Things+Fall+Apart

__Achebe: **//Things Fall Apart//** __(Part 1) 1. How does Okonkwo work to achieve greatness as defined by his culture?

Okonkwo tried to become “great” by farming yams, the man’s crop. Almost all men farmed yams, either as sharecroppers or as farm owners. He tried to create a large farm, and stock his barn full of yams. He also was a fearsome warrior, and was the greatest fighter of his time. -Choji

What are Okonkwo's strengths and weaknesses? What role does the example of his father play in shaping Okonkwo's character and actions? How does he differ from Western heroes?

====Okonkwo harvests yams. “Yam the king of crops was a man’s crop.(Chpt. 3 Pg. 23) One of Okonkwo’s strengths is hard work. His father was very lazy and Okonkwo did not want to be like him at all. “And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion—to hate everything his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another Idleness. (Chpt. 2 Pg. 13) The fear of being called weak was his weakness. ** ~Yoshi **====

=== Okonkwo's biggest fear was to become like his father. He was ashamed of his father but he was very determined to prove to everyone in his clan that he was a hard worker. He received high recognition from the very start and quickly grew famous. One of his greatest feats was "throwing the Cat". ~Casey ===

2. Notice that Achebe introduces various Ibo customs, rituals, and ceremonies in the novel by simply depicting them in action without explaining them. Why do you think Achebe chooses to do this, considering that he wrote in English for a world audience? Achebe does not explain the customs of the Ibo tribes because the book is written from the perspective of the tribes, not from the perspective of a “white man.”

When someone has and “ogbanje” they mutilate the dead baby and drag and bury it into the evil forest. The exile is to purify the land from the man who killed a clansman. They burn everything the man who committed the crime. ** ~Yoshi **

** Achebe doesn't explain things because this book is written from the perspective of the tribe, not from ours. ~Casey **
Explain two or three specific customs--such as the kola nut ceremony, bridal customs, the practice of "throwing away" twins, the way they deal with "ogbanje" children, the "egwugwu" used to resolve disputes, exile from the clan for 7 years, etc. 3. What is the role of Ibo proverbs in Achebe's novel? That is, how does he use them and why? Explain any two such proverbs used in the novel.

At the beginning of the novel, Achebe says that the Ibo people talk with many proverbs, and that a good orator was someone who artfully used these proverbs. He uses them to enhance the image of a village that he is creating, keeping with the idea that he is writing from the perspective of the villagers. When Okoye visits Unoka to get his money Unoka responds in proverb, “the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them. I shall pay my big debts first.” (Chpt. 1 Pg. 8) Another is when Obierika daughter is getting married. They are negotiating the bride-price. They started with 30 and when they count them Machi said, “We had not thought to go below thirty. But as the dog said, ‘If I fall down for you and you fall down for me, it is play’.” (Chpt. 8, Pg. 73) ** ~Yoshi **

4. Consider the episode involving Ikemefuna. What is his relationship with Okonkwo? With Nwoye? What happens to Ikemefuna? Why? Why does Okonkwo participate despite advice not to? How does this later affect the relationship between Okonkwo and his son Nwoye?

Ikemefuna becomes like a brother to Nwoye, and Okonkwo believes that Ikemefuna is a good influence on Nwoye. He thought that Nwoye was starting to resemble Unoka, Okonkwo’s father. But Ikemfuna helped Nwoye to not be so lazy, according to Okonkwo. But, since Ikemefuna was from a different clan, the clan members decided to kill him. Okonkwo is warned not to have anything to do with it, but as Ikemefuna runs at him for help, he cuts him down. He does this because he is afraid of being thought of as weak. Ikemefuna and Okonkwo turn in to father and son. As Nwoye becomes Ikemefuna brother. Ikemefuna is to be killed as the Oracle said. Okonkwo gets advice from Ezuedu, “That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death.” (Chpt. 7, Pg. 57) Despite this advice Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna in fear of being called weak. Later in the book this drives Nwoye to join the Christians. ** ~Yoshi **

<span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face','serif'; font-size: 18px;">5. Discuss the roles of and treatment of women in Umuofia. What is the significance of Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, and the episode in which she takes Ezinma on a nightly voyage?

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Chielo shows the significance of the gods, being able to arrive at Okonkwo’s compound and take his ailing daughter away. The scene also shows that Okonkwo is not completely uncaring about the welfare of his family.

<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Women did not harvest yams. They harvested coco-yams, beans and cassava. Also the father owns the child, “But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother’s hut.” When Chielo carries Ezinma around for a night Ekwefi’s limbs were turning numb. “How a woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle. But Ekwefi was not thinking was not thinking about that. Chielo was not a woman that night. ** ~Yoshi **

Umuofia is run by men. Women have small jobs around their huts like cooking, keeping house and watching the children. ~Casey
__<span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face','serif'; font-size: 18px;">Achebe: **//Things Fall Apart//** __<span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face','serif'; font-size: 18px;">(Part 2) <span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face','serif'; font-size: 18px;">1. Why does Achebe choose to bring in the white men and Christianity only in the last third of the novel?

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Achebe only introduces the missionaries at the end because he had been working on building the image of the village as it normally was, without interruptions.

<span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face','serif'; font-size: 18px;">What is the result of the founding of the Christian church in Mbanta? What sources of misunderstanding seem to make the conflicts between the Europeans and the Africans inevitable?

<span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I think he does so because he has to show the life they had before the missionary’s came. It ends up that the Christians keep pestering the Africans about their religion, and Okonkwo kills himself. ** ~Yoshi **

<span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face','serif'; font-size: 18px;">2. Achebe said that he wrote //Things Fall Apart// in response to insulting stereotypes of Africans presented in such European classics as Joseph Conrad's //Heart of Darkness// and Joyce Carey's //Mister Johnson//. Achebe even wrote a famous attack on this aspect of //Heart of Darkness// in his essay "Images of Africa." He said he wrote the novel "to help my society regain belief in itself and to put away the complexes of the years of denigration and self-abasement." How does Achebe's novel "correct" such European depictions of Africa and Africans, and offer you an Afrocentric perspective?

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The whole novel is seen through the eyes of the villagers, especially through Okonkwo. The book mostly voices their opinions, and shows how strange and invasive the missionaries were to them. <span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">I have not read these books but I know that many books insult the way they lived. This book is from the African perspective. ** ~Yoshi **

<span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face','serif'; font-size: 18px;">3. Although Achebe works to combat demeaning stereotypes of African culture, he doesn't always present Ibo society as flawless. The image we see of this culture just before the arrival of the white colonizers is sometimes troubled and far from perfect. What parts of pre-colonial Ibo culture does Achebe seem to question? How does he use characters like Obierika, Okonkwo, and Nwoye to offer such social criticism of Ibo society?

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">It seems that the author criticizes some of the traditions, such as throwing away twin babies, and the cruelty towards women. It’s possible that the exile of Okonkwo was also a commentary on the social and judicial traditions of the Ibo tribes. <span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">He says in the book that Obierika questioned Okonkwo’s exile. It also seemed that he thought Ikemefuna’s death was not needed. ** ~Yoshi **

it seems that the chief punishment in Umuofia and they respond with death in many ways. Twins are thrown away. If you do anything to anything that is held sacred, the penalty is often death. ~Casey
<span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face','serif'; font-size: 18px;">4. In what senses is Okonkwo a tragic hero?

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Well, he dies at the end, that’s one thing. He achieves fame and greatness through hard work, and then loses everything in a single, fateful accident. <span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Okonkwo tries his hardest not to be taken over by the Christians but ends up killing himself. ** ~Yoshi ** === Okonkwo is very determined not to become what his father was. He probably thought that it was showing weakness to bow down and join the Catholics and in the end, he ended up killing himself because of it. ~Casey ===

<span style="font-family: 'Baskerville Old Face','serif'; font-size: 18px;">5. What ironies do you see in the title of the book that, at the end of the novel, the District Commissioner intends to write: //The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger//?

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">The book that the DC intends to write would be titled //“The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.”// He is saying that the Ibo tribes need to be pacified, even though he and his fellow missionaries are the ones who are aggressively promoting their religious beliefs. I find that ironic because when the Christians came they made the town aggressive. ** ~Yoshi **

===**<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.6667px;">I find it ironic because the missionaries came and tried to destroy the people of Umuofia by converting them to the catholic faith. ~Casey **===

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/anglophone/achebe.html http://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/

http://literacyteacher.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/things-fall-apart-unit-plan/

__Pre-Reading Things Fall Apart Aims__ Change is destructive Religion restricts behavior Social order demands conformity Being a man is difficult Fear is destructive It is a son/daughter’s duty to carry on family traditions By connecting to your own life in order to form your own opinion
 * 1) In groups //or a class discussion//, to analyze the following biased statements
 * 1) To analyze “The White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling and how it connects to the historical connect of __Things Fall Apart__

“The White Man’s Burden”: Kipling’s Hymn to U.S. Imperialism
In February 1899, British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands.” In this poem, Kipling urged the U.S. to take up the “burden” of empire, as had Britain and other European nations. Published in the February, 1899 issue of //McClure’s Magazine//, the poem coincided with the beginning of the Philippine-American War and U.S. Senate ratification of the treaty that placed Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippines under American control. Theodore Roosevelt, soon to become vice-president and then president, copied the poem and sent it to his friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, commenting that it was “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.” Not everyone was as favorably impressed as Roosevelt. The racialized notion of the “White Man’s burden” became a euphemism for imperialism, and many anti-imperialists couched their opposition in reaction to the phrase.

Take up the White Man’s burden— Send forth the best ye breed— Go send your sons to exile To serve your captives' need To wait in heavy harness On fluttered folk and wild— Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half devil and half child Take up the White Man’s burden In patience to abide To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride; By open speech and simple An hundred times made plain To seek another’s profit And work another’s gain Take up the White Man’s burden— And reap his old reward: The blame of those ye better The hate of those ye guard— The cry of hosts ye humour (Ah slowly) to the light: "Why brought ye us from bondage, “Our loved Egyptian night?” Take up the White Man’s burden- Have done with childish days- The lightly proffered laurel, The easy, ungrudged praise. Comes now, to search your manhood Through all the thankless years, Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom, The judgment of your peers! Source: Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden: The United States & The Philippine Islands, 1899.” //Rudyard Kipling’s Verse: Definitive Edition// (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1929). __During Reading Things Fall Apart Aims:__ __After Reading Aims:__
 * 1) To interpret Ibo //proverbs// in __Things Fall Apart__ before reading in order to not “get stuck” during reading
 * 1) to ask thick and clarifying questions of __Things Fall Apart__ in order to gain confidence when starting the exposition
 * 2) to use the glossary of Ibo terms in order to define unfamiliar vocabulary and to analyze why Achebe chose those words to write in Ibo
 * 3) //Assess aims 5-11//
 * 4) to question whether or not male or female characters have more power in __Things Fall Apart i__n order to analyze power dynamics
 * 5) to question Achebe’s intentions in making certain characters weak in order to analyze the message Achebe is sending about gender roles
 * 6) to question gender dynamics within your own life, and to analyze the similarities and differences between middle school and __TFA__ gender roles
 * 7) On Demand Assessment #1
 * 8) //by discussing in a class discussion,// to question and analyze why you were particularly “turned off” by different scenes in __Things Fall Apart__ that had to do with gender dynamics
 * 9) //Assess aims 12-15//
 * 10) To question and determine whether or not Okonwko is a hero and to determine whether or not Achebe would agree
 * 11) To analyze what Achebe is saying about the biased statements (see aim 6) and to question why your opinions were different
 * 1) to question whether or not your own personal bias toward the dynamics in Ibo culture is effecting your like or dislike of the book in order to determine whether or not your biases are affecting your interpretation of the book
 * 2) to determine what Achebe is “really saying” about gender roles in __Things Fall Apart__
 * 3) //Assess Aims 16-21//
 * 4) On Demand Assessment #2