Fiction Analysis – Final DraftBy the due date assigned, submit your revised analytical essay on short fiction as a Microsoft Word document. Revise the Week 4 analytical essay by doing the following

Fiction Analysis: Dead Men's Path

Estrella Gonzalez

South University

ENG1300  SU01  Composition III/Literature

Joseph Walker

Fiction Analysis: Dead Men's Path

Dead Men's Path by China Achebe delves into the implications of making choices. Achebe uses symbolism to bring home his views on the repercussions that choices people make can have on their lives. Achebe presents a society that is torn apart in two divides: between the tradition on one hand and modernity on the other hand. The society is not willing to welcome the new progressive thoughts that have been brought by the missionaries ( Achebe, 2009 ). Through the use of symbolism, Achebe makes a cataclysmic flowing story that has much deeper imnsights than the superficial representations in words. What are some of the dangers of disregarding the opinions supported by majority in the society? Achebe’s Dead Men's Path answers this question using symbolic presentations .

In the anthology Dead Men’s Path, Achebe uses a lot of symbolism. The title of the story itself is symbolic. Death is used symbolically here to represent things or aspirations that cannot be achieved or realised. For instance, from the short story, Michael who is the protagonist gets promotion to head a mission school which has had a very bad record in the past. He goes to the school full of vigour and hope to show the professors how management is done. On arrival he discovers that there is a path going through the school and decides that it should be blocked ( Bumgarner, 2014). Michael was rigid in his beliefs and the aspirations he had. However, his rigidity made things work against him. For example, on the day the inspector was to come to assess the school, part of the structure and the fences had been demolished, a phenomenon that made the inspector to write a bad report on the head teacher. The aspirations of progress and success as a teacher failed. Here the failures that Michael experienced made his hopes and progressive mind dead. In other words, the head teacher experienced failure to achieve his aspirations which henceforth became as good as the dead (Achebe, 2009).

Path is also used symbolically in the anthology. The word symbolises way of life . For example, Michael chose a very rigid way of life and perception to things in which he considered only himself to be right. However, as depicted from the story, using such bottle neck kind of leadership coupled with pride for success made him to fail terribly .

Achebe is trying to highlight that when one departs from the counsels of the elderly and the morals of the society he is likely to experience obstacles on his search for success. The title thus symbolises the loss of heritage due to advent of modernity. It shows that as the natives migrate from their traditions to embrace the new light brought to them by the missionaries, they stand to lose the link to their traditions and teachings. The title also symbolises an imminent danger. Death is saddening when it occurs. So the use of this term in the title implies therefore that as the story progresses it is likely to end on a sad note. Furthermore, the path symbolises traditional beliefs and cultural practices in the African communities .

Another element of symbolism in Achebe’s Anthology is the school . Ndume Central School is symbolically used to represent the wave of change from traditional beliefs to modernity. School is a place where people go to unlearn archaic and retrogressive thoughts and then learn new teachings that are consistent with civilization and development. The fact that this school was at the centre separating the ancestors from the graveyards where they performed their rituals such as offerings and also buried the bodies of their dead relatives symbolises that the advent of western education in Nigeria and Africa was an obstacle to traditional thinking and ended the retrogressive thoughts (Sitting Bee, 2016). Interestingly, this school had poor records from its history. This poor history is also symbolic in a way. It shows that though the missionaries had brought Western civilization to the people of Ndume, they did not embrace it because they were still engrossed in their past way of life and were not yet ready to change.

Further, blocking the path by Michael the head teacher is a symbolic indication that modernity overcame tradition. Achebe is trying to indicate that the wave of change is stronger than that of status quo despite the fact that it is not yet supported by majority in the villagers. The old woman who goes to the school compound and infuriates Michael represents the heritage of the society representing the tradition while the school represent the new dawn of things. In this case the infuriation that Michael undergoes is also symbolic. It is an indication that new culture and way of things does not welcome traditional ways. Achebe also uses characters to represent different ways of life. For instance the village priest represents the council of elders that believe in tradition and advocate for it to continue. He for instance, reminds Mr Obi that the path existed way long before he was born and is the rout through which they interact with the spirits of their ancestors (Achebe, 2009). On the other hand, Obi represents the new generation that are up for change and modernity. He does not believe in the talks of the elderly and says that the reason the school is there is to teach people that the dead needed no path at all.

The mission is another symbol that Achebe uses to convey his message. The Mission represents the church. The church has come with new christen perspectives that denounce several traditions as baseless. The church is thus representing the second wing of modernity that is hinged on the biblical teachings. By the mission posting Michael Obi to Ndume Central School Achebe is symbolically reiterating that through change even the Africans would move to echelons of leadership and administration (Sitting Bee, 2016). Furthermore, Achebe uses the mission church as people who have come to transform the society through new teachings. The mission is using a young man: Michael who is barely 30 years of age. Youthfulness here symbolises the peak of energy and vigour. So he is trying to convince the reader that change is initiated by the strong and the mighty. Thus youth is perceived here as a symbol of industry and hard work. In another account, Achebe is trying to highlight the fact that education and modern way of life does not recognise age in leadership but rather knowledge. He brings two conflicting characters to shade more light on this point. On one hand is the old priest that represents patriarchal way of leadership in which leaders were perceived to be elderly people in the society. On the other hand, In Michael Obi a young educated and a symbol of new dawn of leadership by youthful and energetic people with good brains (Schalek, 2015).

Finally, Michael Obi and his wife represent the minority in the community while the whole of Ndume community represent the compact majority. Here Achebe is trying to inform the audience that even the minority have their say. Though Michael had no backing from the community, he stood fast to what he believed in without a wink. On the other hand Achebe uses the majority of the community who want to hold the retrogressive thoughts to symbolise the fact that compact majority are always wrong because they use group thinking (Bumgarner, 2014).

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