Things Fall Apart
Study Guide Chapters 1-4
Answer on a separate sheet ofpaper.
Chapter One
1. This novel starts out with a description of a wrestling contest twenty years before.
What is the effect on the reader of such an opening?
2. Why doesn't Okoye mention the debt until after they discuss other subjects?
3. Why would a person speak in proverbs in such a situation?
4. Why does a society use shells such as cowries for money?
5. How does Unoka skillfully tell Okoye that the money will not be forthcoming?
6. Whyat is going to happen to Ik:emefuna?
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Chapter Two
7. Okonkwo is described as "a man of action, a man of war ... In U muofia' s latest
war he was the first to bring home a human head. That was his fifth head; and he
was not an old man yet." Comment on this quote.
8. Summarize what has happened that has called all 10,000 men together from the
nine villages.
9. What is the purpose of an oracle?
10. Why is Ogbuefi Ezeugo an important man?
11. What cruel acts does Okonkwo commit in this chapter?
12. Nwoye is Okonkwo's first son. What is he like as a person?
13. Achebe delays having Okonkwo speak until the end of the chapter. Why does he
do this?
Chapter 3
14. Why is Unoka buried in the Evil Forest?
15. Why does Okonkwo say, "A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for
his own greatness.?"
16. Why is Okonkwo uneasy when "dry bones are mentioned in a proverb?"
17. Why does Okonkwo refer to the lizard who jumped from the tree to the ground?
18. Why don't Unoka's words at the end of the chapter help Okonkwo?
Chapter 4
19. Comment on the statement, "Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit."
20. Comment on this quotation: "When a man says yes, his chi says yes also."
21. What is the purpose of the Week of Peace?
22. Why do Okonkwo's enemies say that he is "the little bird nza who so far forgot
himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his chi?"
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Things Fall Apart
Study Guide Chapters 5-7
Answer on a separate sheet ofpaper.
Chapter Five
1. Why does Okonkwo beat his second wife and then try to shoot her?
2. What were the circumstances surrounding Okonkwo's marriage to Ekwefi, his
second wife?
3. Why does Ekwefi answer, "Is that me?"
4. Comment on Okonkwo's thought that he "trembled with the desire to conquer and
subdue. It was like the desire for woman."
5. What is Obiageli's "Mournful story?"
Chapter Six
6. Why does Chielo refer to Ezinma s "my daughter?"
7. What is the significance of the song at the end of the chapter?
Chapter Seven
8. What is the purpose of the tale about Earth, Sky and Vulture?
9. Why are the villagers happy that the locusts have come?
10. Why does the Oracle give instructions for lkemefuna to be killed?
11. Why do the villagers obey the Oracle without question?
12. Why does Okonkwo accompany the group, despite Ezeudu's advice?
13. Why does lkemefuna sing a song in his mind?
14. Comment on lkemefuna's cry, "My father, they have killed me."
15. What is the function oflkemefuna's death in the story?
Things Fall Apart
Study Guide PART TWO Chapters 14-19
Answer on a separate sheet ofpaper.
Chapter 14
1. Why IS IT IMPORTANT TO Okonkwo to become "one of the lords of the clan"?
2. Comment on the statement, "Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things. a man
could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi. The saying of the elders was not true-that if a man sad
yea his chi also affirmed. Here was a man whose chi said nay despite his own affirmation."
3. What advice does Uchendu give Okonkwo?
Chapter 15
4. What is the point ofUchendu's story of the kite?
5. Why does Okonkwo wait until they have eaten before asking about the bags of cowries?
6. Why does Obierika tell Okonkwo to repay him by killing one of his (Okonkwo's) sons for him?
7. why does he then say that Okonkwo can kill himself?
8. what is the significance of the story about Abame?
Chapter 16
9. Why does Nwoye say about Okonkwo, "He is not my father"?
10. What is the message of the missionaries?
11. What do the missionaries say about tribal gods and how does it affect the villagers?
Chapter 17
12. Why do the tribesmen give the Evil Forest to the missionaries?
13. Why does Okonkwo think Nwoye is "not worth fighting for"?
14. Comment on the quotation, "Okonkwo felt a cold shudder run through him at the terrible prospects,
like the prospect of annihilation."
15. What is the significance of the name, the "Roaring Flame"?
16. Comment on the significance of the statement, "Living fire begets cold, impotent ash."
Chapter 18
17. Why doesn't the tribe unite and revolt against the outsiders?
18. What kind of person is Mr. Kiaga?
19. How does Mr. Kiaga save his church in the face of criticism about the osu?
20. Why does the tribe agree to ostracize the Christians?
Chapter 19
21. In Okonkwo's mind, how does Mbanta compare to Umuofia?
22. Why is the rainbow called "the python of the sky"?
23. What comments are made about the "bond of kinship"?
1Mn.95 fall Af3rt
Study Guide PART THREE Chapters 20-25
Answer on a separate sheet ofpaper.
Chapter 20
1. How has exile affected Okonkwo?
2. What role does Okonkwo's chi play in his return to Umuofia?
3. Explain Obierika' s statement, "The white man is very clever .... He has put a knife on the things that
held us together and we have fallen apart."
Chapter 21
4. In a few sentences, explain the points Akunna and Mr. Brown make about religion in their discussion.
5. Comment on the statement, "From the very beginning religion and education went hand in hand."
6. Nwoye takes the name of Isaac from the Bible. Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah. Isaac's
name, which means laughter in Hebrew, refers to his father's reaction to the news that Sarah would
have a child at her advanced age. To test Abraham's faith, God told him to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham
began to do so, but god stopped him, and Abraham sacrificed a ram instead. Isaac married Rebekah
and had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Given this historical background, why is Nwoye's choice of a new
name significant?
7. How are Okonkwo's hopes for a victorious return destroyed?
8. What benefits has the white man brought the tribe?
Chapter 22
9. Why is Mr. Brown a better person to work with the tribe than Mr. Smith?
10. What do the villagers think of Enoch?
11. Why is it such a violation to unmask the egwugwu?
12. What is a holy war, and why does Enoch want one to happen?
13. Why do the egwugwu destroy the church?
Chapter 23
14. Why is Okonkwo pleased with the clan?
15. Why are the men put in jail?
16. Why does the District Commissioner tell the guards to treat the men with respect?
17. How are Okonkwo and the others treated in jail?
Chapter24
18. Why does Okonkwo bring out his war dress?
19. Why does Okonk:wo plan his own revenge?
20. What is the significance of the statement about Eneke the bird, "Men have learned to shoot without
missing their mark and I have learned to fly without perching on a twig"?
21. Why does Okonkwo kill the messenger?
22. What is the reaction of the other tribesmen?
Chapter 25
23. The District commissioner says, "One of the most infuriating habits of the people was their love of
superfluous words." Comment on this quotation.
24. Why does Okonkwo kill himself?
25. Where is Okonkwo's suicide foreshadowed earlier in the novel?
26. How does the tribe regard suicide and what are they required to do?
27. Comment on Obierika's statement to the D.C.: "That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia.
You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog."
28. The Commissioner considers putting this episode in a book he is writing, The Pacification of the
Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. In what ways is this title ironic or satirical?
29. Why does the D.C. consider the tribes primitive?
30. Why does Achebe shift the point of view in this chapter, alternating between Obierika and the D.C.?
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