THINGS FALL APART(1958)Study Guide: Reading & Study Questions

Part I, Chs. 1-13 |Part II, Chs. 14-19 |Part III, Chs. 20-25

Donn’s Note: In your copy supplied by the school district, start your page number with Chapter 1/Page 1. I apologize sincerely for the way your text was copied…it was out of my hands .
Text:
Achebe, Chinua.Things Fall Apart. [First published 1958.]Expanded edition with notes.1996.
London: Heinemann, 2000.

Chapters 1-8 Study Guide

(Note: Part I is Chapters 1-13, but we will quiz on 1-8 on for Part I)

Directions: Chapter 1-8 Questions will cover the following details from the novel. As you annotate, you may do so using colors or codes of your choice. However, you should focus on the following essential idea surrounding this book:
How to Annotate: This book combines Igbo vocabulary into English prose. This element of style, however, is merely an allegory for the larger purpose and themes of this novel. Does Achebe translate HIScultural language INTO OURcultural language, or is the OTHER WAY AROUND? The list below contains some cultural signifiers to watch for, question, and comment upon as you go. The questions for our Part I quiz will focus on these details of Igbo culture as presented in the novel itself.

  1. The novel’s title & background: Achebe takes the title for his novel from a line in a classic Western modernist poem "The Second Coming" (wr. 1919; pub. 1921), by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939; Irish).

'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 chose to take the title of his novel from Yeats’ poem.

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 ofSpiritus 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?

Book Facts:

  • FULL TITLE·Things Fall Apart
  • AUTHOR·Chinua Achebe
  • TYPE OF WORK·Novel
  • GENRE·Postcolonial critique; tragedy
  • LANGUAGE·English
  • TIME AND PLACE WRITTEN·1959, Nigeria
  • NARRATOR·The narrator is anonymous but shows sympathy for the various residents of Umuofia.
  • POINT OF VIEW·The narration is in the third person, by an omniscient figure who focuses on Okonkwo but switches from character to character to detail the thoughts and motives of various inividuals.
  • TONE·Ironic, tragic, satirical, fablelike
  • TENSE·Past
  • SETTING (TIME)·1890s
  • SETTING (PLACE)·Lower Nigerian villages, Iguedo and Mbantain particular
  • MAJOR CONFLICT·On one level, the conflict is between the traditional society of Umuofia and the new customs brought by the whites, which are in turn adopted by many of the villagers. Okonkwo also struggles to be as different from his deceased father as possible.
  1. Okonkwo, the protagonist ofThings Fall Apart:
  • How is he a “heroic” character (consider the “tragic hero” of Shakespeare and Grecian tradition)?
  • Consider him as an Igbo (non-western) heroic character: How does he work to achieve greatness as defined by his own culture?
  • What are his universal strengths and weaknesses?
  1. 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?
  • What do we learn from the system of the taking of titles?
  • Who seems to be excluded from opportunities to gain such success?
  1. ThenarratorofThings Fall Apart,the "voice" telling us the story of Okonkwo, Umuofia (Igbo for "people of the forest," per Brians), and the Igbo world of the nine villages:
  • How would you describe this narrative voice, its point of view, its values and perspectives?
  • Consider the impact of Achebe’s use of"African English."Describe who Achebe’s intended audience(s) might be.
  • What is the effect on Western readers and outsiders to Igbo culture?
  • Consider how Achebe’s language choices contribute to the novel. Examples:
  • Achebe’s use of Igbo words likeegwugwuandiyi-uwa, untranslated in the novel itself, but briefly explained by the glossary on pp. liii-lv. (note that many editions ofThings Fall Aparthave been published without such translations;
  • His selection of Igbo character names likeUnoka("Home is supreme"),Nwoye(fromnwa= "child") andOkonkwo(fromoko= attributes of masculinity +nkwo= the third day of the Igbo 4-day week, the day on which Okonkwo was born)
  • 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. The glossary explains it is used in food preparation and cooking, and later became a major cash crop exported to Europe (p. lv).
  • ***NOTE: Note ch. 3’s “proverb about proverbs,” and look for other proverbs as you read.
  • PREVIEW: 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? (We may do fables in class, or tales connected to personal family histories.) What values do these stories reflect? Note that some stories are women’s stories, and others are men’s stories

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  1. Setting(time, place, culture) of the novel:
  • Attend to Achebe’s presentation of the details of everyday village 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?
  1. Ritual in the novel:What do we learn from the kola ceremony of hospitality? Paul Brians explains, "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 [although in our edition, the Glossary, p. liv, explains that kola nuts are ‘offered to guests on special occasions’]."
    Why palm-wine? 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.