Student Question
How does free education create a social crisis in "Vengeful Creditor"? How does Martha’s revolt bring this crisis to a climax?
Quick answer:
The possibility of free education creates a social crisis in the story "Vengeful Creditor" by depriving the social elite of servants and helpers. Now that young people are at school, upper-class families like the Emenikes no longer have babysitters or grocery clerks to carry their shopping for them. Martha’s “strange revolt” brings the crisis to a climax by showing how the free education policy has emboldened the poor to express anger towards their alleged social superiors.
The introduction of free primary education in this unnamed country has generated seething of a social and political crisis. The upper-classes, as represented by the Emenikes, are bitterly opposed to the policy. For one thing, it means that they just can’t use domestic staff as easily as they used to.
Since the introduction of the hated policy, a number of the Emenike's servants have left to go back to their villages to get an education. If that weren’t bad enough, there are no longer enough grocery clerks at the supermarket to carry Mrs. Emenike’s bags to her car.
Of course, what is a disastrous policy to the rich and well-heeled is an absolute godsend to the poor. For the first time, those at the bottom of the heap can send their children to school for free, providing a potential escape route for poverty and chronic lack of opportunity.
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that, though, it’s empowered the lower-classes, giving them something to aim for in life. Even when the policy is suspended, the genie cannot be put back in the bottle. The poor have been given a glimpse of a better world and are not about to let go of their dreams.
We can see this in Martha’s “strange revolt” when she loudly complains about Mr. Emenike's calling education a “craze” while sending his own children to school. It’s almost certain that Martha would not have openly expressed such hostility towards one of her alleged social superiors prior to the introduction of free primary education. The policy, though only implemented for a relatively short period of time, has already had a leveling effect on society, which is why the Emenikes and countless others like them are so dead set against it.
How does free education create a social crisis in "Vengeful Creditor"?
The possibility of free education in "Vengeful Creditor" creates social crisis as it makes it harder for the upper (educated) classes to find sources of cheap labor.
"Vengeful Creditor" is set in an African country that has attempted to introduce a free public education for its populace. The idea is met with immediate criticism from those who have been fortunate enough to receive an education already: "lawyers, doctors, merchants, engineers ..." The educated claim to support the idea of educating children but scoff that even the wealthy United States hasn't introduced such an idea yet.
Those from less privileged backgrounds recognize the great opportunity a free education presents to their own children, who have no realistic means of obtaining an education otherwise. Suddenly, it becomes quite difficult to find people who are available for less-esteemed work. Mrs. Emenike complains that the "old men" who attempt to run the errands she once paid "little boys" to do are "never ... satisfied" with what she pays them. She is also frustrated that three "servants including her baby-nurse" have recently quit their jobs, presumably because they have also enrolled in schools.
As children return to school, they are no longer readily available to serve the upper (and educated) classes; their parents are also more mobile as they support their children's educational needs. There is therefore social upheaval as fewer people are available to work lower-paying jobs that were previously often filled by children, and people like Mrs. Emenike are greatly unwilling to pay more money for those services.
This story demonstrates the unwillingness of the middle and upper classes to support a free education for the poorest children in society; ultimately, the wealthy depend on the cheap labor that largely exists because of a lack of educational opportunities.