Name: _____________________________________________ Hour ...



Name: _____________________________________________ Hour: ________ Date: __________________

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS for Chapters One through Six of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

INTRODUCTION: Chinua Achebe's narrative novel, Things Fall Apart, was first published in 1958. The setting is eastern Nigeria in the late 1800s and early 1900s, just prior to and during the British expansion into Umuofia. The theme is that of the struggle and transformation of the traditional Igbo society while under British colonialism. This theme is conveyed by illustrating major events in the life of Okonkwo, a respected tribal leader.

ACHEBE’S STYLE & POINT-of-VIEW: The innovative style of Things Fall Apart is one of its essential characteristics. The novel combines the voice of an omniscient narrator with the deceptively simple style of an African storyteller in the oral tradition. The use of repetition, for example, suggests ancient oral storytelling, while the detailed and highly literary descriptions of nature and characters maintain the book’s allegiance to the European novel tradition. Achebe also uses the literary forms of fable and proverb to convey symbolic meanings that counterpoint the main narrative. The novel uses folk tales, songs, animal fables, and traditional maxims in order to suggest symbols for the main characters and to comment on the events of the plot. Things Fall Apart makes liberal use of flashback and foreshadowing techniques in order to provide understanding of character and plot. Achebe relies on omniscient point-of-view which enables him to reveal the perspectives of individual characters.

1.) Achebe takes the title for his novel from a line in a classic Western modernist poem The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). Paul Brians explains the background of Yeats’ poem: "Yeats was attracted to the spiritual and occult world and fashioned for himself an elaborate mythology to explain human experience. The Second Coming, written after the catastrophe of World War I and with communism and fascism rising, is a compelling glimpse of an inhuman world about to be born. 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 have chosen 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.

THE SECOND COMING

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?

2.) Describe Okonkwo, the protagonist of Things Fall Apart. Consider him as an Igbo heroic character: how does he work to achieve greatness as defined by his and culture? How does he differ from Western heroes whom you are community familiar with? What are his character’s strengths and weaknesses?

3.) 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? What do the early descriptions of Okonkwo’s success and Unoka’s failure tell us about Igbo 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.) Describe the narrator of Things Fall Apart, the "voice" telling us the story of Okonkwo, Umuofia (Igbo for "people of the forest,"), and the Igbo world of the nine villages. How would you describe this narrative voice, its point of view, its values and perspectives? To what does Achebe’s narrator bear "witness"?

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 Igbo culture? Consider how Achebe’s language choices contribute to the novel. For example: (a) Achebe’s use of Igbo words like egwugwu and iyi-uwa, un-translated in the novel itself; (b) his selection of Igbo character names like Unoka ("Home is supreme"), Nwoye (from nwa = "child") and Okonkwo (from oko = attributes of masculinity + nkwo = the third day of the Igbo 4-day week, the day on which Okonkwo was born); and (c) his integration of proverbs and folktales, oral art forms characterizing key elements of Igbo thought and speech. For example, "proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten." What does this mean? Palm oil is rich yellow oil pressed from the fruit of certain palm trees. It is used in food preparation and cooking, and later became a major cash crop exported to Europe. Note chapter three’s proverb about proverbs, and look for other proverbs as you read.

6.) Describe the setting (time, place, culture) of the novel. Attend to Achebe’s presentation of the details of everyday village ways-of-life in Umuofia, the values and beliefs of the Igbo people, and the importance of ritual, ceremony, social hierarchy, and personal achievement in Igbo 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 Igbo ways-of-life, customs, perspectives, beliefs, and values to those of your own culture.

7.) What do we learn from the kola ceremony of hospitality? Kola is a mild stimulant, comparable to tea or coffee, which is served on most social occasions in this culture. It is also one ingredient after which Coca-Cola is named. Note how the ritual for sharing kola is described without being explained. Kola nuts are "offered to guests on special occasions." Palm-wine is a naturally fermented product of the palm-wine tree, a sort of natural beer. How is awareness of rank observed in the drinking of the palm wine? Note how Achebe introduces—but does not fully explain--Igbo customs, rituals, and ceremonies in the novel. Think about why Achebe chooses to do this, considering that he wrote for an international non-African audience as well as his own peoples.

8.) Note the means of exchange--cowry shells threaded on strings—common in many African cultures. The villages' distance from the sea makes cowries sufficiently rare to serve as money. Cowries from as far away as Southeast Asia have been found in sub-Saharan Africa.

9.) What effect does night have on the people in chapter two? What do they fear? How do they deal with their fear of snakes at night?

10.) What is the cause and nature of the conflict with Mbaino? Keep this in mind when you read chapter 13, where a serious incident has tragic consequences for Okonkwo, though it would be treated as a accidental manslaughter under our law.

11.) What are the important crops? What are the seasons? How does sharecropping work? What are the male and female designated crops, and why? What is the relationship of women to agriculture?

12.) Consider the dual roles in the human and spiritual worlds played by the egwugwu and Chielo, the priestess of Agbala. Chielo, the priestess of Agbala is introduced in chapter three. What does her power and status in Umuofia suggest about women’s roles in Igbo culture and religious beliefs? Later in the novel, note Chielo’s roles in the village (e.g., in chapter six). What are those roles?

13.) The chi or personal spirit is a recurring theme in the novel, a spiritual belief important to understanding the main character Okonkwo. What role does Okonkwo’s chi play in shaping his destiny?

14.) Compare Obierika—a man "who thinks about things"--to Okonkwo. Consider Obierika as a kind of foil—a parallel or contrasting character--to Okonkwo.

15.) Family Life: 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. What differing roles and functions do men and women have in Igbo society? What is Okonkwo’s attitude toward women? 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.

16.) The first chapters of Things Fall Apart provide exposition introducing the reader to the protagonist Okonkwo and the Ibo culture. How do the following points of rising action indicate central conflicts around which the story will revolve: A.) Okonkwo’s increasing violence, B.) Okonkow’s hostility toward Nwoye, and C.) the relationship between Ezinma and her parents?

17.) In the novel’s early chapters, Achebe provides extensive ethnographic descriptions to Ibo life – Okonkwo’s compound, the villager’s farming practices, and village feasts and celebrations. How does this strategy give the setting depth and authenticity?

18.) Achebe’s direct characterization of Okonkwo opens the novel and focuses on his physical prowess and accomplishments, suggesting which features of Okonkwo’s nature will eventually lead to his self-destruction. How does Achebe’s direct characterization of other male characters – Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, his son Nwoye, and the hostage Ikemefuna – articulate the theme of masculine and feminine values eventually important throughout the entire novel?

19.) What events in chapters four through six introduce the theme that there is no such thing as static culture; change is continual and inevitable, and flexibility is necessary? What else do these events accomplish?

20.) What does Achebe present to the reader that sets the stage for insight into the dynamic relationship between individuals and their society and the idea of the theme that men and women are affected by the expectations of the community; the community is affected by the changing needs and desires of the people?

21.) How could Okonkwo kill a boy who called him “father”? Why is the killing ironic?

22.) The people of Umuofia believe that any man who works hard and shows bravery deserves merit regardless of his family origins. Discuss an example in our society that demonstrates this principle of merit and an example that does not.

23.) When a man says yes his chi says yes also. Explain the concept of chi in this story. Do you feel this idea continues to offer wisdom or present the truth? Please explain your answer.

24.) Describe the “brotherly” relationship between Ikemefuna and Nwoye.

25.) Explain how Okonkwo’s mad self-absorption disrupts the composition of his family.

Your Name: ____________________________________________________________ Class Hour: ________

Today’s Date (Date Assigned): _________________________________

Due Date: __________________________________________________

Discussion Questions for Chapters Seven through Fifteen of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

DIRECTIONS: Please use complete sentences, which include part of each question, to answer each of the following questions on a separate sheet of lined paper.

Chapter Seven

1.) How has Nwoye begun to "act like a man"? Please use specific examples from the text to support your

answer. What values does Okonkwo associate with manliness? How does Nwoye relate to these values?

2.) How does the village react to the coming of the locusts? How might Achebe be stressing the contrast with

other cultures, in which locusts are invariably a terrible plague?

3.) Why is Okonkwo asked not to take part in the killing of Ikemefuna? Why do you suppose they have now

decided to kill the boy?

4.) Why do you think Achebe does not translate the song that Ikemefuna remembers as he walks along?

5.) Most traditional cultures consider twins magical or cursed. Twins are in fact unusually common among the

Ibo, and some subgroups value them highly. However, the people of Umuofia do not. Why do you think the

introduction of this bit of knowledge is introduced on the heels of Ikemefuna's death?

Chapter Eight

6.) What is Okonkwo's attitude toward his daughter Ezinma? Please use specific examples from the text to

support your answer.

7.) Bride-price is the converse of dowry. Common in many African cultures, it involves the bridegroom's family

paying substantial wealth in cash or goods for the privilege of marrying a young woman. Do you think such a

custom would tend to make women more valuable than a dowry system where the woman's family must offer

the gifts to the bridegroom’s family? How do you think such a system would affect the women themselves?

8.) Young women were considered marriageable in their mid-teens. Why do you think this attitude arose? It is

worth noting that European women commonly married between the age of fifteen and eighteen. There is,

therefore, nothing uniquely African about these attitudes.

9.) How is the notion of white men first introduced into the story? Why might Africans suppose that white men

have no toes? What sorts of attitudes are associated with white men in this passage?

Chapter Nine

10.) Why does Ekwefi prize her daughter Ezinma so highly? Please use specific examples from the text to

support your answer.

11.) In this chapter the notion of the ogbanje is treated at length. What attitudes toward children does it reflect?

Does it balance against the "throwing away" of twins? Please explain your answer. Does Achebe seem to

validate the belief in ogbanje?

Chapter Ten

12.) The egwugwu ceremony of the Ibo has been much studied. The women clearly know on some level that

these mysterious beings are their men folk in disguise, yet they are terrified of them. What do you think

their attitude toward the egwugwu is? What seem to be the main functions of the ceremony?

13.) How does Evil Forest refute the argument of Uzowulu that he beat his wife because she was unfaithful to

him? How are problems like this affected by the fact that whole families are involved in marriage, unlike in

American culture where a man and woman may wed quite independently of their families and even against

their families' wishes? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each system?

Chapter Eleven

14.) What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect?

15.) What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the culture?

Chapter Twelve

16.) How is the importance of family emphasized in the uri ceremony?

17.) How does Achebe use the song sung at the end of chapter twelve to remind the reader that this is not a

frozen, timeless culture, but a constantly changing one?

Chapter Thirteen

Having shown us an engagement ceremony, Achebe now depicts a funeral. We are being systematically introduced to the major rituals of Ibo life.

18.) How does the one-handed egwugwu praise the dead man?

19.) Okonkwo has killed people before this. What makes this incident so serious, though it would be treated as

a mere accident under our law?

Chapter Fourteen

20.) 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. How is Okonkwo's exile in Mbanta a personal disaster? How does

Okonkwo’s exile connect to the deterioration of his village?

21.) What is the significance of comparing Okonkwo to a fish out of water?

22.) How does Okonkwo's lack of understanding of the importance of women reflect on him?

Chapter Fifteen

23.) How does the story of the destruction of Abame summarize the experience of colonization?

24.) Movie Indians call a train engine an "iron horse.” What does the same term refer to here?

25.) 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. How do the Africans treat the white man's language? How does this mirror how

white colonizers treated African languages?

26.) What sorts of stories had Okonkwo previously heard about white men?

Your Name: ____________________________________________________________ Class Hour: ________

Today’s Date: __________________________ Due Date of Assigned Reading: _________________________

Discussion Questions for Chapters Sixteen through Twenty-one of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Chapter Sixteen

1.) Why is the man the missionaries designated as their contact man

not receiving the expected respect from his own people? How, in

this case, is the new system clashing with the old?

2.) Why do you think Nwoye has become a Christian? What about this

new religion appeals to him?

3.) How does Achebe satirize the idea of the inability of native Africans

to speak proper English?

4.) What is the first act of the missionaries that evokes a positive response in some of the Ibo?

5.) Notice how 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?

6.) What function do the kotma, or court messengers, serve in the new society?

7.) Contrast the white man’s law and system of justice with that of traditional Umuofian society.

Chapter Seventeen

8.) What mutual misunderstandings are evident in this chapter between the missionaries and the people of the village?

9.) How does the granting to the missionaries of a plot in the Evil Forest backfire?

10.) What does the metaphor in the next to the last sentence of the chapter mean?

Chapter Eighteen

11.) The outcaste osu are introduced in chapter eighteen. How is the reader introduced to the osu? Why do

you suppose Achebe did not mentioned them sooner? Their plight was indeed a difficult one, and is treated

by Achebe elsewhere.

Chapter Nineteen

12.) In many cultures Okonkwo would be treated as a pariah, but this culture has ways of accommodating such

a person without destroying him, and in fact encouraging him to give of his best. How does traditional

Umuofian custom allow the welcoming back of an erring member of the clan?

13.) What does the reader learn is the main threat posed by Christianity?

Chapter Twenty

14.) By what is Okonkwo's relationship to the newcomers exacerbated?

15.) In what are all Okonkwo’s hopes and dreams rooted?

16.) To what can the reader attribute Okonkwo’s extreme reaction in chapter twenty?

17.) The missionaries have brought British colonial government with them. What clashes in values are created

by the functioning of the British courts?

18.) How does the final phrase of Obierika's last speech allude to the title of the novel?

19.) Okonkwo says that they should fight the white men and “’drive them from the land.’” Obierika responds

sadly, “’It is already too late.’” Why is it already too late?

20.) How has the white man been “’very clever,’” according to Obierika?

21.) In what ways might Obierika be considered a transitional figure between the old and the new Igbo societies?

Chapter Twenty-One

22.) Why do some of the villagers -- even those who are not converts to Christianity -- welcome the British?

23.) Why do you think Achebe chooses to bring in the European colonial presence only in the last third of the novel?

24.) A sort of oversimplification was a constant theme of Christian arguments against traditional faiths

throughout the world as the British assumed that various native groups were fools pursuing childish beliefs

who needed only a little enlightenment to be converted. What simplistic argument do the missionaries use

to try to refute what they consider idolatry? What about this argument are the villagers perfectly aware?

How do they compare this argument to Christianity?

25.) How and why is the phrase "falling apart" repeated in the last sentence of chapter twenty-one?

26.) How has Umuofia changed over the seven years while Okonkwo was in exile?

27.) Please compare and contrast the missionaries Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith.

28.) What does the reader learn from Akunna and Mr. Brown’s discussion of religion in chapter twenty-one?

29.) Why do many in Umuofia feel differently from Okonkwo about the white man’s "new dispensation"?

30.) In what ways do "religion and education" go "hand in hand" in strengthening the "white man’s medicine"?

Your Name: ____________________________________________________________ Class Hour: ________

Today’s Date: _____________________________ Due Date of Reading: _____________________________

Final Discussion Questions for Chapters Twenty-two through Twenty-five of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

1.) How is Reverend Smith different from Mr. Brown?

2.) What is the result of Reverend Smith’s “black and white” thinking? How does he cause a great deal of

conflict between the church and the clan?

3.) What does the District Commissioner say is the motive of the British in colonizing the Africans?

4.) Why is it interesting that Achebe has chosen to name Smith’s predecessor “Brown”? What is he suggesting?

5.) How is Reverend Smith a stereotypical European colonialist? How does his name reflect this quality?

6.) Why is Enoch’s suspected killing of the sacred python a dire transgression?

7.) How is Enoch’s conversion and alleged attack on the python an emblem of the transition from the old order

to the new?

8.) How does Enoch figure as a double for Okonkwo, even though they espouse different beliefs?

9.) How does the power the interpreter holds highlight the weaknesses and vulnerability created by the

language gap?

10.) Why does Mr. Brown believe reading and writing are essential skills for the villagers? What does he believe

these skills will help them maintain?

11.) Is Okonkwo’s desire to respond violently to the Christian church completely motivated by a desire to

preserve his clan’s cultural traditions? Please use specific examples from the text to support your answer.

12.) How, in chapter twenty-four, does Okonkwo once again use his machete rashly, bringing disaster on his

own head? Can he also be viewed as a defiant hero defending his people's way of life? Please use

specific examples from the text to support your answer.

13.) Why do you think Okonkwo kills himself? What is your reaction to the final paragraph of Achebe’s narrative?

14.) In chapter twenty-two the egwugwu destroys Mr. Smith’s church, and "for the moment the spirit of the clan

was pacified.” What are the ironic implications of this statement later when the reader learns the title of the

book the District Commissioner intends to write: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger?

15.) How does the District Commissioner trick the six leaders of Umuofia into jail? What is Okonkwo’s reaction?

16.) Why is Okonkwo isolated in the end?

17.) Do you consider Okonkwo a tragic hero? Please explain your answer.

18.) The District Commissioner decides that, "The story of this man who had 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 District Commissioner would write Okonkwo’s story in this paragraph?  In contrast,

Achebe has made Okonkwo’s story the subject of an entire novel. Why? 

19.) How and why did things fall apart?

20.) It has been suggested 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 or

why not?

21.) What does Chinua Achebe use the "weapon" of the English language to accomplish in Things Fall Apart?

22.) Bruce King comments in Introduction to Nigerian Literature that Chinua "Achebe was the first Nigerian

writer to successfully transmute the conventions of the novel, a European art form, into African literature. 

Achebe makes Western literary forms serve African values.”  For example, King notes, in an Achebe novel

"European character study is subordinated to the portrayal of communal life; European economy of form is

replaced by an aesthetic appropriate to the rhythms of traditional tribal life."  Do you agree? Why or why not?

23.) Chinua Achebe has integrated traditional Igbo/African elements in his novel—e.g., proverbs, parables, and

stories from Igbo oral tradition and culture—and created a kind of "African English."  What effects do you

feel this cross-cultural combination of Western literary forms and Igbo/African creative expression produces?

24.) How do you interpret the human purpose(s) and message(s) of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart?

25.) It is in Okonkwo’s nature to act rashly. How does his slaying of the messenger constitutes an instinctive act

of self-preservation? Do you feel there is a kind of martyrdom Okonkwo willingly embraces in this act?

Please explain your answer.

26.) How do Unoka’s words regarding the bitterness of failing alone come to have real significance in

Okonkwo’s life? How can they be seen as a fatalistic foreshadowing of the bitter losses that befall

Okonkwo despite his efforts to distance himself from his father’s model of indolence and irresponsibility?

27.) Which does Oknokwo value more: his personal success and status or the survival of the community. Why

does this contribute to his lonely failure?

28.) When is Okonkwo’s lack of concern for the fate of his community manifested? Why is this moment

significant in relation to Okonkwo’s death?

29.) How does Okonkwo die in humiliation and embarrassment like his title-less, penniless father?

30.) How does Okonkwo’s solitude persist even after his life ends?

31.) Is Okonkwo’s suicide the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy regarding his fear of failure? How?

32.) What far more effective but less masculine ways to resist the colonialists does Okonkwo ignore?

33.) The novel’s ending is dark and ironic. The District Commissioner is a pompous little man who thinks he

understands indigenous African cultures. How does Achebe use the commissioner, who seems a character

straight out of Heart of Darkness, to demonstrate the inaccuracy of accounts of Africa such as Joseph Conrad’s?

34.) The commissioner’s misinterpretations and the degree to which they are based upon his own shortcomings

are evident. How does he attempt to ridicule the villager’s beautiful and expressive language? How is the

commissioner’s shallowness illustrated?

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart FINAL PROJECT

While we read Achebe’s novel, you will research, draft, and write a project on ONLY ONE of the following: Achebe, Ibo culture, or Nigeria.

You must include a List of Works Cited at the end of your project. For information about how to cite sources, check the following resources:

• The MLA Web site at:

Once you are on the MLA site, go to the left set of bars and click on “MLA Style” in the salmon-colored bar. At the end of the first paragraph, click on the grey-blue phrase “frequently asked questions.” Look down the list of frequently asked questions and “How do I document sources from the World Wide Web in my works-cited list?” Read through the entire discussion and find a list of examples at the end of the discussion.

Choice I: Proverb Essay and Compilation

A proverb may be defined as “a short saying in common use that strikingly expresses some obvious truth or familiar experience; adage; maxim.” Achebe uses proverbs liberally in Things Fall Apart to communicate cultural values, judgments, beliefs, morals, and attitudes of the Ibo. For example, the narrator says of Okonkwo and his transcendence of his father’s failures, “If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.” The proverb expresses approval of Okonkwo and acknowledgement of his success. The proverb also implies that the Ibo has a society based on meritocracy and democracy.

Compile a list of proverbs from three (3) different chapters. Write down the proverb with the page number. Indicate the speaker, audience and occasion.

Write a two to three page essay on Achebe’s use of proverbs in the novel based on your compilation. You must cite your sources. Use parenthetical MLA citation and include a List of Works Cited.

Before you begin to write think about and write about the following questions as a pre-writing exploration:

1. How are the proverbs used to make a point or solidify an argument?

2. Often animals occur in the proverbs. How are animals compared to human beings? How are the animals anthropomorphized? How do the animals comment upon human behavior?

3. What is the effect of the proverbs on the prose?

4. What aspects of African and Ibo life are communicated to the reader by the proverbs? (rural, agricultural, weather, environment, etc.)

5. What specific cultural values do the three proverbs communicate?

6. What is the cumulative effect of the incorporation of the proverbs on the prose of the novel?

7. How do the proverbs make the novel more African and less English?

You may also find the following essay helpful for the above project: “Culture through Language in the Novels of Chinua Achebe” by Jayalashmi v. Rao and Mrs. A.V.N. College. This essay is available on-line at:

Choice 2: Ibo Culture

Write a two to three page essay on one aspect of Ibo culture as described in Achebe’s novel. Select from the following list:

1. agrarian life: crops, duties of the various seasons, etc.

2. a male dominant society but one in which “Mother is Supreme”

3. marriage customs (polygamy) and children

4. manners and social rituals

5. system of justice

6. religion or spiritualism

Once you have selected a topic, skim Things Fall Apart and compile a list of references to your topic. Note down context of references, characters involved, etc.

Research your topic on the web.

Write an essay of two to three pages that explains Ibo culture and how Achebe uses the cultural references to ground his novel and make it uniquely “African.” You must cite all your sources using MLA parenthetical references. You must include a List of Works Cited.

Choice 3: Book Jacket

Create a book jacket for a new edition of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. You can be as creative as you want for producing the book jacket, such as taking a large sheet of paper (white or colored), but no posters.

You may draw, paint, and/or collage an illustration for your cover.  You may pull images off the Internet, but keep track of the Web sites you visit and use because you must credit them on your “Works Cited” page.  See Hacker on MLA Style.  The book jacket should fit on one sheet of 8.5”X11” paper.  No posters.

Directions for saving a picture from the web: Just click anywhere on the surface of the picture with the RIGHT mouse button, and choose “Save Image As.” Then save it to your G drive. You can rename the picture if you want, but do not change the file extension.

To bring that picture into Microsoft Word: Open a new document, choose “INSERT,” then choose “PICTURE,” and then choose “FROM FILE,” and then “LOOK IN” the G DRIVE, and then select the file that you previously saved. When the picture is on the page, if you need to reposition it, just click inside the picture and the cursor becomes a cross-arrow; click inside the image and hold, and then drag the picture around. If you need to enlarge or reduce the picture, click inside the picture and then move the cursor onto one of the CORNER boxes; click and hold on the corner and drag diagonally up or down to resize the image. DO NOT resize with the boxes on the center of the sides or the image will get distorted.

Write a book teaser or attention-getting blurb of the novel for the inside front cover of your book jacket. Your goal is to introduce the characters, conflicts, setting, etc. in such a way that the reader will pay money for a new hardback edition of a novel they could buy in a cheap paperback copy.

Write an author blurb or short biography of Chinua Achebe for the inside back cover of your book jacket.  Again, you may visit Web sites to gather information for this brief bio, but you must cite your sources in the text of this biography and include the sources on your “Works Cited” page.  See Hacker on MLA Style.  This should be no more than two paragraphs long.

Write a five to seven paragraph introduction to the novel.  This should be a short, analytical piece of writing that offers the reader some orientation about the novel and gives the reader a focus for interpreting the work.  Your introduction should give a bit of plot summary, but should mostly be a focused interpretation of the text, one that points the reader in a clear direction.  You need a thesis statement and topic sentences.  You may use one of the following ideas to help you generate your focus or choose your own:

o Interpreting the novel as a feminist piece of literature, one in which Achebe criticizes the Ibo treatment of women

o Looking at the novel as an exploration of the ramifications of great change on a culture

o Reading the novel as a portrait of colonialism and its consequences

o Examining Okonkwo’s character as a tragic figure/hero – as a very flawed hero whom we both love and criticize

In your analysis, you may use ideas we discussed in class.  See Hacker on MLA Style. 

Do in-text citations and a “Works Cited” page, following MLA Style.  Again, you must reference where you got and built on ideas from outside sources.  You may use Internet sources for your book jacket and author biography.

Choice 4: Book of folktales, fables, and songs

Create a book of folktales, fables and songs that are apart of the novel. You can be as creative as you want in preparing the booklet. You can use a book format to type your folktales, fables, and songs. You are to use illustrations/pictures to help explain what is going on in your folktale, song, and fable. The illustrations/pictures are to be colored.

❖ The book is to contain a colorful, appealing book jacket with the author’s name (your name)

❖ A table of contents with the names of each folktale, song, and fable listed with the page number.

❖ Illustrations/pictures throughout the book.

❖ Be very creative and make the book appealing to the reader.

Choice 5: Okonkwo’s Compound

Draw a picture of Okonkwo’s compound including the huts of his wives. A description is given in the novel that will help to give you a picture of how to design the compound. Include every thing that is presented in the description of Okonkwo’s compound. Consider the placement of objects and the colors that are presented so that this can be apart of the picture. Draw and paint the picture on a large sheet of white paper. Be as creative as possible in making your design.

Choice 6: Write a news report about the death of Okonkwo.

Write a detailed newspaper article reporting the death of Okonkwo. Consider the 5 W’s: Who?, What?, When ?, Where?, Why? And How? Explain every aspect of the Okonkwo’s death. Focus on the chapter that tells about the death of Okonkwo to write the article. Write the article column by column and paragraph by paragraph. You can also provide a picture along with the article. The picture is to be colored. You can look at newspaper articles to use as an example to assist you as you write your article. Be thorough and make sure you cover all the important facts about Okonkwo’s death.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download