Paper 2 Review

Who is Okonkwo? (TFA)

The protagonist of TFA. A respected Igbo warrior and farmer in Umuofia who is determined to overcome the legacy of his lazy father.

Who is Unoka? (TFA)

Okonkwo’s father. A gentle, artistic, and irresponsible man who was poor and in debt, seen as a failure by his society.

Who is Nwoye? (TFA)

Okonkwo’s eldest son. Sensitive and thoughtful, he struggles with his father's expectations. Eventually converts to Christianity and takes the name Isaac.

Who is Ikemefuna? (TFA)

A boy given to Umuofia by another village to avoid war. He lives with Okonkwo’s family and forms a strong bond with Nwoye. He is later tragically killed.

Who is Ekwefi? (TFA)

Okonkwo’s second wife. Once the village beauty, she is the mother of Ezinma and shares a deep bond with her daughter.

Who is Ezinma? (TFA)

The only surviving child of Ekwefi. Intelligent, bold, and Okonkwo’s favorite child. He wishes she were a boy.

Who is Obierika? (TFA)

Okonkwo’s close friend. A thoughtful, reasonable man who often questions traditional practices and provides support to Okonkwo, especially during his exile.

Who is Chielo? (TFA)

The priestess of the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. In daily life, she is friendly and motherly, but becomes a powerful figure when possessed by the Oracle.

Who is Mr. Brown? (TFA)

The first white missionary in Umuofia. He is respectful, understanding, and tries to coexist with the Igbo traditions.

Who is Reverend James Smith? (TFA)

Mr. Brown’s successor. Stern and intolerant, he is more aggressive in imposing Christianity and condemns traditional beliefs.

Who is District Commissioner? (TFA)

A colonial administrator who represents British imperial rule. He views the Igbo people through a patronizing and dehumanizing lens.

Who is Macbeth? (Macbeth)

A Scottish general and the Thane of Glamis. Later becomes Thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland. Ambitious and easily manipulated, he commits regicide and spirals into tyranny and madness.

Who is Lady Macbeth? (Macbeth)

Macbeth’s wife. Ambitious and ruthless at first, she urges Macbeth to murder Duncan. Later, guilt consumes her and leads to her mental breakdown and death.

Who is King Duncan? (Macbeth)

The benevolent and respected King of Scotland. His murder by Macbeth marks the beginning of Macbeth’s downfall.

Who is Banquo? (Macbeth)

A general in Duncan’s army and Macbeth’s friend. The witches predict his descendants will be kings. Macbeth sees him as a threat and has him murdered.

Who is Fleance? (Macbeth)

Banquo’s son. Escapes Macbeth’s murder attempt. His survival keeps the witches’ prophecy alive.

Who is Macduff? (Macbeth)

A nobleman of Scotland. Becomes Macbeth’s nemesis after discovering Duncan’s murder. Eventually kills Macbeth and restores order.

Who is Lady Macduff? (Macbeth)

Macduff’s wife. She and her children are murdered on Macbeth’s orders, symbolizing Macbeth’s moral decay.

Who is Malcolm? (Macbeth)

King Duncan’s eldest son. Flees after his father’s murder and later leads the charge to overthrow Macbeth. Becomes king at the end.

Who is Donalbain? (Macbeth)

Duncan’s younger son. Flees to Ireland after the murder of his father.

Who are the Three Witches? (Macbeth)

Mysterious, prophetic figures who predict Macbeth’s rise to power and Banquo’s descendants’ future reign. They manipulate Macbeth and represent fate and chaos.

Who is Hecate? (Macbeth)

The goddess of witchcraft. She is angry that the witches meddled with Macbeth without her and plans his downfall.

Who is the Narrator? (TMP)

A novelist living on the island. Calm, introspective, and observant, she begins to resist the disappearances as she hides her editor. Through her inner life and writing, she symbolizes memory, creativity, and quiet rebellion.

Who is R? (TMP)

The narrator’s editor. He retains his memories even as objects disappear. Because of this, he is at risk from the Memory Police and is hidden in a secret room in the narrator’s house. He represents memory, resistance, and the human need to remember.

Who is the Old Man? (TMP)

A family friend and former ferry operator who helps the narrator care for R. Kind, resourceful, and loyal, he symbolizes a fading but persistent sense of community and compassion.

Who are the Memory Police? (TMP)

A faceless authoritarian force that enforces the disappearances. They monitor the population, remove forbidden objects, and punish those who remember or resist. They symbolize repression, surveillance, and state control.

Who is the Narrator’s Mother? (TMP)

A sculptor who secretly kept and remembered disappeared items before she died. Unlike most, she could remember what vanished and tried to pass this on to her daughter. Represents memory, resistance, and lost knowledge.

Who is the Narrator’s Father? (TMP)

A former ornithologist who disappears when birds are “disappeared.” His role reflects how disappearances affect identity and personal loss.

Who is the Typist (R’s assistant)? (TMP)

Works at the publishing company. Not deeply developed, but helps maintain the illusion of normalcy in a disappearing world.

Who are the Narrator’s neighbours? (TMP)

Nameless, generic figures who follow orders and accept the disappearances. They reflect society’s passive conformity and the collective loss of memory.

Who is the Typist in the inner novel? (TMP)

A character in the narrator’s work-in-progress. She loses her voice and is imprisoned in a tower with a dictation machine. Her story parallels the narrator’s real-world experiences and the theme of silencing and control.

Who is the Teacher in the inner novel? (TMP)

Also from the narrator’s novel. He traps the typist in the tower under the guise of protecting her. He symbolizes manipulation under benevolence.

COMPARE (Macbeth + Memory Police)

-> Power and Control (Macbeth’s control of others through violence and action vs Memory police control through memory erasure)

-> Loss and Forgetting (Macbeth’s loss of humanity and relationships vs Citizens loss of autonomy and memories)

-> Fate and Free will (Macbeth’s apparent fate vs. choices vs Citizens acceptance of memory loss vs. protagonist remembering)

COMPARE (Macbeth + Things Fall Apart)

-> Ambition and Downfall (Macbeth’s ambition to be the ruler and his death vs Okonkwo’s ambition to control everything and his suicide)

-> Tradition and Change (Macbeth disrupting the stability of Scotland through violence vs Igbo culture changing through the missionaries and colonialism)

-> Masculinity and Pride (Macbeth has a need to display his dominance vs Okonkwo has a need to display his masculinity)

COMPARE (Memory Police + Things Fall Apart)

-> Cultural loss and Identity (Memory police regime erasing collective memory and identity vs Arrival of colonial powers disrupts and erases traditional Igbo culture and identity)

-> Oppression and Resistance (The protagonist and mother’s resistance through preserving objects and memories vs Okonkwo resisting colonial and religious oppression)

-> Fragility of Society (Erasure of memories destabilizes the community vs Pressures of colonialism and disagreements destabilizes the community)

CONTRAST (Macbeth + Memory Police)

-> Structure and Pacing (A tragedy with rapid pacing of events happening over a short period vs A slow novel that mirrors the gradual erasure of memory and identity)
-> Tone and Mood (A dark and intense tone that reflects themes of power, guilt, and chaos vs A quiet dystopian tone that reflects themes of acceptance of oppression and forgetting)

-> Protagonist Action (Macbeth’s active pursuit of power and deliberate choices to seize control vs The protagonist’s passive capture in an oppressive system, with resistance being small and personal rather than collective)

CONTRAST (Macbeth + Things Fall Apart)

-> Cultural Contexts (A focus on individual ambition and its consequences within a Western framework of power vs The exploration of collective identity and how colonialism disrupts it)

-> Tragic Heroes (Macbeth is a deeply flawed character who falls into ambition and greed due to his personal desires vs Okonkwo is a product of cultural expectations and whose downfall stems from an inability to adapt to societal change)

-> Narrative Perspective (A third-person perspective that dives into Macbeth’s psychological struggles vs A third-person perspective that dives into Igbo traditions, showing the collective impact of change on a community)

CONTRAST (Memory Police + Things Fall Apart)

-> Depiction of Oppression (A focus on a dystopian and authoritarian regime that erases memories using a minimalist tone to evoke pathos vs A focus on realism to depict the effects of colonialism, giving historical and cultural depth to Igbo resistance)

-> Resistance and Hope (A subdued and symbolic resistance, with hope largely absent vs An active and confrontational resistance, showing the tension between tradition and survival)

-> Setting (A confined and unknown island with universal themes of erasure and memory vs A detailed setting in Umuofia, grounding its themes in a specific cultural and historical context)

Language and Style in All Texts

-> Shakespeare uses heightened and poetic language, typically using generally formal language -> Amplifies emotional impact of themes of ambition

-> Ogawa uses sparse and detached prose with a general use of colloquial language -> Softens emotional impact of themes of loss

-> Achebe uses oral storytelling and proverbs along with colloquial language -> Regular emotional impact of themes of ambition

Individualism vs Collectivism in All Texts

-> Macbeth centers around personal ambition and how Macbeth’s choice to be individualistic caused both an individual and collective downfall

-> Memory Police blurs the lines between individual and collective erasure, focusing on shared loss in the community through the protagonist’s experience

-> Things Fall Apart balances Okonkwo’s individual story with a broader collapse of Igbo society, and highlights Okonkwo’s individualistic mindset as a root of the reason the collective identity disintegrates

Symbolism in All Texts

-> Shakespeare uses blood as a means to symbolize guilt and ambition, with the natural world reflecting moral decay

-> Ogawa uses objects to symbolize identity and memory, with their erasure signifying societal decay

-> Achebe uses yams and other actions to symbolize masculinity and success, with the falling apart of cultural traditions signifying the impact of colonialism

IB Global Concepts (Culture)

How have two texts you have read reflect the role of cultural practices or traditions in shaping society?

In what ways have the authors used cultural symbols to critique power structures in two of the texts you have read?

IB Global Concepts (Identity)

How do the characters’ individual identities interact with or oppose collective identities in two of the texts you have read?

To what extent do the collective identities in two of the texts you have read impact the construction of individual identity?

IB Global Concepts (Communication)

How do the authors use language and communication in two of texts you have read to highlight their respective themes?

In what ways is miscommunication a reflection of societal breakdown in two of the texts you have read?

IB Global Concepts (Representation)

How do the authors in two texts you have read represent difficulties of the protagonist and their community in their narratives?

How do the characters’ actions and decisions in two texts you have read serve as representations of broader societal conflicts?

IB Global Concepts (Transformation)

How do two of the texts you have read explore transformation on both individual and societal levels?

In what ways do the authors in two of the texts you have read depict transformation as a force of destruction or renewal?

IB Global Concepts (Perspective)

How do the authors in two of the texts you have read use different perspectives to critique systems of power?

How does the narrative perspective shape the reader’s understanding of the narrative in two of the texts you have read?