Revising ‘Things Fall Apart’
Fill in the grid with information from Things Fall Apart. It is really important that you LEARN some key quotes to use in your essay, so make sure you gather lots of evidence from the text.
Key Points / Evidence(Quoteswith page ref, clear examples)Themes Make a list below
Characters(list below)
Setting(describe briefly below)
How is the text written?
- Structure
- Language imagery
- Narrative technique
Key sections, chapters, scenes
SUGGESTED ANSWERS:
Key Points / Evidence(Quoteswith page ref, clear examples)Themes :
The arrival of the white men
Strength as a virtue
Masculinity
African traditions / The white men impose their culture/religion/.customs on the Igbos
Okonkwo always wants to be seen as a strong character
Okonkwo’s fight not to be like his father and also for his son to follow in his footsteps
TFA provides us with an insight into Igbo life / p.122 ‘An abominable religion has settled among you’
‘I fear for you;I fear for the clan’
‘He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father.’
Characters(list below)
Okonkwo
Unoka
Nwoye
Ezinma
Ikemefuna
Obierika
The white men / Okonkwo – strong, strict, afraid of being weak, impulsive etc
Unoka – lazy, keen on the good things in life, debtor
Ikemefuna – killed by Okonkwo when he is warned not to
Nwoye – disappointment to his father, effiminate, weak, converts to christianity
Ezinma – sickly child, ogbanje
The white men – show disregard for Igbo culture/traditions
Obierika – a man of reason / Okonkwo
p.3 ‘His fame rested on solid personal achievements’
‘He was as slippery as a fish in water’ etc etc
Unoka
p.3 ‘He was lazy and improvident’
‘He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop’
‘Unoka loved the good fare’
Ikemefuna
p.7 ‘The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna’ ‘doomed lad’
p38 ‘He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season, and was full of the sap of life’
p.44 he ‘felt his legs melting under him. He was afraid to look back’
Nwoye
p.11 ‘...was developing in to a sad-faced youth’
p.44 ‘He did not cry. He just hung limp’
p.105 ‘I don’t know. He is not my father’
Ezinma
p.47‘She should have been a boy’
p.126 ‘She was called Crystal of Beauty’ ‘healthy, buoyant maiden’
Whitemen
p.101 ‘iron horse’
p.134 ‘He saw things as black and white’(Rev Smith)
p.152 ‘He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger’(D.C)
Obierika
p.151 ‘ That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog’
Setting / Igbo culture
Umuofia, Nigeria
Use of langauge, proverbs
Feasts such as Uri, Week of Peace, Feast of the New Yam...
Traditions such as kola nut, palm wine...
Music
Wrestling
Gods, personal gods chi / p.5 ‘He who brings kola brings life’
p.5 ‘the intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene’
p.3 ‘Amalinze the Cat was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten’
p.27 ‘Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food of the celebration’
p.65 ‘And when, as on that day, nine of the greatest masked spirits in the clan came out together it was a terrifying spectacle’
etc etc
How is the text written?
- Structure
- Language imagery
- Narrative technique
Proverbs
3rd person narrator.
Achebe =Nigerian; Telling us about colonisation from the African point of view. / p.6 ‘Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly’
‘proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten’
Key sections, chapters, scenes / Amalinze the Cat
Ikemefuna comes to live with Okonkwo
Week of Peace
Feast of New Yam
Ikemefuna’s death
Ezinma’s iba
Finding her iyi-uwa
Obierika’s daughter’s uri
Funeral – Okonkwo killing boy
Exile
Return to Umuofia
Arrival of the white men
Full list of quotations:
Themes
p.122 ‘An abominable religion has settled among you’
‘I fear for you;I fear for the clan’
‘He had no patience with unsuccessful men. He had no patience with his father.’
Characters:
1) Okonkwo
p.3 ‘His fame rested on solid personal achievements’
‘He was as slippery as a fish in water’
‘Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan’
‘He was tall and huge, and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look’
‘His heels hardly touched the ground’
‘He seemed to walk on springs’
p.6 ‘If a child washed his hands he could eat with kings’
p.10 ‘He ruled his household with a heavy hand’
‘His whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness’
p.20’Okonkwo knew how to kill a man’s spirit’
p.21 ‘to show affection was a sign of weakness’
p.45 ‘He was afraid of being thought weak’
p.112 ‘How then could he have begotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate and effeminate?’
p.133 ‘He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart...’
2) Unoka
p.3 ‘He was lazy and improvident’
‘He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop’
‘Unoka loved the good fare’
3) Ikemefuna
p.7 ‘The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna’ ‘doomed lad’
p38 ‘He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season, and was full of the sap of life’
p.44 he ‘felt his legs melting under him. He was afraid to look back’
4) Nwoye
p.11 ‘...was developing into a sad-faced youth’
p.39 he’knew it was right to be masculine but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell.’
p.44 ‘He did not cry. He just hung limp’
p.105 ‘I don’t know. He is not my father’
p.108 ‘The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry plate of the panting earth’
5) Ezinma
p.47‘She should have been a boy’
p.126 ‘She was called Crystal of Beauty’ ‘healthy, buoyant maiden’
6) Whitemen
p.101 ‘iron horse’
p.134 ‘He saw things as black and white’(Rev Smith)
p.152 ‘He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: ThePacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger’(D.C)
7) Obierika
p.151 ‘ That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog’
Setting
p.5 ‘He who brings kola brings life’
p.5 ‘the intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene’
p.3 ‘Amalinze the Cat was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten’
p.27 ‘Yam foo-foo and vegetable soup was the chief food of the celebration’
p.65 ‘And when, as on that day, nine of the greatest masked spirits in the clan came out together it was a terrifying spectacle’
p.89 ‘They all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal’
Language
p.6 ‘Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly’
‘proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten’