The analysis of “Dead men’s path” by Chinua Achebe

Tanya Petukhova, E-5

The analysis of “Dead men’s path” by Chinua Achebe 

Chinua Achebe  was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe; 16 November  1930 – 21 March 2013. He was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. He was best known for his first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.

Raised by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in south eastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures, and began writing stories as a university student. Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of Western and traditional African values during and after the colonial era. His style relies heavily on the Igbo oral tradition of story telling. “Dead Men's Path”  by Chinua Achebe was set in Nigeria in 1949. It is a story about the clash of two sets of values; this story presents the conflict between world-views and value systems.

The main character of the story is Michael Obi, a modern and ambitious young man who is appointed headmaster of the un-progressive Ndume Central School. Obi decides to beautify the school. The knot of the story makes action start: one evening, Obi sees a woman walk on the flower bed and notices a path that leads to the village across. Obi asks a teacher why the villagers are allowed to use the foot-path. The rising action depicts Obi’s foundings out that the path is very important to the villagers because it leads to their burial grounds of their ancestors. However since Obi’s concern is the beauty of the path instead of the traditions of the villagers, he decides to close it despite the village priest reasonably requesting Obi to reopen the path; to which he says no. In this moment the story reaches its’ climax. Two days later a young woman in the village dies in childbirth. We can consider these facts as falling actions. A diviner recommends heavy sacrifices to appease the spirits who are insulted at having the footpath blocked. In the night the flowers and hedges are torn up and trampled to death and one of the school buildings is torn down. When the Government Education Officer arrives, he gives Obi a bad review and writes "a nasty report" on the "tribal-war situation developing between the school and the village."

The key themes explored in this story are the conflicts between traditional Nigerian culture, beliefs and the modern, westernised ideology established by European colonialism. For example when Obi talks to his colleague regarding the path he says “… it amazes me… that you people allowed the villagers to make use of this footpath. It is simply incredible.”

There are some symbols used in the story, for example a path. An imaginary line between the villagers' burial ground and their worship area, the path is not often used, but is essential (in the villagers' animistic belief system) for transmitting the souls of newborns, the dead, and ancestors of the village.

Nancy Obi attempts to beautify and modernize the grounds of the school, but the new flowers are "trampled to death" after the villagers open up the dead men's path when they remove the fences placed by Headmaster Obi. The symbol of flowers represents the frailty of the roadblock Michael Obi and his modern reform-minded educators put up, which is of course trampled by the long-held animist beliefs of the local population.

The use of language by Obi emphasizes the division of beliefs and traditions, calling his fellow colleagues and the villagers ‘you people’ is demeaning and highlights the distain Obi feels towards the villagers and their rituals.

Another message that Achebe projects throughout the story is the unwavering manner of Obi who kind of symbol of the colonial change that was apparent in Africa at the time. For instance when Obi and the priest are discussing the ancestral path the priest warns that if Obi redirects the path then he will cut "the path of children coming in to be born." Obi ridicules the elder, informing him that the purpose of the school is to eradicate such beliefs and to "teach our children to laugh at such ideas.” However it is the priest that is willing to compromise, he says: “If you reopen the path we shall have nothing to quarrel about. What I say is ‘let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch’, suggesting a compromise but Obi mocked the priest suggestion and suggests that “…the ancestors wouldn’t find the detour burdensome.”

Michael Obi continuously disregards his childhood cultural teachings as modernisation and progression was more important than history.

Within the first paragraph of the story, the central character Michael Obi is described as young, energetic, enthusiastic, and outspoken. Achebe links Obi’s youthful energy to his passion for modernizing the education of African children. The first line of the story says “Michael Obi’s hopes were fulfilled much earlier than he had expected”, which suggests that Obi is ambitious and has had a plan and goal to reform African education.

Another trait of Obi’s personality is his ability to influence others; including his wife, Achebe uses the metaphor when he says that “... In the two years of married life she had become completely infected by his passion for ‘modern methods’ and his...” Despite his wife not being an employee of the school she has also like her husband become completely immersed and engrossed in the modernisation of the school and its teachings.

The first thing that appears in the story is ‘Michael Obi’; even the name that Achebe uses for the main character is representative of the equal blend of European and African origins. Michael Obi is portrayed as a condescending and disrespectful in a conversation he has with the priest who has come for the path to be reopened. Obi is described as “listening with a satisfied smile”. Here the author uses alliteration to draw the reader’s attention to Obi’s response, also the word ‘satisfied’ suggests that he is smug and looks down on the priests and villagers as being un-superior of no concern. Obi is described as a “pivotal teacher” which suggests that that he has a record of reform therefore the expectations expected of him were high; this may explain his zealousness and unwavering manner.

Also Achebe uses the literary technique of imagery and alliteration as we get a clear picture of Obi in his chair and the words “power of penetration” gives us a good image to what Obi’s face looks like and his ability to control and project his wife and people around him.

In conclusion I think Obi shows some good qualities but eventually his downfall is his zealousness and lack of compromise that creates the resulting judgement from the inspector and retaliation from the villagers. Moreover Achebe’s use of detail; such as the barbed wire that blocks the path and the comments of the Supervisor (who is, ironically, white) that Michael has precipitated a “tribal-war situation” may be Achebe’s clever yet controversial way of telling us that the conflict between established tribal customs and “modern methods,” so trivial here, may in fact lie behind the devastating civil wars and tribal genocide that have plagued Africa since the end of the colonial period.