DEAD MEN'S PATH

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Dead Men’s Path
By Chinua Achebe







Presented By
VITALIS I NUJIMEM

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Dead Men’s Path
Despite Michael Obi love and passion for modern civilization, cultural practice still
remains the driver and tradition in his village. The “Dead Men’s Path” is a short story written by
a Nigerian born novelist by the named Chinua Achebe. Using some specific social institutions
and practices, the play brings to the fore the sharp difference between traditionalism and
modernism. It is about the clash between modern method and traditional ways and the modern
culture as epitomized by Michael Obi while the village priest typifies traditional culture. After
Michael Obi’s promotion by mission authorities in January 1949 as the new headmaster of
Ndume Central School, which had always been an Old-fashioned school; he decides to use his
position as an opportunity to make everything in the village modern. Unfortunately, his idea of
impressing the school supervisor and at the same time modernizing the community rose to be a
sacrilege before the God’s.
Ani has been a village known for many years with their traditional customary, but Obi
main purpose was to change everything such as the people, their lifestyle, their surroundings,
and their practice from traditional ways to modern ways. Obi was not homely, but,
unfortunately, he is the young guy of twenty-six that look more like thirty and older. In the
story, Obi can be described typically as a superbia, nontraditional believer, and hubristic
someone. He said, “Dead men do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Our
duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas” (Achebe 229). However, there are about
ten or more characters use in this story, which consist of flat and flat minor characters, but Obi
is the chief character or the principal character. His development and motivation is mainly
characterized by working. In other words, we can classify him as a workaholic because he loves
his job more than his wife.

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Literally speaking, in a short allegorical story known as “Dead Men’s path,” Obi with a
flat character is the promoted village headmaster who mainly distinguishes himself with the
British civilization and forsakes his own traditional culture. He practice modern civilization and
ignores the way of his forefathers, which brings about a conflict with the village priest and the
villagers. However, as vehicles used in conveying the characters over a naive realism, Obi and
the Village priest showcased on the platform of the school compound in a rising action, after
mounting heavy stick with barbed wire in their ancestral path that passes through his school
compound. Those who have fallen to the western culture through learning tend to look down on
the adherents of traditional practices because the path makes no sense to them, but to the
villagers is a path that connects them with their ancestors.
Dead Men’s Path has an extremely rich and strong historical background. Its historical
setting comes from Nigeria. The short story, however, center around a traditional Ibo society
called Ani after the “Age of Positive Action” in 1948. Ani is a remote and traditional Africa
society entrenched in the heart of the people, their beliefs, cultural practices, and rituals. The
acrimony between Michael Obi and the village priest is a reflection of the conflict between
Africa culture and the modern values. Ani habitant rival against the modern elite Obi just after
his action led to the death of an unborn child. Dead Men’s Path explores the effect between
modern civilization and traditional culture in a microcosmic setting by provocative advances of
the modern method.
To conclude, Michael Obi’s passion, love, and feeling for modern civilization, which he
suggests would be a new way of learning for his people did not alter their behavior rather
resulted to a conflict of cultural clash. His dream was to make everything in the community new
and modern while eliminating old and narrow ideas; unfortunately, because of his arrogant

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behavior towards the beauty of modern method, he did not recognize that the path in the school
premises was a path for the Gods and not a path for men. After receiving warning from his
colleague and the village priest, he still persists, however, as the play draw to an end, Obi finds
himself a victim of cultural conflict that threaten his life and his job.

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Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. "Dead Men’s Path." Literature A Pocket Anthology. R.S. Gwynn. 5
th
ed.
New York: Penguin Academics, Jan. 29, 2011. Pg 226 - 229.