic of the influence of new ideas on an older culture. They are young, eager people, ready to bring the modern life to the people they think need it. The story states that the Ndume school has been “unprogressive,” which suggests that the Mission have not had much luck in convincing the village to abandon its traditional ways and embrace modernity or Christianity. By assuming that the Western and Christian ways are the correct ways, there is little room for the idea that perhaps it would be fine to allow people to believe and worship the way they have always done. The Mission believes they will be doing people a disservice if they do not bring proclamations of the truth. Building a new school and planting a garden are meant to bring a different lens through which to look at the world. New, too, is the idea of private property, and the sense that the village would have to find a new path along which life and death travel because people and spirits using the path would disrupt the aesthetics of the school’s garden. Imposing a Western sense of how a village should be built is in direct conflict with the way that the people who have inhabited this place for generations have built it. The conception that a new idea can wholly displace an old idea is naïve at best, and destructive at worst. 

The Importance of Respecting Tradition

Obi does not respect the traditions of the village he inhabits. He seems to have been raised in the shadow of the missionaries he works for. He is ready and willing to take over a school that those who employ him deem to be underperforming. This eager readiness suggests that he is steeped in the Western ideals of the missionaries, and therefore alienated from traditional Nigerian beliefs and culture. Obi heads to Ndume with conceivably no background knowledge of the beliefs and culture of those living there. Instead of learning about those who reside there and what their needs may be regarding the school or their understanding of the missionaries’ intent, Obi sets out to shape the school in his own image. By extension, he desires to bend the village to that image as well. When confronted with the culture of the village, he is unable to step back and consider that there may be some way to compromise. He does not see a way to respect the needs and wants of both parties. He shows no signs of tolerance, essentially laughing the priest out of their meeting. It is little wonder, then, that his arrogance backfires when he disrespects the village’s beliefs. This disrespect is a level of contempt that seems like it will lead to a breakdown in the relationship between the village and the missionaries, as is hinted at in the story’s final lines.

The Balance Between Zeal and Respect

Obi is enthusiastic about the prospect of bringing his philosophies to bear in the school and village. He is full of what he thinks of as “wonderful ideas” that have only been waiting to be deployed. His wife has bought into his self-assuredness and is excited to help him realize his goals. They go to Ndume ready to make changes that are seemingly necessary. Obi’s energetic impulse could be considered enviable, but Obi manages to ignore the fact that he is an outsider. In his zeal, he cannot help but overstep the bounds of respect and humility necessary for someone coming into a new space to demonstrate. He wants to teach. He wants to educate, but he is uninterested in learning himself. In an abundance of enthusiasm, he wants to bulldoze the beliefs that the village has cultivated since long before Obi and the missionaries came along. Obi’s excitement might be commendable, but his impertinence toward the village and his unwillingness to consider the village’s needs curdles that excitement into fanaticism and lack of respect, resulting in an abject failure of the mission’s goals.

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