The major theme of Chinua Achebe’s Dead Men’s Path is cultural conflict. Set in a rural Nigerian mission school, the story takes place in 1949 when the country was still under British rule. The conflict emerges when a new headmaster, full of reformist zeal, objects to local villagers walking through school grounds to access a path that is important to their animist beliefs. It is ironic that, being Nigerian, the young headmaster failed to grasp the seriousness of the villagers’ concerns, whereas his “white Supervisor” seems to have immediately developed an understanding of and appreciation for their situation.
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