Chinua Achebes Dead Mens Path - Literature review Example

15 December Chinua Achebe‘s Dead Mens Path: Conflict Recognition and Compromise Evaluation Introduction Colonization came in different forms: from invading civilizations and procuring access to the booty, to the almost invincible alteration of cultural and religious preferences. The latter is considered a threat to a region’s identity and had the potential to divide people. More often than not, this division can cause more harm than colonizing through explicit attacks. However, the immediate address of this issue is not easy, with resistance and assertions of whose preference is wrong or right, logical or irrational, superstitious or reasonable, and a lot of questions based on moral or ethical grounds. The specific process of identifying conflicts and opportunities for compromise are best illustrated in Chinua Achebe’s Dead Men’s Path. The Story Religious conflicts in Achebe’s works can be attributable to his being raised as a Christian in a country that is largely into traditional religious practices. However, his religion did not deter his interest from the tribal tales of life (Achebe 113). The characters of the story include the over-zealous headmaster Mr. Obi, his young wife Nancy, the old village priest, and the ‘white’ supervisor. The story began with the contrast of the old and new: the Ndume Central School was pegged “backward” while Mr. Obi and his wife were making plans of ‘modernizing’ the school (Achebe 113-114). The conflict starts when Mr. Obi closed the village’s ancestral footpath that crossed the school compound. The village priest came to explain that the footpath was the link between the unborn, the living and the dead. This belief articulates the “existence of an area of transition” between those three (Viola and Durix 243). The dialogue between the headmaster and the village priest was a failure, most especially on the headmaster’s part, because the headmaster chose to ignore the village priest’s advice: “let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch” (Achebe 115; Emenyonu and Uko 66). It all ends with the death of a young woman in giving birth, followed by the destruction of Mr. Obi’s work, and the white supervisor’s ironic disapproval of Mr. Obi’s “misguided zeal” (Achebe 115). Furthermore, the use of differing and regional-like speech (i.e., priest’s) can be observed of Achebe’s short story (Innes 11). This use of speech is useful in establishing the religious background of each character as well as inferring the ‘foreign’ influences that abound the characters’ environment. Conflict Recognition Two concepts that were detrimental in recognizing conflicts of interest were Izzo’s mimicry and mindless (89-90). Mimicry was exemplified by the headmaster and wife’s need of ‘modernizing’ a traditional school; mindless was the insensitive approach of Mr. Obi in addressing the conflict. Evidently, Mr. Obi’s modern and Christian background had secured himself of this superiority complex that tramples traditional and pagan or tribal way of life. Achebe’s punishment of Mr. Obi’s stubbornness in the story aims to present a lesson of humility -- humility for those “who have benefited from Western education” (Ohaeto 49). This humility effectively approaches the conflict without becoming blinded of one’s beliefs; humility also enables one to easily sympathize and materialize solutions based on understanding not on misjudging. To realize and solve this conflict, it is best to clear our conscience with matters of mimicry and mindlessness. Both concepts did no good, as in the story, and could only exacerbate the conflict. An effective dialogue is one that does not just reason or listen to each reason, but immerses one’s level of empathy and understanding, to visualize ‘wearing and fitting on other’s shoes.’ Hardly can we see validity in each other’s argument when each does not even take a step to empathize. It is easy to decipher an argument from one who understood and had undergone empathy from one who solely laced the argument with self-preserved beliefs. The best example of the latter is Mr. Obi’s arguments -- based in a ‘believer trampling non-believers’ ideology, instead of portraying good Christian values of patience and thoughtfulness. Differences had long been handled through grabbing opportunities of compromising. In actuality, the whole world is made of compromises -- children to parent, employees to employers, citizen and government to its country, region to whole nation, country to country; the list is endless. Thus, compromise make up a significant part of all of our lives; there are those who chose to live with fewer compromise while others are tangled with webs of compromise. This is why it is important to think it all over before declaring adherence; making sure of its necessity and inevitability; and evaluating the options for compromise. In terms of interdependent social and religious concerns, as of the ‘Dead Men’s Path,’ compromise is the best option available. Compromise Evaluation Interdependent sectors like the society and the religious sector are complex; in fact, their relationship is too intertwining that one cannot solve a societal issue without plying on the society’s religion and vice versa. Each societal issue, be it education, morality or ethics had a religious counterpart. In the story, Mr. Obi’s education system was too intertwined with his religion, that it caused his immense alarm over non-believers (i.e., the villagers) crossing his Christian school. If he were able to prioritize the school’s primary aim of alleviating illiteracy over ‘christening’ through education, the effect of the crossing non-believers would not have the same profound repulsion. Mr. Obi’s initial reaction was too negative that its only way of neutralizing is through backing all argument with religious ones without sensitivity with the region’s society and religion. Consequently, Mr. Obi never saw the opportunity to compromise. Compromising is one of the best inventions of human existence. Ever since we discovered that we are not alone and that all of us are sectored by nations, religion or political affiliation, compromising presented the best tool for cooperation and peaceful living. Ironically, colonization had altered the basics of compromise. It offered the need for any colonized region to establish a framework of authenticity re-assessment (Emenyonu and Uko 67). They had to re-check their existing beliefs, whether those were rooted from their religious practices or culture, and upgrade through choosing which among those part of their former belief system they bring or not. Others choose not to re-assess at all and shut their eyes from anything new, regardless of its rationality. However, in Achebe’s short story, the modern and Christian sector was the one who had to re-asses and compromise on the village’s traditional way - a realization that never occurred to Mr. Obi. With re-assessment, particular options for compromise will emerge. Evaluating the options for compromise is a two-way and win-win process of achieving successful agreements. These options should be discussed with the concern of each party involved put into mind and addressing the ‘ricochet’ effects each undergoing may potentially cause. This also involves a great deal of negotiation, not just mere pacification. The whole process of evaluating as many options available may take a lot longer; everything depends on the necessary time of immediate implementation of solutions and until all concerns were aired out and solutions exhausted. Conclusion Chinua Achebe’s presentation of the ‘Dead Men’s Path’ presented opportunities for conflict recognition and compromise evaluation in the context of religious differences between the Christians and the non-Christians. Undergoing through these two important processes of problem-solving was necessitated to avoid the likes of the story’s ending that displayed hostility upon destroying Mr. Obi’s hard work. Furthermore, this story’s blatant use of eventful disregard of a region’s practices or beliefs spell the call for a higher sensitivity and open mind in dwelling with differences. It means to convey that compromising does not show defeat or allegiance to an opposing party, but the means to establish relationships instead of destroying them, like what Mr. Obi had done. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. “Dead Mens Path.” The International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction. Ed. Ruth Spack. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 113-115. Print. Emenyonu, Ernest, and Iniobong I. Uko, eds. Emerging Perspectives on Chinua Achebe: Isinka, The Artistic Purpose: Chinua Achebe And The Theory Of African Literature. Vol. 2. Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, 2004. Print. Innes, Catherine Lynette. Chinua Achebe. Vol.1. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Print. Izzo, David Garrett. The Influence of Mysticism on 20th Century British and American Literature. North Carolina, US: McFarland, 2009. Print. Ohaeto, Ezenwa. Chinua Achebe: A Biography. Oxford, UK: James Currey Publishers, 1997. Print. Viola, André, and Jean-Pierre Durix. Telling Stories: Postcolonial Short Fiction in English. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi, 2001. Print. Read More