Chinua achebe dead mens path analysis. An Analysis of Dead Men’s Path by Chinua Achebe 2023-01-05

Dead Men's Path Analysis

One of the teachers remarks: ''The path appears to be very important to them. Within the first paragraph of the story, the central character Michael Obi is described as young, energetic, enthusiastic, and outspoken. It emerges that, Obi Michael traces an old woman passing by the school via a seldom-used pathway. Obi is cited by the visiting school examiner for starting a tribal war between the school and the village, virtually ensuring his demise as headmaster of the program. Another theme that is explored in this novel is the inherent fault of the central character Okonkwo, who is ambitious, industrious, honest, masculine but is rash, and unthinking and his sense of self and identity is wholly dependent on the approval of others in his community and he thinks of anything that intrudes into it as a threat and he tries hard to be a man though in a flawed manner. There is no malice in his plan, and he also does have a point that the path cuts through the school and he cannot allow people to simply walk through the campus.

Analysis Of Dead Man's Path By Chinua Achebe

A few days later, a young villager dies and a diviner suggests that sacrifices need to be made for the blocking of the pathway. However, no attempt is made to compromise or find some solution. This is a foreshadow that there is going to be a newborn child in the village. 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. Michael Obi was put to be the headmaster of Ndume Secondary school in 1948 before Nigeria gained her independence.

Dead Men’s Path Summary & Analysis

In Obi's attempt to make things new and modern, he has turned what could have been a positive experience into a negative one. The title also foreshadows dark events that would occur in the story. Moreover, Obi appears to want to use the incident of the path as a teaching moment for the students to get them to understand why ancient customs must not be tolerated to this extent. The fear of the closed footpath enrages the villagers, and they forcibly reopen it and even tear down a building in protest. Nancy Obi who is on the id level is just thinking and concerned about her personal intentions and image.

Dead Men's Path by Chinua Achebe

Analyzing ''Dead Men's Path'' Chinua Achebe's story illustrates a clash between the new and the old, between the wisdom and tradition of a culture and the ''misguided zeal'' of Obi and his wife. While reading the final scene, it seems that entering an established culture of a community is detrimental for the one who came to make changes. His style relies heavily on the Igbo oral tradition of story telling. Michael's motivations are not evil in themselves. The Ancestral Footpath One evening while admiring his and his wife's handiwork, Obi is disappointed to see an old village woman using a footpath through the schoolyard to navigate the village. Though the garden may appear to be pleasurable to the eye it is impractical and of no use to the local people. Although it is hardly used, it connects the village shrine with their place of burial.

Short Story Analysis: Dead Men's Path by Chinua Achebe

Obi decides to beautify the school. Also, the conversation shows a clear understanding modern understanding by Michael who distinguished himself from the traditions. How that education is used is just as important as achieving it. Obi questions the teacher on the reaction of the education officer during inspection trip. He is opposed to that idea and even goes on to say that soon they may also demand to use the classes to hold their rituals.

An Analysis of Dead Men’s Path by Chinua Achebe

However, education, like technology is not itself a goal. The new headmaster at a local school is eager to cast aside things of old and make things new and fresh. Michael Obi portrays the modern culture with his disbelief of superstitions unlike the antagonists, which are the villagers led by the village head priest. Later after the blockage, Ani, a village priest appeared to the adamant headmaster and sought to know more about the closure of the ancestral footpath. The priest explains to Michael that it is a custom going back generations and a custom that will remain for just as long, but Michael smugly claims that his job is to get rid of such superstitions. The new headmaster at a local school is eager to cast aside things of old and make things new and fresh.

Literary Analysis: Dead Men’s Path By Chinua Achebe

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. Unfortunately, the community around him is not so eager. At this juncture, the conflict between the modernity of the west and the tradition arises. The priest tells Obi, ''Let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch,'' and departs. Michael believes that progress means giving up the past and moving forward, and he scoffs at the idea of learning anything from the past or even the people around him. Though the path appears to be bothering no one, Obi takes offense to it and works to block it, even arrogantly suggesting that a different path could be built around the school's grounds.

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

Two literary approaches will be used to arrive at a deeper understanding and to yield a more coherent interpretation of the story written by Achebe. Achebe uses symbols, allusions, characters, and setting development to give the reader an interpretation on the changes made throughout society that creates a conflict between a new generation versus an old generation. Set in post-colonial Nigeria, the fictional novel discusses the cultural roots of the Igbos and follows the life of the tragic hero, Okonkwo. Therefore, readers are more likely to be on the side of Obi while reading the final scene. This acclaimed novel deals with strong patriarchal ideals of masculinity within the Igbo culture and how Okonkwo is a direct manifestation of this.