1. Palm-Oil: Oil Pressed from Palm Trees; Used for Fuel, Cooking

Things Fall Apart STUDY GUIDE: Review Reading Check Quiz (half-sheet, plus all of these questions: I. Matching/Identification 1. palm-oil: oil pressed from palm trees; used for fuel, 8. Nwoye: Okonkwo’s LAZY son cooking 9. Mr. Brown: THE FIRST missionary in Umuofia 2. Umuofia: village where Okonkwo lived 10. Chielo-the priestess for the oracle 3. Ezinma- Okonkwo’s favorite child 11. Obierika- Okonkwo’s friend 4. Unoka: Okonkwo’s unsuccessful father 12. chi- personal god 5. Chukwu: major god of villagers 13. cowry shells—threaded on strings; used as money 6. Mbanta: village where Okonkwo went into exile by many African cultures 7. Ikemefuna: young boy who was murdered by the clan II. Multiple Choice 12. What food stood for manliness, and was a sign of prosperity? yams

13. Which of the following did Obierika NOT question about their cultural traditions? A. Throwing twins away C. Killing of Ikemefuna B. Exile of Okonkwo D. Expense of the titles E. 14. Who struck the last, lethal blow to Ikemefuna, and why? Okonkwo; he was afraid of being thought weak A. 15. What did Okonkwo do whenever he thought of his father’s weakness and failure? He thought of his own strength and success A. 16. What was Ezinma’s iyi-uwa, or link with the ogbanje? a stone that was buried in the ground. A. 17. Who wanted to take Ezinma to see Agbala? Chielo did A. 18. Which did not happen during Ezeudu’s funeral? A. There was a lot of shouting. C. The men and boys had wrestling matches. B. There was a lot of drum beating. D. The men fired their guns. E. 19. True or False: The villagers gave the missionaries a piece of the best land in the village because it was their custom to be polite to newcomers. 20. At the conclusion of the novel, what happened to Okonkwo? He hanged himself A. 21. During uri ceremony, the groom’s family were thought to be behaving like men if they brought a generous amount of what item? palm wine A. 22. How did Okonkwo kill the boy at Ezeudu’s funeral? His gun exploded; pieces pierced the boy’s heart.

23. What was the result of Okonkwo’s action (accidentally killing the boy)? he and his family were forced to leave the clan for seven years. A. 24. Why did the men from Ezeudu’s quarter demolish Okonkwo’s houses and barn, and kill his animals? They were cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted. A. 25. True or False: Upon his exile, Okonkwo thought his personal god or chi was not meant for great things. He was feeling despair. A. 26. Uchendu talked to Okonkwo about the Mother Supreme. Which of the following was not one of the points he made? A. He wanted Okonkwo to realize that his despair, comparatively, was not that great. B. He said Okonkwo owed it to his family to comfort and support them. C. He said this was Okonkwo’s chance to start over where no one would compare him to his father. D. He told Okonkwo not to refuse comfort in his mother’s homeland, or he would displease the dead. 27. Who cameA. to visit Okonkwo during the second year of exile, and why? Obierika came to bring Okonkwo news of the 31. Howvillage did and Okonkwo money fromfeel about the yam his cropreturn he to was the tending clan? He until knew Okonkwo that he returnedhad lost a home. lot of ground, but he was determined to B.return with a flourish, and regain the lost time. 28. B.Why was the village of Abame destroyed? The elders killed a white man who had come into town, and other white men 32. Whichdestroyed of the the following village in was retribution. not one of the messages Okonkwo gave to his sons and daughters after Nwoye left the C.family? 29. A.WhoIf had his wereObierika going found to be among weak andthe missionaries? follow Nwoye, Okonkwo’s they should son, do Nwoyeit while he was alive. D.B. If they turned against him after he died, he would return and break their necks. 30. WhatC. He group asked was his admitteddaughters to to the wait Christian until they church returned and becameto Umuofia strong to marry. followers? It was the osu D. He asked all of his children to name their firstborn after him. C. 33. Which of the following was not one of the changes that had come to Umuofia in the seven years that Okonkwo was in exile? A. The Christian church had many converts. B. The white men had brought a government and built a court. C. The villages had to pay taxes to the white men. D. The new prison was full of men who had broken the white men’s law. D. 34. Okonkwo asked Obierika why the people had lost their power to fight. What was Obierika’s reply? The white men managed to divide the clans and they were falling apart. E. 35. How did Mr. Brown act to gain converts? he built a school and a hospital F. 36. True or False: Okonkwo was grieving mostly because he never got the opportunity to regain his former status. A. 37. What did Enoch do? He unmasked an egwugwu, killing an ancestral spirit. B. 38. What did the clan members do in retaliation (revenge) to Enoch’s action? destroyed the church and Enoch’s compound 39. What was the result of the action taken by the egwugwu (in retaliation to Enoch)? Okonkwo and five of the leaders were imprisoned, and Umuofia was fined C. 40. What event happened in the marketplace (at the end of the novel)? the men were stopped by court messengers; Okonkwo decapitated one of them. D. 41. Short answer: In what ways does Achebe refute common stereotypes about African tribes through his writing? General stereotype is that Africans were uncivilized. Refutes this by: showing how the Igbo speak in proverbs, so their language is intelligent. They are organized—examples include their family structure and compounds, the egwugwu to hear crimes. They have cultural traditions—Chielo as the priestess, festivals, the uri ceremony.

42. Short answer: Trace the sequence of events in the novel and their significance that make things fall apart. Suggestion: start with one central event in Okonkwo’s life, and then show how it results in a series of consequences that make everything start to come undone for him. 1) Okonkwo accidentally kills the boy at Ezeudu’s funeral. 2) Family is exiled; compound/property destroyed. 3) Missionaries arrive to Umuofia 4) Nwoye abandons family to join Christians 5) Okonkwo returns to Umuofia after exile.cannot adjust 6) Christian converts retaliate (unmask egwugwu, kill python); Okonkwo and men respond and are imprisoned. 7) Okonkwo decapitates messenger 8) Okonkwo hangs himself—cannot let himself be tried in white men’s courts. E.