The Dead Men’s Path and Misguided Zeal (Literature & Language Essay)

Student
Instructor
Course
Date
The Dead Men’s Path and Misguided Zeal
Throughout the narrative, we can see that Obi's perspective is more civilized. He firmly believes that schools deserved fresh ways of thinking. According to him, students must be equipped with skills that will enable them to disregard the primitive ways of thinking. The aim of Obi is to ensure that the school is modernized and all traditional beliefs are eliminated. Since he serves as the school headmaster, he treats his position very seriously and is very intolerant to others. His remarks attitude shows how disrespectful he is when dealing with people of contrary opinions. While his idea of eliminating primitive thinking is revolutionary and can significantly benefit the society, his approach when dealing with people is wrong (Achebe 42).
In this regard, the supervisor has termed his actions as "misguided zeal" because he was more a revolutionary rather than strategic. Moreover, as we can see from the story, Obi was more educated than other workers within the school. This was another aspect that led to his wrong and disrespectful attitude towards others. He thought that he knew more and understood things better compared to others. Although he was more schooled compared to other teachers, his attitude was arrogant and overly confident. He seldom cares about the ideas and inputs from other people. Therefore, the supervisor said that he had a misguided zeal because he never saw another person could have the right perspective about the school's management. This is a censure t...