The Dead Men's Path

There are some people in the world who use their power well such as Martin Luther King Jr. However then there are some who abuse their power like Adolf Hitler. Obi the main character in, "The Dead Men’s Path", was somewhat like Hitler because he also abused his power of Head Master. Therefore, when Obi refused to unblock the path the villagers had used for centuries, he failed at his position.

The mode that "The Dead Men’s Path" fits best is tragedy. The problem in the story is when Obi was trying to get everything in order for the school that he was going to master. He had to fix up the outside courtyard, where the sacred path was, and he had to get kids to go to his school. The rise to power was when the Head Master, Obi, got the school set up fancy for the supervisor to come and evaluate the school. The tragic flaw to the story is when Obi thought that the sacred path was not important. He also thought the old dead men’s path was old fashioned, and needed the villagers to change their beliefs because he built the school on some of the area of the path. The fall of the story is when the priest told him that the path was here before he and his father were born and it was very important to the villagers. Therefore the villagers destroyed everything in the school yard leaving everything in chaos. The people destroyed the yard because it was blocking the path which led to the burial place of the town. The loss of power is when Obi loses his position of Head Master of the school. He lost his position because when the supervisor evaluated the school he saw the destroyed area of the school and immediately fired Obi.

Within this tragedy, there will absolutely be a lesson to the story. When Obi built the school right by the path and blocked it, this made the town’s people very angry. Obi actually thought that the path wasn’t important at all and he didn’t acknowledge the people’s beliefs. Then when the priest came and talked to Obi he explained that the path was very old, important and he couldn’t block the path because it led to the burial place of many loved ones. However Obi did not listen to the priest’s lecture which resulted in the towns people destroying the school yard that blocked the path. Therefore you cannot force people to change their beliefs.

When Obi denied the villagers access to the path, his job ended tragically, just as Adolf Hitler’s ended. Therefore, Obi was too young to handle his job and position as Head Master and in result lost his power. We should all be like Martin Luther King Jr. and never take advantage of our power.