| “The Second Coming” by W.B. Yeats (epigraph) | “Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;mere anarchy is loosed upon the world |
| first sentence | “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements.” |
| Last Sentence | “He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger” |
| Simile | “Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water.” |
| Simile | “Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan.” |
| Okonkwo’s character | “He had no patience with unsucessful men.” |
| Foreshadowing | “The ill-fated lad was called Ikemefuna.” |
| Alliteration + Tragic Flaw | “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand.” |
| Parent/child Conflict (Okonkwo and Unoka) | “Okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved.” |
| Nwoye’s character | “a sad-faced youth” |
| Public vs Private (Okonkwo) | “Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy- inwardly of course.” |
| Ezeani (priestess of the earth goddess Ani) | “The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan.” |
| Parent/child Conflict (Nwoye and Okonkwo) | “Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily.” |
| Nwoye’s Change- Onomatopoeia + Simile | “Something seemed to give way inside him, like the snapping of a tightened bow.” |
| Public vs Private (Okonkwo + Ezinma) | “She should have been a boy.” |
| Hyperbole (market) | “There are so many people on it that if you threw up a grain of sand it would not find a way to fall to earth again.” |
| Passion vs Responsibility (Okonkwo) | “His life had been ruled by a great passion- to become one of the lords of the clan.” |
| Metaphor (Okonkwo) | “Okonkwo’s eyes were opened and he saw the whole matter clearly. Living fire begets cold, impotent ash. he sighed again, deeply.” |
| Parent/child Conflict | “I will only have a son who is a man.” |
| Reverend James Smith condemns Mr. Brown’s policy of compromise and accommodation | “He saw things as black and white And black was evil.” |
| Okonkwo’s character | “Okonkwo was choked with hate.” |
| Obierika about Okonkwo | “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog…” |
| Irony with Distric Commissioner | “Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph at any rate.” |
| woman; also used of a man who has taken no title | agbala |
| personal god | chi |
| masquerader who impersonates one of the ancestral spirits of the village | egwugwu |
| showing off, bragging | inyanga |
| shout of approval and greeting | kwenu |
| court messenger (not of Ibo origins but of corruption of “court messenger”) | kotma |
| shout of approval or greeting | kwenu |
| elders | ndichie |
| large living quarters of the head of the family | obi |
| murder or manslaughter | ochu |
| a changeling; a child who repeatedly dies and returns to its mother to be reborn. It is almost impossible to bring up an __ child without it dying, unless it iyi-uwa is firs tfound and destroyed | obanje |
| musical instrument; a kind of gong | ogene |
| an outcast. having been dedicated to a god, the osu was taboo and was not allowed to mix with the freeborn in any way | osu |
| name of one of the titles or ranks | ozo |
| a curse or oath | tufia |
| author | Chinua Achebe |
| publication date | 1958 |
| # Parts | 3 |
| # Chapters | 25 |
| Part 1 | Chapters 1-13 Umuofia |
| Part 2 | Chapters 14-19 in Mbanta |
| Part 3 | Chapters 20-25 Umuofia |
| Point of View | 3rd Person Omniscient |
| time period and country | 1890s SW Africa Nigeria, Umuofia, Mbanta |
| protagonist | Okonkwo |
| Okonkwo’s village | Umuofia |
| Okonkwo’s clan | Ibo |
| Okonkwo’s dad | Unoka |
| Okonkwo’s BF | Obierika |
| Okonkwo’s son | Nwoye |
| Okonkwo’s adopted son | Ikemefuna |
| Okonkwo’s favorite daughter | Ezinma |
| Okonkwo’s motherland | Mbanta |
| Epigraph and author | “The Second Coming” by W. B. Yeats |
| missionary interpreter | Mr. Kiaga |
| 2 white missionaries | Mr. Brown, Reverend James Smith |
| Oracle of the Hills and Caves | Agbala |
| Earth goddess | Ani |
| Ancestral Spirits | egwugwu dressed up to impersonate; Okonkwo kept his symbols of these in a wooden box and gave sacrifices of kola nut to |
| Oldest man in Umuofia | Ogbuefi Ezeudu |
| 16 year old boy Okonkwo accidentally kills | Ezeudo’s son |
| Okonkwo’s uncle | Uchendu |
| Okonkwo’s 1st wife | Nwoye’s mother |
| Okonkwo’s 2nd wife | Ekwifi (Ezinma’s mother) |
| Okonkwo’s 3rd wife | Ojiugo |
| Okonkwo’s youngest wife | Ojiugo |
| Umuofian who unmasked an egwugwu | Enoch |
Things Fall Apart
February 13, 2020