Chinua Achebe’s Dead Men’s Path: Post-Colonial Ideas
Chinua Achebe’s Dead Men’s Path: A Post-Colonial Perspective
Chinua Achebe’s Dead Men’s Path effectively reflects his post-colonial ideas for several reasons:
The Need to Tell the Story from Within
A primary post-colonial concept is the necessity of telling the story from the inside, as the colonized have historically been denied a voice. Chinua Achebe’s motivation to become a writer stemmed from this realization during his university years. His critique of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness extended to literature by non-Africans and the significant influence of English Departments in North American and British universities. He argued that these institutions perpetuated and reinforced racist stereotypes through their high valuation of Conrad’s work.
Achebe pointed out that Heart of Darkness was frequently taught in English courses at the University of Massachusetts. He contended that a novel consigning Africans to a subhuman category, regardless of its prose, could not be considered ‘great literature’ and did not merit the status many English professors accorded it. This realization fueled Achebe’s determination to tell the story from an African perspective.
This idea is reflected in “The Novelist as Teacher,” which posits that the colonized are best positioned to convey the true story of colonization. The same concept appears in Achebe’s The Lion as Historian, comparing colonizers and the colonized to the lion and its prey. Colonialist narratives often highlight the lion’s history while neglecting the prey’s, as seen in Heart of Darkness. The conclusion is that until the colonized people’s story is told, the world will remain susceptible to racism. This idea is powerfully depicted in Dead Men’s Path when the priest informs Obi that the path existed before his birth and is integral to their culture.
Addressing the Internalization of Inferiority
Another key idea is the need to address the internalization of inferiority. Even after achieving political independence, colonized countries were often still perceived as inferior, while colonizing countries were seen as superior. Achebe believed this perception had to be eradicated to enable the recovery of identity. This concept is evident in Dead Men’s Path when Mr. Obi states his intention, “to show these people how a school should be run.”
Valuing Native Culture and History
Finally, there’s the crucial need to teach people to value their native culture and history. When the British gained control of Nigeria in the late nineteenth century, they assumed they were bringing enlightenment and progress to a people they deemed to lack valid social, religious, or political institutions and a history of their own. The beliefs and shrines of the Igbos, to which Achebe belonged, like those of other African peoples, were dismissed as mere superstitions and “fetishes.” This idea is reflected in Dead Men’s Path when Michael Obi intends to eliminate the path, and the priest invokes the proverb, “let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch,” meaning, “let us teach our beliefs.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, the spaces in Dead Men’s Path symbolize colonization (the school) and the traditional way of life (the village). Although post-colonial literature aimed to eradicate prejudices and provide the colonized perspective, we still inhabit a world grappling with racism. Prejudice is a harmful response, and skin color should never determine one’s position relative to another.