Pros and Cons

African societies are portrayed in many different stories throughout history. Many of these stories all have similar backgrounds with just some differences due to the era that they were written in or the era that they are describing. “The Voter” written by Chinua Achebe and “Tribal Scars” written by Ousmane Sembene are two excellent examples of African societies of different time periods. The two stories both have their pros and cons of the society that is being portrayed in the text. The pros of the societies in the stories are found more in “The Voter” than in “Tribal Scars”. This mainly has to do with the fact that the society in Achebe’s story was based in a more recent time which allowed for the society to be more far and democratic and this would be the most noticeable pro throughout the stories. Another pro for “The Voter” would be that almost all of the men had the right to vote for who they thought would make the best Chief of their village. A pro for “Tribal Scars” society would have to be how tight of a community the village was. They took care of each other and looked out for one another, almost as if they were one giant family. Also, the society in “Tribal Scars” was quick to adapt itself once they realized how cutting themselves and leaving scars on their bodies was a way to avoid being taken by the slave hunters. Overall the stories were faced with more cons than they were pros. Africa’s societies have been faced with many difficulties and the two societies depicted in these stories are no different. The two societies are filled with many cons, but mainly the society depicted in Sembene’s story. The village life in “Tribal Scars” was very frightening at the time because they were always worrying about whether their village would be attacked or not. Also the society at the time of the story did not really have any form of government which allowed for the slave hunters to come in and capture all of the strong and fit males and females