Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

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Things Fall ApartbyChinua Achebe

• 1B, 3B, and 4B

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Prompt 2 August 12

• What effect did nightfall have on the actions and
  attitudes of the Umuofia tribe in Things Fall
  Apart?
• Give two examples.

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Prompt 3 August 13

• What do you think Okonkwo fears the most
  dishonor or war?
• Give a reason for your opinion.

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Prompt 4 August 14

• What would you have done if faced with the
  decision to kill Ikemefuna in the same situation
  that faced Okonkwo?
• Explain your choice.

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Prompt 5 August 17

• How is the scene in which Okonkwo visits his
  friend Obierika an important part of the story?

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Prompt 6 August 19

• At the end of Chapter Seven, Nwoye feels
  something break inside him. What do you think
  that this means?
• What do you think Nwoye will become as he grows
  older? Will he grow strong like his father or
  grow away from the things Okonkwo values?
• Explain.

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Prompt 7 August 25

• When a child accidentally lets loose a cow, the
  childs parents uncomplainingly pay a heavy fine.
  What conclusion do you draw from this about the
  Ibo way
• of life? Explain.

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Prompt 8 August 27

• Part One of Things Fall Apart detailed life in
  the Ibo tribe. Which of the traits of the tribe
  seems the most important? Which traits seemed
  the most cruel?

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Prompt 9 September 2

• Should Okonkwo have been so severely punished for
  the killing of a young boy?
• Why?

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September 4 - Prompt 10

• Why did Okonkwo take his own life? 
• In his culture, why did he feel that he did not
  have a choice?

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Chapter Summaries
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Chapter One

• Okonkwo a wealthy and respected warrior of the
  Umuofia clan.
• Okonkwos deceased father, Unoka, feared the
  sight of blood and was always borrowing and
  losing money.
• Okonkwo hates his father for his laziness and
  lack of titles.

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Chapter Two

• One night, the town crier requests that all of
  the clansmen gather in the market in the morning.
  
• At the gathering, Ogbuefi Ezeugo announces that
  someone from the village of Mbaino murdered the
  wife of an Umuofia tribesman while she was in
  their market.
• Mbaino was to deliver to Umuofia a virgin and a
  young man.
• Should Mbaino refuse to do so, the two villages
  must go to war.
• Umuofia elders give the virgin to Ogbuefi Udo as
  his wife.
• The elders decide to turn the boy Ikemefuna over
  to Okonkwo for safekeeping and instruction.

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The OGENE (Gong) is made originally in bronze
but, in modern time, is mainly made of common
metal as a bulging surface in elliptical shaped
rim.
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Chapter Two - continued

• Okonkwo is quite wealthy, supporting three wives
  and eight children.
• Each wife has her own hut.
• Okonkwo also has a barn full of yams, a shrine
  for his ancestors, and his own hut, called an
  obi.
• Because he dreads weakness, Okonkwo is extremely
  demanding of his family.
• He finds his twelve-year-old son, Nwoye, to be
  lazy, so he beats and nags the boy constantly.

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Chapter Three

• When he visited the Oracle, Unoka was told that
  he failed because of his laziness.
• Ill-fated, Unoka died of a shameful illness and
  was left in the Evil Forest to die.
• Okonkwo succeeds as a warrior, a farmer, and a
  family provider.
• He begins by asking a wealthy clansman, Nwakibie,
  to give him 400 seed yams to start a farm.
• Because Nwakibie admired Okonkwos hard-working
  nature, he gave him 800 seeds.
• Because of horrible droughts and relentless
  downpours, Okonkwo could keep only one third of
  the harvest.
• He considered his survival as proof of his
  determination.

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Yams
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Chapter Four

• Ikemefuna is homesick and scared at first.
• Ikemefuna knows many stories and possesses many
  impressive skills.
• To Okonkwos delight, he also becomes like an
  older brother to Nwoye.
• Ikemefuna soon begins to call Okonkwo father.
• During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo beats his
  second wife, breaking the peace of the sacred
  week.
• The priest demands that Okonkwo sacrifice a nanny
  goat and a hen and pay a fine of one length of
  cloth and one hundred cowries.

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Ikemefuna
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Chapter Four - continued

• After the Week of Peace, the villagers begin to
  clear the land for planting.
• Nwoye and Ikemefuna help Okonkwo prepare the seed
  yams.
• He finds fault with their work.

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Chapter Five

• Just before the harvest, the village holds the
  Feast of the New Yam to give thanks to the earth
  goddess, Ani.
• Okonkwo becomes angry and beats his second wife,
  Ekwefi.
• He then decides to go hunting with his gun.
• Ekwefi mutters a snide remark under her breath.
• In a fit of fury, he shoots the gun at her but
  misses.
• Later, Ezinma, Ekwefis only child, takes a bowl
  of food to Okonkwos hut.
• Okonkwo is very fond of Ezinma but rarely
  demonstrates his affection.

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Ezinma
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Chapter Six

• The wrestling match takes place on the village
  ilo, or common green.
• The wrestling begins with matches between boys
  ages fifteen and sixteen.
• Maduka, the son of Okonkwos friend Obierika,
  wins one match within seconds.
• Ekwefi speaks with Chielo, the priestess of
  Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves.
• Chielo inquires about Ezinma, whom she calls my
  daughter.
• They conclude that Ezinma seems to have come to
  stay because she has reached the age of ten.

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Chielo, the Priestess of Ani
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Chapter Seven

• Ikemefuna stays with Okonkwos family for three
  years.
• To the villages surprise, locusts descend upon
  Umuofia.
• Ogbuefi Ezeudu informs Okonkwo that the Oracle
  has decreed that Ikemefuna must be killed.
• He tells Okonkwo not to take part in the boys
  death, as Ikemefuna calls him father.
• Ikemefuna thinks he will be returning to his home
  village.
• After hours of walking, a man attacks him with a
  machete.
• Ikemefuna cries to Okonkwo for help.
• Okonkwo, not wishing to look weak, cuts the boy
  down.
• When Okonkwo returns home, Nwoye knows that his
  friend is dead.
• Something breaks inside him.

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Chapter Eight

• Okonkwo sinks into a depression.
• Okonkwo complains to Obierika that his sons are
  not manly enough and says that he would be
  happier if Ezinma were a boy because she has the
  right spirit.
• He and Obierika then argue over whether it was
  right of Okonkwo to partake in Ikemefunas death.
• Okonkwo sits with Obierika while Obierika
  bargains his daughters bride-price with the
  family of her suitor.
• Obierika talks about hearing stories of men with
  skin as white as chalk.
• Those who know Amadi, a leper, laughthe polite
  term for leprosy is the white skin.

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Chapter Nine

• Ekwefi awakes Okonkwo very early in the morning
  and tells him that Ezinma is dying.
• Oknokwo sets about collecting medicine.
• Ekwefis nine other children died in infancy.
• Okonkwo consulted a medicine man who told him
  that an ogbanje was tormenting them.
• An ogbanje is a wicked child who continually
  re-enters its mothers womb only to die again and
  again, causing its parents grief.
• A medicine man mutilated the dead body of
  Ekwefis third child to discourage the ogbanjes
  return.
• When Ezinma was born, she suffered many
  illnesses, but she recovered from all of them.

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Chapter Ten

• The village holds a gathering to administer
  justice.
• The clans ancestral spirits emerge from a secret
  house into which no woman is allowed to step.
• The spirits take the form of masked men.
• The first dispute involves a husband and wife.
• The husband states that the three brothers of his
  wife beat him and took her but would not return
  her bride-price.
• The womans brothers state that he beats their
  sister.
• The husband was to beg the wife to return to him.
  
• The Spirits are on the side of the wife.

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Chapter Eleven

• Ekwefi tells Ezinma a story about a greedy,
  cunning tortoise.
• Chielo the priestess wishes to see Ezinma.
• Chielo takes Ezinma on her back and forbids
  anyone to follow.
• Ekwefi overcomes her fear of divine punishment
  and follows anyway.
• Ekwefi said that if she hears Ezinma crying she
  will rush in to defend hereven against a god.
• Okonkwo startles her when he arrives at the cave
  with a machete.

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Fable Dissection Chart Fable _________The
Tortoise and the Birds____________
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Chapter Twelve

• At dawn, Chielo exits the shrine with Ezinma on
  her back.
• Okonkwos family begins to prepare for Obierikas
  daughters uri, a betrothal ceremony.
• The villagers contribute food to the festivities
  and Obierika buys a huge goat to present to his
  future in-laws.
• The suitors family members arrive, bringing
  fifty pots of wine to the celebration.

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Chapter Thirteen

• Ogbuefi Ezeudus death is announced to the
  surrounding villages.
• His funeral is large and elaborate.
• The men beat drums and fire their guns.
• Okonkwos gun accidentally goes off and kills
  Ezeudus sixteen-year-old son.
• Okonkwo must atone by going into exile for seven
  years.
• Okonkwo takes his family to his mothers natal
  village, Mbanta.
• The men burn Okonkwos buildings and kill his
  animals to cleanse the village of his sin.
• Obierika questions why a man should suffer so
  much for an accidental killing.
• He then mourns the deaths of his wifes twins,
  whom he was forced to throw away, wondering what
  crime they committed.

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End of Part One
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Chapters 14 - 15

• Okonkwos uncle, Uchendu, and the rest of his
  kinsmen receive him warmly.
• They help him build a new compound of huts and
  lend him yam seeds to start a farm.
• Uchendu reminds Okonkwo that many have been worse
  offUchendu himself has lost all but one of his
  six wives and buried twenty-two children.
• During the second year, Obierika brings bad news
  from home.
• It seems that a white man arrived in Abame on an
  iron horse (which we find out later is a
  bicycle) during the planting season.
• The villagers killed the white man and tied his
  bicycle to their sacred tree to prevent it from
  getting away and telling the white mans friends.
  
• A while later, a group of white men discovered
  the bicycle and guessed their comrades fate.
• Weeks later, a group of men surrounded Abames
  market and destroyed almost everybody in the
  village.

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Chapters 16 - 19

• Six missionaries, headed by a white man, travel
  to Mbanta.
• The white man speaks to the village through an
  interpreter.
• Nwoye is instantly captivated.
• It answers his questions about the deaths of
  Ikemefuna and the twin newborns, soothing him.
• The missionaries request a piece of land on which
  to build a church.
• The village leaders and elders offer them a plot
  in the Evil Forest.
• To the elders amazement, the missionaries
  rejoice in the offer.
• But the elders are certain that the forests
  sinister spirits will kill the missionaries
  within days.
• To their surprise, nothing happens, and the
  church soon wins its first three converts.

• Okonkwo chokes Nyowe by the neck, unhappy about
  his sons interest.
• Running away from his father, Nwoye travels to a
  school to learn reading and writing.
• The church wins many converts from the men
  without titles and the outcasts.
• One of the new converts boasts that he killed the
  sacred royal python.
• Okonkwo urges Mbanta to drive the Christians out
  with violence, but the rulers and elders refuse.
• Soon the elders learn that the man who boasted of
  killing the snake has died of an illness, causing
  them to trust in their gods even more.
• Okonkwos seven years of exile in Mbanta are
  drawing to an end.
• Before he returns to Umuofia, he provides a large
  feast for his mothers kinsmen.
• He also expresses concern for Christianity is
  winning people away from their families and
  traditions.

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End of Part Two
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Chapters 20 - 21

• Okonkwo returns, expecting the old way and
  friendly receptions.
• But, Umuofia is much changed after seven years.
• The church has grown in strength, and the white
  men subject the villagers to their government.
• Many of the clansmen are now on the white mans
  side.
• They discuss the story of Aneto, who was hanged
  by the government after he killed a man with whom
  he had a dispute.
• Many people of Umuofia have set up trading posts
  for the white men who pour into the area, and
  money is flowing into the village.
• One of the missionaries, Mr. Brown, built a
  hospital and a school.
• Mr. Brown tells Okonkwo that Nwoye is in a
  training college for teachers.
• Okonkwo deeply regrets the changes in his once
  warlike people.

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Chapters 22 - 23

• Reverend James Smith, a strict man, replaces Mr.
  Brown.
• The more zealous converts are relieved to be free
  of Mr. Browns policy of restraint.
• One such convert, Enoch, dares to unmask a
  Spirit during the annual ceremony.
• The next day Okonkwo and others burn Enochs
  compound to the ground.
• They also burn the church.
• The District Commissioner requests the leaders of
  Umuofia, including Okonkwo, meet with him.
• They go, taking only their machetes.
• The commissioner talks to them as friends.
• No sooner have they put their machetes on the
  floor than a group of soldiers surprises them.
• They are handcuffed and thrown in jail for
  several days.
• The court messengers tell the people of Umuofia
  that they must pay a fine of two hundred and
  fifty bags of cowries or their leaders will be
  hanged.
• The town crier announces an emergency village
  meeting.
• The next morning they decide to collect the
  cowries necessary to pay the fine.
• After their release, the prisoners return to the
  village with whip marks on their backs.

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Chapters 24 - 25

• The village crier announces another meeting.
• Oknokwo takes out his war dress.
• The meeting is packed with men from all of the
  clans nine villages.
• Two messengers from the government order the
  meeting to end.
• Okonkwo kills them with two strokes of his
  machete.
• No one stands up with Okonkwo they ask why
  Okonkwo killed the messengers.
• Understanding that his clan will not go to war,
  Okonkwo wipes his machete free of blood and
  departs.
• The District Commissioner arrives, asking for
  Okonkwo.
• Obierika agrees to lead him to Okonkwo if they
  will do him a favor.
• They discover Okonkwos body dangling from a
  tree he has hanged himself.
• Obierika explains that, for the tribe, suicide is
  a grave sin and his clansmen may not touch
  Okonkwos body.
• Neither are they allowed to bury it, but
  strangers can.
• The commissioner honors the groups request.
• On his way home, he congratulates himself on
  having another chapter about African death
  customs to add to his book.
• Oknokwos death means nothing more than a
  paragraph in someones book.

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Vocabulary

• Chapters 1 - 5

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End of Part Three
49
Vocabulary Things Fall Apart

• Harmattan a dry, dusty wind that blows from the
  Sahara to the Atlantic coast of Africa during the
  cool months.
• Improvident lacking foresight or thrift.
• Kite a bird of the hawk family
• Kola an African tree yielding nuts that contain
  caffeine and provide a flavorful extract.

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Vocabulary

• Impending about to happen
• Intricate elaborately detailed
• Cowries brightly colored, glossy mollusk shells
  used as money in parts of Africa and Asia.
• Prowess bravery and exceptional skill
• Ultimatum a final demand whose rejection ends
  negotiation and leads to the use of force.

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Vocabulary

• Potent powerful
• Oracle a person or place believed to reveal
  messages from a god or spirit.
• Imperious arrogant
• Emissary a person sent on a mission.
• Interim a period of time between two events.
• Capricious tending to change suddenly and
  without reason.
• Malevolent wishing harm to others.