AP Lit Q3 — Things Fall Apart Work Mastery 1

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.01] Who wrote Things Fall Apart?;;Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian novelist and critic, wrote Things Fall Apart. He presents Igbo life from within the culture rather than through a colonial outsider’s perspective.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.02] When was Things Fall Apart published?;;It was published in 1958, shortly before Nigerian independence in 1960.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.03] Where and when is the novel set?;;It is set primarily in the fictional Igbo villages of Umuofia and Mbanta in southeastern Nigeria during the late nineteenth century, as British colonial rule and Christianity expand.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.04] What is the novel’s basic situation?;;Okonkwo becomes a respected Umuofia leader by rejecting everything associated with his unsuccessful father, but his fear-driven rigidity damages his family and leaves him unable to adapt when colonialism divides the clan.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.05] Who is Okonkwo?;;Okonkwo is a wealthy farmer, celebrated wrestler, titled man, warrior, husband, and father. His achievements coexist with anger, insecurity, and an obsessive fear of appearing weak.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.06] What central contradiction defines Okonkwo?;;The strength that allows him to overcome poverty becomes destructive because he defines strength too narrowly. His determination produces success but also violence, alienation, and inflexibility.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.07] Who is Unoka?;;Unoka is Okonkwo’s father. He loves music, conversation, and hospitality but accumulates debts, avoids war, earns no title, and leaves his son with no material inheritance.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.08] How does Unoka shape Okonkwo?;;Okonkwo constructs his identity in opposition to Unoka. His fear of resembling his father causes him to reject tenderness, patience, music, and compromise as signs of weakness.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.09] Who is Nwoye?;;Nwoye is Okonkwo’s eldest son. Sensitive and troubled by certain clan practices, he becomes emotionally alienated from his father and eventually converts to Christianity.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.10] Why is Nwoye attracted to Christianity?;;Christian hymns answer emotional questions raised by Ikemefuna’s death and the abandonment of twins. The new religion gives language and belonging to feelings his father and clan suppress.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.11] Who is Ikemefuna?;;Ikemefuna is a boy transferred from Mbaino to Umuofia as compensation for the murder of an Umuofia woman. He lives with Okonkwo’s family for three years and becomes like an older brother to Nwoye.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.12] Why is Ikemefuna important to Okonkwo’s family?;;He improves Nwoye’s confidence, participates in family work, and creates affection across the household. His execution becomes a decisive rupture between Okonkwo and Nwoye.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.13] Who is Ekwefi?;;Ekwefi is Okonkwo’s second wife and Ezinma’s mother. She once left another husband for Okonkwo and has endured the deaths of nine children.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.14] Who is Ezinma?;;Ezinma is Ekwefi’s only surviving child and Okonkwo’s favorite daughter. She is intelligent, perceptive, confident, and emotionally close to both parents.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.15] Why does Okonkwo wish Ezinma were a boy?;;He recognizes qualities he values in Ezinma but assumes leadership and inheritance must be male. His admiration exposes the limitations of his rigid gender beliefs.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.16] Who is Ojiugo?;;Ojiugo is Okonkwo’s youngest wife. Okonkwo beats her during the sacred Week of Peace when she neglects to prepare his meal.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.17] Who is Okonkwo’s first wife?;;The novel does not give her a personal name. She is Nwoye’s mother and the senior wife, and her namelessness reflects the narrative’s focus and the household’s gender hierarchy.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.18] Who is Obierika?;;Obierika is Okonkwo’s thoughtful friend. He respects Igbo tradition but questions particular customs and recognizes the danger posed by colonial division.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.19] Why is Obierika an important foil for Okonkwo?;;Both men are respected and successful, but Obierika combines loyalty with reflection. He shows that cultural strength does not require violence or uncritical obedience.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.20] Who is Uchendu?;;Uchendu is Okonkwo’s maternal uncle in Mbanta. He teaches Okonkwo that the motherland offers refuge during sorrow and criticizes his self-pity in exile.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.21] Who is Ezeudu?;;Ezeudu is an elderly, respected warrior who warns Okonkwo not to participate in Ikemefuna’s killing because the boy calls him father.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.22] Who is Nwakibie?;;Nwakibie is a wealthy man who trusts young Okonkwo with seed yams. His support gives Okonkwo an opportunity to establish himself despite his father’s poverty.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.23] Who is Chielo?;;Chielo is an ordinary widow in daily life but becomes the priestess and voice of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves, during religious possession.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.24] Who or what is Agbala?;;Agbala is the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. The same word can insult a man without titles, linking religious authority with social ideas about achievement and masculinity.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.25] Who are the egwugwu?;;The egwugwu are masked ancestral spirits embodied by titled men. They judge disputes and represent the clan’s connection among religion, ancestry, law, and communal authority.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.26] Who is Mr. Brown?;;Mr. Brown is a patient Christian missionary who learns about Igbo beliefs, debates respectfully with Akunna, and builds a school and hospital.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.27] Who is Reverend James Smith?;;Reverend Smith replaces Mr. Brown. He rejects accommodation, sees the world in absolute terms, and encourages uncompromising converts who intensify conflict.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.28] Who is Enoch?;;Enoch is an aggressive Christian convert who unmasks an egwugwu during a public ceremony. The act symbolically kills an ancestral spirit and provokes the destruction of the church.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.29] Who is the District Commissioner?;;He is a British colonial administrator who claims to impose order while using imprisonment, humiliation, and force. At the end, he reduces Okonkwo’s life to material for a paragraph in his book.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.30] Who are the court messengers?;;The court messengers enforce colonial authority, collect fines, imprison leaders, and abuse prisoners. The villagers mockingly call them Ashy-Buttocks because of their uniforms.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.31] How does Okonkwo first gain fame?;;At eighteen, he defeats Amalinze the Cat in wrestling. The victory establishes a public identity based on physical strength and achievement.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.32] Why is Amalinze called the Cat?;;His back had supposedly never touched the earth during seven years of wrestling victories. Okonkwo’s defeat of him becomes legendary.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.33] How does Okonkwo overcome his poor inheritance?;;He requests seed yams from Nwakibie, works through a disastrous farming season, builds large barns, acquires titles, and establishes a substantial household.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.34] Why is Okonkwo’s first farming year significant?;;Drought and destructive rain ruin much of the yam crop, yet he survives through persistence. The year establishes his genuine endurance before that quality becomes rigidity.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.35] Why is the yam important?;;The yam is a prestigious “man’s crop” associated with wealth, labor, household authority, and masculinity. Okonkwo measures himself and others through their success with yams.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.36] What is the Week of Peace?;;It is a sacred period before planting during which violence and conflict are prohibited so the earth goddess will bless the crops.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.37] How does Okonkwo violate the Week of Peace?;;He beats Ojiugo for failing to prepare his meal. His anger overrides religious law, forcing him to make ritual compensation.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.38] Why is the Week of Peace violation important?;;It establishes that Okonkwo’s violence conflicts with his culture rather than simply expressing it. His personal extremism repeatedly exceeds communal expectations.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.39] What happens during the Feast of the New Yam?;;The clan celebrates before the harvest, but Okonkwo becomes restless, beats Ekwefi, and fires a gun at her after she mocks his poor shooting. He narrowly misses killing her.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.40] Why is Okonkwo uncomfortable during festivals?;;Rest and celebration deny him the labor and conflict through which he proves strength. Without work, his anxiety turns against his household.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.41] Why is Ikemefuna sent to Umuofia?;;A man from Mbaino murders an Umuofia woman. To prevent war, Mbaino gives Umuofia a virgin and the boy Ikemefuna as compensation.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.42] How long does Ikemefuna live with Okonkwo?;;He lives with the household for approximately three years, forming strong bonds with Nwoye and gradually treating Okonkwo as a father.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.43] Why is Ikemefuna killed?;;The Oracle orders his death. Umuofia’s men take him outside the village under the pretense that he is returning home.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.44] What warning does Ezeudu give Okonkwo?;;Ezeudu tells Okonkwo not to participate because Ikemefuna calls him father. The warning distinguishes obedience to the Oracle from personal participation in the killing.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.45] Why does Okonkwo kill Ikemefuna?;;When Ikemefuna runs to him for protection, Okonkwo strikes the final blow because he fears being thought weak. Fear of weakness overrules affection and moral judgment.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.46] How does Ikemefuna’s death affect Nwoye?;;Nwoye senses that his father participated and feels something break inside him. The reaction connects with his earlier horror over abandoned twins and prepares his conversion.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.47] How does Ikemefuna’s death affect Okonkwo?;;Okonkwo cannot eat or sleep for several days, revealing grief he refuses to acknowledge openly. He condemns his own emotional response as feminine weakness.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.48] What is an ogbanje?;;An ogbanje is a child believed to die repeatedly and return to the same mother, causing recurring grief. Ezinma is believed to be Ekwefi’s ogbanje child.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.49] What is an iyi-uwa?;;The iyi-uwa is the buried object believed to connect an ogbanje with the spirit world. Ezinma leads the medicine man to the place where hers is found.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.50] Why is Ezinma’s illness important?;;Her illness exposes the depth of Ekwefi’s maternal fear and Okonkwo’s concealed tenderness. He works urgently to prepare medicine despite his harsh exterior.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.51] Why does Chielo take Ezinma?;;Speaking as Agbala, Chielo declares that Ezinma must visit the Oracle’s cave. She carries the child through the villages at night despite Ekwefi’s fear.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.52] What does Ekwefi do when Chielo takes Ezinma?;;Ekwefi secretly follows Chielo through the night, risking spiritual punishment because maternal devotion outweighs fear.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.53] What does Okonkwo do during Chielo’s journey?;;He repeatedly visits the cave and eventually joins Ekwefi outside it. His actions reveal care that his public masculine identity prevents him from expressing directly.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.54] What happens at Ezeudu’s funeral?;;During the ceremonial gunfire, Okonkwo’s gun accidentally explodes and kills Ezeudu’s sixteen-year-old son.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.55] Why is Okonkwo’s killing classified as a “female” crime?;;The killing is accidental rather than intentional. Igbo law distinguishes inadvertent offenses from deliberate “male” crimes, although both require consequences.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.56] What punishment follows the accidental killing?;;Okonkwo and his family must leave Umuofia for seven years. His buildings are destroyed and animals killed to cleanse the land.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.57] Where does Okonkwo go during exile?;;He goes to Mbanta, his mother’s homeland, where Uchendu and the maternal relatives receive him and provide land.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.58] How does Okonkwo initially respond to exile?;;He falls into despair because the exile interrupts his plan to gain the clan’s highest titles. His response reveals how completely status governs his self-worth.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.59] What lesson does Uchendu teach about the motherland?;;A child belongs to the fatherland in prosperity but seeks refuge in the motherland during sorrow. Uchendu urges Okonkwo to recognize nurture, endurance, and maternal strength.

[AP Lit — Things Fall Apart 1.60] How does Obierika support Okonkwo during exile?;;Obierika sells Okonkwo’s yams, delivers the profits, visits him, and reports changes in Umuofia. His loyalty contrasts with Okonkwo’s narrow understanding of masculine strength.