Part+One+Chapter+Notes+Chart

· How is awareness of rank observed in the drinking of the palm wine? · How does share-cropping work? · What is the relationship of women to agriculture? · How does Okonkwo react to "the worst year in living memory?" || · Guns were brought into Sub-Saharan Africa early on by Muslim merchants, but would have been fairly unusual. || * What is Okonkwo's attitude toward feasts? · 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. · A matchet is a large knife (Spanish machete). · 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. || * How has Nwoye begun to "act like a man"? · Note again the emphasis on differing customs, this time as it applies to palm-wine tapping. · 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. || * What is Okonkwo's attitude toward his daughter Ezinma? · In this chapter the notion of the ogbanje is treated at length. Note how it balances against the "throwing away" of twins. || * Why does Ekwefi prize her daughter Ezinma so highly? · What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the culture? || · 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. || * How is the importance of family emphasized in the uri ceremony? || · Okonkwo has killed people before the son’s murder. || * How does the one-handed egwugwu praise the dead man?
 * || **PART ONE** ||
 * 1 || * 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.
 * 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.
 * One becomes influential in this culture by earning titles, an expensive proposition which involves the dispersing most of one's painfully accumulated wealth.
 * Palm oil is a rich yellow oil pressed from the fruit of certain palm trees and used both for fuel and cooking.
 * 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. || * What are Okonkwo's main characteristics as he is depicted in the first few chapters?
 * What were the characteristics of his father which affect him so powerfully?
 * Why do you think Achebe describes the ritual for sharing kola without explaining it ?
 * What do you think are the social functions of the system by which one attains titles?
 * What does "proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten" mean? ||
 * 2 || * Palm-wine is a naturally fermented product of the palm-wine tree, a sort of natural beer.
 * 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 effect does night have on the people?
 * What do they fear?
 * How do they deal with their fear of snakes at night?
 * What is the cause and nature of the conflict with Mbaino?
 * 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?
 * 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? ||
 * 3 || * 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.
 * Note that a customary way of committing suicide in this culture is hanging. || · What effect does Agbala’s status have on your judgment of the roles played by women in the culture?
 * 4 || · Note Nwoye's affection for Ikemefuna. || * 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? ||
 * 5 || · 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.
 * 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? ||
 * 6 || · 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? ||
 * 7 || · "Foo-foo" is pounded yam, the traditional staple of the Ibo diet.
 * What values does Okonkwo associate with manliness? How does Nwoye relate to these values?
 * How does the village react to the coming of the locusts?
 * 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?
 * Why does Okonkwo act as he does? ||
 * 8 || · “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 bride-price tends 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?
 * Why do you think this attitude about young women being considered marriageable in their mid-teens arose?
 * 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? ||
 * 9 || · The story of the mosquito is one of several West African tales which explain why these insects buzz irritatingly in people's ears.
 * What attitudes toward children does notion of the ogbanje reflect?
 * Does Achebe seem to validate the belief in ogbanje? ||
 * 10 || · 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 about the women’s attitude toward the egwugwu?
 * 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 others cultures 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? ||
 * 11 ||  || · What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect?
 * 12 || · Notice the traditional attitudes of all small villagers toward large marketplaces like Umuike.
 * 13 || · Having shown us an engagement ceremony, Achebe now depicts a funeral. We are being systematically introduced to the major rituals of Ibo life.
 * What makes the son’s murder so serious, though it would be treated as a mere accident under our law? ||