Essay Draft Three

Angker Song
June5, 2007
Draft Three

                               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” (from the internet) 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 (about the author, 52), 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 closed the villagers’ dead men’s path through the school garden on behalf of modern belief and got a nasty report in the end. Because of the different backgrounds of Michael 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. But a person’s character was not born by nature. It must be related to his living background. Obi’s character was developed by family environment and the current British society.

Obi’s wife was totally “infected by his passion for modern methods.”(53) and regarded herself as “the admired wife of the young master.”(53) Obi had a wife who was in full support of him and his new ideas. She, too, pursued new technology for this represented her unique state. 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 Nigerian 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. All he needed was just a chance to prove himself, to prove his superior ability representing the Great Britain, the whole new world.

According to the priest, this path had existed for a long history, even long before Obi’s ancestor’s birth. The path was of unique significance to the villagers. “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. The priest admitted that what Obi said might be true to some extent but the villagers still have no reason to ignore the religion and they stuck to the tradition whether it was right or not. They could not betray the religion their ancestors had set. It was attributed to the education they received. Someone attempted to close the dead men’s path before Obi. In return, this behavior arose trouble. 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 behavior of the villagers can be concluded to their religion and their culture, in a word, their background.

On one hand, Nigeria’s traditional religion was certainly not in the realm of classic culture and for sure it was conflicted to the modern world. Nigeria used to be a tribal society (from the internet), a primitive form of society without any new hope of change in the future. The Nigerian followed the ancestors, obeyed the religion and believed in superstitions. On the other hand, the world was vigorously developed by new science and technology and it would keep on developing. 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 at full speed. 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. Just like a blind people can exactly imagine a colorful world and a normal one can taste the feeling of a blind. 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 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 in the nowadays world. People with a good intention misunderstood each other only because they hold different background. They do not mean to hurt each other. 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. That is, both sides can not choose their decisions due to their backgrounds. 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.

Work Cited

Chinua Achebe, “Dead Men’s Path”, 1953. Rpt in “The International Story”, Page 52-54