2. Protagonist: Michael Obi
Michael Obi is the main character in the short story The Dead Man’s Path
He causes the main conflict in the story by putting his desires and beliefs before that of the village people.
Point of View:
The short story is told in first person point of view from Obi’s perspective.
Obi’s point of view causes the reader to sympathize with Obi’s problem, but also see how close minded he is about the village traditions.

3. The Dead Man’s Path Exposition
Michael Obi becomes headmaster at an unprogressive and outdated school.
“Michael Obi’s hopes were fulfilled much earlier than he had expected. He was appointed headmaster of Ndume Central School in January of ”
Conflict
Man vs. Culture
Mr. Obi’s wife, Nancy, planted a garden at the school which, coincidently, was planted on top of an old path which connects the village to burial shrine.
“One evening as Obi was admiring his work he was scandalized to see an old woman from the village hobble right across the compound, through a marigold flower-bed and the hedges.”

4. Nancy
Nancy is Obi’s wife who plans to build a garden around the school that reflects her dreams of modernizing the school.
Nancy is characterized as being disappointed that she is the only wife of the school teachers.

5. The Dead Man’s Path Rising Action
Obi decides to close off the path so the villagers can not use it. The local priest calls on Obi to correct the wrong being done to the village people.
“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.”
“Look here, my son,” said the priest bringing down his walking-stick, “this path was here before you were born and before your father was born. The whole life of the village depends n 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…”

6. The Dead Man’s Path Climax:
Mr. Obi refuses to allow the village people continue to use the foot path. He is insensitive to their traditions and turns the priest away.
“the whole purpose if 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.”

7. Ani Priest
The priest is the antagonist in the story. He upsets Obi’s plans to update the school and bring the students into a modern mindset.
The Priest is a determined man who holds strong to his traditions and the beliefs of the villagers.
Antagonist: While the priest is not directly the antagonist in the story he does represent the village who oppose Obi. Thus the villagers (local culture) are the antagonist of the story.

8. The Dead Man’s Path Falling Action
Only a few days after the conversation with the priest a woman dies in childbirth. Obi wakes days after the death to discover the school grounds of have been destroyed.
“Obi woke up next morning among the ruins of his work. The beautiful hedges were torn up not just hear the path but right round the school, the flowers trampled to death and one of the school buildings pulled down…”

9. The Dead Man’s Path Resolution:
The same day the garden was torn up the Supervisor came to inspect the school and left a report that pointed the finger at Obi for causing the disruption in the village and thus the destruction of school property.
“ 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.”

10. Theme: cultural conflicts
The main theme of the short story Dead Man’s Path is cultural conflicts. The reader is given a brief lesson about dismissing the older ideas and customs of an ancient people in order to modernize and bring new ideas into Nigerian society.
Traditionalism vs Modernism
The lesson being that it is always important
to keep an open mind about the customs and beliefs
of new or different cultures.

11. Setting Setting: Ndume (rural village in Southeast Nigeria)
January 1949
Ndume Central School
The authors does a great job of building up the setting. It is only a path, and a garden in a school yard, but it allows the story to take on life of its own. The story is about the path being barricaded. An old path surrounded in old myths and traditions which has had a modern garden built atop it to suggest new ideas and growth.

12. Mood Happy and energetic Anger and frustration
The short story begins with a happy mood. The main character is described as being energetic and the reader immediately is drawn into his warm and happy mood.
Anger and frustration
As the story progresses the mood changes swiftly from happy to one of anger. Obi is angered by the disrespect he feels the villagers are showing towards the garden and has no care for their traditions. He becomes frustrated and by the end of the story is outraged by the Supervisors response.

13. Dead Man’s Path
Images retrieved from: Google Images
The End