Brash Interlopers: My Thoughts on Dead Men's Path

When I really sat down and thought about it, I started to realie that the short story Dead Men's Path could be applied to our current socio-political climate. I feel like the villagers represent the general populace, happy to go about their own business and do as they please without harming others. they're just passing through the schoolyard to go about paying respects to their dead. The headmaster is the stand-in for legislators who are out of touch with their constituents: forcing change through labor instead of logic. Mr. Obi simply sets his goals and demands that they must be so without first consulting the villagers (or even his colleagues!) as to whether or not it was a good idea to construct his gardens where he did. Obi's influence inadvertently corrupts the lives of the villagers, and he ends up paying the price for it when the villagers decide they've had enough.