Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo

Protagonist, well respected man in Umuofia, 3 wives, 2 barns full of yams, banished after he accidentally kills Ogbuefi Ezeudu's son, hangs himself and he kills messenger, "Roaring Flame", Doesn't like his father, He rules by fear, he is a hard worker.

Unoka

Okonkwo's lazy, gentle, and idle father, debtor, good flute player, scared of blood, failure

Okoye

Unoka's friend, good musician

Nwoye

Okonwo's first wife's son, converts to Christianity after being captured by the "poetry" of the religion, renamed Isaac

Ekwefi

Okonkwo's second wife, Ezinma's mother

Ezinma

Ekwefi's daughter, an ogbanje, or a child who repeatedly dies and reenters the womb to be rebord, Okonkwo's favorite child, called "Salt" by Obiageli whom she has lots of influence over, "Crystal of Beauty"

Ojiugo

Okonkwo's third wife

Obierika

Okonkwo's friend, sells Okonkwo's yams when he is gone, Maduka's father

Maduka

Obierika's son, wins wrestling match

Akueke

Obierika's daughter, marries her suitor Ibe

Amalinze the Cat

Famous wrestler who Okonkwo defeated at the age of 18

Ogbuefi Ezeudu

Oldest man in Umuofia, tells news from the Oracle about Ikemefuna, suddenly dies, had three of the four titles, well respected, large funeral

Obuefi Ezuego

Powerful orator in Umuofia

Ogbuefi Udo

Wife is killed by Mbaino, receives a virgin from Mbaino as his new wife

Mbaino

Umuofia's neighboring hostile village, Ikemefuna's village

Ibo

Name of Okonkwo's tribal people

iyi uwa

sacred stone which links ogbanje to spirit world, solves recurring deaths

chi

personal god

ndichie

elders

egwugwu

impersonate ancestral spirits, elders of the village

obi

living quarters of the head of the family

ilo

village courtyard

iba

fever

Agbala

Goddess of the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves, also means woman or man without a title

Chika

Priestess of Agbala when Okonkwo was a sharecropper

Chielo

Current priestess

Nwakibie

Wealthy man, gives Okonkwo 800 yam seeds

seven

most important number in the Ibo tribe

yam

king of all crops

Ikemefuna

Given to Umuofia by Mbaino, Okonkwo takes care of him, establishes a strong relationship with Nwoye, Oracle says he must die and Okonkwo slashes him down

Ifejioku

God of yams

Ani

Earth goddess, most important deity

Obiako

Palm-wine tapper who suddenly gives up his trade

Iguedo

Okonkwo's specific village, one of the nine Umuofian villages

Mbanta

Okonkwo's motherland

Ezeani

Priestess of Ani, informs Okonkwo of the punishment he must fulfill for his violation of the Week of Peace

Obiageli

Nwoye's arrogant sister who breaks her pot, friends with Ezinma

Ukegbu

Ibe's father

locusts

rare occurence, come once a year for sever years then go away for another lifetime, = whites

Okagbu Uyanwa

Medicine man who finds Ezinma's iyi uwa

Uzowulu

Pleads his case to the egwugwu to try and get his wife Mgbafo back

Mgbafo

Uzowulu's wife

Odukwe

Mgbafo's sister who says Uzowulu beat her severely

Umuachi

Farthest village in Umuofia, Chielo visits it on her midnight walk with Ezinma

Ekwensu

Evil Spirit

Uchendu

Okonkwo's uncle who receives him into Mbanta

Iweka

Obierika's father, friend of Uchendu

District Commissioner

Stereotypical white, calls 6 Umuofian men to Umuru for a meeting, instead he puts them in handcuffs and locks them up, talks to Obierika about Okonkwo's death, decides to write a book called The ger which dehumanizes Africans to a paragraph in a book

Joseph Conrad

Author of Heart of Darkness which inspires Chinua Achebe to write Thing's Fall Apart

Okolo

First ancester of Okonkwo and Uchendu's family

Royal Python

"Our Father"

ogwu

medicine

Okeke

Reverend Smith's interpreter

Amikwu

Uchendu's youngest son, get's married, sees Nwoye with Christians

ozo

one of titles Okonkwo wants for Nwoye

Okoli

Kills the sacred python, later dies mysteriously

Egonwanne

Speaks of peace, weak, Okonkwo believes he is the greatest obstacle to the clan

Enoch

Fanatical Christian convert, rips off the mask of an egwugwu, father is priest of the snake cult, Umuofia burns his house

Akunna

Great man of Umuofia who gives his son to be taught in Mr. Brown's school, discusses Umuofian religion with Mr. Brown

Ogbuefi Ugonna

Respected man of Umuofia with two titles who joins Church

ikenga

pieces of wood, Umuofian idols

Okudo

Famous man in the war against Isike, not a fighter but a motivator who turned his men into "lions"

Okika

Great man and orator of Umuofia who talks first at the meeting about the white men

Onyeka

Introduces Okika and rallies the Umuofians

Reverend James Smith

Very strict Christian took over for the missionary Mr. Brown

ilo

village green where sports, meetings and festivals take place

proverb

A popular saying that is meant to express something wise or true. In the book the story of the turtle and the birds is a proverb

ibo

Name of Okonkwo's tribal people and their language.

oracle

The woman who tells villagers what to do after communicating with the gods

district commissioner

White European who takes over the justice system for Umoufia. He symbolizes the African society falling apart

religion

What the Europeans used as a weapon against the African society. They attracted the weak and outcasts of the society as a way to cause division in the community.

female ochu

An unintentional crime. Punished with seven years of exile.

male ochu

intentional crime punishable by death

osugo

The name means a low-ranked person. Okonkwo's father Unoka is one

Why were the foreigners allowed to build a church in the Evil Forest?

The Ibo people thought the gods would destroy them. When this did not happen, they started to doubt their gods and think that maybe the white man's god was more powerful.

What do anklets represent?

The rank of the men in the village. The District Commissioner cut them off of Okonkwo and the others who were arrested for attacking the church

albino

A person with an absence of color pigments

egwuwu

men of the clan dress as the ancestral spirits of the village at trials and ceremonies

obanje

a changeling; a child who repeatedly dies and returns to its mother to be reborn.

What happens to twins born into the tribe?

Put into pot and sent into evil forest.

Who is the Protagonist of "Things Fall Apart?"

Okonkwo

abomination

Something that causes great horror or disgust

obi

man's hut (man cave)

iron horse

What the villagers called the missionaries bike

Chinua Achebe

Author of Things Fall Apart

Mbanta

The village of Okonkwo's mother. He is exiled there for 7 years.

yams

main crop of Umoufia

UNOKA

Dies of swelling and in debt. Is left to rot in the Evil Forest.

IKEMEFUNA

Enjoys his friendship with Nwoye after getting over intense homesickness.

OKONKWO

Kills Ikemefuna though he was told not be be a part of the group taking him away.

PALM WINE

Is the drink tribesmen tap from trees.

UMUOFIA

Is the name of Okonkwo's village.

YAMS

The male native Ibo farmers in the novel grow this as their major food crop.

KOLA NUTS

Is the food always broken and shared among visiting friends.

MBAINO

A young woman was killed at the marketplace, and an ultimatum was given to this town asking for a virgin and a young man to be killed later on.

NWOYE

Knew that Ikemefuna had been killed, and something seemed to give way inside of him, he did not cry.

Examples of Masculinity in the novel

Control over household

Tough

Title

Prosperous

Provider

Violence

bloodshed

Examples of Femininity in the story

Stories

Domesticity

Children

Misogyny

Dislike or contempt for woman

Why in ekwefi being punished for leaving her old husband?