Skip to main content

What is the primary conflict the headmaster faced in the story "Dead Men's Path"?

This is primarily a man versus society conflict. In the story, the protagonist is Michael Obi; his main conflict is with the villagers of Ndume.


While the villagers cherish their time-tested and revered religious traditions, Michael views these beliefs as antithetical to modernization and progress. As the new principal, Michael hopes to restructure the academic programs and to revolutionize teaching methods at Ndume Central School.


Michael is enthusiastic about Ndume's future, but he fails to take into account the deep respect for tradition among the village people. In a conversation with a teacher, he laments the use of an unsightly footpath that crosses the school grounds. The teacher relates that the footpath joins the village shrine to a traditional burial place, but Michael ignores the import of what the teacher tells him. He commissions heavy sticks to be deposited at the entrance and exit sections of the footpath, and he orders both sections to be reinforced with barbed wire.


Meanwhile, the village priest begs Michael to reconsider his unforgiving stance. He tells Michael that the dead walk the path to the afterlife by it and that revered ancestors visit the living by it. He also reiterates that newborn children enter the world through the foot path. Michael scoffs at what he considers backward superstitions that have no place in a modern world.


The priest ominously proclaims that both should agree to "let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch." However, Michael is resolute in his stance; he refuses to compromise on the situation.


The impasse is resolved the next morning when Michael wakes up to find the school grounds vandalized, the flower beds destroyed, and one of the school buildings torn down. So, Michael's modernization efforts fail because he neglects to show respect for the entrenched beliefs of the villagers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more