Discussion Topic
The symbolism of the path in "A Dead Man's Path" by Chinua Achebe
Summary:
The path in "A Dead Man's Path" symbolizes the connection between tradition and modernity. It represents the villagers' ancestral beliefs and their way of life, which are disrupted by the headmaster's modernizing efforts. The path's significance highlights the conflict between respecting cultural heritage and embracing progress.
What does the path symbolize in “A Dead Man’s Path” by Chinua Achebe?
The path symbolizes both continuity and rupture in independent Nigeria. As the connection between past and future generations of Igbo people, the path represents the ongoing importance of traditional beliefs and practices. As the line passes through the headmaster's garden, it symbolizes the way that tradition cuts through the imposition of new, alien ways and ideas. Obi did not bother to talk to the people before taking action, and he planted imported species of flowers and shrubs.
The people's continued use of the path symbolizes their ongoing resistance to foreign ideas. Obi's increasingly rough and desperate measures to keep them out—even resorting to barbed wire—stands for the aggressive and dehumanizing aspects of the neocolonial aspects of the post-independence state; barbed wire is generally used to keep animals out of fields.
Chinua Achebe ’s “Dead Man’s Path” portrays a cultural clash between a headmaster who wants to bring his...
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school up to modern standards and the villagers who follow traditional animistic beliefs. The headmaster Michael Obi wants to beautify the outside of the school as well as improve the educational standards.
Neither Obi nor the villagers are willing to give in to change. Both believe that they are right.
The villagers believed that there was an invisible path between the village’s burial ground and their worship area. It went through the school yard. Specifically, it went through the flower beds that the Michael Obi and his wife planted. Of course, the headmaster was unaware of the dead man’s path.
The dead man’s path was an imaginary line between the villagers' burial ground and their worship area. The path symbolized the animistic beliefs of the villagers who believed in spirits and the importance of the passage of the spirit to their resting place in the burial ground. This was particularly important for the babies that died. The traditions to these unsophisticated people were their lives and tribal culture.
When the headmaster notices an old woman walking through the flower beds, he is incensed and mentions it to another teacher. The teacher tries to warn him that this path is important to the people. There had already been an incident concerning the path which the villagers won.
Choosing to ignore the fact the school serves the villagers, Obi places a barrier of heavy sticks and barbed wired preventing passage through the school yard by the villagers. The priest of the village comes to visit Obi and try to tell him of the importance of the path. Once again, the headmaster chooses to ignore the significance of the traditional path.
“What you say may be true,” replied the priest, “but we follow the practices of our fathers. If you reopen the path we shall have nothing to quarrel about. What I always say is: let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch.”
The headmaster disregards the words of the priest.
Unfortunately for the family and for the school master, a woman dies in childbirth. According to the villagers beliefs, the child would be unable to go to the burial ground because the way was blocked by the school barriers.
On the day the school was to be evaluated, Obi finds that his flower beds have been destroyed and even one of the school building torn down. The supervisor wrote a bad review of the school’s grounds and the headmaster for not working with the village to settle the problem.
A compromise would have been good on both the school master and the village. From past history, the villagers were not going to give into not being able to use the established path. It is important to learn from the past and to work within the situation that a person is given. Obi should have respected the beliefs of the townspeople.
What does the title "Dead Men's Path" symbolize?
The title has both literal and metaphorical meaning. In the West African village where the story takes place, the Igbo people visit the cemetery. Because they believe that their ancestors, who are still alive in some ways, have a powerful influence in their lives, the townspeople value this regular communication with them. Using the path between the cemetery and a shrine in the village center, the ancestors also visit the villagers. Their spirits inhabit the new babies that are born.
The path also represents respect for tradition, which the school headmaster, Michael Obi, does not have. He believes in modern progress and considers his view superior to those of the villagers. Although the priest explains to him why the villagers continue to walk this path, even after Michael’s wife has planted a garden there, Michael refuses to listen. Ultimately, his aggressive behavior and rigid attitude costs him his job.
What does the path symbolize in "Dead Men's Path"?
The footpath connecting the village shrine to their place of burial that runs through the Ndume Central School's compound symbolically represents the ancestral beliefs and traditional culture of the African villagers. After the zealous headmaster and proponent of modernity, Michael Obi, closes the ancestral footpath, the village priest Ani visits him and explains the significance of the footpath. He tells Michael Obi that the ancestral spirits walk the path to visit the villagers and that it is also the path of children coming to be born. Unfortunately, Michael Obi wishes to eradicate traditional beliefs and rituals, which is one of the motivating factors for refusing to open the footpath. Later on, a woman dies during childbirth and the villagers avenge her death by destroying the grounds of the compound. Overall, the ancestral footpath symbolically represents the traditional beliefs, rituals, and culture of the African villagers.
The path in "Dead Men's Path" represents:
...the path's historical and spiritual significance as the sacred link between the villagers, their dead ancestors, and the yet unborn. ("Dead Men's Path" Enotes)
This path was vitally important to the villagers and held much symbolic importance, and because of their religious beliefs, was even more important. Because the path was cordoned off by Obi, the villagers saw that as a blatant sign of disrespect and they took matters into their own hands. Later, Obi was dismissed because of his blatant disregard for the villagers.