Part 1 Questions

1.Okonkwo is a strong, tall, fierce looking man. He has become a wealthy, well known, and well regarded member of his community because he has worked hard since he was a young boy. At the age of 18 he wrestled a great man that had been undefeated many times before and Okonkwo won the fight. He also has three wives and eight children whom help in his yam fields. Yams are one of the essential foods in Umuofia, Okonkwos home town. Okonkwo is a different kind of hero, compared to our Western heroes because he is honored for killing rival tribes and praised for bringing back their heads. Our heroes are praised for saving someone’s life.

2.Okonkwos father, Unoka, was very thin and lazy and showed his emotions easily. Okonkwo does not like his father because he was not a positive male role model and whenever he got any money, Unoka used it to buy palm-whine and never paid back his numerous neighbors that he had borrowed money from. Since his father was so leisurely and was not a strong example for his son, Okonkwo had become everything his father was not and turned into a man that was a wealthy farmer, honored warrior, and a man that had taken two titles. Okonkwo’s success and Unoka’s failure tells us that Igbo society praises individuals for their strength and self reliance and looks down upon people who don’t provide for themselves and their families and who don’t work for their living. A person succeeds in the Igbo culture by being strong and respectful to the gods and their chi. The system of taking titles really shows what actions and sacrifices that that man or woman has made to become that specific title. If a person has a high title or even more than one, it tells others that he is important to his society, that he has been through a lot and that he is strong and capable of the standards which are set to their society. Even though men take many titles, women are excluded from this success. Very few women have important roles in Igbo society.

3.The narrator of Things Fall Apart is neutral towards the characters. He seems to see and understand both the good and bad of the characters. When the narrator first described Okonkwo he showed us a man who was strong mentally and physically and seemed quite superior to others, but as you read on he becomes more in touch with his emotions and more sincere, but does not show it to his family. Okonkwo becomes more human than a character and the narrator shows the reader this.

4.The book takes place in Umuofia, Africa and is in the countryside. In Umuofia, the men are superior to the women, and men can have as many wives as they want and same goes for children. The Igbo people believe in many gods, but especially worship the Earth goddess. They also believe that everyone has a chi, or personal god. Social life is organized in the Igbo culture by the titles of the men, but even though different men have different titles, they are still good friends. Even the women have friends and a majority of the time the numerous wives that the men have become friends and their children are too. The families help farm the yams and other vegetables that are grown on their lands and then the Feast of the New Yam begins and the whole town comes together to have a huge feast with different recipes that all involve yams and distant family members come from far away villages and everyone is very merry. During this time they also have a wrestling match that is very popular. War was only held after a peace offering or an exchange of one gift or many was given to the village. Religion is a big part if the Igbo culture, they believe in many different gods and goddesses. The Igbo culture is different than my culture because the men are superior to the women and in my culture men and women are equal. Also, in most cultures today they believe in one god, not numerous. The Igbo people also farmed for a living and now in many cultures people have modern jobs and in my culture, marrying more than one woman is illegal.

5.People do not go out at night, in fear of evil spirits and because of wild animals that are unpredictable at night. Only on moonlit night’s do people go outside and children play and laugh in the night. They even call snakes strings just in case the animal hears its name.

6.During the funeral for Ezuedu Okonkwo’s gun accidentally blew up and a piece of metal went into Ezuedu’s son. Okonkwo was banished to Mbaino, his motherland. Mbaino is not only Okonkwo’s motherland, but it was the home of Ikemefuna and that is where one of the men’s wives was killed.

7.The most important crop is yams in Okonkwos culture. The seasons that they planted the yams were the rainy and the sunny seasons is when they harvest the yams. The Igbo people also sharecrop; sharecropping is when one farmer shares his crop with another farmer who is need of yams. The male designated crop is the yam because they believe it to be manly. The female crops are the coco yam and the cassava; these are considered more womanly because they needed less care and hard work. Women harvested just the same as men did but women did all of the cooking.

8.Okonkwo has many children, but is especially close to Ezinma, his daughter from Ekwefi, and Nwoye Okonkwo’s first wives son. Okonkwo loves Ezinma very much, but will not say so, but does show his affection when no one is watching. He wishes that Ezinma would be a boy because she is so witty. Nwoye is Okonkwo’s oldest son and Okonkwo is especially hard on him because he wants Nwoye to grow up to be a strong man and to have a strong manly role model like Okonkwo never had. Ekwefi is Okonkwo’s second wife and has only bore him one child, they have been together for many years and she left her husband for Okonkwo when they were young. Although Ekwefi and Okonkwo were young lovers, Ekwefi always seems to upset him and Okonkwo takes out his anger on her. In the Igbo society women do the cooking, cleaning, decorating, and taking care of the children. Men on the other hand fight in the wars protect his family and village, and he provides for him family by farming.

9.In chapter 4 Okonkwo waited for him afternoon meal to be cooked by his third wife Ojiugo but she had left to a friend’s house to have her hair plaited. This upset Okonkwo so much that when she returned he beat her hard and broke the peace of the Week of Peace, which states that you cannot hurt anyone physically or mentally during this week. Before they plant any crops they have this week of peace to honor the Earth goddess in hopes that she will give them a plentiful harvest.

10.Igbo people and their culture are very interesting. It’s similar in many ways to other cultures which I am familiar with, but different too in many ways. I don’t necessarily agree with their polygamous relationships but I understand that it is their way of life and that cultures have different beliefs. I respect many of their traditions that they have, even the ones I don’t fully agree with; like the disposing of twin babies when they are born or that Okonkwo was banished from his village from accidentally shooting Ezuedu’s son. I think I’m responding in these ways because I was taught differently and grew up in a different era of the Igbo people. Even though I understand and respect the Igbo people’s ways, the fact that they think that twins are an abomination to the land is so cruel. Also the fact that if a woman cannot bear a child that lives, he or she is considered an evil spirit and every new child is that spirit. Some of their rituals are not so foreign to me, like their wedding rituals, death rituals, or their polygamous ways. I’ve understood and seen many of these things in my own and other cultures.