The path, which runs through the school grounds and connects the village’s shrine and burial site, symbolizes the unbreakable link between the villagers and their cultural history. It is for this reason that the village priest reminds Michael Obi during a visit, that it is the path by which their ancestors visit them and the path through which new babies come into the world. In other words, the path grounds the villagers with a deep knowledge of their history and an appreciation of their forefathers and their future sons and daughters. It is very telling that even when hedges and gardens are built around the school to cut off the villagers’ access to the path, Obi still finds an old woman willing to navigate her way through the school’s hedges to find it.
When Obi tries to close the path with fences, a woman in the village dies in childbirth—a manifestation of the ancestors’ anger at Obi’s prohibitions. The woman’s death is significant and fitting; as the community believes that the path is the way through which new babies come into the world, but the path is now closed off, the woman cannot successfully deliver her baby. After, much of Obi’s school is destroyed, presumably by the villagers, who believe they must appease their angered ancestors to regain some semblance of balance to the community. Most of the negative events of the story, like the death of the woman and the subsequent damage to the school, happen because of the path’s closure. This suggests that the overall prosperity of the community rests on protecting and sustaining the villagers’ affinity to the path and its links to their ancestors, culture, and identity.
Path Quotes in Dead Men’s Path
“The path,” said the teacher apologetically, “appears to be very important to them. Although it is hardly used, it connects the village shrine with their place of burial.”
“And what has that got to do with the school?” asked the headmaster.
“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 children coming in to be born . . .”
“The whole purpose of our school,” he said finally, “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.”
“What you say may be true,” replied the priest, “but we follow the practices of our fathers. If you reopen the path we shall have nothing to quarrel about. What I always say is: let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch.”
I am sorry,” said the young headmaster. “But the school compound cannot be a thoroughfare. It is against our regulations. I would suggest your constructing another path, skirting our premises. We can even get our boys to help in building it. I don’t suppose the ancestors will find the little detour too burdensome.”
Two 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.
Obi woke up next morning among the ruins of his work. The beautiful hedges were torn up not just near the path but right round the school, the flowers trampled to death and one of the school buildings pulled down… That day, the white Supervisor came to inspect the school and wrote a nasty report on the state of the premises but more seriously about the “tribal-war situation developing between the school and the village, arising in part from the misguided zeal of the new headmaster.”
Path Symbol Timeline in Dead Men’s Path
