Things Fall Apart

Novel | Chinua Achebe

Brief Questions in Things Fall Apart

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. 

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