Things Fall Apart Part III Questions. Name ______
DUE JANUARY 15, 2013 AT THE START OF CLASS
Complete answers to the following questions on additional paper after reading Part 3 (Chapters 20-25) of the novel and be prepared to discuss them in class on the 15th. Responses should be in complete sentences and should reflect depth of thought and critical thinking regarding the novel.
1. Why do you think Achebe chooses to bring in the European colonial presence only in the last third of the novel?
2. How has Umuofia changed over the seven years while Okonkwo has been in exile?
3. Okonkwo says that they should fight the white men and “drive them from the land.” Obierika responds, “It is already too late” (Ch 20) – why? How has the white man been “very clever,” according to Obierika? In what ways might Obierika be considered a transitional figure between old and new Igbo societies?
4. Compare the missionaries Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith. What do we learn from Akunna and Mr. Brown’s discussion of religion (Ch 21)? How does Enoch set off “the great conflict between church and clan” (Ch 22), the consequences of which lead to Okonkwo’s death? What sources of misunderstanding seem to make the conflicts between the Europeans and Africans inevitable?
5. Why do many in Umuofia feel differently from Okonkwo about the white man’s “new dispensation” (Ch 21)? In what ways do “religion and education” go “hand in hand” in strengthening the “white man’s medicine”?
6. When the egwugwu destroy Mr. Smith’s church, “for the moment the spirit of the clan was pacified” (Ch 22). Consider the ironic implications of this statement later when we learn the title of the book that the District Commissioner intends to write: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
7. How does the District Commissioner trick the six leaders of Umuofia into jail? What is Okonkwo’s reaction? Why does Okonkwo kill the messenger? Why does Okonkwo afterwards commit suicide, “an offense against the Earth” (Ch 25)? Why do you think Okonkwo is isolated in the end? Do you consider Okonkwo a tragic hero?
8. 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 the paragraph? In contrast, Achebe has made Okonkwo’s story the subject of a whole novel – why?