Things Fall Apart Reading Guide
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe's first novel, was published in 1958. Worldwide, there are eight million copies in print in fifty
different languages. A tragedy in many senses of the word, Things Fall Apart is often compared to the great Greek tragedies. It
concerns itself with the classic struggle between rigid traditionalism and the winds of change. Specifically, it is about the effects of
British colonialism on a small Nigerian village at the turn of the century. A simple story of a "strong man" whose life is dominated by
fear and anger, it is written with remarkable economy and subtle irony. Uniquely and richly African, at the same time it reveals
Achebe's keen awareness of the human qualities common to men of all times and places.
As you read, answer the following questions to aid your understanding and appreciation of the novel. These will be collected
and assigned credit following our discussion of the novel after break.
1. Discuss the characteristics of Okonkwo. Does he seem heroic? How does he contrast with his father? Which of his father's
characteristics affect him the most? Why?
2. Although one earns titles by giving up wealth which is difficult to accumulate, these titles are still desired by all. What does this
indicate about the Ibo social system? How does this compare to our social system?
3. Why do the Ibo take Ikemefuna? How is his future doom foreshadowed when he is introduced?
4. Why does Achebe introduce Ibo rituals without explaining them to “English” readers? How do you understand them? What might
he be trying to make us aware of within our own hearts and minds?
5. Look at Okonkwo’s attitudes about women and manliness: How does Okonkwo overcompensate for his father's weaknesses? How
is he unusual for his culture? What is his attitude toward women? Why does he dislike Nwoye so much?
6. Is the communal society an asset? Is it better than our more individualistic society in any ways? Why?
7. What happens to Ikemefuna? Why? Does Okonkwo think it is right? Why do you think so? How does Nwoye react? Why Chaper 7
told from the perspective of multiple characters?
8. How is marriage an involvement of the entire family?
9. How are white men introduced into the novel? Why do the Africans believe they have no toes? What is the attitude associate with
white men?
10. What is Okonkwo's attitude toward Enzinma? Why is everyone so upset when she falls ill? What is it attributed to? Why does
Ekwefi prize her daughter?
11. Who is Chielo? Why is she important?
12. What is the egwugwu ceremony? How does it go wrong? What are the consequences?
13. What is the significance of the story of the destruction of Abame?
14. Why does Nwoye become a Christian? What about Christianity appeals to him?
15. How does the plot of land in the Evil Forest backfire?
16. What are some of the mutual misunderstandings of the missionaries and the people of the village?
17. At the end of Part 2, we see how Okonkwo's exile to Mbanta has had repercussions that affected him deeply. Explain how things
start to “fall apart”?
18. How is Rev. Smith different from Rev. Brown? What is the result of his black/white thinking?
19. Why does Okonkwo kill himself?
20. Discuss the significance of the final paragraph!
Achebe takes the title for his novel from "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats, written after the catastrophe of World War I
and with communism and fascism rising. Yeats believed that history in part moved in two thousand-year cycles. The Christian era,
which followed that of the ancient world, was about to give way to an ominous period represented by the rough, pitiless beast in the
poem. Read "The Second Coming" (below) and consider why Achebe might chose to take the title of his novel from Yeats’ poem.
Consider how Achebe’s literary allusion to Yeats’ poem might deepen or extend—by comparison and/or contrast—the meaning(s) of
Achebe’s title and his novel.
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: somewhere in the sands of the desert
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
Reel 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 at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?
Things Fall Apart: Tragedy Essay
Who or what is to blame for Okonkwo’s tragic end?
In a well‐written essay full of specific details from the novel, discuss the ways the plot of Things Fall Apart and
the character of its protagonist Okonkwo adhere to—and defy—the conventions of Western tragedy and the
tragic hero.
To assist you, a description of Western tragedy and the tragic hero has been provided below (based on
Aristotle's definition, which we discussed before break). Remember to use MLA documentation for page
numbers!
Tragedy may be defined as dramatic narrative in which serious and important actions turn out disastrously for
the protagonist or tragic hero.
 The classical Western tragic hero is the main character of great importance to his state or culture and is
conventionally of noble birth and high social station, the ruler or an important leader in his society.
 The moral health of the state is identified with, and dependent on, that of its ruler, and so the tragic
hero’s story is also that of his state. Such heroes are mixed characters, neither thoroughly good or
thoroughly evil, yet "better" or "greater" than the rest of us are in the sense that they are of higher than
ordinary moral worth and social significance.
The plot of tragedy traces the tragic fall of the hero, when a disastrous change of fortune, or reversal, catapults
him (classical tragic heroes are often male) from the heights of happiness to the depths of misery.
 This fall usually comes as a consequence of a tragic flaw in the hero’s character and/or an error of
judgment, although the fall may also be a product of the hero’s pre-ordained destiny or fate. The gods
may have prophesized this fall, and the hero’s tragic flaw, sometimes in the form of a ruling passion
(classically, hubris or overweening pride and self-confidence), may cause the hero to disregard divine
law and/or try in vain to escape his fate.
 The tragic hero may experience a supreme moment of recognition of the truth of his situation and/or of
his identity.
 The tragic hero is supposed to move us to pity, because, since he is not an evil man, his misfortune is
greater than he deserves; but his story may also move us to fear or terror, because we recognize similar
possibilities of flaw in our fallible natures or of errors of judgment in our own lesser lives.