Describe two incidents in which tensions surrounding tradition and change are evident.

When Lakunle tries to help Sidi with her pail, she refuses. Sidi is following tradition. When Lakunle admonishes her that she should not carry things on her head because her neck will be squashed, she retorts that he said he did not care about her looks before. He agrees but says it is unwomanly to carry loads thusly. Also, he adds, she ought to cover her shoulders because people look at her and lust after her.

When Lakunle takes Sidi's pail, he refuses to give it back until she agrees to marry him. He promises her that his love will open her mind and says that it bothers him that she and the village trample his love with their ignorance. Sidi is frustrated by his words but says she will marry him..... if he pays her bride-price, as she refuses to be a laughingstock: the village will say she was not a virgin. Lakunle calls this a “savage custom, barbaric, out-dated, / Rejected, denounced, accursed, / Excommunicated, archaic, degrading, / Humiliating, unspeakable, redundant. / Retrogressive, remarkable, unpalatable” (7). Sidi is amused by all his words, but he continues that this is an ignoble custom.