Revising ‘Things Fall Apart’
Fill in the grid with information from Things Fall Apart. It is really important that you
LEARN some key quotes to use in your essay, so make sure you gather lots of evidence from
the text.
Key Points
Themes Make a list below
Characters(list below)
Setting(describe briefly below)
How is the text written?
 Structure
 Language imagery
 Narrative technique
Key sections, chapters, scenes
Evidence(Quoteswith page
ref, clear examples)
SUGGESTED ANSWERS:
Key Points
Themes :
The arrival of the white men
Strength as a virtue
Masculinity
African traditions
Characters(list below)
Okonkwo
Unoka
Nwoye
Ezinma
Ikemefuna
Obierika
The white men
The white men impose their
culture/religion/.customs on the
Igbos
Okonkwo always wants to be
seen as a strong character
Okonkwo’s fight not to be like
his father and also for his son to
follow in his footsteps
TFA provides us with an insight
into Igbo life
Okonkwo – strong, strict,
afraid of being weak, impulsive
etc
Unoka – lazy, keen on the good
things in life, debtor
Ikemefuna – killed by
Okonkwo when he is warned
not to
Nwoye – disappointment to his
father, effiminate, weak,
converts to christianity
Ezinma – sickly child, ogbanje
The white men – show
disregard for Igbo
culture/traditions
Obierika – a man of reason
Evidence(Quotes with page ref,
clear examples)
p.122 ‘An abominable religion
has settled among you’
‘I fear for you;I fear for the
clan’
‘He had no patience with
unsuccessful men. He had no
patience with his father.’
Okonkwo
p.3 ‘His fame rested on solid
personal achievements’
‘He was as slippery as a fish in
water’ etc etc
Unoka
p.3 ‘He was lazy and
improvident’
‘He was tall but very thin and
had a slight stoop’
‘Unoka loved the good fare’
Ikemefuna
p.7 ‘The ill-fated lad was called
Ikemefuna’ ‘doomed lad’
p38 ‘He grew rapidly like a
yam tendril in the rainy season,
and was full of the sap of life’
p.44 he ‘felt his legs melting
under him. He was afraid to
look back’
Nwoye
p.11 ‘...was developing in to a
sad-faced youth’
p.44 ‘He did not cry. He just
hung limp’
p.105 ‘I don’t know. He is not
my father’
Ezinma
p.47‘She should have been a
boy’
p.126 ‘She was called Crystal
of Beauty’ ‘healthy, buoyant
maiden’
White men
p.101 ‘iron horse’
p.134 ‘He saw things as black
and white’(Rev Smith)
p.152 ‘He had already chosen
the title of the book, after much
thought: The Pacification of the
Setting
Igbo culture
Umuofia, Nigeria
Use of langauge, proverbs
Feasts such as Uri, Week of
Peace, Feast of the New Yam...
Traditions such as kola nut,
palm wine...
Music
Wrestling
Gods, personal gods chi
How is the text written?
 Structure
 Language imagery
 Narrative technique
3 unequal parts: Pt 1: Intro to
Igbo culture, characters leading
to the reason for Okonkwo’s
exile; Pt 2: Exile to Mbanta; Pt
3 Okokwo’s return to Umuofia
and his downfall.
Proverbs
3rd person narrator.
Achebe =Nigerian; Telling us
about colonisation from the
African point of view.
Key sections, chapters, scenes
Amalinze the Cat
Ikemefuna comes to live with
Okonkwo
Week of Peace
Feast of New Yam
Ikemefuna’s death
Ezinma’s iba
Finding her iyi-uwa
Obierika’s daughter’s uri
Funeral – Okonkwo killing boy
Exile
Return to Umuofia
Arrival of the white men
Primitive Tribes of the Lower
Niger’(D.C)
Obierika
p.151 ‘ 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’
p.5 ‘He who brings kola brings
life’
p.5 ‘the intricate rhythms of the
ekwe and the udu and the
ogene’
p.3 ‘Amalinze the Cat was the
great wrestler who for seven
years was unbeaten’
p.27 ‘Yam foo-foo and
vegetable soup was the chief
food of the celebration’
p.65 ‘And when, as on that day,
nine of the greatest masked
spirits in the clan came out
together it was a terrifying
spectacle’
etc etc
p.6 ‘Among the Ibo the art of
conversation is regarded very
highly’
‘proverbs are the palm-oil with
which words are eaten’
Full list of quotations:
Themes
p.122 ‘An abominable religion has settled among you’
‘I fear for you;I fear for the clan’
‘He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father.’
Characters:
1) Okonkwo
p.3 ‘His fame rested on solid personal achievements’
‘He was as slippery as a fish in water’
‘Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan’
‘He was tall and huge, and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look’
‘His heels hardly touched the ground’
‘He seemed to walk on springs’
p.6 ‘If a child washed his hands he could eat with kings’
p.10 ‘He ruled his household with a heavy hand’
‘His whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness’
p.20’Okonkwo knew how to kill a man’s spirit’
p.21 ‘to show affection was a sign of weakness’
p.45 ‘He was afraid of being thought weak’
p.112 ‘How then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate and effeminate?’
p.133 ‘He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart...’
2) Unoka
p.3 ‘He was lazy and improvident’
‘He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop’
‘Unoka loved the good fare’
3) Ikemefuna
p.7 ‘The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna’ ‘doomed lad’
p38 ‘He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season, and was full of the sap of life’
p.44 he ‘felt his legs melting under him. He was afraid to look back’
4) Nwoye
p.11 ‘...was developing into a sad-faced youth’
p.39 he’knew it was right to be masculine but somehow he still preferred the stories that his
mother used to tell.’
p.44 ‘He did not cry. He just hung limp’
p.105 ‘I don’t know. He is not my father’
p.108 ‘The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry plate of
the panting earth’
5) Ezinma
p.47‘She should have been a boy’
p.126 ‘She was called Crystal of Beauty’ ‘healthy, buoyant maiden’
6) White men
p.101 ‘iron horse’
p.134 ‘He saw things as black and white’(Rev Smith)
p.152 ‘He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the
Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger’(D.C)
7) Obierika
p.151 ‘ 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’
Setting
p.5 ‘He who brings kola brings life’
p.5 ‘the intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene’
p.3 ‘Amalinze the Cat was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten’
p.27 ‘Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food of the celebration’
p.65 ‘And when, as on that day, nine of the greatest masked spirits in the clan came out
together it was a terrifying spectacle’
p.89 ‘They all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and
charcoal’
Language
p.6 ‘Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly’
‘proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten’