Mr. Obi has many wonderful ideas (imaginative, creative). He is outspoken. He is modern. He is hard nosed (stubborn). He is energetic. He is blunt. (the word has positive and negative connotations)
	He wants to turn the school into a beautiful place and raise the standard of teaching. (for imagination and creativity)
	He is “outspoken in his condemnation of the narrow views”. (this is direct characterization) When he argues with the priest about the dead men’s path, he says exactly what he feels.

	He is a youthful, confident, energetic, and enthusiastic man. (the four women in the group)
	He came with big ideas and plans for the school.
	He is intolerant and disrespectful of others. He is uncooperative and unable to work with other people. Inexperienced. (George)

Contrast the two men's attitudes. (AM Class)

In this story we can see an opposition between Mr. Obi and the village priest of Ani, and this is an older versus younger person kind of conflict.

Mr. Obi “sometimes suddenly surprised people with sudden bursts of physical energy. He was only 26, but looked 30 or more.” Mr. Obi is a very emotional man, and the village priest is calmer. The young man is more a theoretical man; sometimes his theory does not agree with practice because he is young. The old man is a practical man. He has traditional ideas (as do the villagers). We found it ironic. If you put a young, modern, theoretical teacher into an old fashioned, traditional, superstitious village watch out! The situation could be ironic.

Contrast the two men's attitudes. (PM Class)

	The characters of the priest and Obi were both stubborn, but the character of Obi was stronger than the priest’s. He insisted on closing the path; he also insisted that he needed to "eradicate" the beliefs that were happening in the village.
	The priest felt everyone who was born in the village had the right to go through the path.
	Neither man will not compromise with the other. They are both intolerant of each other. It is very easy to cause big troubles when a person will not listen to another.

What is the irony evident in Obi's attitude? (AM Class)

Irony is an event or outcome contrary to what we (or one individual) would naturally believe should happen. [definition]

	Mr. Obi wants the school to have a high standard of teaching, and to be a place of beauty. When he went to school he had some problems because of a footpath on the school grounds, which was an ancestral path. He doesn’t think the villagers should be allowed to use the footpath. He thinks the footpath should be closed and the children should be taught not to believe this superstition.
	After the path is closed, a woman dies in childbed. This is unexpected by Mr. Obi, who doesn’t believe in the superstitions. Contrary to what he expected, the villagers do believe the closed footpath was the cause and so they destroy the hedges and other parts of the school.

What is the irony evident in Obi's attitude? (PM Class)

	Obi has good ideas, such as encouraging a “high standard of teaching” and “a school compound [that] was to be turned into a thing of beauty”. The villagers, however, think the whole idea is just a fantasy.
	His attitude is “I’m right, and you will follow me, no matter what you think”. Because of this attitude, he does not see that it may lead to disaster.

State themes for the story. (AM Class)

	The story suggests that people should respect each other’s beliefs.
	It suggests that if people want to make any changes they would be better to debate or bring up more ideas and occasionally follow some superstitions.

State themes for the story. (PM Class)

	People in the world have different beliefs and they should respect each other; otherwise, it could cause a war.
	For example, in this story, the villagers think the footpath is very important for them because their whole life depends on it. Mr. Obi, however, thinks they are “pagans”; of course, he doesn’t believe it. He said to the priest that “the school will eradicate just such beliefs”. He closes the path and it has terrible results.