Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist considered the father of modern African literature. His most famous novel, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, tells the story of Okonkwo, a leader in a late 19th century Igbo village in Nigeria. The novel explores the clash between Igbo culture and the arrival of European missionaries and colonial government. It examines the breakdown of traditional Igbo social structures and religion in the face of Christian conversion and colonialism. The document provides historical context on Achebe, Igbo culture and religion, British colonization of Nigeria, and the setting of the novel in a late 19th century Igbo village.

1. Things Fall Apart
An African novel by Chinua Achebe

2. Chinua Achebe (1930-2013)

3. Chinua Achebe – “the father of modern African
literature”
• Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, the fifth of six children, was born to
converts to Christianity on November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, an Igbo
villiage in southeastern Nigeria, which had been one of the first
centers of missionary work in Nigeria.
• Studied History and theology at the University of Ibadan. While in
college he developed his interest in indigenous Nigerian cultures. He
also rejected his Christian name and took his indigenous African
name.
• After graduation Achebe began teaching but left after a few months
to take a job with the Nigerian Broadcasting Service where he wrote
scripts. He also began working on his own novel, in English, Things
Fall Apart.
• 1956 he was selected to go to London for training at the BBC – his
first trip outside Nigeria. He brought manuscript with him, received
feedback and offer for publishing, which he declined, saying
manuscript needed more work. Things Fall Apart was published in
1958, two years before Nigerian independence. He is considered one
of the founders of a Nigerian literary movement of the 1950s

4. Chinua Achebe – since “Things Fall Apart”
• He became involved in politics and actively crusaded for help for
those in his country suffering. He left his career in radio in 1966 as a
result of the political conflicts which would lead to Nigerian civil war,
Biafran War, in 1967. The predominantly Igbo people of the area
called Biafra felt discriminated by the Yoruba majority and seceded.
The war ended in 1970 when Biafra surrendered.
• A paraplegic from the waist down after a 1990 automobile accident,
Achebe has lived in the United States since, teaching first at Bard
College and, from 2009 until his death, at Brown University
• He wrote five novels, of which Things Fall Apart is the most famous .
He received the Nigerian National merit in 1987 and has been
awarded over 25 honorary doctorates from Universities throughout
the world. In addition, has written extensively, including articles,
short stories, essays, and children’s books
• By 1995 over 8 million copies of Things Fall Apart had been sold and
the book had been translated into more than 45 languages

5. Achebe’s writing
• Achebe sees his role as a writer as one of social
responsibility, since he believes that all good stories should
have a purpose.
• His novels were written in English, but he incorporates
Igbo vocabulary and narratives.
• He draws on oral traditions of indigenous tribes,such as
folk tales and songs, and verbal descriptions of life and life
lessons
• His goal is to mold the English language to the rhythm and
lyrical quality of the Nigerian language: This style, and the
incorporation of the proverbs and idioms of African culture,
combine to mark his stories as uniquely African.
• Is recognized for his ability to write simply yet eloquently
about life’s universal qualities

6. Chinua Achebe’s concerns
• Achebe was unhappy with books written about Africa by the
British (like Heart of Darkness and Mister Johnson) because
they were inaccurate, insulting and often racist.
• He wrote Things Fall Apart in an attempt to show that what
Europeans thought was strange, actually had meaning and
importance.
• Most of his novels and short stories are based in Nigeria, Africa.
Many of his characters are members of the Igbo (Ibo) tribe.
• Achebe looked at the African experience under white Christian
colonialism as a “systematic emasculation of the entire African
culture” (Nigerian professor Ernest N. Emenyonu). His writing
concerns clash of cultures and the breakdown of traditional
African Culture in the face of European Colonization in the
1800s.

7. The setting
Nigeria under British colonization in the
late 1880s

8. Berlin Conference 1884 divides Africa
• Nations claiming
ownership:
Portugal, Spain,
Dutch, France,
Netherlands,
England and others
soon followed…
• Main commodities:
slaves, gold, ivory,
rubber plants,
diamonds and
spices

9. Over 100 million people
live in Nigeria Today
Nigeria is 3
times the size
of Germany in
area
The Igbo are the third largest
ethnic group. They live in the
southeast

10. Background on Nigeria
• Area been occupied since at least
9000 BCE
• History dates to Nok culture of
1000 B.C.
• Portuguese established port: Lagos
– used to trade slaves
• After Napoleonic Wars, British
began trade, took over as colonial
power in 1885
• Christianity took its strongest hold
in Nigeria when the majority of the
missionaries arrived in the late
1800’s. Today 58% is Christian,
40% Muslim and 2% still practice
native religions

11. Historical Context- British colonization
and the spread of Christianity
• Missionaries provided education and attempted to convert
tribes from their “heathanistic” beliefs
• Africans were distrustful of European Christians at first, but
many eventually converted
• As more members adopted European values, the clans divided
and conflicts arose
• After the arrival of the British, conflicts between villages were
resolved by white governmental rules
• When violence involved missionaries or bureaucrats, British
soldiers would often slaughter entire villages instead of
punishing guilty individuals
• Africa changed from a society determined by common language
and cultures to a land divided by political borders that divided it
into at least 50 nation states

12. European Views of Africa
• During this time, most Europeans thought that Africa
was a dangerous country, full of cannibals. Explorers
brought back stories of strange traditions, people and
customs.
• Africa was known as the “dark continent”
• The skin color of the people
• Dark in jungle areas
• Dark because customs seemed barbaric.
• Dark because lack of Christianity
(Showing them the “light of God”)

13. The Igbo culture
• Story takes place in the Igbo village of Umoufia in the
late 1880’s, prior to English colonization
• Third most populous ethnic group in Nigeria (16% of
population)
• Live in southeastern part of country in tropical rain
forests (deal with rainy season and dry winds)
• Subsistence farmers – raise their own crops:
• Yam, cassava, taro, corn, etc.
• Palm trees for oil and fiber
• Crafts and manual labor also provide income

14. Religious Beliefs
• The Igbo worship many gods who are
represented by priests and priestesses within the
tribe. The will of gods was revealed through
oracles.
• Chukwu – supreme god, creator of world is
everywhere at the same time--therefore there
are no shrines or altars for worship.
• Each individual has a personal god, or Chi, that
follows you throughout life and can be either
malevolent or benevolent…but chi does not
control destiny. It can be influenced through
individual actions and rituals.
• Egwugwu –ancestral spirits of the clan. They are
represented by masked men at social gatherings.
Highly respected and worshipped, provides
interaction between the worlds of living and dead

15. Villager performing
role of egwugwu

16. Igbo Society
Marriage Customs
• Organized in patrilineages. Live in villages a few km from
each other based on male lineage – male heads of
household all related on father’s side (approximately 5,000
people per clan)
• Marriages were discussed in depth as they brought families
& entire villages together
• Most husbands practiced polygamy
• Women go to live with husbands; prosperous men have 2
or 3 wives
• Igbo women lived in separate houses, cooked for
themselves, and raised their own children
• Unhappy women could leave a marriage

17. Igbo Culture
• It is a patriarchal society. Decision making
involves males only
• Lack of centralized political structures. No
single leader, elders lead – typically, oldest
male member of family
• Lived in autonomous villages & towns, ruled
by their elders in tribal councils
• Democracy was obtained through a council
of elders, age groups, councils of chiefs,
women’s associations, and secret societies

18. Men grew yams. Women grew other
crops

19. Igbo Society
• Social mobility: Titles earned (not inherited). High
value placed on individual achievement. System
encouraged hard work and the spread of wealth
• Hospitality very important
• Some Igbo owned slaves captured in war or as
payment for debt.
• Large emphasis on tribal traditions and rituals

20. Some specific items

21. Bride Price
Common in many African cultures; the
bridegroom’s family pays in cash or
goods for the privilege of marring a
young woman. (dowry – opposite –
woman’s family pays for man to marry
her).

22. Obi
Large living quarters for the head of the
family.

23. Kola
A bean, a stimulant like tea or coffee. Served on
most social occasions.

24. Cowrie shells
A sea shell, used as a form of money. The village’s
distance from the sea makes them rare enough to use
as money.

25. Palm oil
Rich yellow oil pressed from fruit of palm trees. Used
for fuel & cooking.

26. Palm oil comes from palm nuts
which are harvested by climbing
high up in palm trees. Palm
wine is also tapped in the same
area on the tree. Palm wine
tappers make holes in the tree
at the base of the male
flower. Using funnels made of
palm leaves the tappers collect
the palm wine as it drips from
the tree into gourds that they
hang from the palm fronds.

27. Yam
sweet potato-- In some
African cultures it was used as
currency

28. Storage of yams

29. harmattan
Dust-laden winds
originating in the
desert. Usually last 3-
5 days. Dusty haze
usually blocks out the
sun, reduces
temperatures and
visibility.

30. ekwe
• Ekwe - Two-pitch Ibo log
drum. Available in two types of
of hardwood (yellow or red).
Played with either a plain
straight wood stick or a
rubber-tipped short beater
similar to a large balafon or Alo

31. Igbo Customs in Things Fall Apart
• Week of Peace: In Umuofia, a sacred week in
which violence is prohibited.
• Ikenga-- a carved wooden figure kept by every
man in his shrine to symbolize the strength of a
man’s right hand.
• Polygamy: a man can marry more than one wife.
• The Igbo week has four days: Eke, Oye, Afo, and
Nkwo.
• Eating habits: The man of the house eats
separately in his central hut; Yam is Igbo’s staple
food.
• Osu: a class of people in Igbo culture considered
outcasts, not fit to associate with free-born
members of the clan.

32. “The white man has put a knife in the things that
held us together and we have fallen apart.”
The book

33. “The reason African Literature came into
existence because these things that were
supposed to represent [Africans] were
inaccurate. There was a vacuum, a gap to be
filled”
~Chinua Achebe
Achebe on African Literature

34. “Let me first make one general point that is
fundamental and essential to the appreciation
of African issues by Americans.
Africans are people in the same way that
Americans, Europeans, Asians, and others are
people.
Africans are not some strange beings with
unpronounceable names and impenetrable
minds.
Although the action of Things Fall Apart takes
place in a setting with which most Americans
are unfamiliar, the characters are normal people
and their events are real human events.”
~Chinua Achebe

35. Things Fall Apart
• Published as a response to novels that treat Africa as a
cultureless foil for Europe.
• Set in the 1890s
• Portrays the conflicts between Nigeria’s white colonial
government and traditions of indigenous Igbo people
• Portrays complex social institutions and traditions of
the Igbo culture prior to European contact

36. The title
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
-- W.B. Yeats: “The Second
Coming”

37. Change is a part of life
But when your world suddenly changes, how do you cope?
Development of the
New York skyline
1870-2015
WTC Sept. 11, 2001

38. The story
“Achebe’s Things Fall apart,
written with an insider’s
understanding of the African
world and its history, depicts
the destruction of an
individual, a family, and a
culture at the moment of
colonial incursion.”

39. Themes
• “Theme” is the completion of the sentence “the author thinks that …”
• Different cultures are not necessarily unequal; this superior/inferior
belief will lead to eventual tension and destruction of both cultures.
• Cultures are dynamic; they must be flexible and evolve with changing
outside forces.
• Masculinity and femininity should not be viewed in very strict terms.
Such cut and dry perspective does not allow a person to adapt to
their surroundings.
• Success and failure are self-determined. We as human beings define
them, in our own individual terms, as suited to our needs, values,
and cultural experiences.
• What does Achebe think (what is his message) about:
• Choices and consequences
• Justice

40. Style
• Things Fall Apart mixes Western linguistic forms and
literary traditions with Igbo words and phrases, proverbs,
fables, tales, and other elements of African oral and
communal storytelling traditions.
• Simple sentences: simplicity of life
• Imagery: metaphors and similes
• Proverbs: used to comment on human behavior,
importance of oral communication and the complexity of
Igbo culture
• Folk Tales: show values of society
• Igbo words and expressions: richness of the Igbo language

41. The plot
• The plot recounts the story of Okonkwo, a respected man of the
fictional Igbo village of Umuofia, in the late 1800s.
• Okonkwo is a champion wrestler, a wealthy farmer and a “title-
holder” in his clan.
• He has three wives, a son and a daughter, and he is ward to a
boy, Ikemefuna, who is a hostage for the village.
• He is a firm believer in tradition. He is driven by the fear of
being like his father, who he considered weak and who died
poor and in disgrace.
• He is a proud and prone to violence. One day, he goes too far
and is banned from his village for seven years.
• While he is away, white Christian missionaries arrive in
Umuofia, causing many changes to the way of life he has
known.

42. The Characters

43. Okonkwo- (Oh-kawn-kwoh)
His name means “the roaring flame”. He is the central
character of Things Fall Apart. A young and influential
leader of the African Igbo community of Umuofia (Oo-
moo-oh-fee-ah); he is known as a fierce warrior as well
as a successful farmer. Since early childhood, his
embarrassment about his lazy father, Unoka, has driven
him to succeed. His hard work and talent in war have
earned him a position of high status. He is strong,
proud and driven, despises anything he regards as
weakness and is terrified of looking weak like his father.
Sometimes he behaves rashly, bringing trouble and
sorrow upon himself and his family.

44. Nwoye (Nuh-woh-yeh)
Okonkwo’s oldest son, age twelve at the
book’s beginning. He is innately a
sensitive young man. Nwoye disappoints
Okonkwo by showing signs of his
grandfather’s sensitivity, weakness and
laziness. He is constantly beaten by
Okonkwo in hopes of correcting the faults
that Okonkwo sees in him. He is later
influenced by Ikemefuna and begins to
show more masculine behavior. He
eventually converts to Christianity which
displeases Okonkwo.

45. Ikemefuna (Ee-keh-meh-foo-nah).
A boy of fourteen who is given to Umuofia by a
neighboring village, to avoid war. He is a clever,
resourceful young man. He develops a close relationship
with Nwoye, becoming somewhat of a big brother to
him. Okonkwo becomes very fond of Ikemefuna but
does not demonstrate his affection because of his fear
of looking weak. Ikemefuna fills the void in Okonkwo’s
life that his own son cannot

46. Ezinma (Eh-zeen-mah)
Daughter of Okonkwo’s second wife, Ekwefi and
Okonkwo. She is the only one of Ekwifi’s children to
survive past infancy. She is the center of Ekwifi’s world.
She is favored by Okonkwo because she understand
him better than any of his other children. Okonkwo
wishes that Ezinma were a boy because she would have
been a perfect son.

47. The wives
• Okonkwo’s first wife is never
mentioned by name; she is
wise, compassionate, peaceful,
and adheres to tribal traditions
• Ekwefe- Okonkwo’s second wife;
courageous and strong willed
• Ojiugo- Okonkwo’s third and
youngest wife; makes her
husband angry and prompts him
to break the sacred Week of
Peace

48. Other Igbo
• Unoka- Okonkwo’s father
and the root of all his fears
and problems; represents all
the characteristics the Igbo
abhor (gentleness, lack of
ambition, sensitivity to people
people and nature)
• Obierika (Oh-bee-air-ee-
kah) Okonkwo’s best friend,
friend, who often represents
the voice of reason.

49. The British
• Mr. Brown - The first white Christian missionary in Umuofia and
Mbanta. An understanding and accommodating man, he is
inclined to listen to the Igbos. He institutes a policy of
compromise and non-agression between his people and the clan.
clan. He befriends prominent clansmen and builds a school and
hospital in Umofia. He attempts to appeal respectfully to the
tribe’s values.
• Reverend James Smith - A strict, stereotypical white Christian
missionary, who takes over the church after Mr. Brown’s
departure. He is uncompromising and strict. He demands that his
his converts reject all of their indigenous beliefs. His behavior
epitiomizes the problems of colonialism.
• The District Comissioner- An authority figure in the colonial
government in Nigeria. He is the Prototypical racist colonialist. He
He thinks he understands everything about the indigeionous
African customs and has no respect for them.

50. Conflicts to Watch
• The cultural conflict: "The conflict of the novel, shown in
Okonkwo, derives from the series of crushing blows which
are leveled at traditional values by an alien and more
powerful culture causing, in the end, the traditional society
to fall apart," (G.D. Killam).
Cultural: Ibo vs. Western
Tradition vs. Christianity
Assimilation vs. purit
• Generational: Okonkwo vs. Unoka
Okonkwo vs. Nwoye
• Gender: Okonkwo vs. his wives
• Inner: Okonkwo vs. himself

51. Things Fall Apart as Greek Tragedy
A Greek tragedy is a dramatic narrative in which serious
and important actions turn out disastrously for the
protagonist, who is also known as the tragic hero.

52. The Tragic Hero
• The classical tragic hero is a person of great importance to his/her state or
culture.
• He or she is conventionally noble and of a high member/leader, the ruler or
an important standing in his/her society.
• Adheres to and exemplifies a code of conduct including reverence toward the
laws of God and the universe, loyalty to the family, and respect for
government
• The moral health of the state (in this case, the tribe) is dependent on that of
its hero, and so the tragic story of the hero and the tragic story of the state
are connected.
• Tragic heroes are mixed characters, neither completely good nor bad, yet
“better” and “greater” than everyone else in the sense that they are of
higher than ordinary moral worth and social significance. They often
demonstrate wisdom, moral or philosophical greatness -- sometimes
physical prowess
• They always possess a flaw in personality or psyche that ultimately brings
about total destruction.

53. The Plot of a Greek tragedy
• The plot of tragedy traces the rising of the hero, when a
disastrous event, also known as reversal of fortune, or
peripeteia sends him or her from the heights of happiness
depths of misery. This fall usually comes as a
consequence of a tragic flaw, or hamartia, in the hero’s
character and /or a moral weakness. Okonkwo’s flaws:
• Hubris (pride)
• Ate (rashness)
• The fall may also be a product of the hero’s pre-
determined destiny or fate. The gods may have
prophesized this fall. The hero’s tragic flaw, sometimes in
the form of a strong passion (classically, hubris or
excessive pride or self-confidence), may cause the hero to
disregard divine law and/or try in vain to escape his/her
fate.

54. Catharsis
• The tragic hero may experience a supreme moment of
recognition of the truth of his situation or identity. The
tragic hero is supposed to move us to pity because, since
he is not an evil man, his misfortune is greater than he
deserves. However, his story may also move us to fear or
terror because we recognize similar possibilities in
ourselves.
• Greek theorist Aristotle also asserts that these feelings of
pity and fear are purged through catharsis, which is the
moment when an audience is left feeling, not depressed by
our hero’s actions but relieved and often left feeling better
about ourselves.
• (Catharsis is the purging of emotions or relieving of
emotional tensions.)

55. The structure of Things Fall Apart
• The first part sets the scene:
• Okonkwo’s humble beginnings and his rise to power through
hard work.
• the ways of the Ibo people.
• Each chapter reflects some part of Ibo life and either
supports or questions it.
• The second part:
• Okonkwo’s exile from his tribe
• the influence of the missionaries and the intrusion of the
European government into the African culture.
• The final part: Okonkwo’s return

56. Point of view
Achebe uses third-person narration to mimic the oral
nature of African stories. He creates a tale that seems
to have been passed from generation to generation,
much like many of the tales that are told within the
narrative. There is little dialogue between the
characters; the reader can imagine an elder member of
the tribe passing the story to the younger clansmen.

57. Chapter 1
The first chapter serves several purposes. First, it
establishes Okonkwo as the protagonist of the novel.
Through stories of Okonkwo’s father, the reader
understands the basis for Okonkwo’s personality.
Achebe also uses the first chapter to establish traditions
and customs in the Ibo culture. Until the point this
novel was written, European literature mostly
characterized Africa as a barren land devoid of culture
and language. Achebe manages to illustrate the
complexities of the African society, as well as the
complexities of the African language and oral tradition.

58. Opening sentence
The first sentence of the novel serves two purposes.
First, the sentence establishes the narrator as within
the community about which he is speaking. The
sentence also introduces Okonkwo, situating him within
a community of nine villages

59. Repetition and imagery
One rhetorical strategy is the repetition of the animal imagery of the
cat. Achebe immediately thrusts the reader into a culture where nature
and the wild play vital roles in the village. Achebe also introduces the
reader to the number seven in the mention of the man who fought a
spirit for “seven days and seven nights.” In Ibo religion, the number
seven is symbolic of God’s seal. Achebe references this number in
order to create a connection between the Christian religion that is
introduced later in the novel and the Ibo culture’s reliance on the
spiritual world. Before Things Fall Apart, much of the literature written
about Africa focused on the differences between African and the
Western culture. Achebe is trying to establish that there are some
similarities between the two cultures.

60. Metaphor
• Metaphors can be recognized by finding the two ideas
that are being compared. Achebe compares Okonkwo
to a powerful cat. Okonkwo moves in the way of a cat
in the way that he pounces on people. The image of
pouncing, which is a verb normally reserved for
animals, suggests that Okonkwo is as quick and
powerful as a tiger or leopard or lion.

61. Simile
The line is an example of a simile. Comparing Okonkwo to a fish
illustrates how tactical he was when fighting Amalinze. Through
the simile, Achebe creates a vivid image in the reader’s mind of
the “cat” trying in vain to snare a slippery fish in water. See
also:
Watch for “like” or “as” when reading the descriptions.
The image shows how little rain the tribe received and how
damaging the heat was to the crops.

62. Here is another simile. Again, Achebe creates an
image—this time of a roaring bush-fire to illustrate
Okonkwo’s rapid rise to fame.
The line is an example of polysyndeton, which is a
repetition of conjunctions in a series of words, phrases,
or clauses. It creates a rhythm in the language, almost
like the beat of drums.

63. Unoka is Okonkwo’s father. Even before the reader is introduced
to Unoka, we learn that Okonkwo had “no patience with
unsuccessful men.” He is a lazy man, who owed money to
everyone. “ When he was alive, he spent much of his money on
alcohol and did a poor job providing for his family. It is later
emphasized that Okonkwo had no respect for the memory of his
weak and effeminate father. Achebe is establishing the
background for Okonkwo’s character. One of a writer’s techniques
in characterization is to use other characters to illustrate aspects
of a particular character’s personality. In order to establish part
of Okonkwo’s hardworking, impulsive, personality, the reader
needs to see why he feels so strongly about hard work. Achebe
uses Okonkwo’s father to help illustrate this quality. Okonkwo’s
attitude toward his father will also eventually inform his attitude
toward his own son

64. Proverbs
The metaphor comparing proverbs to palm oil emphasizes that
proverbs are common in their speech and add flavor to their
conversation the way palm oil adds flavor to food.
The use of proverbs is an example of the rich language the Igbo
people possess. They have a rich, storytelling tradition, and the
proverbs allow people to include storytelling in their everyday
conversations. This proverb, a favorite of Okonkwo’s father
Unoka, means that a person should not waste what he or she is
given, but instead should eat and act as if there were no
tomorrow.

65. Foreshadowing
The various occasions of foreshadowing in Things Fall
Apart are not subtle. Instead, they directly lead the
reader to the ultimate conclusion. See the above
example. These references foreshadow that something
unfortunate is going to happen to Ikemefuna.

66. Gender Roles in Things Fall
Apart

67. Gender
• Being of woman; or of man.
• Masculine vs. feminine
• Other than biological differences
• Language can be gendered

68. The Role of Man in Igbo culture
A man in Igbo culture is expected to:
• Provide food and shelter
• Rule over his “clan”
• Take several wives
• Gain “titles”
• Many of the main characters in the book beat their
wives regularly

69. Role of Woman in Igbo culture
Women in Igbo culture are expected to:
• Take care of the children
• Cook for their husband
• Clean and take care of the grounds and buildings.
• Some of the female characters in the book represent
balance, and go against the regular male character
that shuns femininity as a bad thing.

70. Matriarchy/Patriarchy
• Matriarchy: a form of social organization in which the
mother is head of the family, and in which descent is
reckoned in the female line, the children belonging to
the mother's clan; matriarchal system
• Patriarchy: a form of social organization in which the
father is the supreme authority in the family, clan, or
tribe and descent is reckoned in the male line, with the
children belonging to the father's clan or tribe.

71. Important passages relating to gender in
the book

72. How does this quote show Okonkwo’s attitude toward
gender?

73. Nowye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he
still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell, and which she no doubt still
told to her younger children….That was the kind of story Nowye loved. But he
now knew that they were for foolish women and children, and he knew that his
father wanted him to be a man. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for
women’s stories…”
What does this passage tell us about the conflict
between father and son? How does it foreshadow
Nwoye’s later conversion?

74. Women never saw the inside of the [Egwugwu house]. No woman ever did. They
scrubbed and painted the outside walls under the supervision of men. If they
imagined what was inside, they kept their imagination to themselves. No woman
ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan”.
How does this show the different social roles in Igbo society?
How does this show the different social roles in Igbo
society?

76. Chapters 13-19: Okonkwo in the
“motherland”
Read and consider the attitudes towards gender

77. Things Fall Apart: Discussion Starters
Okonkwo believes that strength and toughness are
more important than compassion and gentleness.
• In what circumstances might this attitude help a
person succeed?
• When could it cause problems?
• Does everyone have a tragic flaw?
• What is Okonkwo’s?
• What is yours?

78. Things Fall Apart: Discussion Starters
The European missionaries want the Ibo to change their
way of life.
• Why do some people want to impose their culture on
another?
• Can one culture judge another by its own standards?
• When do you think it’s acceptable to encourage a
group of people to change their way of life? When is it
not acceptable?

79. Bibliography
• http://www.bookrags.com/biography/chinua-achebe/
• http://www.gradesaver.com/author/chinua-achebe/
• http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/achebe.htm
• http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/things/themes.html

80. The End