Things Fall Apart

1. What best describes Okonkwo’s attitude toward his father Unoka?

A) He believes his father is a powerful leader who is worthy of respect.

B) He believes his father is one of the wisest men in his community.

C) He believes his father is lazy and pitiful.

D) He’s never met his father.

2. What is Okonkwo’s ethnicity?

A) Igbo/Ibo

B) Yoruba

C) Hausa

D) Ijaw

3. How did Okonkwo distinguish himself and bring honor to his people 20 years ago?

A) by leading an army to victory in a battle against a rival clan

B) by driving Christian missionaries out of his community

C) by defeating Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling match

D) by growing the finest yams in the region

4. Why is Ikemefuna sent from Mbaino to Umuofia to live with Okonkwo?

A) Ikemefuna brought dishonor to Mbaino.

B) Someone in Mbaino killed a woman from Umuofia.

C) It is part of an exchange program between the two clans.

D) Ikemefuna arrives mysteriously with no explanation.

5. Where was Unoka’s body taken after he died? (short answer).

6. Why does the priest punish Okonkwo for beating Ojiugo?

A) Domestic violence is always prohibited in Umuofia.

B) as retaliation for an earlier insult against the priest

C) Okonkwo did so in public.

D) He beat her during the Week of Peace.

7. Why does Okonkwo beat Ekwefi during the Feast of the New Yam?

A) because she cut leaves off his banana tree to wrap food

B) because she forgot to cook him lunch

C) because she lied to him about her whereabouts when she was braiding her friend’s hair

D) because he caught her with another man

8. Which of his sons and daughters is Okonkwo most fond of?

A) Ezinma

B) Nwoye

C) Nwofia

D) Obiageli

9. Which of Okonkwo’s wives did he win over when he won the wrestling match at the Feast of the New Yam years earlier?

A) Ojiugo

B) Ekwefi

C) Nwoye’s unnamed mother

D) None of the above

10. What do yams symbolize for Okonkwo’s community? (short answer)

11. How does the community treat the arrival of the locusts?

A) with disgust over the vile creatures

B) with fear over the damage they will cause

C) with apathy about the insects’ predictability

D) with joy because they are a delicacy

12. Why does Okonkwo strike the killing blow against Ikemefuna?

A) Ikemefuna disrespected Okonkwo.

B) The Oracle demands that Okonkwo be the one to kill Ikemefuna.

C) Okonkwo does not want to appear weak.

D) Ezeudu tells Okonkwo it will raise his stature in the community.

13. What is Okonkwo’s reaction to killing Ikemefuna?

A) He celebrates his achievement in the streets.

B) He makes offerings to the Earth goddess as penance.

C) He cannot sleep or eat for days.

D) He tends to his farm as if nothing happened.

14. What happened to Ekwefi’s children before Ezinma?

A) They died of natural causes in infancy.

B) They were all abandoned in the forest because they were twins.

C) They were sent to another community.

D) Ezinma is her first child.

15. What is the name of the evil spirit that inhabits a child, dies, and reenters the mother’s womb to be born again? (short answer)

16. Who are the egwugwu?

A. the local name for the white missionaries who arrive to spread Christianity

B. nine masked individuals who represent the ancestral spirits of Umuofia

C. the Umuofia clan’s name for in-laws

D. oracles who predict the future and demand offerings for the gods

17. Why is Okonkwo particularly disturbed by Ezeudu’s death?

A) The last time they spoke, Ezeudu told Okonkwo not to kill Ikemefuna.

B) Okonkwo always believed Ezeudu may have been his biological father.

C) Okonkwo was jealous of Ezeudu’s accomplishments.

D) Ezeudu died a “womanly” death.

18. Who killed Ezeudu’s 16-year-old son?

A) the egwugwu

B) Obierika

C) a loose cow

D) Okonkwo

19. What is the punishment for killing Ezeudu’s son?

A) imprisonment

B) death

C) a fine

D) exile

20. Despite the severity of the crime, why is the killer given a lenient sentence? (short answer)

21. Why does Okonkwo find farm life in exile so depressing?

A) because he hates farming

B) Mbanta is less exciting than Umuofia.

C) He feels he is too old to start life over in a new place.

D) He misses Obierika.

22. What is the isa-ifi?

A) a sacred wrestling match

B) a ritual to determine if a bride has been faithful to her groom

C) a ceremony celebrating the harvest of the year’s first yams

D) a group of elders that rules on disputes

23. How did most of the residents of Abame die?

A) disease brought by white men

B) a massive flood

C) They were shot as retribution for killing a white man.

D) They were killed by a neighboring clan in a territorial dispute.

24. Why does Uchendu believe the residents of Abame were fools for killing the white man with the bicycle?

A) They killed someone who said nothing, without knowing his story.

B) They should have known that killing a white man would bring destruction to their community.

C) They did not observe the proper sacred rituals needed to ward off destruction.

D) They spilled blood during the Week of Peace.

25. Which of Okonkwo’s children first becomes interested in Christianity? (short answer)

26. What are fetishes in West African culture?

A) dowries given to a groom’s family by a bride’s family on their wedding day

B) prophecies delivered by an oracle

C) prayers offered at night to ward off evil spirits

D) objects that hold divine power

27. Who are the efulefu?

A) the most respected elders in a community

B) People who are perceived to be weak and useless

C) cows that escape from their pens

D) the most militant anti-Christians

28. What is the most sacred animal in Okonkwo’s clan?

A) the leopard

B) the python

C) the goat

D) the monkey

29. Why do the residents in Mbanta decide to stop harassing the Christians after Okoli’s death?

A) His death shows that the traditional gods can take revenge themselves.

B) It proves that the Christian god is more powerful than they thought.

C) They do not want to see anyone else die.

D) It shows that the traditional gods are no longer relevant.

30. Okonkwo names his first son born in Mbanta “Nowfia.” What does “Nowfia” mean? (short answer)

31. Who says the following line, one of the most important in the book? “We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”

A) Okonkwo

B) Mr. Kiaga

C) Uchendu

D) Obierika

32. Which of these is a cultural feature introduced by the white man that Okonkwo respects?

A) baptism

B) the English language

C) a trading store

D) the renunciation of traditional titles

33. How does Mr. Brown plan to convince the Umuofia clan to accept the Christian missionaries?

A) education and medical care

B) forced conversions

C) killing Umuofia’s elders

D) nonviolent protest

34. How does Mr. Smith most differ from Mr. Brown?

A) Mr. Smith is patient, while Mr. Brown is very pushy about Christianity.

B) Mr. Brown cautions against excess zeal, while Mr. Smith whips followers into a frenzy.

C) Mr. Brown is from Umuofia, while Mr. Smith is from Europe.

D) Mr. Smith is aligned with Mbanta, while Mr. Brown is aligned with Umuofia.

35. According to tradition, what happens to an ancestral spirit with an egwugwu mask is forcibly removed? (short answer)

36. What event causes Okonkwo to feel something “akin to happiness” at the start of Chapter 23?

A) Ezinma’s betrothal

B) Nwoye’s rejection of Christianity

C) the egwugwu burning down the church

D) Okonkwo’s bountiful yam harvest

37. What happens to the leaders of Umuofia when they try to explain the unmasking of the egwugwu to the District Commander?

A) They are executed.

B) They are arrested.

C) They are exiled.

D) They are left alone.

38. Why is Okonkwo ultimately released by the District Commander?

A) Okonkwo agrees to be an informant.

B) Okonkwo agrees to be exiled.

C) Okonkwo publicly begs for mercy.

D) The village pays a fine of 250 cowries.

39. What does Okonkwo hope to accomplish by beheading the District Commander’s lead messenger?

A) to send the District Commander a message

B) to release his own rage

C) to inspire his fellow Umuofians to start a war with the white men

D) to obtain vengeance for the loss of his community

40. Why do the Umuofians refuse to bury Okonkwo themselves? (short answer)