TFA Day 9: a knife on things that held us together

1. How do the first five paragraphs of Chapter 20 set the tone for the final part? Reference specific parts of the text.

2. Using the same few paragraphs from Chapter 20 (and the second paragraph of Chapter 19), can we see a bias in the narrator? If so, what is that bias? How is it expressed (be specific)? How does it influence the text and story?

3. Enoch & Isaac

4. Cultural Assimilation

TFA Writing: Part 2

For this in-class writing, please read the the entire prompt and instructions before you begin. I have included a link to the thesis handout. You are free to use that as you see fit. You can use your book, your notes, your brain.

Relax. Try to follow the time suggestions. You'll be fabulous!

In-class writing

Thesis Handout

Mindset Diagram

TFA Day 8

1. Talk in groups of 3 about what you learned in your interviews. Any surprises? Any interesting insights into your interviewee? Share on the board and discuss.

2. What does it mean to be reasonable? Free write for five minutes. Then dsicuss: Is Okonkwo a reasonable man?

3. "The seven wasted and weary years were at last dragging to a close." How are we to manage the narrator's bias in regards to Okonkwo's stay in his motherland. In what ways does this influence our understanding of Okonwo's experience?

4. Nneka: significance of the name and repeated usage of it. Interesting ....

5. Does the acceptance of a new religion signify progress or change? What's the difference? The old man suggests the connectivity of the clan is weakening. Are the young people ignorant? disrespectful? Or, is the old man ignorant to the new ways?

TFA Day 7: Do things come together?

1. "It was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth, like learning to become left0handed in old age. ... He hadbeen cast out of his clan like a fish onto a dry, sandy beach, panting. Clearly his personal god or chi was not make for great things" (131). What do these quotes show us about Okonkwo and how he has changed? How does he embrace change?

2. What is the reader to think of Uchendu? Why does he call the family together?

3. Bring on the white men! Missionaries, too: "Evil men and all the heathen who in their blindness bowed to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm-oil" (145). "All the gods you have named are not gods at all. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill you fellows and destory innocent children." "'Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm,' replied the white man. "They are pieces of wood and stone.'" What do these passages suggest about the white man's attitude towards the Ibo religion?

4. What evidence is there that the Missionaries are no longer respecting the views of the clan?

5. Let's talk Mindset: "Living fire begets cold, impotent ash. He sighed again, deeply" (153).



Mindset Assignment

Mindset Diagram

TFA Writing: Part 1

For this in-class writing, please read the the entire prompt and instructions before you begin. I have included a link to the thesis handout. You are free to use that as you see fit. You can use your book, your notes, your brain.

Relax. This is writing #2, so focus on making improvements from your last piece of work. Try to follow the time suggestions. You'll be fabulous!

In-class writing.

Thesis handout.

TFA Day 6: The Eve of Falling Apart

1. What is the message/moral of the story about the Tortoise and the birds? What is Ekwefi's purpose in telling the story?

2. What does Chielo's power and status in Umuofia suggest about women's roles in Ibo culture and religious beliefs?

3. What new insight do we gain about Okonkwo in the recounting of the Agbala story? Look back on all of Part 1 and list Okonkwo's strengths and weaknesses (reference specific moments from the text that support each list item.

4. In Part 1, internal rivalries and disagreements have begun to erode the unity and integrity of the village. What are these internal conflicts? What part does Okonkwo play in these disagreements? How does Okonkwo jeopardize his own authority within the community?

5. Achebe is working to educate modern readers about African culture. He is trying to contradict stereotypes, but does not present Ibo culture as ideal or perfect. Where can we see Achebe questioning and contradicting Ibo culture? How do the characters and community react to change/cultural challenges?

TFA Day 5

con't from Chapters 6-8 (Day 4)

1. "'When did you become a shivering old woman,'" ... you have become a woman indeed,'" (65). How does this passage exemplify the conflicts Okonkwo faces? Be sure to name the specific kind of conflicts (i.e. social, psychological, circumstantial, classical).

2. Who is Obeirika? How does he compare/contrast to Okonkwo?

3. How are whites introduced in the story? Why might Africans assume white men have no toes? What sorts of attitudes are associated with whites?

Chapters 9-10
1. Ogbanje: a changeling; a child who repeatedly dies and returns to its mother to be reborn. What attitude toward children does this notion of the ogbanje represent? How does it contrast to the idea of throwing away twins? How does that inform the reader of the Igbo's traditions regarding children?

2. Mosquito and the Ear

3. The egwugwu: what does this show the reader about the Igbo judicial system? What does this reveal about the role of men and women? Are there more rights granted to women than previously revealed?

TFA Day 4

Locusts are insects ..... let's take a closer look!

Questions for discussion:

1. Let's look at Nwoye. In what ways does Achebe demonstrate Nwoye's maturity? What does Okonkwo associate with manliness? How does Nwoye's maturity contrast with Ibo traditions?

2. Let's look at Ikemefuna's death. Why does Okonkwo act the way he does? What does this reveal about his character?

TFA 3

Great map of colonized Africa

Foot washing ceremony

Tetela Chief with administrative officers of the Colony. 1915. Republic of Congo.

The Rhodes Collosus in Africa.

Wheaton collection of images.

Questions con't from Day 2

3. In what ways does Achebe present pre-colonial Igbo life and traditions in a manner in which present-day readers from Nigeria and other parts of the world can identify?

4. What tone does Achebe introduce in the opening scenes of the novel? Use specifics from the text to support your ideas.

5. How does the introductory paragraph set up the relation between past and present, reality and myth?

6. At the beginning of the novel, the narrator notes that, "proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten." What does this mean? What does this tell the reader about 1. the role of proverbs in Igbo culture and 2. the role of language in storytelling?