In this parable, an interesting aspect, as Lerner points out, is the discrepancy between reality and what Tosun originally depicts the village as. It is almost ironic that despite trying to avoid a contrived interview by attempting to interview the poorest among them, Tosun still views the village with his own prejudices towards them. Although Tosun’s mistakes may have made the conclusions that Lerner drew easier to come by. What Lerner is really getting at is the modernization of the village. He studied how the village was shifting away from a traditional society towards the modern world. He saw the grocer as an agent of this change, that was suppressed by the old, the chief. The other villagers went along with this out of fear of the chief but deep down they understood that the grocer was the “clever” one by playing the change. I found the final paragraph most interesting after the change had occurred Lerner no longer could find what he needed there, despite his previous obsession. The time had passed for his “ancient” village, it no longer was any use to his studies but only a a point of propaganda for the new party in charge.
Introduction to Comparative Politics: Nationalism, Ideology, and State Power
Professor Shervin Malekzadeh
I disagree slightly in that I don’t think the villagers resisted change out of fear of The Chief, and I don’t think they realized that The Grocer was the clever one all along. I think all of the villagers, including The Chief, were resistant to change and modernization because they didn’t know anything other than Balgat. As The Grocer observes, all of the villagers are hiding in their “holes.” While The Chief might represent the old, coming from a long line of Muhrat and being the owner of the most land, he certainly does not suppress change. In fact, he embraces it in the end, and, as Lerner observes, he ends up building The Grocer’s “dream house.” Also, the quote from one of the villagers regarding The Grocer- “We did not know it then, but he saw better than all what lay in the path ahead”- seems to contradict your claim that the villagers knew deep down that The Grocer was most clever.
I don’t think that the modernization of Balgat was held back personally by the chief at all. As far as I can tell, there’s no indication that the people didn’t want the same things he did, or at least they didn’t really consider the possibility of there being an alternative. The grocer is a pretty disrespected figure, who longs for the city mostly because his status in the village is low. Recall that Tosun notes that he is seen as lesser than even the poorest farmer. After the fact, once everything’s changed and the Grocer was proven right, most of the villagers still don’t think anything of him. There’s only the one one man who saw him as a prophet. For Lerner, these two men stood as symbols of tradition and modernity, but I’m not convinced they held the same power and symbolism among the actual villagers.