Although written in different contexts, Dead Men’s Path by Chinua Achebe and Champion of the World by Maya Angelou are classic examples of the black man’s struggle for recognition (Achebe 90; Angelou 110). The two short stories both written by blacks are a clear depiction of the extent that the blacks were willing to go in a bid to defend their independence (Toppman 99). In Dead Men’s Path, the people come out to fight against what they see as an affront to their culture by the modernists who represent the whites (Ogede 13), while in Champion of the World Maya Angelou depicts Joe Louis as the black man’s savior against white domination (Walker 91). This paper examines how the two short stories present the story of the black man’s struggle against anything perceived to be a threat to their culture and independence.

Dead Men’s Path is a short story written in the early 1970’s by renowned author Chinua Achebe that tells the story of Michael Obi, a black young man who is suddenly thrust into the limelight when he is chosen to head a traditional school. Immediately after landing into this prestigious job, he finds himself in trouble with the local community for ignoring their traditions. Chinua presents Obi as an enthusiastic young man who is more than willing to show the community how modernity can transform their lives. The author depicts Obi’s modern passion by noting “we shall do our best” (Achebe 92) to which the wife replies “We shall have such beautiful gardens and everything will just be modern and delightful” (93). To depict his modern thinking, Obi sees his fellow teachers as “old and superannuated people” (94). To obi, making the school a beauty haven was his main goal. An impeding inspection was the ideal motivation to embark on what he thought to be a much-needed facelift of the school (Booker 47).

At first his goal seems to be realized as just within a short time the gardens have blossomed with red and yellow flowers (Egar 54). As Obi is admiring his efforts, he realizes that there is a disused path that runs across the school into the bushes. Upon enquiry, he learns from one of the old teachers that the path “appears to be very important to them (Agetua 26). Although it is hardly used, it connects the village shrine with their place of burial.” Although he belongs to the community, Obi embarks on a mission to close the path against the wishes of the villagers. When a village woman dies in childbirth, the villagers link it to the anger of the god’s due to the closed path and in an act of anger they go on rampage destroying everything that had been set up to impress the inspector. Apparently, this destruction happened on the very day that the white inspector was supposed to come and his report stated that the school was at war with the neighboring community largely due to the headmaster’s misguided zeal (Jaya 52).

In Champion of the World, Maya Angelou presents a similar case to the one presented in Chinua’s story (Burr 77). In this story, Angelou depicts Joe Louis as the savior of “All the Negroes around the world who sat sweating and praying” (Xiam & Kennedy 93). Ideally, the manner in which the blacks in this story are interested in this boxing completion means that theirs was more than just the love of the game. From the beginning, they knew that the Louis win symbolized their own win against white repression and if he lost it meant that they would continue being slaves for the white people. According to Angelou, if Louis lost, “It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree. One more woman ambushed and raped…… It was a white woman slapping her maid for being forgetful” (O’Neale 16) To the blacks watching this fight, the only way to prove that they were capable of leading their lives was if they won this fight (Tredell 69).

In both short stories, it is clear that there are racial and cultural disparities that cause conflicts in the society. By examining Achebe’s story, although Obi represents an enthusiastic man willing to bring modernity to the school system, he does not understand the value of collaboration with the African community. The idea brought forth is that the white people failed to tolerate or respect the traditions of the local people which they held for many years. This brought conflict and the local Africans had to result to violence opposing the drastic changes occurring. The themes of struggle between traditionalism and modernism become dominant in the story as the two sides differ. It becomes clear that the white people wished to do away with traditional beliefs as Obi stated, “The whole purpose of our school is to eradicate just such beliefs as that,” which shows how the white were unwilling to accommodate the traditional norms. In both narrations, the black people seem to be ready to use violence just to make sure that their voices are heard and that they are accorded the respect, which they believe, is due to them (Jaya 52).

In Dead Men’s Path, the people have resorted to the threat of violence to send a message to the white missionaries while in Champion of the World, there is a similar struggle by the black man for recognition. The narration depicts the struggle of African Americans during the 20^th century at the time when they were oppressed by the whites through segregation. In this story, it becomes clear that the African Americans faced racial discrimination because of their skin color. However, the fight between Louis and a white contender shows their resolve to declare to the world they were same, if not better, to all other races. The moral of the story is that, even though people are different, there is no race than is better than the other. The African Americans tried to show that people need to treat each other equally and work in harmony. The win by Louis shows the struggle of the black people to keep hoping, and fighting for their freedom (Lauret 16).

Conclusion

The Dead Men’s Path and Champion of the World are two stories that show the struggle of black community for recognition in a white dominated society. They indicate that lack of collaboration and equality results to violence, hatred and distrust between races.

Short Story Reading Log: Dead Men’s Path

Name of Story: Dead Men’s Path

Author and Important information about him or her: Chinua Achebe was an astute Nigerian poet and novelist born in 1930 in the northern part of Nigeria. He is best known for his struggle for independence for the Biafra state. The majority of his literary works focus on the clash between the African tradition and the European way of life (Ogede 15).

Time Period/era: This short story was written in 1949 during a period when the West Africa region was colonized by French. The missionaries received the authority to develop the education system at the local level and therefore, there was introduction on modern techniques. This short story seems to be an indication of the events that took place around this time (Ogede 15).

Setting: The setting of this piece occurs in Nigeria in 1949, at Ndume Central School which operated through the missionary.It represents a remote African village where the people are still lost in deep traditional beliefs. The people in this story co-exist peacefully with each other and the story seems to have been written just after a rainy season (Achebe 97).

Characters: Major; Michal Obi is a static character who represents the headmaster of the school. Obi is ambitious, modern, and also intolerant and arrogant.

Minor : The white inspector. This also seems to be a middle aged man who is of a different color from the villagers.

Theme: The main theme in this story is that of conflict between different cultures and how to bridge this gap. There is a conflict between modern and traditional customs that cause disagreements because of lack of understanding.

Plot: The story begins with the appointment of Michael Obi to take over a school from an individual whom he considered to be traditionalist. The story then progresses to the new head teacher conducting various changes to give the school a face lift. The climax then comes when he falls out of favor with the community, as well as the people he was trying to impress (Ekwe-Ekwe 106).

Point of View (type of narrator): Omniscient narrator.

Dialect (if any): None

Thoughts about story: The story is well articulated and easy to read.

Questions for discussions: Was the white inspector justified in claiming that the headmaster was the cause of the tribal war?

Likes: The simplicity of the story line

Dislikes: The abrupt ending of the story

New words: None

Short Story Reading Log: Champion of the World

Name of Story: Champion of the World

Author and Important information about him or her: Maya Angelou was born in 1928. Angelou was an author, singer and dancer and wrote many books mostly on the emancipation of the black woman (Lauret 102).

Time Period/era: The story the 1930’s at a time when the black race was perceived as inferior to the white community.

Setting: Uncle Willie’s store.

Characters: Major; Uncle Willies’ niecewho tells us the events of the boxing match and the consequences of the results.

Minor (name and identify): Carnera: Static character who represents the white authority.

Theme: The main theme in the story is the struggle for the black rights. The black community had been oppressed for many years, and but they kept hope of a better future (Angelou 110).

Plot: The story begins with the gathering of the black community in Uncle Willie’s store to listen to the proceedings of a boxing match from the radio. As the crowds keep on swelling, the people’s expectation about their champion keeps on going up. The tension and excitement is tangible at the end when Joe Louis is declared the winner as women drop their children to celebrate the win (Hagen 16).

Point of View (type of narrator): First person

Dialect (if any): None

Thoughts about story: The narration is well articulated and explosive.

Questions for discussions: What could have happened if Joe Louis was defeated by Carnera?

Likes: How the author creates a sense of suspense throughout the story.

Dislikes: None

New words: RC Colas, Dr Peppers, and Hewers

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Morning Yet on Creation Day. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1975. 90-96-97. Print.

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House, 1999. 109-110. Print.

Agetua, John. Critics on Chinua Achebe, 1970–76. Benin City, Nigeria: Bendel Newspapers Corp, 2007. 26. Print.

Booker, Keith and Gikandi, Simon. The Chinua Achebe Encyclopedia. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003. 47. Print.

Burr, Zofia. Of Women, Poetry, and Power: Strategies of Address in Dickinson, Miles, Brooks, Lorde, and Angelou. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2002. 77-78. Print.

Egar, Emmanuel. The Rhetorical Implications of African Literature. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2002. 59. Print.

Ekwe-Ekwe, Herbert. African Literature in Defence of History. Dakar: African Renaissance, 2002. 106. Print.

Hagen, Lyman. Heart of a Woman, Mind of a Writer, and Soul of a Poet: A Critical Analysis of the Writings of Maya Angelou. Lanham, Maryland: University Press, 2007. 16-21. Print.

Jaya, Lakshmi. Culture and Anarchy in the Novels of Chinua Achebe. Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 2003. 52. Print.

Lauret, Maria. Liberating Literature: Feminist Fiction in America. New York: Routledge Press, 2006. 100-102. Print.

Mari, Evans. Black Women Writers (1950–1980): A Critical Evaluation. Garden City: Doubleday. 2004. 46-49.Print.

Ogede, Ode. Achebe and the Politics of Representation: Form Against Itself, From Colonial Conquest and Occupation to Post-Independence Disillusionment. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press. 2006. 13-15. Print.

O’Neale, Sondra. Reconstruction of the Composite Self: New Images of Blacks in Maya Angelou’s Continuing Autobiography. Garden City: Doubleday. 2004. 16-20. Print.

Toppman, Lawrence. Maya Angelou: The Serene Spirit of a Survivor. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press, 2010. 99-101. Print.

Tredell, Nicolas. Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness. New York, 2000. 69. Print.

Walker, Pierre. Racial Protest, Identity, Words, and Form in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. College Literature 22, (3): 2005, 91–108. Print.

Xiam, Kennedy. & Kennedy, Dorothy. The Bedford Reader. Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2006. 93-97. Print.