Things Fall Apart Study Guide - Parts Two & Three

Transcription

1 PART II Chapter Questions In Part One we were introduced to an intact and functioning culture. It may have had its faults, and it accommodated deviants like Okonkwo with some difficulty, but it still worked as an organic whole. It is in Part Two that things begin to fall apart. Okonkwo's exile in Mbanta is not only a personal disaster, but it removes him from his home village at a crucial time so that he returns to a changed world which can no longer adapt to him. In Chapter 14, note the value placed on premarital chastity in the engagement ceremony. In many African cultures virginity is not an absolute requirement for marriage but it is highly desirable and normally greatly enhances the value of the bride-price that may be paid. Thus families are prone to assert a good deal of authority over their unmarried daughters to prevent early love affairs. In Chapter 15, note that although the people of Abame acted rashly, they had a good deal of insight into the significance of the arrival of the whites. Note how the Africans treat the white man's language as mere noise; a mirror of how white colonizers treated African languages. 1. According to Achebe, how does Okonkwo feel about his new life? Analyze at least one example of figurative language that Achebe uses to describe Okonkwo s feelings. 2. Uchendu tells a story about a kite who takes a duckling and a chick. What is the point of the story? How does it relate to the encounter between the Abame and the whites? 1

2 3. What does Obierika bring on his visit to Okonkwo? Why does he not want Okonkwo to thank him? 4. What disaster happens to the Abame clan? How did it happen? Chapter Questions The British followed a policy in their colonizing efforts of designating local "leaders" to administer the lower levels of their empire. In Africa these were known as "warrant chiefs." But the men they chose were often not the real leaders, and the British often assumed the existence of a centralized chieftainship where none existed. Thus the new power structures meshed badly with the old. Similarly the missionaries have designated as their contact man an individual who lacks the status to make him respected by his people. Note how Achebe inverts the traditional dialect humor of Europeans, which satirizes the inability of natives to speak proper English by having the missionary mangle Ibo. 2

3 5. What step does Nwoye take concerning the missionaries? Does this decision show strength or weakness? Why does the new religion appeal to Nwoye? Why do you think Nneka converted to Christianity? 6. Achebe focuses on the doctrine of the Trinity, the notoriously least logical and most paradoxical basic belief in Christianity. How does this belief undermine the missionaries' attempts to discredit the traditional religion? 7. What is Uchendu s reason for giving the missionaries part of the Evil Forest and what is the result? 3

4 8. How do you interpret Okonkwo s thought, Living fire begets cold, impotent ash. 9. State one way in which the European missionaries misunderstand Ibo culture and one way in which the Ibo misunderstand the Europeans. 10. What does the metaphor in the next to the last sentence of the chapter mean? 4

5 Chapter Questions 11. The outcaste osu are introduced in Ch 18. Why do you suppose Achebe didn't mentioned them earlier? 12. What role did outcasts play in bringing Christianity to Iboland? Why is this important? 13. On two occasions, converts actively threaten the religious traditions in Mbanta. What are the occasions and why is this significant? 5

6 14. What unfortunate event happens to the Christians the week before Easter and why is this significant? 15. Why is there no punishment in Ibo law for killing a python? Why could the clan not kill the converts? 16. What does the final speaker say is the main threat posed by Christianity? 6

7 PART III Chapters Questions The missionaries try to refute what they consider idolatry with the simplistic argument that the animist gods are only wooden idols; however the villagers are perfectly aware that the idol is not the god in a literal sense, any more than the sculpture of Christ on the cross in a Christian church is God. This sort of oversimplification was a constant theme of Christian arguments against traditional faiths throughout the world as the British assumed that the natives were fools pursuing childish beliefs who needed only a little enlightenment to be converted. Mr. Brown here learns better. It is worth noting that Achebe, like his fellow Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, was raised a Christian; but both rejected the faith and have preferred to affirm certain aspects of traditional beliefs in their own lives. Note how Akunna shrewdly senses that the head of the Church is in England rather than in heaven. Note the recurrence of the phrase "falling apart" in the last sentence of the chapter How has Umofia changed during Oknokwo s exile? Give three specific examples. 18. How is Rev. Smith different from Rev. Brown? How are they similar? 7

8 19. What is the result of Rev. Smith's black and white thinking? 20. How does Enoch spark a conflict in Umofia? What does the clan do about it? 21. What clashes in values are created by the functioning of the British courts? 8

9 22. Why do some of the villagers -- even those who are not converts to Christianity -- welcome the British? 23. According to Obierika, the clan could easily drive out two white men. Why then, does he feel the clan is falling apart? 24. How does Okeke, Mr. Smith s interpreter, show wisdom in dealing with the leaders of Umuofia? What do you think is the cause of his wisdom? What do you think would have happened if Okeke weren t so wise? 9

10 Chapters Questions 25. Why do you think the guards and messengers treat the men of Umuofia so badly? Give examples. 26. In what way do the court messegers take money dishonestly from Umuofia? 27. What kind of person do you think the District Comissioner is? Give examples to support your views. 10

11 28. What does the District Commissioner say is the motive of the British in colonizing the Africans? How is this significant? 29. Once again Okonkwo uses his matchet rashly, bringing disaster on his head. But he could be viewed as a defiant hero defending his people's way of life. What do you think of his act? Give examples for support. 30. At the end of Chapter 24, Okonkwo hears his clansmen asking, Why did he do it? What are they referring to, and why do you think he did it? 11

12 31. In the last paragraph of the novel, the point of view shifts, although the narrative is still in third person. Whose point of view is shown in this paragraph? Why do you think Achebe makes this shift? What tone, or attitude, does Achebe adopt in this paragraph? Give examples to support your analysis. Achebe went on to write two sequels to Things Fall Apart featuring descendants of Okonkwo. In The Arrow of God (1964) he further explores the failure of the British to understand traditional beliefs and values, and in No Longer at Ease (1967) he shows how postcolonial Nigeria became corrupted by a government that was not the organic creation of its people, but an alien structure imposed upon them. He has also published several other novels, a volume of short stories, and many poems and essays. Like many Nigerian authors, he was an exile from his homeland where a military dictatorship was in power until he was able to return for a brief visit in Chinua Achebe died in