21 June 2006

Part 1 Answers

1. Okonkwo the protagonist of Things Fall Apart, is tall and large, he has a wise nose and very severe look, he is afraid of being weak like his father so that he is actually too tough of a person. To achieve greatness as defined by his culture Okonkwo becomes a great yam farmer, wrestler, and warrior. Okonkwo differs from Western heroes whom I am familiar with because Western heroes as I know them, are people who have gone to great lengths to save people and protect the innocent. This is not the same definition of an Igbo hero; their heroes may be good wrestlers, or fearless warriors. His strengths are his ability to fight but that is also his weakness because it has made him a harsh person.

2. Unoka Okonkwo’s father can be described as weak, he does not do anything but music so he is poor, but is a good talker so he can get money out of people, he holds no titles, maybe because he is too afraid of blood to be part of war. Since Okonkwo’s father was basically a nobody who was too free of a soul Okonkwo has made it a goal for him never to be like his father, this causes him too be power hungry, and not sensitive enough. The descriptions of Okonkwo’s success and Unoka’s failure show that in the Igbo society you were judged by your father’s failure, but rather by your own success. In this culture to success you must gain titles, and be a good yam farmer. To take titles you must be wealthy, Unoka was excluded from the opportunity to gain such success because he was too kind at heart and lazy.

3. The narrator of Things Fall Apart is good at telling details about what is happening and what happened in the past to help us understand the story. The nine villages are all in their own ways different and are all competitive against one another. The narrative voice has a very unbiased point of view, and his values and perspectives are also very unbiased.

4. The setting of this novel is in an Igbo village, possibly in the 1900’s. The Igbo people value success, and believe not specifically in one god, rituals are very important and if they are not followed there will be a punishment, ceremonies are mainly for men and men are basically upper class especially successful wealthy men, personal achievement is very important to the Igbo people because that is how they gain titles. Social life is either in ceremonies or occasional friendly visits. Some important celebrations are the week of peace, and Feast of the New Yam. The role of war and religion are very important to the Igbo people being a good warrior makes you successful and religion is held very highly, but the arts are held low and anyone who dedicates their life to the arts is quite useless. Each individual is important in the Umuofia community and everyone treats each other with respect. The way of life of the Igbo is much different than in my culture, In my culture women are held to high respects and those who are great warriors aren’t necessarily heroes, and a lot of people believe in only one god or no god, but the values are still pretty much the same which is to succeed in whatever way possible.

5. Night has a great effect on the people in Umuofia it makes them frightened of the outside. The Umuofia people fear evil spirits and that the dangerous animals become even more dangerous in the night, they make sure they don’t whistle because they think this attracts the spirits. To deal with their fear of snakes at night they would call a snake a string instead so that it does not hear them talking about it.


6. The cause of the conflict of Mbaino is that one of their villagers killed the wife of an Umuofian, so now Mbaino must hand over a virgin and a young boy or they will go to war.

7. The important crops to the Igbo’s is yams. After the week of peace is the planting season and then there is a gathering season. Sharecropping is when one person gives seeds or money for seeds to another who farms the seeds and then the profit is split. Women grow coco-yams, beans and cassava because it is easier, and men work with Yam because it is the king of crops and is the job of a man.


8. Family life in Okonkwo’s home is very divided all of his children live in huts with their mother and not together; Okonkwo also has his own hut, which doesn’t make for a very homey environment. Okonkwo has a very distant relationship with most of his wives and children they bring him food and that is basically it. Okonkwo has a bad relationship with Ekwefi even though he took her in he still gets a temper with her and almost shoots her. Okonkwo actually likes his daughter Ezinma and cares for her but is afraid to show his feelings, he thinks she would make a fine son, his sun Nwoye on the other hand he thinks is too weak like his father and he tries to beat sense into him. In the Igbo society the men are the big workers and they can hold titles, while the wives stay at home taking care of the children, cooking, and cleaning. Okonkwo’s attitude towards women is almost careless he likes them there to have his kids and to cook him food but I don’t think he actually loves any of his wives.

9. In chapter four Okonkwo makes the mistake of beating his wife Ojiugo in the week of peace. This tells me the value of their culture is very important because since he broke the peace he was punished which shows that the culture is important to the Igbo people. Ezeani says wife beating is wrong because it disturbs the earth goddess.


10. This exposure to the traditional Igbo culture and people is a bit bizarre, although I can imagine such a culture it is hard to relate to it because it is so much different than my own culture, but I think it’s very interesting to learn about different ways of life. I think I am responding this way because I have not had a chance to really experience different cultures or learn about them so it’s all new and different. What seems the most different to me is that pure brutality can be a major accomplishment for the Igbo people. What seems most similar is the idea that women need to stay home and take care of their children and family because this still happens today in our culture.

Posted by Sharon_Lizotte @ 1:24 PM