Dead Men's Path

What does the title say?

The title "Dead Men's Path" is basically refering to a path used by villagers to the graves of those who died.

What does the title say?

The title basically spells out dead mens path. This image shows ghosts walking on a pathway and very well represents the title of this short story

http://news.psu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/threshold-992/public/ghosts.jpg?itok=jDurJVIS

What does the title mean?

In the title, I think that the "dead men" is refering to Michael Obi. His dreams and abmitions were "dead" because he had offended the villagers. His school was left in ruins as he had offended the greater forces by building the fence.

This image shows aan axe tree being cut down. This relates to Michael's situation in the sense that he "dug a hole for himself". If he had let the villagers carry on peacefully none

of this would have happened.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/84/ff/bb/84ffbb8ef8d4b69241437fb963448bd7--wood-cutting-surrealism-art.jpg

Why does the title matter?

The title plays a big role in the story as a symbol. The path from my point of view represents the connection from the past and present as well as represents the culture and traditions of the villagers. The path brings life into the village and takes death away from the village. When Michael had blocked the path it was almost like the village had "died".

This image shows men taking away parts of the pillars of a structure. The village in the story relied on the path just as building relies on its pillars. The men depicted in the art piece resemble Michael blocking off the path from the villagers.

https://www.elitereaders.com/polish-artist-shows-dark-side-world-living-via-surreal-images/

The presence of symbolism

The presense of symbolism

This short story has many examples of symbolism. The main form of symbolism is the path which was the "lifeline" of the village. The priest had also said "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…”. This basically explains the importnce of the path and despite all of this Michael still chooses to close the path with a barbed wire fence. He soon recieves the sacrifice as all of his ambitions are destroyed by the villagers. I feel that Michael symbolises modernity whilst the priest represents the culture and traditions that his ancestors had. This is proven when the priest says “but we follow the practices of our fathers"and Michael oposes by saying “The whole purpose of our school,”is to eradicate just such beliefs as that. Dead men do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas.” These are the ways symbolism was used in this short story and the way that I understood it!