CHAPTERS

THE MISSIONARIES  “All the gods you have named are not gods at all. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children” (146).  What does the white man mean in regards to Ibo society and beliefs?  Yet how is this statement ironic?  Why would Nwoye join the Christians?  In Chapter 17 (pg. 152), what is foreshadowed regarding Nwoye’s mother, brothers, and sisters?  Why did this make Okonkow so angry?  “Living fire begets cold, impotent ash” (153).  Can you imagine this vice versa?

OKONKWO’S RETURN  Before we begin, open your books to the last page of Chapter 15. Let’s read it and discuss it in coordination with the end of Chapter 19.  “We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so. You may ask why I am saying all this. I say it because I fear for the younger generation, for you people." He waved his arm where most of the young men sat. "As for me, 1 have only a short while to live, and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors, like a hunter's dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. I fear for you,- I fear for the clan." He turned again to Okonkwo and said, "Thank you for calling us together.” (167)

“…WHAT OF OUR OWN PEOPLE…?”  The white men have settled into Umuofia. Why is it now so difficult to “drive them from the land”?  Who has joined the white men?  What types of government have they established?  “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” (176).  “Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (183).

MR. BROWN VS. REV. SMITH

OKONKWO’S IMPRISONMENT  According to the District Commissioner, who is “the most powerful ruler in the world”?  Why were the prisoners’ heads shaved?  Were the men treated with respect?  “Umuofia was like a startled animal with ears erect, sniffing the silent, ominous air and not knowing which way to run” (196). To what is the village being compared? What consonance exists in the quote?  “Okonkwo’s compound was like a deserted homestead. It was as if cold water had been poured on it” (196)? How is this symbolic?  Why does Okonkwo kill the messenger and how is this a moment of epiphany?