A Dead Men's Path is a short story about a bright enthusiastic teacher named Obi, who was just promoted to headmaster at a failing school. Both he and his wife Nancy, have great plans to overhaul the school and modernize it. Obi's over ambitious attempt to modernize the school allows him to close off an ancestral footpath that intersects with the school grounds. Obi, who does not appreciate the old teachings and believe that they are rather silly to say the least does not hesitate to do this even though he was forewarned by the village priest, because he ignores the people of the village and does not respect their tradition, Obi will find that his actions will bring about an undesirable fate. Dead Man's Path illustrates the importance of respecting tradition that may seem old fashion and not forgetting the values and wisdom of the past in the search of a new future. Tradition is the main theme of this story. Obi's energy fueled by a sense of pride in his abilities and for his wife Nancy who was "infected by his passion  for his modern methods (270), was more concerned with her social standings; they show no regard to the villagers tradition. Upon discovering the ancestral footpath that led from the village shrine to their burial site, Obi's first concern were not for the traditions of the people he would teach but for the aesthetics of the school according to his own and Nancy's ideals. It was actions such as this that pushed aboriginals in Australia to live in seclusion in their own country. Even after being confronted by the village priest who explains to him the importance of the path, Obi reacts without respect because these were the exact beliefs that his school would eradicate. This very blatant, but well-intentioned disregard for the beliefs of the villagers backfires when a village woman's untimely death is attributed to the inaccessibility of the path. The morning of inspection Obi wakes up to find that all his work had bee