The Path

“Dead Men’s Paths” – the purposeful slighting of a serious title, struck me as an indication of what the short story stood for – a young couple’s insensitivity to the context, promotion and opportunity to succeed as prematurely gifted by the Mission Authorities placed them in the short sightedness of an energetic headmaster (Ob) and the consequent downfall of a man whose end is almost tragic when compared with the hopes, dreams and ambitions the reader finds him basking in at the beginning of this powerful short story. A story about a man (and wife) who slighted what appeared to be serious, important and sacred to the villagers of the school he took over and the grace consequences and sudden ruins of Michael Obi’s work.

The main characters are Obi, his wife, a teacher (with 3 years experience), an old woman Ani (the village priest) and thereafter the diviner who diagnosed the root of the setting in of evil which leads to the revered (in Obi’s eyes) White Supervisor who stands as the Government Education Officer, The characters represent actors from different social backgrounds, who have their own starts. The short story’s clever depiction of the squinted manner in which one status looks at the other for example – that of the villagers with their own cultures and customs is less important to Obi who similarly in the eyes of Ani, is headmaster but of less significance when compared with the “fathers” whose practices MUST be flowed and so on, makes “Dead Men’s Path” a statement on society and an example of disaster that befalls people who fail to respect diversity, Obi shows scant respect fir Ani’s dead ancestors by saying “I don’t suppose the ancestors will find the little detour too burdensome”. This is further re-instated when the diviner states that ancestors were indeed “insulted by the fence”.

The failure of Obi to be open to compromise, co-existence by allowing the hawk AND the eagle perch together and his immediate dismissal of Ani’s appeal by assuming that dead men “do not require footpaths” – an ideology that contradicted what was held sacred to the culture of the villagers, makes this story applicable to modern Sri Lanka and any country in the world today as it seems to have in it ,a theme of cultures, times (modern vs old) clashing because of a lack of understanding, respect and tolerance. Obi did not learn from past experience. He knew that a big row had erupted some time ago – he was not without access to history by way of example – the teacher who attempted to relate the story to him, who emphasized that the path “appears to be very important to them”. Again, this makes the story applicable to societies who fail to learn from past mistakes, lessons in history repeating themselves because of Obi-like attitudes – “our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas”

The garden – a symbol of artificiality to me, the path, connecting village legend and history to the life blood of the children of the school, the fence – forced, blind separation by an impulsive young man who stood opposed to the wisdom of the walking stick of Ani who could not “tap” enough to make the young headmaster understand.

The story is located in a village. There are while men, there are tribal village children. The manner in which understanding failed as a result of the immaturity of the young headmaster whose arrogance is evident in his outspokenness at the beginning as he converses with his wife, is what comes out strongly in the opening paragraphs of the story. We see Nancy Obi as having narrow, almost selfish, shallow ambitions of her own, an uppishness (as she looks down on traders in the Onitsha market) ad a naïve foolishness in her dialogue as we see glimpses into the immaturity of the young couple on whom responsibility has fallen too early – a couple seemingly ill prepared, despite their own confidence and elevated sense of confidence. Achebe beings this out well as he never comments, yet makes the conversation between husband and wife, give us insights into the shallow values the couple share.

Obi “admires” his work. He is “scandalized” by what has been a daily occurrence to the old villagers who have used the path. The imagery of the “beautiful hisbiscus and aldamanda hedges” seem to stand for the artificiality of what is important to the Ovis as it “marks” the school compound form the “rank neighborhood bushes”

The end is sudden. The shot story ends almost abruptly and the sudden change is powerful and impacted me as I read it as the school buildings being “pulled down” almost symbolize the rejection of all Obi to be right and to work. The “carefully tended school compound” being “torn up not just near the path but right round the school, the flowers trampled to death” said much more than paragraphs could have explicitly explained the tragic end to the headmaster whose end is evident with the white supervisor who stands as commentator to the fact that it all arose in part form the “misguided zeal” of the new headmaster.

Obi meant well when he offered to even “get his boys” to help in building an alternate path. Achebe is fair to his characters, thus making this story a realistic portrayal of man and good intentions which were not good enough and eventually lead to the career-wise “death” of a headmaster’s path as well.

I personally found this to be a powerful short story applicable to life because of its portrayal of realistic groups of people in a setting of varying cultures, customs, attitudes ad personal egos.

© Slow Chills