Things+Fall+Apart+questions


 * What are your first impressions of African society that is described in the novel?**

- Male dominated -  Work is agricultural -  People help each other -  Not much entertainment except for music -  Get a lot of advice from the oracle -  Believes strongly in Gods -  One of Mbaino’s villagers has murdered the daughter of one of Umuofia’s villagers, so there is the possibility of war between the two villages. So the villagers of Umuofia want to settle the dispute as peacefully as possible, and settle for a sacrifice of a virgin and a young boy. -  He has four wives and nine children -  The first wife is most important -  The first son is most important -  Okonkwo is very dominating -  He stopped eating/sleeping -  He seemed very depressed -  He said that even though the Oracle told him he had to kill Ikemefuna, he should not have played a part in the actual killing -  This suggests about Obierika that he doesn’t believe that everything the village does is right. -     The egwugwu represent the ancestral spirits of the villagers, and they have the power to make important decisions or to resolve conflict in the tribe. Everyone listens to them and respects them because their society is oriented in such a way that one must pay respect to one’s ancestors.
 * Briefly explain the crisis that has occurred between Umuofia and the neighboring village of Mbaino **
 * What do we find out about Okonkwo’s family in this chapter? **
 * How does Okonkwo react to Ikemefuna’s death? **
 * What does Obierika feel about the part that Okonkwo played in the murder? What might this suggest about his character? **
 * 6. Describe the judicial function of the egwugwu and its relationship to the living, particularly to Igbo women. Why is it also related to the spiritual world? How does Achebe illustrate the blending of the spiritual and real worlds? **

**8. Why is Okonkwo exiled? Why is the exile ironic? Compare to Okonkwo's participation in the killing of Ikemefuna and its lack of consequences.** Okonkwo is exiled for accidentally killing the son of a villager. It’s ironic because he gets punished for a killing that he didn’t even mean to commit, but there were no punishments for his killing of Ikemefuna just because the Oracle ordered that it should be so. **

9. When and how is the white man introduced? Trace the chronology of the Igbo people's responses to the arrival and settlement of the white man. What attitudes toward the Igbo people do the white men bring and how do their attitudes determine their treatment of the Igbo people? ** At first the Igbo people were afraid of the white people because they’d never seen such people before. They killed the first white man that came and tied his “iron horse” to a sacred tree to prevent it from escaping. The white men were disdainful of the Igbo because of their underdeveloped culture and seemingly crude traditions. They told them that their gods were false and evil, and that there was only God. They became increasingly controlling of the Igbo and finally even built a “government” in the Igbo’s own community. **

12. Describe Enoch. How do his actions show disdain for Igbo traditions? ** Enoch is an overly zealous character who was prevented over and over again from inflicting harm upon others under Mr. Brown. However, when the new priest came, Enoch started wreaking havoc and treating any non-Christians badly. He even killed the sacred Python, the symbol of the water goddess, even though his father was a snake priest. He also tore off the mask of one of the egwugwu. He started helping the white man tear apart Igbo culture. **

8. What are the human consequences of the collision between the two cultures? Describe both the societal and personal clashes. ** Families are breaking apart as some members choose to convert and other choose to stick to their old traditions. Also, their old traditions and gods don’t stand for as much as they used to since more and more people convert to the new religion. This makes the old culture weaker and weaker, and it will eventually fall apart. **

10. How does Okonkwo's suicide represent a break in the traditional Igbo culture? ** It represents a break in the traditional Igbo culture because Okonkwo used to be one of the greatest people in the land. He had many titles and everyone respected him. However, the white men treated people with absolutely no respect and he was driven to kill himself, which is a crime against Nature in Igbo society.

He is trying to say that there is something to be feared from people who keep silent despite bad circumstances because it shows that they are plotting something. There is nothing to be feared from a fool who exposes their thoughts and emotions.
 * What lesson does Uchendu try to teach his family, using the folktale of Mother Kite? **

It suggests that the white men are very ignorant toward other people’s cultures and religion. They look down upon the Ibo and do not respect their culture in their own territory.
 * Question chapter 16-4**
 * What do the comments suggest about the white men’s attitude towards the Ibo religion? **

He feels regretful about all the wasted time and how his son went to join the Christians. He feels bad about all the land and the titles that he gained during his lifetime and now lost. Because of all these losses he has to start over again. He is one of the kinds of people that has a solid root in his own society and will not tolerate the breaking of his own culture and traditions, no matter what happens. It tells us that father tends to be the most powerful one in the family, and polygamy is allowed at that time. Moreover, children were not allowed to eat delicacies such as eggs (at that time) without father’s allowance. They also had naming ceremony. The life expectancy of the new born child was really low (1/10).
 * What does he feel about his seven years in exile? **
 * Obierika describes Okonkwo as “one of the greatest men in Umuofia” and says that the white man “drove him to kill himself”. What is your assessment of Okonkwo’s character? **
 * What does the story of Ezinma tell us about the customs and beliefs of this society? **