Literary Analysis Essay on Dead Men's Path

Introduction

Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's Path" short story gives an account of a young African man. The man, who hails from the village of Ndume is a school headteacher who is striving to initiate people in his village to modern education. The young man is Michael Obi and Achebe portrays him as a person of vitality, an outspoken individual and a passionate person. Nevertheless, as the story unfolds, Obi encounters a conflict from his villagers. These villagers, who are represented by the priest are defiant towards the modern teachings that are introduced by Obi, adamant that the villagers ought to always observe familial customs. Nevertheless, Obi still holds to modern education and even rejects the villagers' move to have their secret path cut across the school grounds. Infuriated by the resistance, the villagers' wreck Obi's school ground (Achebe 12). It is demonstrated lesson that life is not always as planned, because, at times, life tends to challenge the actions and behaviors of individuals.

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Plot Summary

The story tells of a young headteacher who is in turmoil with the villagers. At the beginning of the story, Michel Obi, a 26-year old man, becomes the headteacher of Ndume Central School. Obi is an intolerant individual who wishes to eradicate traditional beliefs in favor of modern education. As the headmaster of the school, Obi's goals are to eradicate traditional beliefs, maintain the school's beautiful gardens, and teach modern education to the villagers. Obi notices that there is an ancestral footpath that passes through the school and he subsequently orders for its closure. The village priest tells Obi that this path is used by ancestors and unborn children to visit the village but Obi finds this explanation ridiculous and he refuses to open the path (Achebe 12). The night that Obi rejects the priest's request to open the footpath, a woman dies in the village during childbirth. The villagers are infuriated and blame Obi for this misfortune and they attack the school where they destroy the beautiful ground. When a white supervisor visits the school, he writes a report explaining how the village of Ndume is on the verge of tribal conflict and Obi's misguided zeal is to blame for the situation.

Characters

Michael Obi is the major protagonist in the story. He is a 26-year old male who hails from the village of Ndume, and he is made the new headteacher of Ndume Central School. As the protagonist, he spends most of his time antagonizing the village due to their adherence to traditions as he preferred modernity. Obi wants to please the colonial authority, and his ultimate decision is to prohibit the villagers from using an ancestral path that passes through the school, but his objective backfires, which lead to his downfall.

The village priest is the second character in the story. He is the religious authority in Ndume village, and he is a staunch Obi's critic. He openly rejects modernization that is advocated by Obi in favor of the protection of village traditions (Chigbu et al. 119). His main intervention comes when there is high tension between the villagers and Obi, notably when Obi closes an ancestral path that crosses through the school and which is of great significance to the villagers. The priest is the voice of the community who is willing to protect the values and traditions of the community.

Nancy Obi is the other character in the story, and she is the wife of Michael Obi. Like her husband, she is happy and excited when her husband is promoted as Ndume Central School's headteacher. She is proud of Obi's position in the school and she uses this opportunity to elevate herself among her peers by giving herself the title of "queen of the school" (Achebe 10). Like her husband, Nancy desires to modernize the school and make it a place of new ideas.

The White government official is another character who is present in the story. He is the employer of the Mission authorities to conduct regular inspections on schools. The official happens to visit this school after the villagers have invaded it and left in destruction, and consequently, he writes a bad report about the school. He also accuses Obi as the catalyst for the conflict that has emanated between the villagers and the school.

Setting

The story is set in a British Colony, most probably Nigeria, in 1949. This was a period of increased social upheaval in this country as it was at a time when the British increased their performance to reform the community with the aim of ensuring that they embraced modernization. In the story, there is an ancestral path that is the major source of conflict between Obi and the villagers, and this path can be signaled as the conflict between the Igbo community and the British (Casimir 36). The former viewed cherished their traditions and were not willing to turn to modern ways of teachings. The latter, on the other hand, wanted to transform the community by swaying them away from their traditions and making them embrace modern teachings. The same happens in the story where Obi desires to modernize the community while the community, led by the chief priest, is reluctant to let go of its traditions.

Theme

The story "Dead Men's Path" deals with the topic of cultural differences, expounding the past, present, and future. The main theme of this story is keeping an open mind when dealing with new and diverse cultures. The story's protagonist is a headteacher of Ndume Central School, and he is a young African male who is obsessed with the notion of modernizing his village. His obsession forces him to trample on the beliefs of dwellers of Ndume village. Obi is ethnocentric in that he thinks that his ways are better than the traditional ways of the community. For instance, the villagers believe that the footpath that crosses through the school is used by the spirit of the ancestors and of the unborn children to visit the village and Obi views this as backward thinking (Chigbu et al. 119). Therefore, he closes the path and refuses that it is opened, and this shows Obi's narrow view of these traditional and less educated individuals. Although Obi views the villagers as narrow-minded, he is the one that is narrow-minded n his views and his actions lead to his ultimate downfall. When death strikes in the village, the villagers blame it on him for refusing to open the footpath passing in his school and they descend on this school and destroy it. The inspector happens to visit this school just after the villagers destroy it and write a bad report that blames Obi's actions as the catalyst for the witnessed conflict. Achebe wanted to show the importance of respecting other people's beliefs and culture to avoid the consequences of ethnocentricity. It is portrayed in this story as Obi wants to please his masters by abolishing the villagers' traditions, but the opposite occurs as he ends up on the wrong side as he displeases them.

Literary Devices

The irony is the most prevalent literary device in the story. Achebe, at the start of the story, lets the reader believe that Obi's future as the school's headteacher is bright. By letting the reader believe that Obi's outcome as the headmaster will be positive rather than negative, Achebe utilizes dramatic irony. Achebe describes Obi as an energetic man who is full of ideas and ready to take the roll (Achebe 10). Later in the story, Obi tells his wife that when they take charge of the school, everything will be modern and delightful (Achebe 10). It shows that Obi and his wife, Nancy, are sure that they will have a positive impact on the school and the community. It is only later in the school that the reader notices that it is not obvious that there will be a positive outcome. This is after Obi is seen conflicting with the village priest when the reader learns that most probably, the outcome will be something negative. Sure enough, it comes to pass when the supervisor comes to inspect the school and finds it in a mess.

Point of View

Achebe, in the story, uses point of view to aid the readers to understand the story better. It particularly relates to his use of third-person omniscient to help readers to understand "Dead Men's Path" better. Writers use third-person omniscient in writing stories because they know the characters' feelings and thoughts as they tell the story. Therefore the writer of the story narrates the story as they move from one character to the other, and this in ten allows the reader to interpret the story in several voices while being able to keep and omniscient distance (Murphy and Walsh 69). In this story, Obi is the main character, and he is adamant that the path that passes through the school should be closed. However, this is in disregard of its importance because the path is there because it is sacred to the village of Ndume.

Work Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Dead Men's Path. 1953. pp. 10-13

Casimir, Komenan. "Promotion Of Igbo Culture In Chinua Achebe'S Girls At War And Other Stories". Global Journal Of Arts, Humanities And Social Sciences, vol 6, no. 9, 2018, pp. 25-41., 2020.

Chigbu, Chigbu et al. "Philosophical Quest And Growing Up Motif In Ambiguous Adventure By Chiekh Hamidou Kane And Dead Men'S Path By Chinua Achebe". International Journal Of Applied Linguistics And English Literature, vol 7, no. 7, 2018, p. 117. Australian International Academic Centre, doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.7p.117. 2020.

Murphy, Terence Patrick, and Kelly S. Walsh. "Unreliable Third Person Narration? The Case Of Katherine Mansfield". Journal Of Literary Semantics, vol 46, no. 1, 2017. Walter De Gruyter Gmbh, doi:10.1515/jls-2017-0005. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.