• Reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing competencies are integrated throughout students' learning experiences.
• Benchmarks for the Sunshine State Standards are repeated as needed in course sequences.  As students progress from one course to the next, increases should occur in the complexity of materials and tasks and in the students' independence in the application of skills and strategies.
• Learning tasks and materials accommodate the individual needs of students.
• Technology is available for students to develop competencies in the language arts.

• using reading strategies to construct meaning from informative, technical, and literary texts
• acquiring an extensive vocabulary through reading, discussion, listening, and systematic word study.
• using process writing strategies, student inquiry, and self-monitoring techniques
• using speaking, listening, and viewing strategies in formal presentations and informal discussions
• understanding and responding to a variety of literary forms
• understanding and using language successfully to impact readers, writers, listeners, speakers, and viewers

Pre-Course Assignment

English II – Honors

DeLand High School

2007-2008

Understanding literature, both non-fiction and fiction, almost always requires that you understand the social, geographical, political and historical context in which a piece is set or which a piece reflects.  To prepare to read your first novel for the course, you will need to do considerable research about the context that inspired it.  On the following page, you will find the exam that you will take on the first day of the third week of school.  Those of you who wish to be especially well prepared for this no-notes exam are invited to spend some time during you summer doing the reading and research that will get you ready.  If you choose not to begin your reading and research during the summer, you must be prepared to spend a great deal of your first two weeks of school getting ready for this exam.

If you want to earn additional bonus credit to boost your exam grade, you may prepare a visual representation of any appropriate content or information that you uncover in your research.  These visuals should be no larger than 11”X17”, should be mounted on poster or card stock, and should be neatly and attractively displayed.  For bonus credit, visuals must be turned in by no later than the day that you take your exam.

Your research will focus on Congo, in Central Africa, and you will investigate three major time periods:  (1) the pre-Colonial period, from approximately 40,000 BCE through the late 1800’s  and the arrival of the first missionaries; (2) the “Scramble for Africa” and the Colonial Period, which began in the late 1870’s and continued until the early years of the 20^th century; and (3) 1904 to present.  Below are listed a number of websites that will help you get your work started.  This list, however, is just a starting point.  You must independently seek out other necessary information not addressed at these sites.  A good way to branch out is to follow links imbedded in these sites.

http://diglib1.amnh.org/

http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/monuc/

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Country_Specific/Zaire.html

http://www.choices.edu/Congo.cfm

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/zaire.html

http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blccongo.htm

http://www.threemonkeysonline.com/article_Congo_Free_State_Colonialism_History.htm
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/600701lumumba.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4332605.stm

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Africa/Heart_Sadness_Congo.html
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDlumumba.htm

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20259722.htm

http://www.peace.ca/afcolonialismcongo.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section11.shtml

http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/Sub-SaharaHomepage.html

http://husky1.stmarys.ca/~wmills/course316/20African_Responses.html

http://www.fresno.k12.ca.us/schools/s090/lloyd/imperialism.htm

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/sep1999/king-s06.shtml

http://www.boondocksnet.com/congo/congo_us.html

http://husky1.stmarys.ca/~wmills/course322/9Missionaries_conquest.html

http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ww/guevara/1964-cid.htm

English II – Honors Exam

Congo

1.                  In Pre-Colonial Central Africa, how were ethnic groups distinguished?  Give examples to support your claims.

2.                  How did the Atlantic slave trade change the economy of Pre-Colonial African ethnic groups?

3.                  What attracted Europeans to explore and colonize Africa?

4.                  What factors motivated King Leopold of Belgium to seek ownership of the Congo region?

5.                  Why were the Swahili traders in East Africa a threat to King Leopold’s Congo?

6.                  Explain how the European desire for profit affected the people of the Congo.

7.                  Offer evidence to prove that the Congo Free State violated Articles I, V, and VI of the Berlin Act of 1885.

8.                  Describe the atrocities committed in Congo by King Leopold’s colonial managers.

9.                  What caused the British government to take action with regard to these atrocities in 1904?

10.              What events finally triggered King Leopold’s handover of the Congo?

11.              Why was self-rule initially difficult for the Congo?

12.              How did the Cold War (period that began immediately following WWII) affect the Congo?

13.              Who was Patrice Lumumba and how and why was the United States involved in his assassination?

14.              Who was Joseph Mobutu and what kind of leader was he?

15.              Why did the United States support the reign of Joseph Mobutu?

16.              What motivated missionaries to go to Congo?

The Dominican Dictator:

Rafael Trujillo

The Dominican Republic suffered under the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo for thirty one years. With support of the United States General Rafael Molino Trujillo took control of the Dominican Republic in 1930 and ruled until his assassination in 1961. Trujillo amassed a huge fortune at the expense of his people while repressing all opposition. A movement of young Dominicans tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the dictatorship. However his rule was finally ended in 1961 when wealthy Dominicans unhappy with the dictator had him killed. In the twentieth century the Dominican Republic has not been able to establish a stable democratic government due several interventions by the US and the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo.

The beautiful Caribbean island of Hispanola is home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was the first place that Columbus landed when he mistakenly believed he had reached the East Indies. The Europeans claimed the island killing the original inhabitants with disease and conquest. The French in Haiti and the Spanish in the Dominican Republic brought thousands of slaves from Africa to work the sugar plantations on Hispanola. For this reason about three quarters of all Dominicans have a mixed European and African heritage, while the remaining quarter trace their ancestors solely to Europe or Africa. During the nineteenth century Haiti won its independence from France and controlled its Spanish speaking neighbor until 1844 when the Dominican Republic became independent. In the twentieth century the United States replaced the Europeans as key investors in Dominican sugar, coffee, cocoa, and bananas grown in its semi-tropical climate. The United States protected its economic investments by maintaining political control of the island. In 1906 the Dominicans signed a fifty year treaty with the US that gave the US control over the country's customs department. In 1916 US Marines occupied the country. In the 1920's when the US military left the Dominican Republic, they left in its place a US trained Dominican National Guard.

When the United States pulled the Marines out of the Dominican Republic in 1924 they left Rafael Trujillo in charge of the Dominican National Guard. Trujillo began work as telegraph operator at the age of sixteen. In 1918 he was accepted into the Dominican National Guard created by the US. Trujillo rose in the National Guard's ranks in the 1920's as they fought against the Dominican guerrilla movement. Trujillo ran against incumbent Horacio Vasquez for president in 1930 and fraudulently claimed ninety five percent of the vote. Once in power he used the National Guard to terrorized and banish all civilian opponents. He also established a secret police forced called the SIM (Military Intelligence Service) which not only gathered information but engaged in torture and murder at Trujillo's request. He used the SIM to control the press, bribe businessmen, and create a climate of fear among Dominicans. His brutality was well documented. For example, "in 1937 El Jefe ordered the slaughter of 20,00 black Haitians who squatted on Dominican territory or who toiled as sugar cane cutters." He modeled his dictatorship after fascist Francisco Franco in Spain, whom he much admired. The Dominican capital Santo Domingo was renamed Ciudad Trujillo and in the capital neon signs flashed "God and Trujillo."

Trujillo used his political control of the nation to amass great personal wealth. He took over plantations, and businesses. His family, relatives, and political supporters received lucrative jobs. Millions of dollars created in the Dominican Republic were used to throw lavish parties and the rest was stashed for safe keeping in foreign bank accounts. He welcomed US businesses and investors in the Dominican Republic and he maintained a pro-US foreign policy. Although many Americans did not like Trujillo's strong arm tactics, after World War II many Cold-War politicians in the US supported Trujillo as a leading Latin American anti-communist. US Secretary of State Cordell Hull summed up this attitude when he said of Trujillo, " He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he is our son-of-a-bitch."

Although the cult of Trujillo was strong among some Dominicans, many Dominicans hated "El Jefe" (the chief as he was called.) The first organized opposition developed late in the 1940's. Exiled Dominicans flew fourteen sea planes into the Dominican Republic on June 14, 1949 in the hopes of ousting Trujillo. The Luperion Invasion, as it was called, was quickly crushed by the Trujillo's army and air force. During the 1950's small groups of young Dominicans formed underground organizations dedicated to overthrowing the Trujillo regime. Some of the rebels were from the poor who suffered economic hardship during the Trujillo years. Others were "educated and well positioned youths, shamed and chagrined by their parents nauseating surrender to Trujillo...Students, businessmen, doctors, farmers, and even seminarists were meeting in eight-and ten-member cells."

Among the anti-Trujillistas were left wing Dominicans who were inspired by the revolution taking place in Cuba by Fidel Castro against the Batista dictatorship. When Cuba fell to the Fidel Castro in 1959, many exiled Dominicans sought help from the revolutionary government of Cuba. These exiles launched an invasion of the Dominican Republic from Cuba on June 14, 1959. Their attempt was ill fated as the Luperion invasion had been ten years earlier. They were quickly defeated by the Dominican air force that intercepted them as they landed on Dominican beaches. The surviving rebel invaders were rounded up by Trujillo's military and tortured and killed at a nearby military base.

The failure of the Dominican invasion did not end opposition to Trujillo. The Catorce de Junio Movement (14th of June Movement) , named after the failed invasion continued to spread. Small cells worked within the Dominican Republic and exiles sought help from liberal President Bentancourt in Venezuela. In January of 1960 the rebels planned their next attempt against Trujillo. The conspirators hoped to assassinate the Dictator on January 21st at the cattle fair that he annually attended. However, a day before the assassination attempt the head of the SIM struck arresting many Dominicans associated with the June 14th Movement. "Hundreds were rounded up by SIM agents and dragged to La Cuarenta to be tortured in the electric chair, and then thrown naked into the La Victoria prison... The beautiful Mirabel sisters, Maria Teresa and Minerva, were arrested along with their husbands, two of the leaders of the June 14th Movement."

Despite the failures of the more radical Dominicans to unseat Trujillo, the Dictator in the 1950's began losing support from his traditional allies including , the Catholic Church, the US government, and members of the Dominican elite. In 1960 the SIM accused five Catholic priests of conspiracy and bomb making with the Anti-Trujillo movement. Three of the priests were deported and the Catholic Church protested by sending a pastoral letter to the dictator calling on Trujillo to halt the "excesses, dry the tears, heal the wounds." The once supportive Catholic Church now clearly demanded human rights from the Trujillo regime. Although Trujillo still had supporters in Washington, a number of people in the Eisenhower administration feared that Trujillo's iron hand was leading to a radicalization of the Dominican rebels. Relations between the US government and the dictator were further strained when Trujillo agents attempted unsuccessfully to kill Venezuelan president Bentancourt with a bomb. The US feared that the Dominican Republic would follow the revolutionary model of Fidel Castro's Cuba and so the US's CIA began contacts with more conservative Dominicans who opposed Trujillo. CIA agents made contact with once loyal Trujillistas who were now plotting an assassination of the dictator. The assassins were wealthy Dominicans who had personal grudges against the dictator, or who had family members who had suffered at the hands of the SIM. The conspirators even included several relatives of Trujillo and high ranking political and military officials. The CIA without wanting to appear involved with this group secretly supplied several carbine rifles for the assassins to slay Trujillo, and they promised US support for the new regime once the dictator was dead.

On May 30th, 1961 the conspirators assassinated Rafael Trujillo, by firing into the dictator's car on a deserted patch of highway. The Dictator was dead. However, the coup attempt was not successful. The assassins went into hiding as Ramfis Trujillo, the dictator's son, assumed control of the Dominican Republic the following day. The following month almost all of the assassins were rounded up along with their families and friends. All were tortured and several committed suicide. In October, street riots broke out in Ciudad Trujillo and workers went on strike financed by the anti Trujillist National Civic Union. On November 18, 1961 the six remaining Trujillo assassins were taken to Ramfi Trujillo's hacienda where they were tied to trees, shot, cut up and fed to sharks at a nearby beach. The following day Ramfi Trujillo fled the Dominican Republic under US military guard while the US Atlantic fleet arrived in Santo Domingo's harbor.

Unfortunately the death of Trujillo and the exile of his son did not restore democracy to the Dominican Republic. The military still exerted strong control over the Dominican government as evidenced by four military coup-des-tats in less than three years. Civil war had broken out among the various factions of Dominicans and on April 28th, 1965 US Marines landed in Santo Domingo taking control of the country. They were joined later that year by soldiers from the Organization of America States. A year later a weak civilian government led by president Balaguer restored some stability to the country. However, since that time the Dominican Republic has been plagued by weak democratic institutions including: censorship of the press, political corruption, and several military attempts to take over the government. In addition, amidst political problems the Dominican Republic suffered a sharp economic decline with the drop in world sugar prices in the 1970's. The Dominicans have sought to solve their dilemma with loans from the International Monetary Fund. However, the price increases for basic foods and gasoline demanded by the IMF caused protest and riots in 1984 and 1985. Unfortunately, the Dominican Republic, like so many smaller Latin American nations, has not been able to sustain strong economic growth coupled with democratic institutions. Nor have they been able to create Dominican economic and political institutions without the investment and intervention of the United States.

by Dave Forrest at James Logan High School [email protected]

Chinua Achebe:  Things Fall Apart  Study Guide

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 our region 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?

Chapter Fourteen

In Part One we were introduced to an intact and functioning culture. It may have had its faults, and it accommodated deviants like Okonkwo with some difficulty, but it still worked as an organic whole. It is in Part Two that things begin to fall apart. Okonkwo's exile in Mbanta is not only a personal disaster, but it removes him from his home village at a crucial time so that he returns to a changed world which can no longer adapt to him.

What is the significance of comparing Okonkwo to a fish out of water? Note the value placed on premarital chastity in the engagement ceremony. In many African cultures virginity is not an absolute requirement for marriage but it is highly desirable and normally greatly enhances the value of the bride-price that may be paid. Thus families are prone to assert a good deal of authority over their unmarried daughters to prevent early love affairs. How does Okonkwo's lack of understanding of the importance of women reflect on him?

Chapter Fifteen

How does the story of the destruction of Abame summarize the experience of colonization? Movie Indians call a train engine an "iron horse," but the term here refers to a bicycle. Note that although the people of Abame acted rashly, they had a good deal of insight into the significance of the arrival of the whites. Note how the Africans treat the white man's language as mere noise; a mirror of how white colonizers treated African languages. What sorts of stories had Okonkwo heard about white men before? In the final exchange with Okonkwo Obierika is good-naturedly refusing to accept Okonkwo's thanks by joking with him.

Chapter Sixteen

The British followed a policy in their colonizing efforts of designating local "leaders" to administer the lower levels of their empire. In Africa these were known as "warrant chiefs." But the men they chose were often not the real leaders, and the British often assumed the existence of an centralized chieftainship where none existed. Thus the new power structures meshed badly with the old. Similarly the missionaries have designated as their contact man an individual who lacks the status to make him respected by his people.

Why do you think Nwoye has become a Christian? Note how Achebe inverts the traditional dialect humor of Europeans which satirizes the inability of natives to speak proper English by having the missionary mangle Ibo. What is the first act of the missionaries which evokes a positive response in some of the Ibo? Achebe focuses on the doctrine of the Trinity, the notoriously least logical and most paradoxical basic belief in Christianity. How does this belief undermine the missionaries' attempts to discredit the traditional religion? Why does the new religion appeal to Nwoye?

Chapter Seventeen

What mutual misunderstandings are evident in this chapter between the missionaries and the people of the village? How does the granting to the missionaries of a plot in the Evil Forest backfire? What does the metaphor in the next to the last sentence of the chapter mean?

Chapter Eighteen

The outcaste osu are introduced in this chapter. Why do you suppose Achebe has not mentioned them earlier? Their plight was indeed a difficult one, and is treated by Achebe elsewhere. In India the lowest castes were among the first to convert to faiths which challenged traditional Hinduism; and something similar seems to happen here.

Chapter Nineteen

Note how traditional Umuofian custom can welcome back an erring member once he has paid for his crime. In many cultures Okonkwo would be treated as a pariah, but this culture has ways of accommodating such a person without destroying him, and in fact encouraging him to give of his best. What does the final speaker say is the main threat posed by Christianity?

Chapter Twenty

Okonkwo's relationship to the newcomers is exacerbated by the fact that he has a very great deal at stake in maintaining the old ways. All his hopes and dreams are rooted in the continuance of the traditional culture. The fact that he has not been able gradually to accustom himself to the new ways helps to explain his extreme reaction. The missionaries have brought British colonial government with them. Missionaries were often viewed as agents of imperialism. There is a saying common to Native Americans and Africans alike which goes like this: "Before the white man came, we had the land and they had the Bible. Now we have the Bible and they have the land."

What clashes in values are created by the functioning of the British courts? Note the final phrase of Obierika's last speech, alluding to the title of the novel.

Chapter Twenty-One

Why do some of the villagers--even those who are not converts to Christianity--welcome the British? The missionaries try to refute what they consider idolatry with the simplistic argument that the animist gods are only wooden idols; however the villagers are perfectly aware that the idol is not the god in a literal sense, any more than the sculpture of Christ on the cross in a Christian church is God. This sort of oversimplification was a constant theme of Christian arguments against traditional faiths throughout the world as the British assumed that the natives were fools pursuing childish beliefs who needed only a little enlightenment to be converted. Mr. Brown here learns better. It is worth noting that Achebe, like his fellow Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, was raised a Christian; but both rejected the faith and have preferred to affirm certain aspects of traditional beliefs in their own lives. Note how Akunna shrewdly senses that the head of the Church is in England rather than in heaven. Note the recurrence of the phrase "falling apart" in the last sentence of the chapter."

Chapter Twenty-Two

How is Rev. Smith different from Brown? What is the result of his black and white thinking?

 Chapter Twenty-Three

What does the District Commissioner say is the motive of the British in colonizing the Africans?

Chapter Twenty-Four

Once again Okonkwo uses his matchet rashly, bringing disaster on his head. But he could be viewed as a defiant hero defending his people's way of life. What do you think of his act?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Why do you think Okonkwo kills himself? What is your reaction to the final paragraph of the book? Analyze it.

(Notes by Paul Brians, Department of English, Washington State University, Pullman 99164-5020.) 

achebe.html at www.sdsmt.edu

Special Topics Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart

 1. The author

Chinua Achebe, one of the world’s leading writers, was born in Eastern Nigeria, West Africa, in 1930. As Nigeria was under British rule, Achebe received an essentially British education up to the university level. Achebe has described how he became a writer: “At the university I read some appalling novels about Africa (including Joyce Cary’s much praised Mister Johnson) and decided that the story we had to tell could not be told for us by anyone else no matter how gifted or well intentioned.” (Hopes and Impediments 38).  Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is another novel that irked Achebe. 

In response to Joyce Cary’s Nigerian novel, Mister Johnson, Achebe sought to write one novel but ended up writing two, Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease. Achebe notes that his Things Fall Apart “was an act of atonement with my past, the ritual return and homage of a prodigal son.” (Hopes and Impediments 38). Ci. Times discusses very well the ways in which Things Fall Apart responds to Mister Johnson. 

In addition to Things Fall Apart, and its sequel No Longer at Ease, Achebe has published other works of fiction including Arrow of God, A man of the People, and Anthills of the Savanna, two collections of essays, one titled Morning Yet on Creation Day, and a collection of poems, Beware Soul Brother and Other Poems. 

Achebe sees his role as being that of a teacher. He notes: “I would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I have set in the past) did no more than teach my (African) readers that their past--with all its imperfections--was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them” (Hopes and Impediments 45). His teaching now reaches students around the world. 

2. The Novel
Things Fall Apart appears to be a simple novel. Gikandi’s assessment of the novel is typical: “In the very simple and conventional story of Okonkwo, a strong individual and an Igbo hero struggling to maintain the cultural integrity of his people against the overwhelming power of colonial rule, Achebe was able to capture the anxieties of many African readers in the 1950s” (x). On closer inspection, Things Fall Apart is a much more subtle and complicated novel than the popular view suggests. 

There are ways to illuminate the complexity of this novel, starting with the premise that African literature is a continuous tradition, or a complex of traditions, going back thousands of years and embracing both oral and written forms. From ancient Egypt come the oldest known texts of folktales. Modern African literature springs from and contributes to this age long tradition. 

In its thematic and structural patterns, Things Fall Apart manifests its debt to the tradition of oral storyteffing. Consider, for example, the story of the little bird nza which is repeated and amplified various ways. I think it is a very significant story in the context of this novel. The novel notes that Okonkwo’s enemies “said his good fortune had gone to his head. They called him the little bird nza who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his clii” (22). 

Looking at Okonkwo’s life in terms of the story of the little bird nza, enables us to raise questions about his greatness. We can discuss whether challenging one’s personal god, or chi, is an act of bravery, mischief or impudence. This little bird resembles trickster characters in the mythologies many cultures who also challenged the gods. They include the Sumerian hero Gilgamesh and Greek characters such as Prometheus, Sisyphus and Tantalus. In different contexts, Things Fall Apart repeats the idea of the defiance exhibited by the little bird. Obiako is a case in point; upon hearing his dead father wanted a goat as a sacrifice, Obiako told the Oracle: “Ask my dead father if he ever had a fowl when be was alive” (15). 

Besides violating norms, the trickster tends to be adept at many things, including using wit and eloquence. One can produce a list of trickster characters in Things Fall Apart; they range from Unoka, Okonkwo’s lazy father, to tortoise, who borrows feathers for the trip to the sky. Indeed, have suggested, there is something of the trickster in Okonkwo as well. Though it might be productive to see Okonkwo in the framework of the story of the little bird nza, we must acknowledge that he is also a great man. This underlines his complexity. 

People commonly see Things Fall Apart as a story about the disintegration of an African culture result of European intervention. This view fails to recognize the contradictions and dynamics in Okonkwo’s society. Although the people in Okonkwo’s society had a common culture, they did not always agree on its various aspects. We see, for example, an elder advising Okonkwo not to take part in the killing of Ikemefuna. This is quite strange, considering that the elders are the keepers of the culture and wisdom of the society and bearing in mind that the killing of Ikemefuna had been ordered by the Oracle of Hills and the Caves (40). 

Another old man, Obierika, was a critic of Umuofia’s culture: Obierika was a man who thought about things. When the will of the goddess had been done, he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend’s calamity. Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offence he had committed inadvertently? But although he thought for a long time he found no answer. He was merely led into greater complexities. He remembered his wife’s twin children, whom he had thrown away. What crime had they committed? The Earth had decreed that they were an offence on the land and must be destroyed And if the clan did not exact punishment for an offence against the great goddess, her wrath was loosed on all the land and not just on the offender. As the elders said, f one finger brought oil it soiled the others. (878)

 Several times in Things Fall Apart we are told about how social customs and values had been falling apart as a result of developments within the society itself. We see Ogbuefi Ezeudu, the oldest man in Okonkwo’s village, complaining “that the punishment for breaking the Peace of Ani had become very mild in their clan” (23). Similarly, when Okonkwo is in exile, we see another old man, Uchendu, complaining about how Okonkwo’s generation had abandoned some of the old ways (96).

 There are many people who think that pre-colonial African societies were static with everybody following the tradition without any opposition. That is a false view. As we see in Things Fall Apart, those societies had internal tensions and dynamism such which made them change and develop. 

3. Women in Things Fall Apart.
The position and image of women in Things Fall Apart is an important topic. Unfortunately, people have not paid much attention to it beyond going along with the assumption that this novel presents women as a sadly oppressed group with no power. This assumption may appear to be right, but there is much more to think about. Women in Things Fall Apart are the primary educators of children. Through story telling and other forms of discourse, they educate and socialize the children, inspiring in them intellectual curiosity about social values, relationships, and the human condition. The stories the women tell also develop the artistic consciousness of the children, in addition to entertaining them. 

The women bear children, cook and take care of the household in many other ways. Through their labor, they are an important pillar of the society. The presence of Chielo, the priestess in Things Fall Apart is instructive. She is a spiritual leader, whose authority is unquestioned. Grace Okafor comments on the Igbo view of women’s ritualistic power:

The ritualistic function of women emanated from belief in the ritual essence of women as progenitors of the society. The idea is that women know the secret of life since they are the source of life. Because of their biological function in the life-giving process, the society looks on them to safeguard life. Thus, it is the biological role of women that influenced belief in their power. (Okafor, 9-10) 

There is a memorable question that old Uchendu asks, which emphasizes the position of women in Things Fall Apart in a dramatic way: Can you tell me, Okonkwo, why it is that one of the commonest names we give to our children is Nneka, or ‘Mother is Supreme”? We all know that a man is the head of the family and his wives do his bidding. A child belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family. A man belongs to his fatherland and not to his motherland. And yet we say Nneka--’Mother is Supreme.” Why is that?” (94) 

Uchendu answers the question himself: A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme. (94-95) 

4. Epic Heroism
We can see Things Fall Apart as an epic; it resembles stories about heroes that we find in many cultures. In these stories, the heroes are extraordinary individuals, whose careers and destinies are not theirs alone, but are bound with the fortunes and destinies of their society. They become heroes by accomplishing great things for themselves and their communities, winning much fame as a result. Okonkwo fits this pattern. The first paragraph of Things Fall Apart is notable in this respect, for it describes Okonkwo as follows: Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honour to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten, from Umuofia to Mbaino, He was called the Cat because his back would never touch the earth. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old man agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights. (3) 

In an epic story, the hero undergoes many tests, which we can see as rites of passage. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo undergoes such tests, including the wrestling match with Amalinze the Cat, his struggle with the negative legacy of his father, and the struggle to succeed on his own. 

Praising heroes is a basic function of epics. As a story about heroes and heroism, the epic tends to be built around a praise song. Put another way, the epic tends to function like a praise song. Things Fall Apart exemplifies this very well; it contains many passages in praise of Okonkwo and other heroic characters. There is, for example, the famous praise song for the champion wrestler, Okafo, which closely mirrors Okonkwo’s own achievements:

“Who will wrestle for our village?
Okafo will wrestle for our village.
Has he thrown a hundred men?
He has thrown four hundred men.
Has he thrown a hundred Cats?
He has thrown four hundred Cats.
Then send him word to fight for us. “(36) 

African praise songs often simultaneously praise and criticize the intended person. The same is true of Things Fall Apart. This novel presents both positive and negatives aspects of Okonkwo. Since we tend to see Okonkwo as representing his society, we can say that Things Fall Apart both celebrates and critically appraises the culture whose tensions and contradictions he embodies. 

The contradictions in Okonkwo have deep implications. One of the most troublesome questions concerns the nature of heroism, and Okonkwo’s heroism in particular. Is Okonkwo really a hero? Before we go into this question, let us remember that Okonkwo’s culture is achievement-oriented. Achebe makes the following remark about Okonkwo’s society:  Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered. As the elders said, a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders (6). 

We know from the very first page of Things Fall Apart that Okonkwo threw Amalinze the Cat and became famous “throughout the nine villages and even beyond.” We know that his fame spread “like a bush-fire in the harmattan.” We know that in Umuofia’s latest war, he was “the first to bring home a human head,” All this means that Okonkwo was a hero. The difficulty arises when we consider Okonkwo’s motives. In defining heroism, do we focus only on accomplishments or on motives as well? We learn that Okonkwo’s

whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself lest he should be found to resemble his father. (9-10) 

Let us consider, also, Okonkwo’s suicide. Some people think that a true hero should not commit suicide. They think that in killing himself Okonkwo acted like a coward. The novel itself says that in Okonkwo’s society, suicide was an abomination. A person who committed suicide could not be given a proper burial. 

We can raise yet another argument. Throughout, Okonkwo has been quite ready to violate norms and taboos. That he eventually commits suicide, thus breaking a grave taboo, should not surprise us. Yet, the issue is more complicated than this. We can also ask whether Okonkwo’s death is suicide. Suicide is a self-willed death. Okonkwo is pushed to take his life, it seems, and the responsibility for this is not his alone. His clan, the colonizers, and Okonkwo himself share this responsibility. In the aftermath of Okonkwo’s death, Obierika makes a statement to the District Commissioner, which supports this view: “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself...” (147) 

5. Questions for Reflection
1. Okonkwo says, “The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did” (16). Discuss this saying in relation to the content and form of Things Fall Apart. 

2. In a memorable episode in Things Fall Apart, the killing of Ikemefuna, Achebe writes, “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (43). How can we relate these traits to Okonkwo’s image as a hero? It seems interesting to discuss the dialectic between weakness and strength in Okonkwo’s character. 

3. Is Unoka a failure? 

4. Discuss the title of the book the District Commissioner intends to write: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger (148). How do we define the term “primitive?” 

5. Does Achebe’s use of folklore in Things Fall Apart facilitate or hamper your understanding of the novel?

6. Discuss Okonkwo’s suicide. 

7. If Mother is Supreme, why is there so much abuse of women in Things Fall Apart?

 
Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Oxford: Heinemann, 1986.

Hopes and Impediments. New York: Doubleday, 1989.

Innes, C.L. Chinua Achebe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Nnolim, Charles E, “Achebe Things Fall Apart: An Igbo National Epic” Modern Black Literature. ed. Okechukwu Mezu New York: Black Academy Press, 1971, 55-60.

Obiechina, Emmanuel. “Narrative Proverbs in the African Novel,” Research in African Literatures,

24, 4 (1993), 123-140.

Okafor, Chinyere Grace. “From the Heart of Masculinity: Ogbodo-Uke Women’s Masking.” Research in African Literatures, 25, 3 (1994), 717.

Traore, Ousseynou. “Matrical Approach to Things Fall Apart; A Poetics of Epic and Mythic

Paradigms.” Approaches to Teaching Achebe ‘s Things Fall Apart. ed. Bernth Lindfors. New York:

MLA, 1991, 65-73.