Things Fall
Apart
“The darkest thing about
Africa is our ignorance of it.”
Journal: Change???
Name ways in which you’ve changed
(physically or mentally) since
September.
What have you lost or gained from
Change?
Is Change good or bad? Explain your
answer.
To what extent do you agree with the
saying, “The only constant is change
itself”?
Essential Question: Change
Do people really change?
What happens if people don’t change?
How much Change is considered “Progress”? Is
there such a thing as “too much Change”?
THINGS FALL APART
Chinua Achebe
(‘chin-wah uh-’chay-bay)
The Novel
Published in 1958
One of most widely read literary works by a black African
Books teach
Past
Encourages new reflections on the present
Novel set in 19th century
Goal: To show the readers the richness of that society
The Author
Born November, 1930
Ogidi, Nigeria
Parents both Christians
Father evangelist and teacher
Changed his name from Albert to Chinua during
college
Writer, professor, Ministry of Information
NIGERIA
IBO (E’ BO) CULTURE and HISTORY
Achebe’s ancestors – Ibos
Iboland – not a nation
Large group of related tribes located on east side of
Nigeria between Niger and Cross rivers
Tribes shared
Common language
Beliefs
Traditions
CULTURE cont’d
Beliefs
Polytheism
Ancestor worship
Reincarnation
Oracles
Priests and priestesses
“Chi” = personal god or spirit
CULTURE cont’d
Traditions
Strong connection to
Family
Tribe
Village/community
Education and learning
Skilled with language
Skilled – public speaking
– Use of proverbs - admired
HISTORY cont’d
Missionaries
Increased in Africa in 18th century
Most coast and river areas
1960s – Ibo tribe tried to secede from
Nigeria and become BIAFRA
Result – civil war –
nearly wiped out Ibo
STRUCTURE OF NOVEL
Three parts
Part One – chapters 1-13
Part Two – chapters 14-19
Part Three – chapters 20-25
Essential Questions:
What “falls apart” in each part of the
novel?
If the only constant is change, how much
change is too much?
CHARACTERS
Okonkwo – main character; clan
leader in Umuofia.
Unoka – Okonkwo’s father
Ogbuefi Ezeugo
Ikemefuna – boy given to Okonkow by
a neighboring village
Nwoye – Okonkwo’s oldest son
Mr. Brown – first white missionary to
travel to Umuofia
Places
Umuofia - “people of the forest”
Mbaino
Important Terms
Italics
Often defined through context clues
“kola nut” – mild narcotic;hospitality
Cowries – shell used as money
Yams
Yam-cult
Dance
Mask
The End
Things Fall
Apart
Monday, Oct. 13th
Agenda:
1. “The Dangers of a Single Story.”
2. Listening Quiz.
“Ted Talks” – The Danger of a Single Story
Get out your Logbook and title a new page: “The Danger of a
Single Story.”
Copy down the following two questions on the page (leave
enough space – about 4-5 lines – between each question):
Why do stories matter?
What are the “unintended consequences” of only having a
“single story?”
As you listen (and follow along with the transcript), copy
down phrases and statements that Chimamanda Adichie
gives during her presentation.
What is her message?
Why is this an important idea to keep in mind as we read,
Things Fall Apart?
On the back of the page of your logbook, write a paragraph
that answers the four questions above.
THE SECOND COMING
(1919) by William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Things Fall
Apart
Monday, Oct. 13th
Agenda:
1. Things Fall Apart Prep
2. Read Ch. 1.
Journal Entry:
In the Entry section of your logbook, title a new
page: “TFA Journals” and respond to the
following prompt:
Based on your notes from last week,
and the title of the novel (Things Fall
Apart), PREDICT what you think will
happen in this story.
Provide a beginning, middle (with
conflict and climax) and resolution/end.
Explain why you’ve come to this
conclusion.
Vocabulary: Chapters 1-4
Wily: sly, tricky, deceitful
Improvident: lacking foresight; neglecting to
provide for future needs
Proverb: a short, popular saying, that expresses
a commonplace truth or useful thought
Discern: to perceive by sight or some other
sense; to distinguish mentally
Uncanny: beyond ordinary or normal;
mysterious; extraordinary
Incipient: in an initial or beginning stage
Abomination: anything greatly abhorred or
disliked
Contemptible: deserving of hatred; despicable
Purpose for reading. . .
What do we find out about Okonkwo in the first
chapter?
Flag passages that you think are significant.
Homework: Finish reading Ch. 1-2
Things Fall
Apart
Weds/Thurs, October 15/16th
AGENDA:
1. READ CHAPTERS 2 – 4 IN CLASS
2. PROVERBS ASSIGNMENT
HOMEWORK: CH. 5-6 DUE FRIDAY
Annotations:
Changes
Traditions that are ‘evolving’
People that are adapting
Beliefs
“Progress”
Okonkwo’s Journey:
How is the protagonist
Dynamic?
What’s his goal/hopes?
Proverbs
What proverbs are
new?
What proverbs are
‘familiar’?
Any proverbs that
coincide with
Okonkwo’s journey?
Things Fall
Apart
Friday, October 17th
AGENDA:
1. READ CHAPTER 7 IN CLASS
HOMEWORK: CH. 8-10 DUE MONDAY
Things Fall
Apart
Monday, October 20th
AGENDA:
1. PROVERBS ASSIGNMENT
HOMEWORK: CH. 11-12 DUE FRIDAY
In your logbook: “Proverbs”
Proverb: a short, popular saying, that
expresses a commonplace truth or
useful thought
“Among the Ibo the art of conversation
is regarded very highly, and proverbs
are the palm-oil with which words are
eaten” (7).
Group Assignments:
Group #1: A chain is only as strong as its
weakest link.
Group #2: A friend in need is a friend
indeed.
Group #3: A leopard cannot change its
spots.
Group #4: A penny saved is a penny earned.
Group #5: A rolling stone gathers no moss.
Group #6: Absence makes the heart grow
fonder.
Group #7: Good things come to those who
wait.
Proverbs, continued
Working with your groups. . .
On the back of your poster, explain the
“truth” within each proverbs that are given
to each group.
What is the lesson that is being given?
What is a familiar proverb from the United
States?
What virtue embodies the proverb?
On the Front of your poster, copy the
proverb and then create an illustration of
it.
A picture that illustrates the proverb.
-ORA symbolic representation of the truth within
the proverb.
Things Fall
Apart
Tuesday, October 21st
AGENDA:
1. VOCAB. FOR 5 – 7
2. PROVERBS SHARE OUT
3. CH. 13~ CLOSE STUDY
HOMEWORK: CH. 14-16
Vocabulary
Deity (n.): a god or supreme being
Revel (v.): to make merry; indulge in boisterous
festivities
Disembody (v.): to free the soul or spirit from a body
Feign (v.): pretend; to imitate deceptively
Emissary (n.): a representative sent on a mission or
errand
Distill (v.): to extract the essential elements of
Harbinger (n.): a person sent in advance to announce
the approach of another; anything that
foreshadows a future event
Copiously (adv.): abundantly, profusely, lavishly
Effeminate (adj.): having traits traditionally considered
feminine
Things Fall
Apart
Wednesday, October 22nd
AGENDA:
1. READING QUIZ FOR PART 1
2. CLOSE STUDY FOR CH. 13 AND 16
HOMEWORK: CH. 17-19
Close Study Stems for questions:
Diction:
•
•
•
•
•
Author's Purpose:
• Why do you think (the event) occurs?
What is the denotation of _______?
• Why does the author give / or doesn't give
What is the connotation of _______?
details?
Why is it a good word here?
• Imagine _(event)_______. How would
What is the point of saying _______?
you feel if you watched this happen?
Why do you think the author used ____?
Figurative Lang:
Others:
• Predict ......
• What image is created with (a word or
phrase)?
• Infer the meaning of .......
• What is the point of describing ________
as ____________?
• Why does the author use personification
of __________?
Things Fall
Apart
Thursday, October 23rd
AGENDA:
1. IN CLASS DISCUSSION OF PART 2
2. CLOSE READING OF CH. 16
HOMEWORK: CH. 20-22
Close Study: “Nwoye’s Conversion”
Read the final paragraph of Chapter 16 (pg 147).
Today, we’re working together to complete a close study ‘on our
own’. For each row of the matrix, you will be asked to choose a
passage (the Evidence), how we’ll analyze it (the Question) and the
resulting analysis (the Answer).
Evidence / “Chunk” of Text
1.
“But there was a young
lad who had been
captivated.”
Questions / What are you
elaborating on or
explaining?
The word “captivate” has
multiple denotations.
Copy at least 2 definitions.
Answers / Analysis
Close Study: “Nwoye’s Conversion”
Read the final paragraph of Chapter 16 (pg 147).
Today, we’re working together to complete a close study ‘on our
own’. For each row of the matrix, you will be asked to choose a
passage (the Evidence), how we’ll analyze it (the Question) and the
resulting analysis (the Answer).
Evidence / “Chunk” of Text
Questions / What are you
elaborating on or
explaining?
2.
“The hymn about brothers What “question” has been
who sat in darkness and “haunting” Nwoye?
in fear seemed to answer
a vague and persistent
question that haunted his
young soul. . .”
Answers / Analysis
Close Study: “Nwoye’s Conversion”
Read the final paragraph of Chapter 16 (pg 147).
Today, we’re working together to complete a close study ‘on our
own’. For each row of the matrix, you will be asked to choose a
passage (the Evidence), how we’ll analyze it (the Question) and the
resulting analysis (the Answer).
Evidence / “Chunk” of Text
3.
“. . .the question of the
twins crying in the bush
and the question of
Ikemefuna who was
killed.”
Questions / What are you
elaborating on or
explaining?
What do the “twins crying
in the bush” have in
common with “Ikemefuna
who was killed”?
Answers / Analysis
Close Study: “Nwoye’s Conversion”
Read the final paragraph of Chapter 16 (pg 147).
Today, we’re working together to complete a close study ‘on our
own’. For each row of the matrix, you will be asked to choose a
passage (the Evidence), how we’ll analyze it (the Question) and the
resulting analysis (the Answer).
Evidence / “Chunk” of Text
4.
“He felt a relief within as
the hymn poured into his
parched soul.”
Questions / What are you
elaborating on or
explaining?
What is the denotation of
the word “parched”? Why
does Achebe use this
word to describe Nwoye’s
soul? What does it tell us
about Nwoye?
Answers / Analysis
Close Study: “Nwoye’s Conversion”
Read the final paragraph of Chapter 16 (pg 147).
Today, we’re working together to complete a close study ‘on our
own’. For each row of the matrix, you will be asked to choose a
passage (the Evidence), how we’ll analyze it (the Question) and the
resulting analysis (the Answer).
Evidence / “Chunk” of Text
5.
“The words of the hymn
were like the drops of
frozen rain melting on the
dry palate of the panting
earth.”
Questions / What are you
elaborating on or
explaining?
Explain this simile. How is
the hymn like drops of
rain on the “dry … panting
earth”?
Answers / Analysis
Close Study: “Nwoye’s Conversion”
Read the final paragraph of Chapter 16 (pg 147).
Today, we’re working together to complete a close study ‘on our
own’. For each row of the matrix, you will be asked to choose a
passage (the Evidence), how we’ll analyze it (the Question) and the
resulting analysis (the Answer).
Evidence / “Chunk” of Text
6.
“Nwoye’s callow mind
was greatly puzzled.”
Questions / What are you
elaborating on or
explaining?
What is the denotation of
the word, “callow”? What
does this word tell us
about Nwoye?
Answers / Analysis
Close Study: “Nwoye’s Conversion”
Read the final paragraph of Chapter 16 (pg 147).
Today, we’re working together to complete a close study ‘on our
own’. For each row of the matrix, you will be asked to choose a
passage (the Evidence), how we’ll analyze it (the Question) and the
resulting analysis (the Answer).
Evidence / “Chunk” of Text
7.
“Nwoye’s callow mind
was greatly puzzled.”
Questions / What are you
elaborating on or
explaining?
If the hymn answers his
questions why is Nwoye
“puzzled”?
Answers / Analysis
Close Study: “Nwoye’s Conversion”
Read the final paragraph of Chapter 16 (pg 147).
Today, we’re working together to complete a close study ‘on our
own’. For each row of the matrix, you will be asked to choose a
passage (the Evidence), how we’ll analyze it (the Question) and the
resulting analysis (the Answer).
Evidence / “Chunk” of Text
8.
Entire Passage
Questions / What are you
elaborating on or
explaining?
There are more than 90
paragraphs in last night’s
reading. Why is this one
significant enough to study
closely?
-OR-
How does this passage
compare to the Close Study
of Obierika?
Answers / Analysis
Things Fall
Apart
Friday, October 24th
AGENDA:
1. “HOW HAVE THINGS FALLEN APART?”
HOMEWORK: CH. 23-24
How Have Things Fallen?
ON the next available page of the Entry Section of your logbook,
create an entry named: Changes
On the page, create a web Graphic Organizer, with “CHANGE” in the
middle.
One strand is “Okonkwo”, two others are “Obierika” and “Nwoye”, a
fourth “Society” and the last is “others.”
Okonkwo
Obierika
Change
Nwoye
Other
Society
Things Fall
Apart
Monday, October 27th
AGENDA:
1. JOURNAL AND VOCAB.
2. CH. 25 “THE CENTRE CANNOT HOLD”
3. SOCRATIC SEMINAR PREP
Journal Entry:
On a new page of your journal, create the page
“Things Fall Apart” Journal:
Then answer the following prompts:
1. “How does Oberieka’s thinking and Nwoye’s
Conversion demonstrate the theme of change in
Things Fall Apart?”
2. “Is Okonkwo an example of change? Why or Why
Not?”
Vocabulary
Guttural (adj.): of or relating to the throat; having a
harsh, grating quality
Approbation (n.): official approval
Calamity (n.): a great misfortune or disaster; adversity,
misery
Miscreant (n./adj.): villain, evildoer; villainous, evil
Adherent (n./adj.): supporter, follower; sticky, clinging;
bound by contract or other formal agreement
Emanation (n.): something that flows out of another
source; the act of emitting or issuing forth
Revere (v.): to regard with respect and awe; to
venerate
**Idolatrous** (adj.): blindly adoring
"Quick" Discussion:
Is Okonkwo "Dynamic”?
Or
How is Okonkwo a dynamic
character?
What might this imply for his
character and the topic of
'change'?
Is Okonkwo “Static”?
How is Okonkwo static?
How would this characteristic
effect Okonkwo's life?
Overall, is Okonkwo a good man? How do you think he'll react in
this last chapter?
How does the Tragic Cycle (Sophrosyne, Harmatia, Nemesis,
Wisdom) play a part in Things Fall Apart?
Socratic Prep:
On a separate sheet of paper, copy the follow questions down. For
tomorrow’s Socratic Seminar, come with your answer (opinion) to the
following questions, along with textual support, evidence, quotes, etc….
1. Is Oberieka right, when he claims that Okonkwo “is a great man?”
Why or why not?
 Consider: What is your definition of ‘Greatness’?
2. Why does Achebe end the novel with the District Commissioner’s
narration?
3. Who is MOST to blame for ‘things falling apart’?
4. What is the better way to confront change: Resistance or
Adaptation?
 Consider: What is the ultimate goal: Survival? Standing up for
what you believe in (martyrdom)? Your personal legacy?
Improving the world for others?
Things Fall
Apart
Tuesday, October 28th
AGENDA:
1. SOCRATIC SEMINAR
Socratic Seminar (A):
Use your Socratic Prep work from yesterday to take notes on
today’s Seminar. You will be turning this in as well as the
Seminar Summary Paragraph.
1. Is Okonkwo “a great man?” Why or why not?
2. Why does Achebe end the novel with the District
Commissioner’s narration? What is the connection with
this final chapter and Adichie’s “Danger of a Single Story”?
3. Who is MOST to blame for ‘things falling apart’?
4. What is best: To Adapt or to Resist? WHY?
5. Summary Paragraph: What is the Lesson that Achebe is
trying to teach us with this novel? Use the discussion points
to support your answer.
“Defeat”
• Kahlil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese-American
artist, poet, and writer.
• Born in the town of Bsharri in the north of modern-day Lebanon (then part
of Ottoman Mount Lebanon), as a young man he immigrated with his family
to the United States, where he studied art and began his literary career,
writing in both English and Arabic.
• In the Arab world, Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel.
• His romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic
literature, especially prose poetry, breaking away from the classical school. In
Lebanon, he is still celebrated as a literary hero.
• He is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The
Prophet, (where the poem “Defeat” is found) an early example of
inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in
poetic English prose.
• Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and
Lao-Tzu.
“Defeat,” By Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)
Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness,
You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,
And sweeter to my heart than all world-glory.
Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,
Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot
And not to be trapped by withering laurels.
And in you I have found aloneness
And the joy of being shunned and scorned.
Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,
In your eyes I have read
That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,
And to be understood is to be leveled down,
And to be grasped is but to reach one’s fullness
And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.
Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,
You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,
And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,
And urging of seas,
And of mountains that burn in the night,
And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.
Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,
You and I shall laugh together with the storm,
And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,
And we shall stand in the sun with a will,
And we shall be dangerous.
Regarding “Defeat”:
 What is the Topic of the poem?
 What is the Theme?
 What parts of the poem would
Okonkwo agreed with?
 What parts did Okonkwo fail to
understand?
 What is the lesson that Okonkwo and
all of us need to understand about
‘defeat’?
Socratic Questions for “Defeat”
1. What is the Narrator of the poem’s attitude
towards defeat?
2. What is the TONE? What are some examples
of diction (word choice) or imagery that
develop the tone?
3. Do you believe that Okonkwo could have been
the narrator in the poem, and learned to
embrace defeat? Support your answer with
evidence from the novel AND the poem.
4. In our other Novels and texts that we’ve read
throughout the year, what other characters
cold have said what this poem does?