Skip to main content

How are Micheal Obi and the priest different in "Dead Man's Path"?

Michael Obi and the priest from the village near the school are similar in that both want what is best for the village and the people in it. They differ in what they believe is best for the village and how they approach changing their community.


Michael Obi represents contemporary culture. He is, as Achebe says, "young and enthusiastic." He wants to change the school, which has always been "unprogressive." Unsurprisingly, Michael believes in progress, and in progressive changes. He wants things to be modern. He thinks that means things should be rational. This means there should be explicit reasons for things, private property should be respected, and the superstitions of the past (like the path walked by the dead) should be rooted out and abandoned.


The priest represents continuity, history, and community. He wants the people of the village to be able to do what they have always done. Of the two, the priest shows more respect for others and their beliefs.

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