Things+Fall+Apart+Part+II


 * 1) At the beginning of Part II, Okonkwo has fled his “fatherland" Umuofia for committing a "female" ochu, and he has taken his family to his "motherland" Mbanta. Why? And why does Okonkwo despair? How does his mother's brother Uchendu respond to Okonkwo in his despair?**

Okonkwo was forced to live with his mother’s clan because his crime was considered a crime to the Earth Goddess. Consequently, the punishment was to show him that “mother is supreme” (133). Initially after his compound is burned in Umuofia, this is not told though. He is cast out from the fatherland to seek refuge in the motherland. I don’t know if this was a joint agreement between Umuofia and Mbanta but for this to happen, it must have either been that or Okonkwo voluntarily seeked refuge there.


 * 3) What has happened to the Abame clan? Review "The Igbo People Meet the Europeans: The Era of Informal Empire," pp. xxxix-xliv. How do Uchendu and Okonkwo account differently for the "foolishness" of the Abame? Whose reaction seems wise in responding to new challenges to old ways of living? What does Uchendu mean when he says, "There is no story that is not true'"? (ch15, p99)**

When Obierika reports the situation at Abame, Uchendu says that they shouldn’t have killed the white man without knowing his intent. On the other hand, Okonkwo though they should have armed themselves. I think they should have armed themselves AND keep the man alive. I cannot tell whose reaction was wisest since the white man’s intention could be anything. Upon discovery of a live and happy white man or a dead one, his comrades would’ve wanted to take over the land anyway. (I cannot find the quote. Our book isn’t the exact copy as the one this question is quoting).


 * 4) Why does his friend Obierika visit Okonkwo in exile the first time? And the second time? What are Nwoye's motives for converting to Christianity? Trace the stages in the Africans. Trace the stages in the Africans' reactions to the Christian missionaries coming to Umuofia and Mbanta, and to the missionaries' evangelical efforts to convert the Africans. What are the sources of misunderstandings between the Igbo and the missionaries? What kinds of Africans are attracted to the new religion and why? Why does Nwoye convert to Christianity? How does Okonkwo react to Nwyoe's conversion?**

Obierika visits Okonkwo to bring him bags of cowries (African currency) because he’s been selling Okonkwos yams in Iguedo. The second visit is to report his seeing of Nwoye with Christian missionies and also that the efulefu have been converted. When the six missionaries visit Mbanta, the villagers do not take them seriously because their interpreter’s dialect mistakes “myself” for “my butt” and do not understand the sense of the Holy Trinity. The Umuofia aren’t interested when the missionaries call their gods false. Only the osu and efulefu are attracted to Christianity because at the time, they were considered titleless and worthless in their original communities. Nwoye is attracted to it because it doesn’t have the tenets in the African religion that justify the killing of the twin newborns and Ikemefuna.


 * 5) "The young church in Mbanta had a few crises early in its life" (ch18; p 110). What are these crises? Why are the people of Mbanta largely content to allow the Christians to remain in their midst at this point--the end of Pt II? Review "the Missionary Factor," pp. xli-xliv. What are the difference between the religion of the Mbanta people and that of the Christian missionaries?**

The people of Mbanta are content with letting the Christians remain in the Evil Forest because they believe they wouldn’t last while surrounded by its evil spirits that would eventually kill them in time. The Mbanta religion is Polytheistic, whereas Christianity is supposedly Monotheistic. The language is also different.


 * 6) Uchendu and a speech by an elder of the Umunna (ch19; p118) give us insight into the changes that they have seen in recent generations of their people. What are these changes and why do they cause the elders to fear for the younger generation and the future of the clan? How might these changes prepare the way for the white man's success in imposing his rule in Africa?**