Things Fall Apart

Lesson 6
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ELA

Unit 2

11th Grade

Lesson 6 of 25

Objective


Analyze Achebe’s portrayal of women in chapter 4.

Trace Achebe’s development of Okonkwo’s tragic flaw.

Readings and Materials


  • Book: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe  — Chapter 4

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Target Task


Question 1

Over the course of the chapter, the main focus shifts from a

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Question 2

The main purpose of the line “my father told me that he had been told that in the past a man who broke the peace was dragged on the ground until he died,” on p. 31, is to

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Question 3

In a speech remembering Achebe’s accomplishments, the head of the African Union said, “Achebe expressed frustration at frequently being misunderstood on this point, saying that ‘I want to scream that Things Fall Apart is on the side of women…and that Okonkwo is paying the penalty for his treatment of women; that all his problems, all the things he did wrong, can be seen as offenses against the feminine.’” Using what you have read so far, explain how Okonkwo’s treatment of women is a symptom of his tragic flaw.

Key Questions


  • What does the anecdote in the first two paragraphs of the chapter show about Okonkwo? About how other village men feel about him?
  • What does the narrator mean when he says on p. 27, “But it was not really true that Okonkwo’s palm-kernels had been cracked for him…”?
  • How does the author characterize Ikemefuna on pp. 28 and 29?
  • What is the narrator’s explanation for why Okonkwo treats his family members with a heavy hand on p. 28?
  • Why does Nwoye’s mother lie to Okonkwo? What does it reveal that she is called only “Nwoye’s mother”? (Perhaps make a connection to “Curley’s wife” in Of Mice and Men or “Harding’s wife” in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, if students have read it.)
  • How does Ezeani the priest react to Okonkwo’s beating of Ojiugo? Why? How does this interaction reveal the theme of the individual and community?
  • What do we learn about Okonkwo here? 

Notes


  • Some feminist critics have argued that Things Fall Apart is a sexist novel. A discussion of the evidence in chapter 4 that might support this statement would be helpful for students to answer the target task question.
  • Students should finish the chapter for homework if it is not finished in class. The target tasks can be completed as long as students have read to the top of p. 31.
  • As they read the final pages for homework, students should focus on the character of Ikemefuna—his characterization and Achebe’s use of his character to show the diversity within the Igbo people.
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Lesson 5

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Lesson 7

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