"Dead Men's Path"

Michael Zacharias
“Dead Men’s Path”
In America there are thousands of different cultures living amongst us from all types of backgrounds with a variety of differences. The bible itself contains cultural differences against countries and religion. Sometimes cultures can divide individuals, not because of the color of one’s skin or where they come from but because of the beliefs they possess. Some elderly people believe in culture more than the modern generation and this is what the story “Dead Men’s Path” is about. In this essay I will summarize the character, tone, and theme of “Dead Men’s Path.”
The main character in “Dead Men’s Path” is a man named Michael Obi. Obi is a very stubborn, intelligent and hard working individual. His wife describes him very in depth in the story, “She looked at him as he sat folded up in a chair. He was stoop-shouldered and looked frail. But he sometimes surprised people with sudden burst of physical energy. In his present posture, however, all his bodily strength seemed to have retired behind his deep-set eyes, giving them an extraordinary power of penetration. He was only twenty-six, but looked thirty or more. On the whole, he was not unhandsome” (LAC 833). Obis wife gives a very detailed impression of him throughout the story. She also says about him that he gets a sudden burst of energy, from this I would think that he is a hard worker and gets excited easily. She also said he was only twenty six but looked much older; this can also be from the stress that a person can cause themselves from work. The author was trying to show the reader that Michael Obi was a modern day individual who was obsessed with work.
Tone is, “the manner, mood, or pervading attitude that writers establish for characters, situation, and readers” (LAC 928). The author depicts a lot of tone in this story. The main character possesses tone in his attitude toward the use of the villager’s walking path in the school yard.
He states, “We cannot allow people to make a highway of our school compound.”
The author uses Michael Obi’s ignorance to show how unpleased he is of the walking path because it will look bad to the Government Education Officer. There is also a tone used by the unpleased village priest who confronts our main character, because he fenced off the village’s path. As he explains the importance of the path to Michael Obi he says, “This path was here before you were born and before your father was born. The whole life of our village depends on it.” This shows that the path means a great deal to the village priest and that it is there to stay. The author depicts Michael Obi’s reaction by saying that he listened with a satisfied smile on his face.
The theme of “Dead Men’s Path was very simple to figure out, because it is old values versus new. The old ways of the village were being violated by a young new modern day headmaster. The path to the village burial site represents how old cultures are still possessed even though modern society chooses not to believe or partake in them. The new in this story is Michael Obi who is more worried about looking bad to his superiors than the importance of the path to the village. The modern method’s Michael Obi finds the path foolish and does not want the school children believing in such a myth.
This story was very interesting and I would recommend reading it to all. In the latter I summarized the character, tone and theme of the short story “Dead Men’s Path.” As you can see this story has to deal with a clash of cultures. Modern society should have a place for all people to express their individual culture. Because of the ignorance of Michael Obi the village people had to retaliate. The end has a good lesson to be learned for Michael Obi, but I will leave the suspense for you to find out.



Works Cited
Gillespie, Sheena., Tony Pipolo., and Terezinha Fonseca. Literature Across Cultures. New York: Pearson, 2008. Print.