Things Fall Apart

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of physical abuse, child abuse, death, graphic violence, and death by suicide.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Okonkwo’s story follows many elements of classical tragedy, with a proud protagonist whose strengths become his downfall. How did you respond to Okonkwo as a tragic figure, and does his fate feel inevitable or preventable to you? Have you encountered similar tragic heroes in other works, such as Shakespeare’s Macbeth?

2. What struck you most powerfully about Achebe’s portrayal of the collision between Igbo traditions and European colonialism? Which aspects of this cultural confrontation felt most authentic or compelling to you?

3. The novel’s title comes from Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming,” with its famous line about the center not holding. How effectively does this image capture the breakdown throughout Okonkwo’s story and his community’s transformation?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Okonkwo’s entire life revolves around rejecting his father Unoka’s perceived weaknesses and proving his own masculine strength. How do you see your own relationship with your parents reflected in the father-son dynamics throughout the novel? Did you identify with Okonkwo’s rebellion against his father?

2. When you consider the rapid changes that transform Umuofia during Okonkwo’s exile, what parallels do you see with changes in your own community or family traditions? Have you experienced moments when long-held customs suddenly felt outdated or challenged by new ideas?

3. Okonkwo’s reputation and identity depend heavily on meeting his community’s expectations for masculine behavior and achievement. How do you navigate the balance between fulfilling others’ expectations and staying true to your personal values? When have you felt pressure to conform to roles that didn’t fit who you really are?

4. Nwoye finds himself drawn to Christianity partly because it offers answers to questions that trouble him about Igbo traditions. How do you it when your moral instincts conflict with accepted practices in your community or family? What helps you decide when to speak up or take a different path?

5. Throughout the novel, characters make quick judgments about others based on limited information, like the villagers’ assumptions about the white missionaries. How do you approach forming opinions about people whose backgrounds or beliefs differ significantly from your own? What strategies help you remain open-minded when encountering unfamiliar perspectives?

6. After his accidental killing and exile, Okonkwo must rebuild his life in Mbanta with help from his mother’s relatives. Have you experienced major disruptions that forced you to start over in a new place or situation? What sustained you during those challenging transitions, and how did you rebuild your sense of purpose?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. The District Commissioner plans to reduce Okonkwo’s complex story to a single paragraph in his book about “primitive tribes.” How do you see this dismissive attitude reflected in contemporary discussions about non-Western cultures or historical narratives? What responsibility do cultures have to understand others?

2. Christianity attracts many converts in Umuofia, particularly outcasts and those questioning traditional practices, while threatening the community’s social fabric. How do you evaluate the tension between providing refuge for marginalized individuals and preserving cultural continuity? When does embracing change become beneficial rather than destructive for a community?

3. Achebe presents both the richness of Igbo culture and some of its troubling aspects, like the treatment of twins. How should readers approach cultures that contain both admirable traditions and practices that conflict with their own values? What does respectful cultural criticism look like in our interconnected world?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How does Achebe’s decision to shift the narrative perspective to the District Commissioner’s viewpoint in the final chapter change your understanding of the entire story? What does this reveal about whose voices get heard and preserved in historical accounts?

2. Drums appear throughout the novel as both communication tools and symbols of community unity, from announcing village gatherings to building excitement at wrestling matches. How does Achebe use these musical elements to reinforce themes about tradition, connection, and cultural identity? What other sounds carry symbolic weight in the novel?

3. Achebe fills his narrative with Igbo proverbs. How do these sayings function differently from direct statements, and what does their prominence suggest about the role of oral tradition in preserving community knowledge? Do you notice any irony in how characters apply these proverbs to their situations?

4. The concept of chi, or personal spiritual force, influences how characters understand success and failure throughout their lives. How does this belief system compare to Western ideas about individual responsibility and self-determination? What does Okonkwo’s relationship with his chi reveal about his character development?

5. Darkness serves as more than just a setting in key scenes like Chielo’s midnight journey with Ezinma. How does Achebe use darkness and light to explore themes of mystery, fear, and spiritual power? What connections do you see between physical darkness and the unknown forces that shape characters’ destinies?

6. The novel explores multiple forms of violence, from Okonkwo’s domestic abuse to colonial oppression, while also showing the violence of some other traditional practices. How does this complex treatment of violence compare to other postcolonial works like Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, and what does it suggest about the relationship between cultural preservation and moral progress?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Imagine you could sit down with Uchendu, Okonkwo’s wise uncle, for a long conversation about the changes happening in Igbo society. What questions would you ask him about balancing tradition with adaptation, and how do you think he might counsel someone facing similar cultural transitions today?

2. Ezinma possesses the strength and intelligence that Okonkwo wishes he could see in a son, yet she remains largely in the background during the novel’s final conflicts. Write a scene showing Ezinma’s perspective on her father’s imprisonment and death by suicide—what might she have tried to do or say if given the chance to intervene?

3. The novel ends abruptly with Okonkwo’s death, but many questions remain about the other characters’ futures. Design an epilogue set five years later that reveals what has happened to Nwoye, Ezinma, Obierika, and the village of Umuofia under continued colonial rule—how might each character have adapted to or resisted the changing world?