Things Fall Apart

By Chinua Achebe
The Continent of Africa
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Why is it such an important

book?
 Things Fall Apart is considered to be the
first truly African novel written in English –
other novels in English about Africa up
until this point were from a white, colonial
perspective
 Colonialism:

The exploitation by a stronger nation of a

weaker one and the use of a weaker
country’s resources to strengthen and
enrich the stronger country.
 Until only recently, Great Britain
(England) was one of the most dominant
colonial powers in the world.
“The Sun Never Sets
on the British
Empire”
 Former British Colonies:
 The United States
 Africa (multiple nations)
 India
 Hong Kong
 Australia
British Colonial Power
 Other Colonial Powers
 France

 Spain

 Portugal

 The Netherlands
 Allusion:
 An allusion is a reference to a
person, place, event or work of
literature.

 Allusions
are usually made to
well-known subjects – the Bible,
mythology, history, etc.
 Examples of Allusions:
 A Herculean task (a difficult task) is an
allusion to Hercules from Greek myth.
 The brand Nike is an allusion to the Greek
goddess of victory.
 The title Things Fall Apart is an
allusion to the poem The Second
Coming by WB Yeats
 Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
 The novel is published in 1959, but takes
place during the 1890s
 The novel paints a picture of pre-colonial
Nigeria and the effects of British colonial
power on a particular tribe: the Ibo
 The story centers around Okonkwo, a
strong village leader of the Ibo tribe, and
his family.
Nigeria
Wrestling in Nigeria
 Proverbs
 A proverb is a short saying that expresses
a cultural wisdom or a truth
– It is better to give than to receive
– Don’t judge a book by its cover
– Truth is stranger than fiction
– Blood is thicker than water
– “Proverbs are the palm oil with which words
are eaten”
 Foreshadowing
 Foreshadowing in literature is a hint of
something that is to come in the future

 At the end of Chapter 1, it is

foreshadowed that a boy will come to live
with Okonkwo and that the boy,
Ikemefuna is doomed
 Chapter One
 Okonkwo becomes famous by beating an
undefeated wrestler when he is only 18
– He is a huge, impatient man with a short
temper

 Unoka was Okonkwo’s father

– He was a lazy man who owed a lot of money
and could not provide for his family
The Raffia Palm
 Chapter 2 Vocabulary

 Ultimatum - A statement, especially in

diplomatic negotiations, that expresses or
implies the threat of serious penalties if the
terms are not accepted.

 Emissary - a representative sent on a mission

or errand

 Orator - An eloquent and skilled public speaker

Societal Organization
 Chapter Two
 A woman from Umuofia has been killed in the
neighboring village of Mbaino
 Since Mbaino does not want to go to war with
Umuofia, they instead sacrifice to Umuofia 2
people: a young girl to take the place of the
murdered woman and a young boy
 The young boy, Ikemefuna, goes to live with
Okonkwo’s family although he belongs to the
village
 Ch. 2 Key Points:
 Okonkwo is deeply afraid of being
thought of as like his father. He therefore
hates anything connected with Unoka
 Okonkwo fears that his son Nwoye might
be becoming like Unoka
 Okonkwo is very strict and rules his
household with an iron fist
A Modern Yam Barn
Yam Barn and Small Field
Building the Red Earth Walls
An Ibo Hut (1)
An Ibo Hut (2)
An Ibo Hut (3)
Okonkwo’s Compound
 Chapter 3 Vocabulary
 Oracle - A shrine considered to be the
source of wisdom or prophetic opinions.
 Prophesy - to declare or foretell by or as if
by divine (godly) inspiration.
 Share-Cropping - A system of dividing a
crop into shares — in this case 3 -two for
the landowner and one for the worker.
 Chapter Three
 Chapter 3 goes back in time to when Okonkwo
was a young boy and then jumps to Okonkwo
beginning his first farm
 Unoka was a lazy farmer and left Okonkwo no
barn, title or wife when he died
 Unoka died a shameful death and was not
buried like the others
 Okonkwo was very ashamed of his father’s life
and death
 Chapter Three cont.
 Okonkwo begins as a share-cropper for
Nwakibie, a very wealthy man who trusts
Okonkwo’s work ethic
 The year Okonkwo began his farm was
terrible – first a drought, then a flood
 He believes that since he survived that
year, he can survive anything
 Writing About
Literature
 When we write about literature in
English class, it is necessary to use
examples from the reading in the
form of quotations.
 Quotations are used to prove that
what we say in our own writing is
true.
Example of using a
Quotation:

Okonkwo’s father Unoka was a very

lazy man who didn’t like to work.
When Unoka asked the Oracle
why he always had a bad harvest,
the Oracle told him to “go home
and work like a man.”
 Chapter Four
 Okonkwo becomes a lord of the clan
through hard work, not luck, but he is
mean to unsuccessful men
 Ikemefuna was very homesick when he
first came to Okonkwo’s compound
 Ikemefuna becomes very popular in the
household and all the other children look
up to him
 Okonkwo is fond of Ikemefuna (inwardly)
 Chapter Four cont.
 Okonkwo breaks the Week of Peace by
beating his wife, Ojiugo and is forced by
the priest to make sacrifices

 Okonkwo is tough on Nwoye, but

(inwardly) knows that he is only a boy

 Nwoye and Ikemefuna become very close

– like brothers
 Chapter Five
 The New Yam Festival is the celebration of
a new year for the people of Umuofia and
a major holiday
 Ikemefuna is respected by all Okonkwo’s
children
 Ekwefi’s daughter Ezinma is a beautiful,
outgoing and hard working child whom
Okonkwo is very fond of
 Chapter Six
 The people of Umuofia take the wrestling
match of the festival very seriously
 The match begins with the youngest
wrestlers and progresses to the strongest
men
 Ekwefi meets Chielo, her friend and the
priestess of the Agbala Oracle
 Chielo asks about Ezinma’s health,
suggesting that she had been very ill
 Locusts
 Locusts in Africa
 Chapter Seven
 Ikemefuna’s example makes Nwoye want
to work hard to please Okonkwo, and it
does please him, but Nwoye inwardly
misses his “old self”
 The locusts come to Umuofia and provide
a rare and exciting snack
 Ogbuefi Ezeudu comes to tell Okonkwo
that it is time for Ikemefuna to be killed,
but that Okonkwo should have “no hand
in his death”
Chapter Seven, cont.
 Okonkwo ignores Ezeudu’s advice, goes
along on the sacrifice and kills Ikemefuna
because he was afraid of being thought
weak
 Nwoye senses that something is
fundamentally wrong with the killing of
the innocent, like Ikemefuna and twins
What is your reaction
to Okonkwo as a
person? Why?
 Chapter Eight
 Although he says nothing, Okonkwo is
clearly very upset about the death of
Ikemefuna: he can’t sleep or eat and he
drinks heavily
 In order to deal with the sadness, he
convinces himself that it was a manly
thing to do – he denies that he did
anything wrong
 We learn that Okonkwo wishes his
daughter, Ezinma were a boy
 Chapter Eight, cont.
 Okonkwo’s friend Obierika tells him that
he should not have gone along on the
sacrifice
 The deaths of Ndulue and Ozoemena:
Okonkwo should learn from the story that
a man can be a proud warrior AND a
gentle, loving person. He doesn’t learn
this important lesson.
 Settling a bride-price is an organized and
meaningful practice
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter nine goes back in time to
explain Ekwefi’s difficulty bearing
children
 We learn Ibo superstitions regarding
infant mortality (death)
 We see how clever Ezinma is
 Chapter Nine
 Ezinma develops a fever and Okonkwo rushes to
help her – we see his love for her
 We learn that Ekwefi has had 10 children and
Ezinma is the only survivor
 Ekwefi and Ezinma have a very close
relationship
 They tried various solutions from medicine men
– like the digging up of Ezinma’s iyi-uwa
 Ezinma and the iyi-uwa
 Ezinma is believed to be an ogbanje – a child
who keeps returning to his mother’s womb
 Ezinma’s cycle is “officially” broken when she
“finds” her iyi-uwa and calms her parents’ fears
 Ezinma is clever enough to see that the iyi-uwa
doesn’t actually exist, but that finding it will
bring relief to Ekwefi and Okonkwo
 This mythology of the Ibo predates their
exposure to Christianity and modern science
 Chapter Ten
 Umuofia has a very organized system
of justice - quite similar to our own
with plaintiff, defense and witnesses
 The egwugwu are symbols of the
ancestors who judge disputes
 This again shows us just how much
culture and tradition there is within
the clan
 Folktales
 a tale or legend traditional among a group
of people or, “folk”
 Folktales are especially considered to be
false or based on superstition.
 Folktales: 1. entertain, 2. teach a lesson
and often 3. explain nature, ie. the
tortoise’s shell
 American Folktales: Johnny Appleseed,
Paul Bunyan, Rip Van Winkle
 Chapter Eleven
 Ezinma is taken by Chielo to the Oracle
 Ekwefi bravely follows along – something
most other women would not do
 Okonkwo arrives and meets Ekwefi at the
oracle and walks home with her
 We begin to see the caring, human side of
Okonkwo, even though he doesn’t show it
to others
 Irony
 Irony is a contrast between
appearance and reality
 There is a difference between
what appears to be true and what
really is true
 Dramatic Irony
 Dramatic Irony is when the reader or
audience knows something that characters
don’t
 there is a difference between how things
appear to the characters and how things
really are as known by the reader

 __________________________________

 __________________________________
 Chapter Twelve
 A wedding celebration in Umuofia involves
most of the village and is considered a
woman’s ceremony
 Every woman helps to cook and prepare
for the arrival of the in-laws
 The men slaughter the animals
 We also see how the clan even has a
system for dealing with a cow that has
been let loose
 Chapter Thirteen
 The death of Ogbuefi Ezeudu is announced to
the people
 Ezeudu is the same man who warned Okonkwo
about Ikemefuna’s sacrifice
 During the funeral ceremony, Okonkwo’s gun
accidentally explodes and pierces Ezeudu’s
son’s heart
 The death is ironic because Okonkwo has killed
the son of the man who tried to keep Okonkwo
from being involved in Ikemefuna’s death
Okonkwo’s Punishment
 Okonkwo is banished from Umuofia
for 7 years for shedding the blood of
a clansman – a “female” or
accidental crime
 Okonkwo must flee to his motherland
– Mbanta – the village where his
mother was from
 Okonkwo’s compound is destroyed
 Part One
 Part One focuses on establishing:
–The character of Okonkwo and
his family members

–Ibo culture and traditions and

the similarities to our own
(Western) civilization
 Part One
 Part One focuses on establishing:
– Seeds of doubt exist amongst the
people:
 Nwoye
 Obierika
 Egwugwu
 Iyi-uwa
 Chapter Fourteen
 Okonkwo and his family are welcomed by
Uchendu, Okonkwo’s uncle in Mbanta
 Uchendu’s family helps Okonkwo with his
compound and his farm
 Uchendu is irritated by Okonkwo’s
seeming lack of gratitude
 Uchendu reminds Okonkwo to be grateful
for what he has rather than to sulk over
what he has lost
 Chapter Fifteen
 Obierika visits Okonkwo during his second
year in exile
 He explains that the village of Abame was
destroyed:
 A white man came to the village and the
clan killed him.
 Later, the clan is destroyed as retribution
 Uchendu is opposed to the violence
 Chapter Sixteen
 Obierika brings news that missionaries
have set up in Umuofia and that he saw
Nwoye with them
 We learn that most of the missionaries
that have come to Umuofia and Mbanta
are African with only a few whites – this
tells us that there has been a European
presence in the area for enough time to
make missionaries of Africans
 Chapter Sixteen Cont.
 The missionaries come to Mbanta and tell
the clan that their gods are false
 Most villagers see the missionaries as
foolish
 The head missionary in Mbanta is Mr.
Kiaga – an Ibo man
 Men with no social status join the
Christians – offer of equality and respect
 Nwoye is attracted to the respect for all
human life that the Christians preach
 Chapter Seventeen
 Umuofia is the center of the Christian mission –
the white men are in Umuofia
 The missionaries (Africans) ask for a plot of land
and they are given as much of the Evil Forest of
Mbanta as they want
 The clan is surprised when the Christians do not
die – even after 28 days – more people convert
 Okonkwo is furious that Nwoye was seen with
the Christians – Nwoye leaves for Umuofia
 Okonkwo’s Reaction to Nwoye
 Okonkwo tells himself that fighting for a
worthless son like Nwoye is not worth it
 He recognizes that “Living fire begets cold,
impotent ash.”
 He takes no responsibility for Nwoye
turning away from their traditions and
joining the Christians
 Chapter Eighteen
 Mr. Kiaga gets most of his converts from
the outcasts of the clan
 The clan is very tolerant of the Christians
– “live and let live”
 Some converts show disrespect to the
clan: the “killing” of the python
 The clan chooses to ostracize (exclude)
the Christians
 Irony in Chapter 18

Appearance: Okonkwo thinks that

Umuofia would never allow the Christians
to live in their clan
Reality: Umuofia is the headquarters of
the Colonial Government and Christian
Mission
 Chapter Nineteen
 Okonkwo shows his gratitude to his
kinsmen by preparing a huge feast in
Mbanta before he returns to Umuofia.

 An older member of the clan thanks

Okonkwo for preserving tradition during a
time when traditions are disappearing
 Chapter Twenty
 Part 3 is Okonkwo’s return to Umuofia
 Okonkwo is determined to make return to
Umuofia with a “bang” so he asks Ezinma
to refuse any proposals in Mbanta
 Okonkwo is disappointed in the way he is
received – people are much more
concerned with the Christians
 Cont.
 Ogbuefi Ugonna, a titled man, joins the
Christians – this shows that the new
religion is taking hold
 However – the white men also bring a
government and begin punishing clan
members for following their own traditions
Chapter Twenty-One
 Many in Umuofia are not upset with the
white presence because their trading
brings money into the clan
 Mr. Brown – the head of the church in
Umuofia – is a tolerant man who is
respectful of the clan
 He engages them in conversation and sets
up a school and a hospital
 Hypocrite:
A person who thinks they have virtues
that they don’t actually possess;
someone who does not practice what
they preach
EX: Mr. Smith preaches Christianity,
but he doesn’t act like a Christian.
** HYPOCRISY is IRONIC **
Chapter Twenty-Two
 Mr. Brown’s successor, Mr. Smith, is an
intolerant man who does not respect Ibo
tradition
 A convert, Enoch, shows the ultimate
disrespect of the clan by unmasking an
egwugwu
 The clan burns down Enoch’s compound
and the church
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Okonkwo is happy the clan took action
against the Christians
 Okonkwo and 5 other leaders are captured
by the kotma
 The District Commissioner accuses them
of disrespecting the Christians – IRONY
 The prisoners are beaten and abused by
the kotma
 They are set free after paying a fine
Chapter Twenty-Four
 The mood in Umuofia is very tense after
the prisoners are released
 The leaders hold a meeting to decide what
to do as a group, but Okonkwo is only
concerned with personal revenge
 As the men are deciding to take action
Okonkwo kills a court messenger -> he is
thinking about himself not the clan
 Chapter Twenty-Five
 The D.C. comes to Okonkwo’s compound
looking for Okonkwo
 Obierika leads him to a tree in the back
where Okonkwo has hung himself
 The clan cannot take Okonkwo down or
bury him
 The D.C. shows his ignorance by thinking
that the Ibo had no civilization and that
they needed to be “pacified.”
The Irony of Okonkwo’s Death
 Okonkwo spent his life trying NOT
to be like his father and in death
he ends up just like Unoka

 Okonkwo thought he could

endure anything – but in the end
he gives up.
The Paragraph
A paragraph is a group of
sentences that have to do
with the same topic
A good paragraph will
have:
 a topic sentence
 supporting sentences
 a closing sentence
Topic Sentence
The topic
sentence states
the main idea of
your paragraph
Supporting Sentences
 Supporting sentences provide
details that show your topic
sentence to be true
 Quotations from the text with a
corresponding explanation are
the best supporting details
 Supporting sentences must relate
to the topic sentence
Closing Sentence
 The purpose of the closing
sentence is to remind your reader
of the point you are making or to
make a transition to the following
paragraph

 Re-state the topic sentence in

other words and add an
observation