payment page
Study Tools
Overview
Originally published in 1953, “Dead Men’s Path” is a realistic short story by renowned Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe
. Though he’s better known for his novel Things Fall Apart, Achebe’s very short story expresses the same concerns and thoughtfulness about the encroachment and influence of colonization and modernization on traditional ways of life in his homeland. Using realism as his tool, Achebe subtly suggests the possibility of a path by which the colonial and the traditional can peacefully coexist, if only the colonizers can accept the validity of traditional beliefs.Read a full plot summary, an analysis of Michael "Mike" Obi, and descriptions of the main ideas in "Dead Men's Path."
