Brief Questions in Things Fall Apart

• How widely was Okonkwo well-known?

Ans: He was famed across the nine villages and beyond.

• How was Unoka as a grown-up man?

Ans: He was poor and a lifelong failure.

• Who was Okoye?

Ans: Unoka’s neighbour and a lender to him.

• Okonkwo was highly regarded by his people, why?

Ans: Wrestling fame, war prowess, and two titles.

• Why was Umuofia feared by all its neighbours?

Ans: It was powerful in war and magic.

• When did Umuofia go to war?

Ans: Only with clear, just cases approved by the Oracle.

• How did Okonkwo rule his household?

Ans: With a heavy, authoritarian hand.

• What one passion was Okonkwo ruled by?

Ans: Hating idleness and gentleness loved by Unoka.

• What did Okonkwo do with Ikemefuna?

Ans: He placed him with his senior wife.

• Why did people come to the Oracle?

Ans: For misfortune, disputes, futures, or ancestral counsel.

• What did an old man say about Okonkwo?

Ans: Even kings once nursed like babies.

• How did Okonkwo treat Ikemefuna?

Ans: Sternly, hiding affection behind hardness.

• Who was Ezeani?

Ans: The priest of the earth goddess.

• What did Okonkwo do after the Week of Peace?

Ans: He prepared seed-yams for sowing.

• What was the Feast of the New Yam for?

Ans: To honour the earth goddess and ancestors.

• What did Okonkwo do after beating his second wife?

Ans: He fired his rusty gun at her, missing.

• Why and how did Ekwefi become Okonkwo’s second wife?

Ans: She loved his wrestling glory and left her husband.

• Who was Chielo?

Ans: Priestess of Agbala, the Oracle.

• Who won the contest?

Ans: Okafo won the wrestling match.

• What stories did Nwoye’s mother tell him?

Ans: Tortoise tales, bird contests, Earth and Sky quarrels.

• Where and how was Ikemefuna killed?

Ans: In the forest; Okonkwo struck the final blow.

• Who was Akueke?

Ans: Obierika’s young daughter.

• Who was Maduka?

Ans: Obierika’s son, the swift boy-wrestler.

• What disease attacked Ezinma?

Ans: She suffered from malaria.

• Who was an egwugwu?

Ans: A masked man impersonating a spirit.

• Who was Odukwe?

Ans: Mgbafo’s brother.

• What did Chielo do with Ezinma?

Ans: She carried her to Agbala, silently.

• What did Obierika serve his new in-laws?

Ans: He welcomed them with kola-nuts.

• What did the bride do?

Ans: She gifted a cock and danced.

• How many titles had Ezeudu taken?

Ans: Three of the clan’s four titles.

• What was the law on such accidents?

Ans: Male crime: exile forever; female crime: seven years.

• How was Okonkwo received in Mbanta?

Ans: Warmly by his mother’s kinsmen.

• Why did Uchendu question Okonkwo?

Ans: To ease his despair and guide him.

• Who was Nneka?

Ans: A woman whose twins were always cast away.

• What did Okonkwo wonder about Nwoye?

Ans: How a “Roaring Flame” birthed so gentle a son.

• What did three converts boast?

Ans: The gods were dead; shrines would burn.

• What did the two outcasts do?

Ans: They shaved their hair and joined firmly.

• What was Ezinma called for her beauty?

Ans: “Crystal of Beauty,” like her mother.

• Who was Akunna?

Ans: A great man who debated faith with Mr Brown.

• What did Mr Brown prophesy?

Ans: Future leaders would be the educated.

• What did Mr Smith say about ogbanje tales?

Ans: Devil’s lies; believers were unworthy.

• What did the court messengers tell Umuofia?

Ans: Pay 250 bags of cowries for release.

• What did Okonkwo think after release?

Ans: He planned revenge if Umuofia chose war.

• What message did the court messengers give?

Ans: The Commissioner ordered the meeting to stop.

• What did Obierika say about Okonkwo’s suicide?

Ans: A great man, driven to it by whites.

• What did the Igbo do with twins?

Ans: They abandoned them in the Evil Forest.

• How does Okonkwo die?

Ans: He hangs himself.

• What was the Oracle called?

Ans: Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves.

• Who supplied the novel’s title?

Ans: Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming.”

• What musical skill did Unoka have?

Ans: He played the flute beautifully.

• Why was Amalinze nicknamed “the Cat”?

Ans: His back never touched the ground.

• What is the source of the title?

Ans: A line from “The Second Coming.”

• Why did people laugh at Unoka?

Ans: For poverty and unpaid debts.

• Who was Amalinze?

Ans: A famed wrestler, unbeaten seven years.

• What is the Yam Festival?

Ans: A harvest feast honouring earth and ancestors.

• When was the New Yam feast held?

Ans: Every year before the harvest.

• What is Surrealism?

Ans: Bridging reality and imagination in art.

• What is the novel’s setting?

Ans: Igbo villages—Umuofia, Mbanta—1890s Nigeria.

• Why didn’t Unoka have a grave?

Ans: He died of swelling, an abomination.

• What happened during the Easter week?

Ans: Churchwomen were driven off and whipped.

• Why was Okonkwo ashamed of his father?

Ans: Unoka had debts and no titles.