Things Fall Apart Chapters 3-4 (25 points)

Standard: ELA.10.R.1.3: Analyze how coming of age experiences are reflected in a text and how
the author represents conflicting perspectives.
Objective: I can analyze how coming of age experiences are reflected in Things Fall Apart,
chapters 3 and 4, and how the author represents conflicting perspectives those experiences.
1. Why did Unoka visit the Oracle of Agbala and what message did he receive? Why is
this important to understanding Okonkwo’s character? ACEE (5 points)

Unoka visited the Oracle of Agbala to find out why he always had a miserable harvest and the
priestess told him that he is lazy when the other men work very hard. When Unoka goes to tell
the priestess, she tells him that when everyone is working hard, he just sits and sows his yams on
land that did not need be labored. She tells him, “Go home and work like a man.” This is
important to understanding Okonkwo because it’s another reason why he doesn’t want to be like
his father.

2. Summarize how Okonkwo builds his farm and wealth? What obstacles does he need
to overcome and how does he overcome them? (4 sentences, 5 points)
To build his farm and wealth, Okonkwo collected his sown yams from the harvest of the
previous year, 800 yams from Nwakibie, and 400 from his father’s friend. At first, rain barely
poured, and the sun was scorching hot burning the yams to crisps. To solve this problem,
Okonkwo begun to sow during the first rains, he watched the sky all day for signs of rain clouds
and lay awake all night, but no matter what he did, the yams were killed, and the drought kept
going for eight market weeks. Once the rain finally returned, he planted what was left of his
seed-yams so he would make a fresh start, but the rain poured very violently and washed away
the yam heaps. Later, the rain became less violent but came day to day without pause with no
sun, everyone knew that this harvest was a bust as they wept digging up the miserable and rotting
yams, but Okonkwo did not sink under depression because he knew that he was a fierce fighter.

3. Describe the week of peace and compare it to an American holiday or tradition.

ACEE (5 points)

SKIP
 4. Essential Question: What do you learn about Ikemefuna’s role in Okonkwo’s
family? What effect is Ikemefuna having on Nwoye? Frame this answer in terms of
how Ikemefuna is helping Nwoye to “come of age” by examining this from both
Okonkwo’s and Nwoye’s perspective. ACEECEE (10 points)
Ikemefuna’s role in Okonkwo’s family is like a member of his family. Being a part of the family,
he and Nwoye became deeply attached to each other. Ikemefuna would tell Nwoye endless
stocks of folk tales, even the ones Nwoye knew were told with a new freshness and local flavor
of a different clan. Nwoye “remembered this period very vividly till the end of his life.” These
stories told by Ikemefuna helped Nwoye learn about a lot of new things in life like Nnadi.
Nwoye always wondered who Nnadi was and why he lived all by himself eating and cooking.
Later, Nwoye decided that “Nnadi must live in that land of Ikemefuna’s favorite story” where the
ant holds his court in splendor and sand dances forever.