TFA CH 7-10

2. Aside from telling a story, Chapters 1-3 establish the narrative style of Things Fall Apart.
How would you describe the focus of Chapters4-6?
3. Does the narrator condemn or justify Okonkwo’s behavior when he’s angry?
4. How is Nwoye’s mother characterized?
5. What details have been presented about Ikemefuna so far
Discussion Questions
1. When Okonkwo insults Osugo for having no titles, the tribe reminds him to be humble.
Why does Okonkwo believe he does not need to be humble?
2. Why did Okonkwo break peace of the Peace Week? How does Okonkwo increase his
shame after he breaks the peace?
3. Fire often acts as a symbol in literature. Where have we seen fire in our reading so far?
What was its purpose?
4. How did Ekwefi, Okonkwo’s second wife, fall in love and eventually marry him?
5. Chapter 5 depicts rather mundane life within the walls of Okonkwo’s obi. Why would
Achebe include this chapter?
Lesson 3 – Prose Analysis (Chapters 7-8)
Directions: Read through the following excerpt from Chapter 7 and prepare a prose essay based
on the prompt below. Rather than write an essay, just prepare a strong thesis statement and an
outline.
Thus the men of Umuofia pursued their way, armed with sheathed machetes, and Ikemefuna,
carrying a pot of palm-wine on his head, walked in their midst. Although he had felt uneasy at first, he
was not afraid now. Okonkwo walked behind him. He could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his
real father. He had never been fond of his real father, and at the end of three years he had become very
distant indeed. But his mother and his three-year-old sister… of course she would not be three now, but
six. Would he recognize her now? She must have grown quite big. How his mother would weep for joy,
and thank Okonkwo for having looked after him so well and for bringing him back. She would want to
hear everything that had happened to him in all these years. Could he remember them all? He would tell
her about Nwoye and his mother, and about the locusts… Then quite suddenly a thought came upon him.
His mother might be dead. He tried in vain to force the thought out of his mind. Then he tried to settle the
matter the way he used to settle such matters when he was a little boy. He still remembered the song:
Eze elina, elina!
Sala
Eze ilikwa ya
Ikwaba akwa ogholi
Ebe Danda nechi eze
Ebe Uzuzu nete egwu
Sala
He sang it in his mind, and walked to its beat. If the song ended on his right foot, his mother was alive. If
it ended on his left, she was dead. No, not dead, but ill. It ended on the right. She was alive and well. He
sang the song again, and it ended on the left. But the second time did not count. The first voice gets to
Chukwu, or God's house. That was a favorite saying of children. Ikemefuna felt like a child once more. It
must be the thought of going home to his mother.
One of the men behind him cleared his throat. Ikemefuna looked back, and the man growled at
him to go on and not stand looking back. The way he said it sent cold fear down Ikemefuna's back. His
hands trembled vaguely on the black pot he carried. Why had Okonkwo withdrawn to the rear?
Ikemefuna felt his legs melting under him. And he was afraid to look back.
As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete, Okonkwo looked away.
He heard the blow. The pot fell and broke in the sand. He heard Ikemefuna cry, "My father, they have
killed me!" as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He
was afraid of being thought weak.
Prompt: Analyze how this plot event furthers Okonkwo's characterization as the
protagonist. You may wish to include literary elements such as irony, narrative voice, and
juxtaposition.
Build an outline based on your main points. Make sure your commentary (your explanation of
why something is important) builds a bridge between the textual evidence (what happens in the
text) and your thesis and line of reasoning (your claims).
Thesis:
My main points will be:
Introductory Questions
1. What is the significance of the locusts? Can you find any symbolic meaning behind their
arrival?
2. How does Ikemefuna’s murder further the characterization of Okonkwo, Nwoye’s

mother, and the Umuofians in general?
3. What predictions can you make about Nwoye?

4. Describe Okonkwo’s relationship with his daughter, Ezinma, and his friend Obierika.
5. What kinds of marriage customs exist in Umuofia, and how do they further gender roles
in their culture?
Discussion Questions
1. In Things Fall Apart, the masculine principle is power. What would the feminine
principle be?
2. Obierika, who refused to go along to kill Ikemefuna, tells Okonkwo that what he has
done will not please the Earth goddess, and warns him that his whole family may be
wiped out. Thinking of Achebe’s endeavor to show humanity instead of savagery, how
do Okonkwo and Obierika fit in?
3. At the end of chapter 8, what do the men hear rumors of in a nearby village?
Lesson 4 – Syntax (Chapters 9-10)
Directions: Analyze the syntactical arrangement of each of the quotes below. List what literary
terms you notice, then use the space below to explain how it could be used in analysis.
Excerpt: "It is iba," said Okonkwo as he took his machete and went into the bush to collect the
leaves and grasses and barks of trees that went into making the medicine for the iba."
Syntax Terms: polysyndeton, parallelism
Excerpt: How could [Nwoye’s mother] know that Ekwefi’s bitterness did not flow outwards to
others but inwards into her own soul; that she did not blame others for their good fortune but her
own evil chi who denied her any?
Syntax Terms: rhetorical question
Excerpt: He went away to his hut and Ekwefi began to tend the medicine pot almost as if it was
itself a sick child.
Syntax Terms: simile, inversion
Excerpt: In front of them was a row of stools on which nobody sat. There were nine of them.
Two little groups of people were at a respectable distance beyond the stools. They faced the
elder.
Syntax Terms: simple sentence structure
Introductory Questions
1. Many find the incident with Ezinma and the ogbanje confusing or unresolved. Pose
possible purposes for this anecdote to be included.
2. Of Okonkwo’s wives, which relationship do you feel most mirrors that of an American
husband and wife? Why?
3. Describe the function of the egwugwu in the clan. What is the narrator’s attitude towards
this group?
Discussion questions
1. Some people find the descriptions of Ekwefi’s lost children, especially the mutilation of
her third child, to be disturbing and even savage. Why do you think the author includes
these details?
2. Achebe includes two main maternal figures in the forms of Ezinma and Nwoye’s mother.
How does each woman represent motherhood in a different way?

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2. Aside from telling a story, Chapters 1-3 establish the narrative style of Things Fall Apart.

How would you describe the focus of Chapters4-6?

4. How is Nwoye’s mother characterized?

5. What details have been presented about Ikemefuna so far

Eze elina, elina!

Ikwaba akwa ogholi

Ebe Danda nechi eze

Ebe Uzuzu nete egwu

My main points will be:

2. How does Ikemefuna’s murder further the characterization of Okonkwo, Nwoye’s

3. What predictions can you make about Nwoye?

Syntax Terms: simple sentence structure

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