The Short Fiction of Chinua Achebe Literary Elements

Short fiction.

Both “Vengeful Creditor” and “Dead Men’s Path” take place in Nigeria. In terms of time setting, "Vengeful Creditor occurs in the post-colonial epoch (due to the government's role in the provision of education) whereas "Dead Men's Path" occurs during the late phase of the colonial epoch (owing to the presence of white supervisors in the education sector).

Both "Vengeful Creditor" and "Dead Men's Path" are narrated in the third person point of view.

The tone in "Vengeful Creditor" is critical, whereas the mood is that of retaliation.
The tone in “Dead Men’s Path" is cautionary; the mood is antagonistic.

In "Vengeful creditor," the protagonist is Veronica, whereas the Eminekes are the antagonists. In "Dead Men's Path," Michael Obi is the protagonist, whereas the antagonists comprise uneducated villagers who believe in the spiritual significance of the "Dead Men's Path."

The Major conflict in "Vengeful Creditor" is Veronica's desire to get an education which the Emenikes do not approve of.
The main conflict in “Dead Men’s Path” revolves around the significance of the “Dead Men’s Path.”

The climax in “Vengeful Creditor” occurs when Veronica uses ink to poison Mr. and Mrs. Emineke’s baby (Goddy) so that she can be free and get the chance to go to school.
The climax in "Dead Men's Path" occurs when Michael Obi's work (comprising magnificent hedges) is ruined.

In "Dead Men's Path," the priest's proverb concerning the importance of permitting both the hawk and the eagle to perch is a prediction of the clash that will occur when Michael Obi goes ahead to close down the path, which the villagers consider to be spiritually important in their culture.

In “Vengeful Creditor,” Mr. Emenike understates the nature of work (caring for the baby) that Veronica would be doing in his household with the aim of enticing Martha (Veronica’s mother). His understatement downplays the fact that Veronica would be required to sacrifice her education while working for the Emenikes.
In "Dead Men's Path," Michael Obi's assertion about footpaths not being mandatory for deceased individuals is an understatement intended to undermine the orthodox beliefs of Nigerian communities that were in place before the advent of the colonists.

In "Vengeful Creditor," Achebe alludes to Economics when he cites "Labour exchange" among some laborers in Nigeria. The attitude surmises that there are individuals in Nigeria who understood their rights. Informed laborers would not be exploited easily. Comparatively, naïve and young laborers, such as Veronica, who are uninformed on the labor-exchange requirements, are exploited effortlessly by being underpaid.
A religious allusion is included in “Vengeful Creditor” to console Martha after her husband’s demise.

In “Vengeful Creditor,” the imagery of Veronica’s family’s poverty underscores the extent of impoverishment in post-colonial Nigeria, whereby affording basic education and prerequisites such as food is not a guarantee. The poverty contributes to Veronica taking up a job as Eminekes' house help instead of schooling.
The imagery of Ndume Central School in "Dead Men's Path" epitomizes literacy and modernism in Nigeria, which antagonizes and clashes with the traditional culture that was dominant in the precolonial era.

The equation of free education in "Vengeful Creditor" to communism is paradoxical, considering that literacy is acquired at an individual level. If education were equivalent to absolute communism, it would not have empowered individuals.

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In “Vengeful Creditor,” “free primadu” is a Nigerian dialect that denotes free public-funded education in Nigeria.
In "Dead Men's Path," Michael Obi uses the term "paganism" to denote the traditional Nigerian beliefs, which he considers inferior to the western beliefs.

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