The Village Witch Doctor | Themes

The Village Witch Doctor Themes

Justice

This story contains the classic theme, or moral, that, in the end, everyone gets what he deserves. In other words, evil is punished and good is rewarded. Furthermore, suffering inflicted by one man upon another is vindicated in the end. The witch doctor, although he successfully deceives three generations of men out of their family fortune, is ultimately punished for his evil deeds. In the world of this story, it seems that fate is at work, to the extent that Osanyin, the witch doctor, becomes the agent of his own undoing. When Aro curses whoever has stolen his buried fortune, Osanyin is compelled to assert that the curse will come true in order to protect his secret. Osanyin is unsettled by the curse, and by having to echo the curse, because he has in effect been cursed, and cursed himself, as a result of this deception. All of Osanyin's lies...
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