THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe
Honors World Literature
CHAPTER QUESTIONS
Answer the following questions on separate sheets of lined paper or type your responses. Each response should be at least two wellcomposed sentences. Keep your answers up to date with each reading assignment. The guide will be checked (unannounced).
Part I Chapter 1
1. Okonkwo is a member of an African tribe. In the context of his culture, what is he like?
2. Who is Amalinze the Cat? What is his significance?
3. Unoka was Okonkwo's father. What was he like? How does Okonkwo feel about him?
4. Okoye is another member of the tribe and one of Okonkwo's neighbors. Summarize his conversation with Unoka.
5. What is the importance of the kola nut, pepper, and chalk when visitors arrive?
Chapter 2
6. Mbaino is a neighboring village. Summarize what has happened that has called the men together.
7. Why was Ikemefuna sent to Okonkwo's village?
8. Why is this act (#7) considered to be a just way to solve the problem?
9. Why does Okonkwo behave in cruel ways in this chapter?
10. What examples of magic and superstition appear in this chapter?
11. Umuofia is the name of Okonkwo's village. Describe it.
12. Who is Ogbuefi Ezeugo?
13. In any society, what's an oracle supposed to do?
14. Nwoye is Okonkwo's first son. What is he like?
15. Okonkwo is described as "a man of action, a man of war […] in Umuofia'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 that description.
16. "And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion -- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was
gentleness and another was idleness." Comment on the author's description.
Chapter 3
17. Does Okonkwo deserve the success he has had? Why or why not?
18. What proverbs do you see in this chapter? What do the proverbs say about the culture?
19. What side of Okonkwo is visible when there drought and a loss of crops?
Chapter 4
20. How do Okonkwo's wives get along?
21. What is Week of Peace? What is the Festive of the New Yam? Why does one come before the other?
Chapter 5
22. What is the purpose of the Feast of the New Yam?
23. Comment on Okonkwo's daughter Ezinma.
Chapter 6
24. What is the purpose of the wrestling match?
Chapter 7
25. What is the relationship between Nwoye and Ikemefuna?
26. How does Okonkwo feel about Nwoye? How do his feelings compare to his feelings for Ikemefuna?
27. What is Okonkwo's attitude toward women? How do you know?
28. What is the Oracle's instruction for dealing with Ikemefuna?
29. Why does Okonkwo go and participate even though he's been told not to?
Chapter 8
30. How does Okonkwo react to Ikemefuna's death?
31. In what ways does Unoka still influence Okonkwo's life?
32. How does Obierika react to Ikemefuna's death? Why is his reaction important?
Chapter 9
33. Why is Ezinma so important to Okonkwo and Ekwefi?
Chapter 10
34. What do the egwugwu look like, and how do they affect their audience?
35. What role do the villagers play in the egwugwu ceremony?
36. Why are the egwugwu hearing the case between man and wife?
Chapter 11
37. How does Ekwefi feel as she trails Chielo? Why does Ekwefi follow her? Why does Okonkwo follow too?
38. What do you think happened when Ezinma went with Chielo to the Oracle?
Chapter 12
39. Okonkwo worries about Ezinma. Comment of this side of his personality.
Chapter 13
40. "Obierika was a man who thought about things. When the will of the goddess had been done, he sat down in his obi and mourned
his friend's calamity. Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offence he had committed inadvertently? But although he
thought for a long time he found no answer." Comment on Achebe's words.
41. How does Obierika react to the destruction?
42. What things are falling apart at this point in the novel?
Part II Chapter 14
43. How is Okonkwo received by his mother's family in Mbanta?
44. What advice does Uchendu give Okonkwo?
Chapter 15
45. What happened in Abame? Why does Achebe include the story of Abame?
46. What is the point of Uchendu's story about the kite?
Chapter 16
47. What is the message of the missionaries? How do the villagers react to it?
48. What attracts Nwoye to Christianity?
Chapter 17
49. What is the evil forest? Why is it important in this chapter?
50. What do the words "Living fire begets cold, impotent ask" mean? Why are they significant?
Chapter 18
51. What stories are white men telling throughout the village?
52. Why does the tribe not unite and revolt against the outsiders?
53. What kind of person is Kiaga?
54. Why is the sacred python important?
Chapter 19
55. What does Uchendu say to Okonkwo at the feast?
56. How does Okonkwo plan to get over the years in exile?
57. How has exile affected Okonkwo?
58. How does Okonkwo remember Mbanta during his exile? How does he remember Umuofia?
Part III Chapter 20
59. What is Okonkwo expecting upon his return to Umuofia? What does he find?
60. "The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed
him to stay. Now he has won our brothers and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us
together and we have fallen apart." Comment on Obierika's words.
61. How does Okonkwo plan to reinstate himself in the village's power structure?
62. How has Umuofia changed? How has Okonkwo changed?
Chapter 21
63. Mr. Brown and Akunna discuss religion. Summarize the points that each man makes in their discussion.
64. Why is Mr. Brown respected by the village?
65. How are Okonkwo's hopes for a victorious return destroyed?
Chapter 22
66. Compare the approaches used by Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith. Why was Mr. Brown a better person to work with the tribe?
67. Describe Reverend Smith and evaluate his effect on the village.
68. Why is it such a violation of the code of the village to unmask the egwugwu?
Chapter 23
69. How are Okonkwo and his friends treated in jail?
70. Describe the District Commissioner's attitude.
Chapter 24
71. Why does Okonkwo kill the messenger?
72. What is everyone's reaction after?
Chapter 25
73. The District Commissioner says, "One of the most infuriating habits of the people was their love of superfluous words."
Comment.
74. Obierika says, "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." Why is this significant?
75. "Okonkwo never did things by halves." Comment.
76. Okonkwo remembers something his father said: "It is more difficult and bitter when a man fails alone." Why does Okonkwo
remember this thought, and how does it affect him?
77. How does the tribe regard suicide?
78. The Commissioner considers putting this episode in the book he is writing, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower
Niger. In what ways is this ironic or satirical?
79. Compare and contrast the view of Okonkwo as described by Obierika and the District Commissioner.