Comparing Short Stories 'Apollo And By Any Other Name'

Throughout the short stories, “Apollo” by Chimamanda Adichie and “By Any Other Name” by Santha Rau, the authors reveal that power corrupts happiness. After Okenwa catches Apollo from Raphael, Okenwa does not see Raphael for a long time while he is recovering from his sickness. When Okenwa finally recovers, he goes outside to find that Raphael has found a new friend and does not care for him anymore. Okenwa narrates, “He spoke as though I were a child, as though we had not sat together in his dim room... Raphael said something that I could not hear, but it had the sound of betrayal” (p. 9). This shows that while Okenwa was sick, Raphael stops caring about Okenwa because of his new friendship with someone else. Okenwa feels betrayed by Raphael

because of how he is being treated. This later causes the friendship to stop because of power that Raphael obtained while Okenwa was sick. In “By Any Other Name” Santa is going through her first day at her new school. The school is mostly dominated by white people, so she decides to sit down with other Indian girls. Santha narrates “They were all sitting at the back of the room, and I went to join them. I sat next to a small, solemn girl who didn’t smile at me” (p. 2). The fact that the group is alone in the back of the room already show how sad and alone they are. These feelings are restated when Santha sits down with the group and no one smiles or welcomes her. This group of girls are put like this because of how the headmistress abuses her power, and thus terminates any possible friendship she could have with the girls, resulting in the girls’ sadness. It is important for someone to always keep in mind that while they may have power, the repercussions are most likely not worth what you gain from using the power.