Things fall apart

Chapter 3

Setting
Things Fall Apart is set in a fictional group of Igbo villages called Umuofia, around the
beginning of the twentieth century.

Summary
.Chapter 3 describes incidents from Okonkwo's childhood and young adulthood — incidents that
have contributed to Okonkwo's flawed character.

According to the first story from Okonkwo's past, his father, Unoka, consulted the Oracle of the
Hills and Caves, asking why he had produced bad harvests each year in spite of his sacrifices and
planting procedures. During his story, Chika (the priestess of the Oracle) interrupted him angrily
and told him that he hadn't offended the gods, but in his laziness, he took the easy way out by
planting on exhausted land. She told him to go home and "work like a man."

Bad fortune followed Unoka, even to his death. He died of swelling in his stomach and limbs —
an affliction not acceptable to Ani, the earth goddess. He therefore could not be buried properly,
so he was taken to the Evil Forest to rot, making Okonkwo even more ashamed of his father.

In the second story from Okonkwo's past, the young Okonkwo was preparing to plant his first
farm in yams — a man's crop — while his mother and sisters grew women's crops — such things
as coco-yams and cassava. Because Okonkwo had received nothing from his father, he began his
farming through share-cropping. To get help for his planting, he visited Nwakibie, a great man of
the village, Okonkwo asked Nwakibie for seed-yams and pledges his hard work in growing and
harvesting them. Okonkwo would return two-thirds of what he grew to Nwakibie and receive
only a third of the total crop for himself. He acknowledged Okonkwo's earnestness and ambition
and gave Okonkwo twice the number of seed-yams he'd hoped for.

The growing season that followed was disastrous for Okonkwo as well as for most other farmers
of the village. The land suffered first a great drought and then unending rain and floods — a
combination ruinous to the season's harvest. Okonkwo was deeply discouraged, but he knew that
he would survive because of his determination to succeed.

How did the chapter reflect the Culture of the setting?

This chapter Explore the village customs that allow Okonkwo to borrow yam seeds from a
neighbor. The separation between the man's world and the woman's world in Umuofian culture is
again emphasized in this chapter as the wives eat after their husbands and then with the
classification of crops. A priestess and masked tribesmen interpret the Oracle, speaking for
ancestors and gods. They enforce taboos against death by different diseases like that of
Okonkwo’s father.

Quote mentioned in chapter

has a manly and a proud heart. A proud heart can survive general failure because such a failure
does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone." Chapter 3,
Pg. 21
"A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing."

Lesson
Okonkwo attributes his survival of that year to his own strong will, but in doing so he does not
learn the lesson that even great strength, will, and hard work are not always enough to withstand
greater forces of fate or luck such as the whims of nature.

Characters
Okonkwo, Unoka, Nwakibie

Terminologies
Agbala, the Oracle the prophet of the Igbo. Achebe bases the Agbala Oracle (the Oracle of the
Hills and the Caves) on the Awka Oracle that was destroyed by the British. Chielo was the
priestess who spoke to Unoka on behalf of the god Agbala.

Ani the earth goddess who owns all land.

chi a significant cultural concept and belief meaning one's personal deity; also one's destiny or
fate.

Nna-ayi translated as our father; a greeting of respect.

sharecropping working land for a share of the crop, especially as a tenant farmer. Here,
Okonkwo works as a sharecropper to obtain seed-yams.

coco-yam the edible, spherical-shaped tuber of the taro plant grown in the tropics and eaten like
potatoes or ground into flour, cooked to a paste, or fermented for beer. Here, the round coco-yam
(a woman's crop) is a different tuber than the elongated-shaped yam (a man's crop).

cassava any of several plants (genus Manihot and especially M. esculenta) of the spurge family
grown in the tropics for their fleshy, edible rootsticks that produce a nutritious starch. Here, the
plant also provides valuable leaves for livestock feed as well as tubers, which are prepared like
coco-yams.