Dead mans path point of view

Mr. obi from “Dead Man’s Path” is a young married man that just wishes to have a nice school, but he can’t have that with the priest and villagers constantly passing through the school compound to get to the burial grounds. The priest then calls on Mr. Obi to talk about the path that connects their shrine with the burial grounds. He says, “this path was here before you were born and before your father was born. The whole life of this village depends on 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…” Mr. Obi fails to believe the priest and doubts his beliefs telling him, “Dead men do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas.” We read the story in Mr. Obi’s point of view.

Mr. Obi is thinks of himself as the king of this new world that he is teaching. He has special plans for the school like he wants to plant flowers and make it look nicer in and out. He finally gets what he wants and is proud of his work. Only to find out people are walking through his school compound. Obi is angered and wants to do something about it . He puts up a barb wired fence to stop them from passing through. The fence doesn’t work and his school is ruined. The next day his school gets looked at and gets a bad review but to make things worse they talk even more about the possible war between Mr. Obi and the townspeople.

If the priest had told this story it would be completely different. Obi would be an arrogant young man trying to control the ancestral ways of the village, and make the young men and women think differently. The children should believe in the path and believe what their parents and ancestors do. When the woman dies, the priest thinks it’s a sign that his ancestors want that path back, so he takes the villagers and destroys the school the day before it gets reviewed. In the end the priest is glad he showed the young headmaster a lesson about beliefs.