—Tony Zhao
—May 29, 2007
—Draft Three
Obi’s Job Obsession
It is always interesting to see different cultures encounter each other, which sometimes dissolve into a wonderful, if not perfect harmony, such as the ideal combination of eastern and western culture. Contrary to this harmonious melting, the collision of two distinct cultures are more likely to turn into a battle, as Chinua Achebe described in his story Dead Men’s Path. It is set at the turn of the twentieth century, when Nigeria was under the control of the British, and Christianity as well as the western education was introduced into the tribal area, this is what the protagonist of the story, Micheal Obi, attempts to make. However, the local priest protests his reformation as Obi insisted on cutting off the Dead Men’s Path, which the tribal ethnic group believes to be the one by which their “dead relatives depart” and visit them (54).
Many people would agree that cultures should be viewed, or appreciated without value judgement, which Obi does not realize because all his heart and soul is devoted to his job performance without respecting the tribal tradition and ritual.
When the local priest came to Obi for the dead men’s path, his disrespect to the traditional belief can be seen as he refers to the tribal belief as “fantastic”, and his only reply, as harsh and indifferent as it is, was to teach the children to “laugh at such ideas” (54). His mocking voice shows his impoliteness and haughtiness both to the local tribal belief and the priest present. Serious as the priest is when telling Obi the importance of the unique path to both the dead men and the children to be born, Obi only made fun of the tribal belief, joking that their ancestors will not “find the little detour too burdensome.” (54)
Not only does Obi consider the tribal belief to be stupid and supersitious, but he also insults those in the teaching field, which is revealed from his denigration of “these old and superannuated people” (52). What is more, he also flouts them by saying they “would be better employed as traders in the Onitsha market” (52). It is apparent that Obi considers the other headmasters as incompetent in teaching, ignorant of the modern methods.
As is already mentioned, Obi’s discrimination and ignorance of the tribal culture result from the fact that he is obsessed with the idea of self-actualization through the job as a headmaster. First hearing the “joyful news of his promotion”, Obi is determined to “make a good job of it” together with his wife (52). Even when one teacher of three years of educational experience told Obi about the big row confronting the attempt to close the dead path and its importance to the local people, his response is “it will not be used” (53) and firmed determination to make the path disappear, which is proved by “heavy sticks” and “barbed wire” put in the path (54). The reason is fairly easy to see through his fear of the villagers’ using “the schoolroom for a pagan ritual during the inspection” (53), as Obi only cares what “ the Government Education Officer thinks” might influence his job evaluation in a negative way.
Hard as Obi tries to protect his dream from the slightest taint of ruin which the tribal belief might have caused, his endeavor of self-actualization eventually get denied as the white Supervisor inspecting the school commented on his work as “the misguided zeal of the new headmaster” (54). The sad, but instructive end of the story seems to reveal that the obsession of job performance can sometimes lead people to its opposite consequence —failure. Furthermore, it can make people so self-centered as to forget what they can contribute.
Work Cited
Chinua Achebe. “Dead Men’s Path”. 1953. Rpt. in The International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction.Ruth Spack. New York: St. Martin’s 1994.