‘Old School or New School?’ On Achebe’s “Dead Man’s Path”
I saw a quote once that said: “Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people.”
Although laughable, the quote does have some truth to it. A lot of people feel pressured to carry on traditions: they feel superstitious about what may happen if the traditions aren’t carried out, or ashamed of themselves if they don’t carry out the traditions.
However, people are also pressured into giving up their traditions. Colonization has had perverse effects on a people, and stripping someone of their land, stigmatizing and even criminalizing their cultural practices, and exploiting their labor so they always remain too poor and uneducated will certainly result in a rejection of the indigenous culture for the imperialist colonizer’s culture instead.
Africa is no stranger to colonization. This phenomenon is what has been the cause of Africa’s turmoil; ethnic conflict has escalated to civil wars because certain groups believe things should be done one way while another group believes things should be done another way. One tribe is okay with cell phone usage, another thinks cell phones are the West’s evil technology infiltrating their precious country. How do you coexist if you have both tribal groups sitting together in one classroom, or having to sit together at government body meetings? It gets challenging, and Chinua Achebe, a leading English-speaking African author, illustrates this complex issue in his ironic tale Dead Man’s Path.
The story brings to our attention the importance of putting aside one’s pride for the sake of showing respect; Michael Obi was a very disrespectful and condescending man.
Imperialism and white supremacy teach us that all the “primitive,” “uncivilized” cultures of indigenous people are dirty and should be tidied up to resemble white cultures. This was exactly how Michael Obi thought. He mocked the indigenous culture and beliefs of his own peoples, because he didn’t believe in them.
This is wrong to do, even if the myths about the path hadn’t turned out to be as real as Obi himself. Or at least, we can assume Achebe is framing Obi’s actions as “wrong,” because in the end, Obi is ironically faced with what he was doubting to be true. Usually when authors do this, they are condemning this person: “See, I told you to respect your ancestors and leave the trail alone! You don’t know as much as you think you do!”
Achebe is telling us that to be human is to be programmed culturally and to be forced to coexist with others. Each individual is shaped by their own experiences, culture being one of the biggest influences, and these experiences cultivate one’s morals and beliefs about the way the world should work.
Everyone must work collectively in an effectively globalized world. We all must find some way to blend our separate interpretations and perspectives on life and find a way to all coexist peacefully on this earth.
We have not found ways to do this because we are going about globalization incorrectly; white supremacists colonize a country and establish some system that keeps white people (whether they be Spainiards, Portuguese, Americans, or Britains) in a comfortable position of privilege and power and the colonized peoples in a position of struggle and oppression. This also contributes to the social stigma associated with the colonized people’s cultures and customs — they are connotated negatively because of the racism established by the colonizers. If it is not white, it is not right.
This is how Obi was socialized through his ‘education,’ the same education he intends to give to the other children of the village as headmaster of the school, and the same education that will essentially eradicate the village of its indigenous culture and replace it with the culture of their oppressors. Obi is under the impression that this is good and what needs to be done, revealing his feelings in regards to traditional African spirituality.
Not only did he not believe in it, he was enthused about seeing its erasure from the cultural landscape of his people. The priest was more traditionalist. He plead with the headmaster not to plow through the path because it truly was spiritually sacred: spirits traveled on it to pass into and out of this life.
Seems to be an important task, or maybe it only becomes important when something doesn’t go right.
Michael Obi and the priest were faced with a cultural conflict symbolizing the ethnic conflicts that ravage many parts in Africa: old school or new school? Which is more logical? Which makes sense? Which is better for the future? Which is the truth?
Achebe captures this theme with the inclusion of a school: Obi thinks the destruction of the path would be better for the students attending his school. The priest believes the path should be prioritized because its role is great. Obi believes teaching his students the colonizer’s cultures and traditions instead of his own culture’s traditions is better for the future, the priest obviously doesn’t agree. In the end, the men don’t agree on or negotiate anything; the priest is forced to walk away due to Obi’s disrespect and condescension.
But the Truth reveals itself. Always.
