Introduction
Chinua Achebe is an African writer from Nigeria born in the year 1930. He comes from the Ibo tribe. He grew up in Nigeria in a village called Ogidi.
At the university Achebe took English literature and while studying he encountered novels written by Europeans about Africa which he called appalling. He realized that no one was better placed to tell the African story than the African themselves and thus he began writing to tell the African story (Innes 11). The short story Dead men’s path by Chinua Achebe is a story written to tell the postcolonial experience.
The story was written in 1949 after the British had colonized Nigerian at the beginning of the twentieth century. The colonizers despised the culture and beliefs of the Igbo people which they considered as barbaric and inferior. To that effect, they introduced Christianity and western form of education through the missionaries. The introduction of Christianity led to weakening of the tribal affiliations. The meeting of the two cultures led to a conflict.
Aspects of colonialism
The protagonist in the story is Michael Obi a young man aged twenty-six years. He is a teacher who has been promoted to head Ndume Central school because he is a “young and energetic” man besides being very modern and progressive (Spack 113). He also got the position because he had sound academic qualifications above other headmasters in that area and he was “outspoken in his condemnation of the narrow views of these older and often less educated ones” (Spack 113).
He sees the older less educated teachers as representatives of the conservative way of life and narrow views that he wanted to replace with modern progressive methods. He wants his teachers to work very hard to bring about the adaption of the modern methods in his school. He is very happy that the teachers are unmarried and thus they will devout all of their energies to school work.
Obi had embraced the white’s way of life and his wife Nancy had also been caught up in his fascination with modern ways at the expense of the traditional way of life practiced by his people. Nancy wanted to have modern beautiful gardens, which symbolize the western way of life. Just like her progressive husband, she has adapted the western lifestyle as she speaks to her husband she reads a woman’s magazine and calls him Mike.
Postcolonial identity
Due to Michael’s progressiveness, he has no regard for the traditional practices of his village. The village in which Ndume Central is situated is traditional. The people believe in shrines and spirits. They have a footpath that runs through the school that even though it is often disused. The path joins the village shrine and the place where they bury their dead. Michael does not understand why the villagers have been allowed to continue using the path yet it trespasses through the school compound.
He is against the footpath and in the spirit of converting the school, which he considers backward he wants the path closed. He wants it closed to please the inspector of schools and he is afraid that the villagers might turn the school into a site for some pagan rituals. Calling the practices of his people, pagan ritual shows how much he hated the traditional ways and considered anything about his culture to be backward and retrogressive. Michael is an African man who is trying to adapt foreign ways.
Just like the white who developed ambivalence towards the African culture, Michael has a negative attitude towards his culture due to hybridity. He feels that the culture of the white man is superior and thus he should strive to copy the white man’s ways. He is a man who is trying to change his own self-consciences and see it through the eyes of the whites because he has a double conscience. He regards them highly and thus will do anything he thinks will help to modernize the school at whatever cost (Izzo 89).
Others
The villagers see the colonizers as others in the text. The villagers feel that the white man has intruded upon their life and disrupted the smooth running of their way of life. They are unhappy with the attempt of the white man through agents such as Michael of trying to change their way of life.
The villagers also consider Michael as an outsider because he does not respect the traditions of the village, which have been practiced for a long time. The outsiders represent as people who are unwilling to listen to reason. They are pushy and do not care who they offend as long as they achieve their goal. In this case, Michael refuses to listen to reasons given for the existence of the path and goes head to order its closure (Izzo 90).
Anti colonial resistance
The villagers resist the colonialists but eventually they accept some of their ways. For instance, they embrace education and send their children to European schools. The villagers are willing to accommodate the whites and coexist peacefully. However, some people like Michael do not see the possibility of mixing the traditional and modern ways. According to him, the traditions must be discarded in favor of modern progressive ways.
Ini, the village priest goes to talk to Michael about the closure of the path because a baby had died and the reason given by the villagers for the death was closing the path. The priests tells Michael “ let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch” because he felt that the two cultures could coexist as he tells Michael the he only needs to reopen the path and the quarrel will be over (Spack 115; Emenyonu and Uko 66).
Cultural differences
The cultural differences in the text reveal the way the operations of the people. Through the story, the author shows that progress no matter how well intent it is cannot be forced down the throats of people. The people must be engaged in the change and if they support the idea then a change can happen. Michael, the head teacher fails because he is pushy and does not understand how deep the tradition is engrained in the village.
He tries to force the people to abandon their ways but his plan backfires on him as the villagers tear down the wall he had erected to block the footpath and ruin the gardens and the schools inspector finds the school in a mess and a writes him a bad report. His lack of respect for the culture of the Igbo people leads to the conflict as people retaliate. It shows that both cultures have failed to respect each other hence the clash.
The educated Africans consider their fellow less educated colleagues as backwards who need to be educated or given low jobs in the market. The educated people such as Michael consider themselves superior than their fellow blacks just as the whites consider themselves superior to the Africans. They consider their culture superior and a gift to humankind hence strive to pass it to the communities they consider backward and uncivilized.
They teach the Africans to loath their own culture as we see Michael telling the village priest that the school going children ought to be taught to laugh at the traditional beliefs. The school aims to eradicate the beliefs altogether and give the students new ideas based on the western beliefs. The Africans believe in spirits and thus they keep the footpath open according to their religion.
Michael fails to respect their religious beliefs and closes the path, as he does not identify with pagan rituals. He shows his lack of respect for the villagers’ religion by telling the priest that they should make an alternative path that skirts outside the school compound because he does not think that the spirits would mind the little detour.
Conclusion
Finally, the two cultures clash in the story because of lack of tolerance. Michael is self-centered and uncooperative. He insists on having his way even in matters that require cooperation. He wants to make the school modern and he will do anything to make his project successful. Nonetheless, he fails in his ambitions because he sidelines the people he needs to help him succeed. People must learn to tolerate each other to coexist peaceful which is something that Obi fails to understand hence his failure.
Works Cited
Emenyonu, Ernest and Iniobong Uko. Emerging Perspectives on Chinua Achebe: Isinka, The Artistic Purpose: Chinua Achebe And The Theory Of African Literature. Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, 2004. Print.
Innes, Catherine Lynette. Chinua Achebe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Print.
Izzo, David Garrett. The influence of mysticism on 20th century British and American literature. North Carolina: McFarland, 2009. Print.
Spack, Ruth. The International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Print.