Karma

Authors Note: This piece is retelling the short story “Dead Man’s Path” we read in class.


The short story “Dead Man’s Path” written by Chinua Achebe is about a selfish, stuck-up man named Michael Obi. The story is about a traditional pathway to a burial site that passes through the school grounds that has been there for centuries. Michael Obi was appointed the new headmaster of the school, he took a tour of it and saw how run down the grounds were. One night he saw an old woman walk across the flower patch in the school yard. He asked a teacher why and gave him a history of the people and the burial grounds, he also explained how they tried to close it before but there were big arguments so they left it open. Mr. Obi decided to close it, so he built a fence around it. The head priest of the natives goes to talk to him to try to convince him to reopen the pathway but Mr. Obi unfortunately says no. Two days later after a death in the village, the new headmaster wakes up to find his school ruined. The supervisor came to inspect the school and when he saw the condition of the school he fired the headmaster.