"Dead Men's Path" by Chinua Achebe

The "Dead Men's Path" is a short story about a bright and ambitious headmaster named Obi who soon finds that his ignorance over the ancestry of his people can bring about the worst of fates. Here, he totally ignores the culture and the tradition by closing the path. This "path" is very important to the villagers because the "path" leads to a somewhat like a burial ground. After closing the path, karma struck Obi when the villagers destroyed the school he's working on. The story is about tradition versus modern-day methods. This is what Chinua Achebe emphasizes on. Most of his writings is about Western customs taking over old tradition. In my opinion, even though modernization is very common nowadays, traditions are still traditions. the story illustrates the importance of respecting and remembering traditions that may seem odd and old-fashioned, but have lived long in the hearts of the people who follow them. There are some tradition that my family thought me that I'm still able to cope up with. Until now, I have to "Mano Po" to my parents and grandfather. This is a sign of respect to them. I could say that I'm very modernized but following some old tradition isn't bad coz it is a form of respect to those who made the tradition and those who are still following it until now.