Geist's Writing Portfolio

Geist Hu
2007-5-16
Draft One

What Is The Symbol for The Path?
Draft Two

    During the evolution of human being, our ancestors gain knowledge about the world around them and establish some simple believes to explain some problems about the universe. With the waves of time beat against the shore of history, old believes were proved unscientific or even ridiculous and at the same time we get new ones. But in most cases some of those old theories have already become an inevitable part of the base of our life philosophy and what is more, a symbol for certain culture or tradition. We accept them unconsciously though we know they are unscientific. So it is hard and unilateral to simply define old believes to be superstition.

    But that is what Michael Obi did in Chinua Achebe’s story “Dead Men’s Path”. Achebe completed this story seven years earlier than his motherland Nigeria gained her independence in 1960 and he witnessed how Christianity weakened the tribal affiliations. British colonists had been controlling Nigeria since the turn of the twentieth century. Western education and Christianity began to dominate young locals’ thoughts and that led to their oblivion of Igbo culture. Michael Obi is one of these young locals. In “Dead Men’s Path”, Obi is appointed headmaster of a local school and he has made good effort to decorate the school. For a better view, he shuts an old path between the village and the burial place, known as the dead men’s path, and that finally leads to a “tribal war” and Obi’s own failure. He has accomplished all he planed to do and what an enthusiastic headmaster should do except for paying respect to the local tribal religion, which is also his tribal religion. Obi is a living example of those young locals who put a faith in the modern world and care no more about their tribal culture. The path Obi has closed can be considered as a symbol for the old tradition and culture, which is abandoned but still connects our modern life with the history.

    At the first time the path is mentioned, Achebe used some special description to create an especial image of the old path. When Obi “was admiring his work”, “an old woman from the village hobble right across the compound, through a marigold flower-bed and the hedges.” It is the first time that Obi sees the path, and the path is “almost disued” with some “faint signs” left. Nevertheless it is not Obi’s first day to work in the school compound. From this scene, the image of the path were as if right in front of readers’ eyes. Lying in the garden of beauty and new age, the path is distinct in every sense. Built in the days of our father but forgotten by moderns like Obi, it is old and ugly. No one pay attention to it anymore. Only old people remenber it’s existence.

    Achebe’s description reveals that the path does not belong to this age. The surrounding world makes it so diffirent. The location of the path also make some sences. It connects the village shrine with the place of burial. The path is a bridge connecting the days in memory and the days we are living. Hence we can conclude that the path is given some attributes old tradition and culture.

    Obi’s finding of the path makes him feel “simply incredible”. In his mind, things as old and ugly like this should not exist in this beautiful new world. It is without any doubt that a young Nigerian, who is educated in modern methods would think so. Michael Obi is a reflection for the “new-styled” young Nigerian. According to the author, Obi is enthusiastic, clever and hard-working just like most of the young man of that age. Achebe presented that at the beginning of the story using words as “He had many wonderful ideas and this was an opportunity to put them into practice.” Even his young and unmarried colleagues can make him full of joy because “They will give all their time and energy to the school.” As the author mentioned the school, we can see that “Mr Obi put his whole life into the work.” Obi is ambitious but this is not the reason for his failure. Even “his passion for modern methods” is not, either. He looses everything because of his wrong attitude towards some old views. In the story, Obi “was outspoken in his condemnation of the narrow views of these older and often less-educated ones.” And has “a denigration of these old and superannuated people in the teaching field who would be better employed as traders in the Onitsha market.’” When another teacher tells him about the path, Obi’s reply is “the villagers might, for all I know, decide to use the schoolroom for a pagan ritual”. It clearly reveals his attitude towards tribal religion. We can grasp his character easily from the story. The author characterized Obi as an typical example for some young Nigerian. They pay a tribute to the modern education and methods however they debase all the old things. Achebe created Obi because he did want to arise something in readers’ mind and he reached his goal.

    With the story going on, it is undoubtedly that the dead men’s path will be closed, though for Obi that people crossing the path can destroy the garden could be another but unimportant reason. Youths no longer regard it as a treasure and legacy. For them the path is a leftover of the old days that only exist in fairy tales. But elderers keep it and regard it as a symbol for the circle of life and that is essential element of spirit and nature just like what the priest says “The whole life of this village depends on it. Our dead relatives depart by it and our ancestors visit us by it.” “It is the path of children coming in to be born”. The dialog between Obi and the priest strengthens this point. To make a reply to the priest’s request, Obi uses a disrespectful tone as:

“The whole purpose of our school is to eradicate just such beliefs as that. Dead men do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Out duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas.”

Obi is “satisfied” to see that all the reasons the priest can give is connected with religion and tradition. The word “satisfied” can prove that Obi pays no attention and respect to them. He is waiting for the priest to say so because he knows if he provides some “scientific” facts the priest will have no word to say and retreat. Christianity and western education dominate his mind. Christianity is another important fact of the vanishing of some tribal culture. At first it is a dominating method, colonists force tribal people to reject their “barbaric” religion and accept Christianity so they can gain better control of this region by using laws in Bible. Generation after generation tribal people accept it as a matter of fact as if the old tribal religion had never existed. Despite some benefiting part, the compelling acceptance of Christianity does give a deadly blow to the cultural diversity.

    So the path is closed. So when a young woman dies the villagers attribute the death to Obi’s closing the path. So Obi’s dreams are all ruined. The path is the key to all the conflicts in the story. We inherit the tradition from our ancestor just like the priest’s words “we follow the practices of our fathers”. And we formed our culture then culture founded our life styles. At the same time, new views and methods appear, and old traditions disappear. The path is a symbol for those dying traditions. It can be backdated to the days of our father. It links the village with the burial place just like the traditions link the old days with current days. It is old, disused and abandoned by the young people. But it is still part of theirs life.

    It is a trend that the old will be away and the new will rise. So the fate of some old traditions is inevitable. The path is confessed to be “hardly used”, too. But the path doesn’t disappear. The “tribal war” will not happen if Obi just le it be. He could have let it stay what it was. But he didn’t. The new styles of life are good, but we can never debase or ignore the old ones to glorify the new ones. The priest is right. “Let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch.” There is not a doomed fatal war between the old and the new believes. Either of them can work. Have passion for one but at the same time pay respect to another. If one wants to reject the old one compellingly, it may reactively give you punishment. The closing of the path does teach Obi an unforgettable lesson. Maybe one of Achebe’s intentions of writing the novel to give a lesson for those young Nigerian through telling the story.

    What is more, the path here also could be regarded as a symbol of the Nigerian tribal culture. British viewed the Igbo culture and beliefs as inferior and barbaric just like Obi does. Missionaries introduced Christianity to Nigerian people so more and more Nigerian were converted to Christianity, which may lead to the disaggregation of the local religion. The destruction of religion could be the last straw for the Igbo people who have been always enduring the British for fifty years. Achebe might convey this emotion through the story.