Dead Man's Path, by Chinua Achebe is a short story about a young headmaster who attempts to improve an unprogressive school using modern methods. He believed that previous headmasters were narrow-minded and less educated, and was very excited to make the school "modern and delightful." One afternoon, when the young headmaster was admiring his school he saw an old women walking on an old path that looked almost disused. The path ran from the village across the school compound to the bush on the other side. The headmaster was outraged that the villagers were allowed to use that path, and he saw it as trespassing on school grounds. Teachers informed him that it was important to the village people, yet he closed it down anyway. An old priest came to talk to the headmaster a few days after it was closed. He informed the headmaster that the path was for dead relatives to depart and ancestors to visit. The headmaster responded cynically, and disregarded the priest's request. Two days later, a woman died in childbirth and a diviner was consulted and recalled the ancestors were angered. The headmaster found his school destroyed, and was written up by his supervisor.
             It's ironic that the headmaster views previous elderly headmasters as narrow-minded. Although they wanted to close the path as well, they understood the value of tradition, and what it meant to the village people. The author made it a point that the headmaster was very young and into modern ideas. He responded to the priest by saying "our duty is to teach your children to laugh such ideas." The headmaster's ignorance backfired on him, and it also caused trouble for the village people.
             This story can be seen as an analogy for writers in exile or immigrants in general. As people get older, the younger generation tends to take over and make changes in the culture. The elders are often stuck in the past, and find it hard to adapt to these c...