Achebe S Chike and Tagore S Punishment Essay

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Punishment" by Tagore and "Chike's School Days" by Achebe are very different. The first story is very heavy and dramatic and shows what happens to people when the lie about the truth. The second story is very happy and innocent and tells the story about a young boy and what he learns at school. There is not much in common between the two stories, except they are stories about human nature. This paper will compare and contrast these two stories to show how they are different and how they are the similar.

"Punishment" deals with tragic consequences. The tragedy in the story is that Chidam convinces his wife Chandara to take responsibility for his brother Dukhiram's actions. Dukhiram has murdered his wife in a fit of rage. Chidam fears that his brother will be punished so he makes up the story that his own wife accidentally killed Radha. Chandara goes along with it but she is very upset by her husband's lie and she confesses in a way that makes her look guilty so she will be executed. This is her way of getting back at her husband. She is willing to have her own life ended so that he is hurt. It is a very terrifying and sad ending. Even as the brothers feel guilt and attempt to confess for themselves, the jury will not hear them because they are already convinced by Chandara's own confession. Therefore, she dies and before she dies she refuses to see her husband, whose lie put her in the position. There is some sad spite in this story that makes the heart weep.

It is very different from Achebe's story in this point: Tagore's story is very dark and sad, while Achebe's story is simple and heartfelt about a small boy. For example, Chike is mesmerized by English language and loves to hear the sounds of words. This is a very innocent way of living life and is not at all like the way that the brothers live their lives in Tagore's story. The brothers want to complicate life by not being truthful, and they do not accept responsibility for their actions. They do not think of punishment for their crimes. Chike, on the other hand, does think of punishment as he thinks of the professor's stick which he uses to beat the students.

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This keeps him in fear and he does not want to do anything that might make the professor angry. If the brothers in Tagore's story had had this fear, they might not have acted so badly. Dukhiram might not have killed his wife in wrath because he would have feared punishment and had more control of himself. Likewise for Chidam, he might not have pressured his wife into lying for fear of punishment of being caught. Thus, this fear that Chike has is a good fear because it keeps him from harm.

In another way, the stories are different also because one is about adults and has an adult perspective while the other is about a boy and has a childlike perspective. Tagore's brothers are not thinking like children but like upset men who do not stop to really consider what they are doing. They think they can get what they want because they have lost their way in life. They want only to satisfy themselves. But they are not the law and cannot stop the lie once it is told. Thus, they suffer grief for their actions and the tale has a very strong moral for this reason. But Achebe's Chike is a boy and the story has a little boy's perspective in that it is only concerned with simple innocent things like stories and songs and does not try to get into the moral questions that adults must face in their every day lives. The boy is mainly concerned about hearing pleasant sounding words and being happy and singing songs and wondering what they mean. But the brothers in Tagore's story are concerned about the adult world, manipulating others and trying to manipulate their own way out of lies so that they will not be punished for their sins.

In this way, the stories are similar, however, because they both explore human nature and how it can do bad or good. Chike is innocent and does not want bad because he appreciates simple things like the sounds of words and stories and songs. He likes life and is curious about new things….....

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