The following is a reading guide - along the way you will be given information and be asked to completely follow aspects of the novel (rituals, laws, attitudes toward women). Please do not ignore the embedded questions as they will form the focus of our class discussions and could well be the basis of every pop quiz or quick write.
Chapter One:
Note how Achebe immediately establishes his perspective from inside
Umuofia (which is Ibo for "people of the forest") in the first sentence.
The wider world consists of the group of nine related villages which
comprise Umuofia and certain other villages like Mbaino. What are
Okonkwo's main characteristics as he is depicted in the first few
chapters? List as many as you can, being as specific as possible. What
were the characteristics of his father which affect him so powerfully?
Kola is a stimulant, comparable to very strong tea or coffee, which
is served on most social occasions in this culture. It is also one
ingredient after which Coca Cola is named. Note how the ritual for
sharing kola is described without being explained. Why do you think
Achebe does this? He will continue to introduce Ibo customs in this
fashion throughout the novel.
One becomes influential in this culture by earning titles. As with the
Potlatch Indians of the American Northwest and many other peoples, this
is an expensive proposition which involves the dispersing most of one's
painfully accumulated wealth. What do you think are the social functions
of such a system?
One of the most famous lines in the novel is "proverbs are the
palm-oil with which words are eaten." What does this mean? Palm oil is a
rich yellow oil pressed from the fruit of certain palm trees and used
both for fuel and cooking. Look for other proverbs as you read. Cowry
shells threaded on strings were traditionally used as a means of
exchange by many African cultures. The villages' distance from the sea
makes them sufficiently rare to serve as money. Cowries from as far away
as Southeast Asia have been found in sub-Saharan Africa.
Chapter Two
What effect does night have on the people? What do they fear? How do
they deal with their fear of snakes at night? Palm-wine is a naturally
fermented product of the palm-wine tree, a sort of natural beer. What is
the cause and nature of the conflict with Mbaino? Beginning with this
chapter, trace how women are related to the religious beliefs of the
people. What is the purpose of the taking of Ikemefuna? Note how Achebe
foreshadows the boy's doom even as he introduces him.
In what ways does Okonkwo overcompensate for his father's
weaknesses? In what ways is he presented as unusual for his culture?
What is his attitude toward women? Why does he dislike his son Nwoye so
much?
In this polygamous culture each household is enclosed in a compound.
Each wife lives in a hut with her children, and the husband visits each
wife in turn, though he has his own hut as well. Children are often
cared for more or less communally. What do you think the advantages and
disadvantages of this form of social structure are?
What seems to be Achebe's attitude toward this culture so far? Is
his depicting it as an ideal one? Can you cite any passages which imply a
critical attitude?
Chapter Three
The priestess of Agbala is introduced at the beginning of this
chapter. She is a very significant figure in this book. What effect does
her status have on your judgment of the roles played by women in the
culture? The chi or personal spirit (rather like the daemon
of Socrates) is a recurring theme in the book. The term "second burial"
is a delayed funeral ceremony given after the family has had time to
prepare.
How is awareness of rank observed in the drinking of the palm wine?
Note that this chapter contains another proverb about proverbs. How does
share-cropping work? What is the relationship of women to agriculture?
Note that a customary way of committing suicide in this culture is
hanging. How does Okonkwo react to "the worst year in living memory?"
Chapter Four
What are Okonkwo's virtues? What are his faults? What does this
proverb mean, "When a man says yes his chi says yes also"? What is
Okonkwo's relationship with Ikemefuna like? What is the crime that
causes Okonkwo's to be reprimanded? What does it tell you about the
values of the culture? What evidence is there in this chapter that
customs have changed over time? That customs differ among contemporary
cultures? What are the limits of the power of the village rain-maker?
Note Nwoye's affection for Ikemefuna. It will be significant later.
Chapter Five
What is Okonkwo's attitude toward feasts? Note that it is women who
are chiefly responsible for decorating the houses. In many African
cultures they are also the chief domestic architects, and the mud walls
are shaped by them into pleasing patterns. Guns were brought into
Sub-Saharan Africa early on by Muslim merchants, but would have been
fairly unusual. Briefly summarize the story of Ikwefi. What kind of a
woman is she? What do you think is the significance of women having to
sit with their legs together?
Chapter Six
This chapter introduces a much-discussed aspect of Ibo belief. As in
most pre-modern cultures, the majority of children died in early
childhood. If a series of such deaths took place in a family it was
believed that the same wicked spirit was being born and dying over and
over again, spitefully grieving its parents. They tended to be
apprehensive about new children until they seemed to be likely to
survive, thus proving themselves not to be feared ogbanje. What roles
does Chielo play in the village?
Chapter Seven
How has Nwoye begun to "act like a man"? What values does Okonkwo
associate with manliness? How does Nwoye relate to these values?
"Foo-foo" is pounded yam, the traditional staple of the Ibo diet. How
does the village react to the coming of the locusts? Achebe is doubtless
stressing the contrast with other cultures here, familiar to African
readers from the Bible, in which locusts are invariably a terrible
plague. Why is Okonkwo asked not to take part in the killing of
Ikemefuna? Why do you suppose they have decided to kill the boy? Why do
you think Achebe does not translate the song that Ikemefuna remembers as
he walks along? A matchet is a large knife (Spanish machete). Why does Okonkwo act as he does?
Most traditional cultures have considered twins magical or cursed.
Twins are in fact unusually common among the Ibo, and some subgroups
value them highly. However, the people of Umuofia do not. Note how the
introduction of this bit of knowledge is introduced on the heels of
Ikemefuna's death. Nwoye serves as a point of view character to
criticize some of the more negative aspects of Umuofia culture. This
incident will have a powerful influence on his reaction to changes in
the culture later.
Chapter Eight
What is Okonkwo's attitude toward his daughter Ezinma?" Bride-price
is the converse of dowry. Common in many African cultures, it involves
the bridegroom's family paying substantial wealth in cash or goods for
the privilege of marrying a young woman. Do you think such a custom
would tend to make women more valuable than a dowry system where the
woman's family must offer the gifts to the bridegroom's family? How do
you think such a system would affect the women themselves? Note again
the emphasis on differing customs, this time as it applies to palm-wine
tapping.
Young women were considered marriageable in their mid-teens. Why do
you think this attitude arose? It is worth noting that European women
commonly married between 15 and 18 in earlier times. There is nothing
uniquely African about these attitudes.
Note the continued treatment of the theme of the variability of values.
How is the notion of white men first introduced into the story? Why
might Africans suppose that they have no toes? What sorts of attitudes
are associated with white men in this passage?
Chapter Nine
The story of the mosquito is one of several West African tales which
explain why these insects buzz irritatingly in people's ears. Why does
Ekwefi prize her daughter Ezinma so highly? In this chapter the notion
of the ogbanje is treated at length. What attitudes toward children does
it reflect? Note how it balances against the "throwing away" of twins.
Does Achebe seem to validate the belief in ogbanje?
Chapter Ten
The egwugwu ceremony of the Ibo has been much studied.
The women clearly know on some level that these mysterious beings are
their men folk in disguise, yet they are terrified of them. What do you
think their attitude toward the egwugwu is? What seem to be the main
functions of the ceremony? How does Evil Forest refute the argument of
Uzowulu that he beat his wife because she was unfaithful to him? How are
problems like this affected by the fact that whole families are
involved in marriage, unlike in American culture where a man and woman
may wed quite independently of their families and even against their
families' wishes? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each
system?
Chapter Eleven
What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it
reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala
reflect about the values of the culture?
Chapter Twelve
Notice the traditional attitudes of all small villagers toward large
marketplaces like Umuike. How is the importance of family emphasized in
the uri ceremony? Notice that the song sung at the end of
the chapter is a new one. Achebe often reminds us that this is not a
frozen, timeless culture, but a constantly changing one.
Chapter Thirteen
Having shown us an engagement ceremony, Achebe now depicts a
funeral. We are being systematically introduced to the major rituals of
Ibo life. How does the one-handed egwugwu praise the dead man? Okonkwo
has killed people before this. What makes this incident so serious,
though it would be treated as a mere accident under our law?
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