Things Fall Apart: Discussion Questions

Unoka and Okonkwo are very different people, but they have one thing in common: they are both afraid. What is it that each is afraid of, and why does this ultimately make them more alike than different?

Unoka is the father of Okonkwo. He is a gentle, art-loving man often found playing his flute or admiring the beauty of nature. He is not a go-getter and remains poor, with several bad debts, throughout his life. This greatly impacts Okonkwo, who, in a bid to attain society’s respect, tries too hard to be different from his father. Unoka is afraid of the ancestral gods, diligence, and hard labor. His son Okonkwo is afraid of failure, laziness, and disrespect.

Unoka lives his life on his own terms and is never dissatisfied. He does leave behind huge debts for his son and nothing in terms of an inheritance. This makes Okonkwo bitter toward his father and he works very diligently to hold a remarkably different reputation in society that his father did. Okonkwo’s biggest fear in life is that he might turn out like his father and this fear is realized when his own son Nwoye grows up to become similar to his grandfather Unoka. In his fear of losing respect in society, Okonkwo is unfairly harsh on his son and it leads to an eventual estrangement between the two.

Ultimately, Unoka and Okonkwo are more alike than different because they’re both constantly afraid and bow down to society’s whims and watertight rules.

How is Obierika different from Okonkwo?

Obierika is a close friend of Okonkwo’s in the village of Umuofia. While Okonkwo is constantly working toward earning more titles, maintaining and upgrading his reputation as a leader of the clan, and doing everything to showcase the society and himself as powerful, Obierika lives life on his own terms. He is intelligent, empathetic, and progressive in his ideas. He is also fair and believes in justice, regardless of how it fits with society’s norms and principles.

When Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna, Obierika berates him for committing an unforgivable sin—killing a young boy who considered him his own father, all to appear strong and invincible amidst his clansmen.

When Okonkwo is exiled for seven years, for an accidental murder, Obierika is compassionate and the only man who visits his friend. He even sells Okonkwo’s seed yams and regularly brings him the money in an effort to help him.

By contrast, Okonkwo is selfish and fearful—he cares too much of what society thinks of him and pays no heed to interpersonal relationships, as long as they do not impact his reputation in the clan.

Nevertheless, the two men are close friends and Obierika is one of the very few people in Okonkwo’s life who the latter listens to. On Okonkwo’s death, Obierika is the first person to turn up and ask for assistance in bringing his body down.

How are Okonkwo and Mr Smith similar?

Mr Smith is the new missionary who replaces the warm Mr Brown in Umuofia. Unlike his predecessor who was cautious and respectful of Igbo traditions, Mr Smith is blunt and blindly disregards the clan’s traditions as bogus and primitive. Okonkwo’s attitude toward Christianity is exactly the same—he views it as a vulgar foreign religion that makes no sense and is only serving the purpose of breaking up the clan.

Okonkwo cannot see how the church has helped save outcasts, twin children who were needlessly murdered by the clan, and those who have been shunned by Igbo society. Likewise, Mr Smith is blind to the fairness of Igbo society—in offering land and yams to everyone, in taking decisions as a whole and in ensuring that no one is given unfair advantage over the other.

Both men are fanatical about their own religions and covet their places in society too much to be able to be progressive, liberal, or kind.

Okonkwo is a resolute and brave man. What causes him to commit suicide—an unforgiveable sin in his society?

Okonkwo has lived his life being diligent and building his place in society. Fate was never on his side—he had bad debts from his father to clear, he was poor and even after becoming wealthy and respected, he was exiled due to an accident. Despite these tremendous misfortunes, Okonkwo is a determined man who plans for his return and impending wealth and fortune. He is ambitious and confident of being able to attain an even higher status in society; however, he does not plan for changes that the British invasion bring into his world—he is completely unprepared to deal with the regresses of imperialism, of missionary Christianity, and economic capitalist trade. Neither is he progressive enough to think sensibly and find ways to work around such macro changes.

When British officers misbehave with and disrespect the elders of Umuofia, including Okonkwo, he is prepared for war. He wants to oust the enemy from his lands but when his own society decides to acquiesce and not fight, it breaks Okonkwo’s spirit. He is exhausted from having to fight and fend for himself. And perhaps this is why he is led to suicide—the only way out from more misfortune.

How are Okonkwo’s children, Nwoye and Ezinma, representative of the rift between the modern and the traditional?

Okonkwo’s eldest son Nwoye is similar to his grandfather Unoka whilst Okonkwo’s only daughter, Ezinma, from his second wife, is very much like her own father. Nwoye is a progressive man who does not shy away from criticizing the shortcomings of his society; Ezinma, on the other hand, is deeply proud and respectful of the society she grew up in.

Nwoye is able to see his father as a sometimes thoughtless, violent man with a blind respect for tradition; Ezinma sees her father as an ambitious and hardworking man who has earned his respect in society and is, thereby, above reproach.

Nwoye eventually leaves his family to become a part of the church and finds peace in a religion which is kind and forgiving. Ezinma, in support of her father, stays and is always deeply observant of her father’s moods and needs.

Nwoye is an example of the modern world while Ezinma is the epitome of the traditional world. They represent the shift between the Igbo society and the missionaries because they are unable to find ways for the two worlds to meet and coexist peacefully. Both sides are too rigid in their thoughts and conclusions about the other and this leads to eventual failure and things fall apart.