1. The Dead Men’s Path
Chinua Achebe

2. Report Outline
• About the author.
• Introducing: DEAD MEN’S PATH
• Characters of the Story
• Analysis
• Why is the story titled THE DEAD MEN’S
PATH?

3. Chinua Achebe
• Albert Chinụalụmọgụ
Achebe.
• One of Africa’s best
known fiction writers.
• 16 November
1930 (age 80)
• Nigerian
• Member of Ibo Tribe
• AB English Literature
• Known for “THINGS FALL
APART”
•

4. Chinua Achebe
The Dead Men’s Path

5. CHARACTE
RS

6. MI C H A E L O B I
Y o u n g a n d
e n e r g e t i c ma n .
T h e n e w
h e a d ma s t e r o f
t h e s c h o o l .
26 y r s . o l d
O u t s p o k e n i n h i s
c o n d e mn a t i o n o f
t h e n a r r o w v i e ws
o f t h e o l d e r a n d

7. NANCY OBI
• Mi c h a e l ’s w i f e .
• Sh e wa s i n f e c t e d b y
Mi c h a e l ’s a t t i t u d e .
• Sh e t h o u g h t o f
ma k i n g t h e
u n p r o g r e s s i v e
s c h o o l , a p l a c e o f
b e a u t y (w i t h g a r d e n s ,
e t c .)

8. V I L L AGE P RI E S T
• a n o l d ma n a n d w a l k e d
wi t h a s l i g h t s t o o p
• He c a r r i e d a s t o u t
w a l k i n g -s t i c k w h i c h
h e u s u a l l y t a p p e d o n
t h e f l o o r , b y wa y o f
e mp h a s i s , e a c h t i me
h e ma d e a n e w p o i n t
i n h i s a r g u me n t .

9. Se t t i ng
• Ni g e r i a
• Mo n t h o f J a n u a r y 1949
• Nd u me Ce n t r a l
Sc h o o l

10. Plot Summary
• Ndume Central School had always been an
unprogressive school, and a backward in every
sense of the word.
• The mission authorities decided to send a
young and energetic man to run it.
• Michael Obi was appointed the new
headmaster of the school.

11. • Michael and his wife Nancy had many
wonderful ideas for the school’s improvement
and this was an opportunity to put them into
practice.
• Mr. Obi and his wife put their whole life into
the work.
• The have two aims. 1. High Standard of
teaching was insisted upon. 2. The school
compound was to be turned into a place of
beauty.

12. • One evening, as Mr. Obi was admiring his
work, he was scandalized to see an old woman
from the village hobble right across the
compound.
• On going up there, Mr. Obi found out that
faint signs of an almost disused path from the
village across the school compound to the
bush of the other side.

13. “It amazes me, that you people allowed the
villagers to make use of this footpath. It is
simply incredible.” said Mr. Obi (shooks his
head) to one of his teachers that has been
teaching in the school for 3 years.
“The path appears to be very important to
them. Although it is hardly used, it connects
the village shrine with their place of burial.”
said the teacher apologetically.

14. • Mr. Obi does not believe it and he was
concerned on the school inspection by the
Government Education Officer next week
• Heavy sticks were planted closely across the
path at the two places where it entered and
left the school premises. These were further
strengthened with barbed wire.

15. • Three days later, the village priest called on
the headmaster.
The Priest said:
“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 the
children coming in to be born.

16. Mr. Obi replied:
“The whole purpose of our school is to eradicate
just such beliefs as that. Dead men do not
require foot paths. The whole idea is just
fantastic. Our duty is to teach your children
laugh at such ideas.”
The priest added:
“What you say may be true, but we follow the
practices of our fathers. If you reopen the
path, we shall have nothing to argue about.

17. • Mr. Obi did ignored the proposal of the village
priest to reopen the path. He suggested the
priest to construct the path outside of the
school premises.
• The priest had nothing more to say, then he
went home.

18. • Three days later, a young woman in the village
died in childbed.
• A diviner was immediately consulted and he
prescribed heavy sacrifices to propitiate
ancestors insulted by the fence.

19. • Obi woke up next morning upon the ruins of
his work. The beautiful hedges were torn up,
the flowers trampled to death and one of the
school buildings pulled down.

20. • That day, the white supervisor came to inspect
the school.
• He wrote a nasty report on the state of the
school, but more seriously about the “tribal
war situation between the village and the
school, arising in part from the misguided
zeal of the new headmaster.”

21. ANALYSIS OF THE STORY

22. Setting
• The story takes place on
an Ibo village in Nigeria,
where ancient tribal
belief still exist.
• Many Ibo villagers still
showed respect for their
local diety.
• The old ways came into
conflict with new
western ideas.

23. Plot
• The plot is all about
social realism.
• There’s a new
headmaster of the
school and he made
changes to the
school, blocking the
“dead men’s path”
which is considered
sacred by the
villagers.

24. • The new headmaster seems indifferent with
the customs of the villagers, so he ignored the
request of the priest to reopen the path.

25. • Dead Man's Path
• DEAD MAN'S PATH
by CHINUA ACHEBE
The title of this story "Dead Man's Path" foreshadows the
series of events about to take place in the story. "Dead
Man's Path" does not only refer to the ancestral pathway
but also refers to Obi's choice of action. His "path" by not
compromising has made him a "Dead Man". Dead in this
context is not death, but is referring to his failure. His
dream died. The title also foreshadows dark events that
would occur in the story. Meaning this story has quite a sad
ending to it, not at all a happy story.
.

26. • In this story "Dead Man's Path", Chinua Achebe
gives the protagonist Michael Obi, a 26 years old
secondary school teacher, a great chance of
fulfilling his dream. He was appointed by the
Mission Authorities to be the headmaster of
Ndume Central School in Nigeria. "Mission
Authorities" (page 618) are Christian Missionaries
who were also the authorities in Africa. They are
foreigners who have been sent everywhere
around the world to teach Christianity

27. Theme
• tribal culture meets modern ideologies
• ignorance of other people's customs

28. THE END 