Worksheet 1: Things Fall Apart, Citing and Providing Textual Evidence
In-Text Citation using MLA Style.
In college literature classes you will be asked to cite sources in MLA style. Let’s practice the dos
and don’ts of citation. See:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/ml
a_in_text_citations_the_basics.html
Do: Cite by naming the writer/ speaker/ character who is stating the text cited. For example:
Achebe describes Okonkwo as a “great warrior” (15).
DON’T: On page 13 in the novel in chapter 2 “Okonkwo hated failure” [This does not say
anything about who wrote the book or provide the citation of the page number in the correct
style]
Practice: The following two quotes are taken from the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua
Achebe. Use the quote to answer the question that accompanies it, citing from the quote in MLA
style. Follow the example I done for you.
“She was the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. In ordinary life
Chielo was a widow with two children. She was very friendly with Ekwefi and they
shared a common shed in in the market...Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would
hardly believe she was the same person who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was
upon her” (49).
I.
-
II.
What is the real name of the priestess of Agbala?
Achebe writes that the Oracle of the Hills and Caves was indeed “Chielo” the woman
“who prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her” (49). This means that Chielo
spoke for Agbala during spiritual ceremonies when the spirit would take over her body.
Achebe also notes here that Chielo was “a widow with two children” (49).
“But it was really not true that Okonkwo's palm-kernels had been cracked for him
by a benevolent spirit. He had cracked them himself. Anyone who knew his grim
struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been luck
If ever a man deserved his success, that man was Okonkwo. At an early age he had
achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. That was not luck. At the
most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. But the lbo people have
a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also” (27).
What, according to Achebe, is chi, and is Okonkwo lucky or hard-working?
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III.
“Unoka was an ill-fated man. He had a bad chi or personal god, and evil fortune
followed him to the grave, or rather to his death, for he had no grave. He died of
the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. When a man was
afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the limbs he was not allowed to die in
the house. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die” (18).
Why is Unoka an “ill-fated man” (18)?
“Ikemefuna had begun to feel like a member of Okonkwo's family. He still
thought about his mother and his three-year-old sister, and he had moments of
sadness and depression. But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to each
other that such moments became less frequent and less poignant... Nwoye
remembered this period very vividly till the end of his life. He even remembered
how he had laughed when Ikemefuna told him that the proper name for a corn cob
with only a few scattered grains was eze-agadi-nwayi, or the teeth of an old
woman” (34).
What helps Ikemefuna feel like a “member of Okonkwo’s family”?
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