Essay Draft Two

Angker Song
May21, 2007
Draft Two

                             A Doomed Tragedy

At the turn of twentieth century, British colonized Nigeria, a country which fell behind the times with traditional religion. When the British officials first came to Nigeria, they were totally ignorant of the local life. They imagined that their work was about pens, ink and paper for they used to live in a country which represented the trend of the development of the new world. Thus, it seemed impossible to convince the two sides of the other.

Chinua Achebe, the author of Dead Men’s Path had lived both in Nigeria and western countries, which allowed him a wide prospect of the overall situation. He must have a deep thoughts and feelings about the great disparity between Nigeria and developed countries. Dead Men’s Path by Chinua Achebe gave us a vivid depiction of the conflict caused by different background. Michael Obi, the hero of Dead Men’s Path was one of those typical British. He destroyed the villager’ dead men’s path through the school garden on behalf of modern belief and got a nasty report in the end. Restrained to the background of Obi and the villagers, the tragedy was doomed to happen.

The author drew a clear picture of Michael Obi at first, a young, aggressive headmaster full of new and modern ideas. His advantages distinguished him from others, so he denounced those inferior with a superior air. Obi was a person with obvious arrogance and abilities surpassing people surrounding. Everyone’s character was not born by nature. It must be related to his living background. Obi’s character was developed by his wife and the current British society.

Let’s have a look at Obi’s living environment. His wife “had become completely infected by his passion for modern methods.”(53) “She began to see herself already as the admired wife of the young master.”(53) Obi had a wife who was in full support of him and his new ideas. He lived in an environment with wholly obedience and no objection. He was the member of the delegation from a highly developed world who was absolutely ignorant of the living standard of the local villagers. All he thought about was the stupidity of the Nigeria or even he might regard himself as the hero to change the backwardness, the hero to save the young children, the hero to spread civilization. With all “for”s and no “against”s, it was hard for him to suppose what if his modern methods met obstacles. He just needed a chance to prove himself, to prove his superior ability representing the Great Britain, the new world.

According to the priest, “This path was here before you were born and before your father was born. The whole life of this village depends on it. Our dead relatives depart by it and our ancestors visit us by it. But most important, it is the path of children coming to be born. “(54) The dead men’s path had a long history and the people in village were taught the importance of the path generation by generation since they were born. It was a backward country which had no connection with the outer world before the British came. The villagers had quite a narrow view about what the world was. All they know was the traditional religion they followed for years. “What you say may be true, but we follow the practices of our fathers.”(54) The priest said this at last. As you can see, the villagers stuck to the traditional religion whether it was right. They could not betray the religion their ancestors had set. It was attributed to the education they received. “There was a big row some time ago when we attempted to close it.”(53) Closing the path provoked the villagers’ anger. We can deduce that the school garden might be destroyed once any headmaster attempted to close the path. All these can be concluded to their religion and their culture, in a word, their background.

Nigeria’s traditional religion was certainly not in the realm of classic culture and for sure it was conflicted to the modern world. Obi had every reason to close the path on behalf of changing the backwardness of the local situation. The Nigeria villagers had followed the conventions for generations and had no idea of the developing of the world. They did what their fathers had done and hold true belief to the traditional religion. Both sides had done nothing wrong from the prospective of theirs. But it was because of their different background that resulted in different way of thinking which brought about the tragedy in the end.

The story is more than culture shock. I’d prefer to attribute the reason of the tragedy to different background. What’s more it was not only a tragedy to Obi and the villagers. It reflects a more extensive tragedy. People misunderstood each other just because they hold different background. Is there anything more pathetic than this? Obi’s character has something to do with his living background. His new ideas and modern methods were got from the development of Britain. The villagers just followed the traditions of their ancestors generation by generation. We can not make choice of our background. Thus, both sides can not choose their decisions restrained to background. Is there anything sadder than making the choice totally because of one’s background? This is what I discovered under the impressing ending of the story.

29.5.07 14:49