-Things Fall Apart Questions to Consider1) Lay out several points of comparison and contrast between Oedipus as a tragic hero and Okonkwo as a tragic hero. Particularly
consider the part played by fate for Oedipus and Chi for Okonkwo.
2) Pull out Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant." You read it earlier in the semester. Compare and contrast the killing of the elephant in
the story to Okonkwo's killing of Ikemefuna in chapter seven.
3) Narrative Structure: Why does Achebe divide the book into the three parts that he does. What, in brief, happens in the three
parts to distinguish them from each other? Why divide the book this way? Why wait until section two to introduce the first white
people and missionaries?
4) Consider the following examples of figurative language. In each case, I want you to sketch out what is being compared to what on
a denotative level. Then consider the connotations. When you have finished doing that, evaluate what the effects of this type of
figurative speech are. Are the metaphors familiar to you or foreign? How might they affect different populations differently? Are the
metaphors appropriate for the story and subject matter? Why?
rat simile 63
hot yam metaphor 64
dog play/bride price haggling 73
white people metaphor 74
weather metaphor 82
ant hill metaphor 112
ekwe drum personification 120
dying fish metaphor 131
while people as locusts metaphor 139
new converts as excrement metaphor 143
frozen droplets on burning desert metaphor 147
hunter's dog metaphor 167
clan as lizard metaphor 171
fire/ash metaphor 200
grain of sand hyperbole 201
rooting and water-bailing metaphor 204
5) Look up and define Local Color and Regionalism.
6) How do etiological myths function in society? Consider the myth of the mosquito on 75 or the tortoise from 96-99. Why tell
myths like this? What is their purpose?
7) Consider the etiological myth (a myth that explains how something came to be) of the tortoise and birds 96-99). How might this
be connected symbolically to the colonization that takes place later in the book? Who works with whom and against whom. Do they
work alone. Are they successful?
8) Consider the place of women in Achebe's book. Does the book sound misogynistic to you? (Misogyny means the hatred of
women.) Consider, specifically, Okonkwo's vision of what is feminine or masculine and which is better.
9) Consider Okonkwo's relationship with his father. Consider Okonkwo's relationship with his son, Nwoye. Is this healthy? Is
Okonwko doing the best that he can? Does he expect too much from his son? Are there any elements of the Oedipus Complex
here? Why is Okonkwo so hard on himself and the ones around him? Is he capable of forgiveness?
10) What is ironic about the title of the District Commissioner's book, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger?