Characterization of Michael Obi

Outer characterization

Michael Obi is the main character in Chinua Achebe’s “Dead Men’s Path”. He is the new headmaster of Ndume Central School. He received the promotion because the position required a “young and energetic man”. 

In terms of appearance, Obi is 26 but looks “thirty or more” and is “not unhandsome”. Obi's wife, Nancy, offers a physical description of him:

He was stoop-shouldered and looked frail. But he sometimes surprised people with sudden bursts of physical energy. In his present posture, however, all his bodily strength seemed to have retired behind his deep-set eyes, giving them an extraordinary power of penetration.

Michael Obi is intelligent, having a “secondary school education” which made him stand out among the other candidates. Another as...