Anna Y
June 6, 2007
Draft Three
Obi’s Decision
Superstition can be seen everywhere in the world, while it differs from region to region. Though superstition doesn’t have any scientific proof, it does exist in people’s minds. To some extent, it is just like religion, which is deeply rooted among certain people and is hardly being eliminated.
“Dead Men’s Path”, written by Chinua Achebe, tells a story about Michael Obi, who had tried his best to turn a backward school into a high-standard and beautiful one. However, by closing the villagers’ ancestral footpath by force, all his efforts were ruined. It is not the right way for Obi to deal with the problem he is faced with, and there should be a balance between the respect to a traditional culture and the innovation of civilization.
At the beginning of the story, the author told us that Ndume Central School had always been a rather backward school. So the Mission authorities decided to send a “young and energetic man”(52) to run it. Obi accepted the responsibility with “enthusiasm.”(52) Yes, Michael Obi was a young and energetic man. He was full of dreams and was ambitious to make his dreams become true. As for Obi’s wife, she was completely amazed and affect by his “passion for ‘modern methods’”(52) and his disgust to those old traditioned people with “ancient” teaching method and “ancient” way of thinking. Obi was such the kind of person as in his wive’s impression, he was so stick to his own way of thinking, and can hardly find a balance between innovation and tradition, which was the key to his first success in running the school well, but also the beginning of his final failure.
After Obi and his wife’s hard work, Ndume Central School had gradually become a high-standard and beautiful one. Then comes the turning point. One evening as Obi was admiring his work he was scandalized to see and old woman from the village hobble right across the compound, through a marigold flower bed and the hedges. When he asked an old teacher about this, he got the answer that “the path appears to be very important to them. Although it is hardly used, it connects the village shrine with their place of burial.”(53) And he also got a piece of information that “There was a big row some time ago when we attempted to close it.”(53) At that time, Obi should have known that it would not be a sensible idea to close the path, anyway, it was important to the villagers.
Then Obi did what he thought was right, which maybe the worst behavior he had done in his whole life. He closed the path. Obi was soon called on by the village priest. The priest was one of the most respectful people in a village and what he said should really be adopted. The priest told Obi that the path was there a rather long time ago. The whole life of the 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 in to be born…”(54) The priest’s words were sincere and persuasive, he knew that the path considering as ancester’s footpath is superstition to some extent, but he also knew the importance of it. The path is more like a comfort and tradition for the villagers. Obi should have noticed that his closing the path would be a wrong way to deal with the problem and there should be a balance.
But what a shame! His answer to the priest was “the whole purpose of our school is to eradicate just such beliefs as that. Dead men do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas.”(54)
That was Obi’s final decision. Maybe we shouldn’t blame for him more. For Obi was that kind of person, stubborn and innovative deep in mind. It is so hard for other people to let Obi admit what he thought was wrong and change his mind. But what will happen if he did it in another way? Maybe he should reserve the path, plant some flowers and grass along it, and made it look like an ordinary path. In that case, villagers can pass through it without destroying Obi’s beautiful garden and Obi’s future could be completely different. Anyway, what Obi should keep in mind was that there should be a balance between the respect to a traditional culture and the innovation of civilization.
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Work Cited