Name _____________________________________________________
THINGS FALL APART
Reading Questions 1-3
1. Describe Okonkwo, the protagonist of Things Fall Apart. Consider him as an Ibo heroic
character: how does he work to achieve greatness as defined by his culture? How does he differ
from Western heroes whom you are familiar with? What are Okonkwo’s strengths and weaknesses?
2. Describe Unoka, Okonkwo’s father. What are Okonkwo’s feelings toward Unoka, and why? How
does the (negative) example of his father shape Okonkwo’s character and actions?
3. What do the early descriptions of Okonkwo’s success and Unoka’s failure tell us about Ibo
society? How does one succeed in this cultural context? What do we learn from the system of the
taking of titles? Who seems to be excluded from opportunities to gain such success?
4. So far, how would you describe the narrator of this story? One literary critic calls the
storyteller a “witness” -- do you agree?
5. Consider the impact of Achebe’s use of "African English." Describe who Achebe’s intended
audience(s) might be. What is the effect on you, as a Western reader and outsider to Ibo culture?
Consider how Achebe’s language choices contribute to the novel. Note ch. 3’s proverb about
proverbs, and look for other proverbs as you read.
6. We will be discussing this throughout the novel, so answer what you can now and keep these
questions in mind as you read further:
Describe the setting (time, place, culture) of the novel. Try to apply what you have learned
from reading the introductory handouts. Consider Achebe’s presentation of the details of
everyday village life in Umuofia, the values and beliefs of the Ibo people, and the importance of
ritual, ceremony, social hierarchy, and personal achievement in Ibo culture. How is social life
organized?. What are the important celebrations? What is the role of war, of religion, and of the
arts? What is the role of the individual in relation to the community of Umuofia? Compare
/contrast Ibo ways of life, customs, perspectives, beliefs, and values to those of your own
culture.
7. What effect does night have on the people in Ch. 2? What do they fear? How do they deal with
their fear of snakes at night?
8. What is the difference between personal failure and communal failure, do you think? Which
one would be harder to accept, and why?
Name ____________________________________________________
THINGS FALL APART
Reading Questions 4-6
1. The chi, or personal spirit, is a recurring theme in the novel, a spiritual belief important to
understanding the main character Okonkwo. Interpret this proverb, spoken of Okonkwo: "When a
man says yes his chi says yes also." As we read, try to trace further references in the novel to the
chi. What role does Okonkwo’s chi play in shaping his destiny? Note, however, that "The Ibo people
did not believe that a man’s chi controlled his entire destiny.” Trace the other factors at work in
Okonkwo’s case.
2. Examine family life and living arrangements in Okonkwo’s home. Describe Okonkwo’s
relationships to his wives and children, especially to Ekwefi, Ezinma, and Nwoye.
3. What differing roles and functions do men and women have in Ibo society?
4. What is Okonkwo’s attitude toward women? What emotions would he associate with weakness?
5. In this polygamous culture, men may take more than one wife and each household is enclosed in
a compound. Each wife lives in a hut with her children, and the husband visits each wife in turn,
though he has his own hut as well. Children are often cared for more or less communally—another
African proverb states, "It takes a village to raise a child." Compare/contrast the advantages and
disadvantages of this social structure to our own family arrangements in the U.S.
6. What is the crime that causes Okonkwo to be reprimanded in Ch. 4? What does it tell you about
the values of the culture?
7. Briefly summarize the story of Ekwefi given in Ch. 5. What kind of a woman is she?
Name _____________________________________________________
THINGS FALL APART:
Reading Questions 7-9
1. Explain Okonkwo’s view of women, discussed on pages 52-53.
2. How has Nwoye begun to “act like a man”?
3. Why does Okonkwo act as he does, despite the advice of others not to participate in the killing
of Ikemefuna?
4. Compare Okonkwo’s attitude toward Nwoye to Okonkwo’s attitude toward his daughter Ezinma.
5. Compare Obierika – a man who “thinks about things”—to Okonkwo. Consider Obierika as a kind
of FOIL to Okonkwo.
6. Does the tradition/custom of the “Bride-price” compare to anything in European culture?
Explain.
7. What is an ogbanje? What is an iyi-uwa? Briefly explain the significance of these as they relate
to this story.
8. How are white men first introduced in the story? Why might Africans suppose they have no
toes?
9. Ch. 9 offers the story of the mosquito, one of several West African tales that explain why these
insects buzz irritatingly in people's ears. Can you think of any similar folktales told in your culture?
What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise told in Ch. 11? (Do YOU know a tortoise fable)?
Name _____________________________________________________
THINGS FALL APART:
Reading Questions 10-13
1. Who are the egwugwu, and what is the purpose of their ceremony? How does it compare to our
legal system?
2. What does Okonkwo do in chapter 12 that surprises Ekwefi? Does it surprise YOU? What does it
reveal about his true character?
3. Describe the funeral for Ezeudu. Why is it appropriate?
4. Three times in Part I, Okonkwo breaks Ibo taboos. What three heavy mistakes has he made?
a.
b.
c.
5. What are the consequences (a) to Okonkwo? (b) to his family? (c) to his community?
a.
b.
c.
6. In Part I of the story, internal rivalries and disagreements have already begun to erode the unity
and integrity of the village. What are these internal conflicts? How does Okonkwo jeopardize his
own authority within his community?
7. Even as Achebe works to educate his readers about African culture and to combat demeaning
stereotypes, he does not present Ibo society as ideal or perfect. The portrait of his culture on the
eve of its “falling apart” in Part I of Things Fall Apart is complex, sometimes contradictory and
critical. What aspects of pre-colonial Ibo culture does Achebe seem to question or criticize?
How does Achebe use characters like Obierika, Okonkwo, and Nwoye to offer such social
criticism of Ibo society? Your response to this question should be at least 5 complete sentences.
8. Short essay: Describe your initial reading experience and response(s) to Things Fall Apart as a
cross-cultural encounter: How are you responding to this exposure to traditional Ibo culture and
people? Why do you think you are responding as you are? What seems most different and/or
foreign to you? What seems most similar and/or familiar to you?
Name _____________________________________________________
THINGS FALL APART:
Reading Questions 14-16
1. Why does Okonkwo despair at the beginning of Part II, and how does his mother’s brother
(Uchendu) respond to Okonkwo in his despair?
2. What has happened to the Abame clan?
3. How do Uchendu and Okonkwo account differently for the “foolishness” of the Abame? What
reaction seems wiser in responding to new challenges to old ways of living?
4. What does Uchendu mean when he says, “There is no story that is not true”?
5. Why does Obierika visit Okonkwo in exile the second time?
6. What kinds of Africans are attracted to the new religion, and why? What are Nwoye’s motives
for converting to Christianity?
7. How does Okonkwo react to Nwoye’s conversion?
8. Trace the stages in the Africans’ reactions to the Christian missionaries coming to Umuofia and
Mbanta, and to the missionaries’ evangelical efforts to convert the Africans. What are the sources
of misunderstanding between the missionaries and the Ibo people?
Name _____________________________________________________
THINGS FALL APART:
Reading Questions 17-19
1. Explain how Okonkwo feels about Nwoye at this point.
2. What is an osu, and why would one be attracted to the church?
3. “The young church in Mbanta had a few crises early in its life”. What are these crises?
3. Why are the people of Mbanta largely content to allow the Christians to remain in their midst at
this point—the end of Part II?
6. Uchendu and a speech by an elder of the umunna give us insight into the changes that they have
seen in recent generations of their people. What are these changes, and why do they cause the
elders to fear for the younger generation and the future of the clan?
7. How might these changes prepare the way for the white man’s success in imposing his rule in
Africa?
Name ____________________________________________________
THINGS FALL APART:
Reading Questions, Chapters 20-25
1. Why do you think Achebe chose to bring in the European colonial presence only in the last third
of the novel?
2. How has Umuofia changed over the seven years while Okonkwo has been in exile?
3. What function do the kotma, or court messengers, serve in the new society? Contrast the white
man’s law and system of justice with that of traditional Umuofia society.
4. Okonkwo says that they should fight the white men and “drive them from the land.” Obierika
responds sadly, “’It is already too late’” – why? How has the white man been “’very clever’”,
according to Obierika?
5. In what ways might Obierika be considered a transitional figure between the old and the new
Ibo societies?
6. Compare the missionaries Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith.
7. What do we learn from Akunna and Mr. Brown’s discussion of religion?
8. How does Enoch set off “the great conflict between church and clan”?
9. What sources of misunderstanding seem to make the conflicts between the Europeans and the
Africans inevitable?
10. Why do many in Umuofia feel differently than Okonkwo about the white man’s “new
dispensation”? In what ways do “religion and education” go “hand in hand” in strengthening the
“white man’s medicine”?
11. How does the District Commissioner trick the six leader of Umuofia into jail? What is
Okonkwo’s reaction?
12. Why does Okonkwo kill the messenger? Why does he afterwards commit suicide, “an offence
against the earth”?
13. Why is Okonkwo isolated in the end? Do you consider him a tragic hero? Explain.
14. The District Commissioner decides that “The story of this man who killed a messenger and
hanged himself would make interesting reading,” if not for a whole chapter, at least for “a
reasonable paragraph”. How do you think the D.C. would write Okonkwo’s story in this paragraph?
15. In contrast, Achebe has made Okonkwo’s story the subject of a whole novel. WHY?
16. When the egwugwu destroy Mr. Smith’s church, “for the moment the spirit of the clan was
pacified.” Consider the ironic implications of when we learn that the title of the book that the
District Commissioner intends to write is The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower
Niger. What are your thoughts on this, and how do you interpret that title?
Name ____________________________________________________
THINGS FALL APART:
Final Discussion Questions
1. Simon Gikandi suggests that the narrator’s and “Achebe’s sympathies…are not with the heroic
character (…Okonkwo), but the witness or storyteller (Obierika) who refuses to endorse Okonkwo’s
commitment to the central doctrines of his culture or the European colonizer’s arrogant use of
power”. Do you agree? Why/why not?
2. Achebe has said that the British did not force English on him when he was growing up. He chose
to learn it and write in English as a means of “infiltrating the ranks of the enemy and destroying
him from within.” Who would the enemy be? Discuss this quote from Achebe: “Language is a
weapon, and we use it. There’s no point in fighting a language.”
3. There is an issue in THINGS FALL APART of fate vs. personal control over destiny. For example,
Okonkwo’s father is sometimes held responsible for his own actions, while at other times he is
referred to as ill-fated and a victim of evil fortune. Which do you think Okonkwo believes is true?
What do you think Achebe believes is true? What do you believe?
4. Of Ezinma, Okonkwo thinks: “She should have been a boy.” Why is it necessary to the story
that Okonkwo’s most favored child be a girl?
5. Of one of the goddesses, it is said: “It was not the same Chielo who sat with her in the
market…Chielo was not a woman that night.” What do you make of this culture where people can
be both themselves and also assume other personas? Can you think of any parallels in our world?
6. There are many proverbs related during the course of the narrative. What function do you
perceive these proverbs as serving in the life of the Ibo? What do you think Achebe’s purpose is in
including them in the novel?
7. Okonkwo rejects his father’s way and is, in turn, rejected by Nwoye. Do you feel this pattern
evolves inevitably through the nature of the father/son relationship? Or is there something more
being represented here than mere generational conflict?
8. The title of the novel, as we have studied, comes from Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming.”
The completed line reads, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” What layers of meaning are
discernible when this completed line is applied to the story?
9. Achebe rejects the Western notion of art for its own sake. Instead he embraces the conception
of art at the heart of African oral traditions and values: “Art is, and always was, at the service of
man,” Achebe has written. “Our ancestors created their myths and told their stories with a human
purpose;” hence, “any good story, any good novel, should have a message, should have a purpose.”
How, then, would you interpret the human purpose(s) of THINGS FALL APART?