Chapter 15
What is the purpose of Obierika’s visit?
Obierika brings the money from the sale of Okonkwo’s property and yams. Obierika had to destroy Okonkwo’s property in order to fully cleanse the land of Okonkwo’s crime
How does Achebe conclude the chapter? Why is this significant?
Okonkwo asks Obierika how he can repay his friend’s stewardship. Obierika replies that Okonkwo can kill either one of his sons or himself.
This is significant because, while Obierika is not serious, it calls to mind Okonkwo’s role in Ikemefuna’s death and foreshadows future events.
Why does Achebe create a situation in which the missionaries cannot speak the African language?
Achebe has spent considerable time illustrating the importance of spoken communication to the Ibo and emphasizing the richness of their conversation, the role of proverb and story. To introduce a European missionary who cannot speak their language—and an interpreter whose dialect is strange and inferior—allows Achebe to illustrate how ill-prepared the missionaries were to really communicate with the people they came to convert
How do Obierika and Okonkwo greet Uchendu when they come to visit him?
Okonkwo and Obierika go through the same tribal customs that they do in Umuofia. They break a kola nut, they drink palm-wine, and they discuss stories that are unrelated to why they are meeting.
How do the clan leaders feel about the white men’s religion? Why?
The clan leaders believe that the white men’s religion is innocuous and short-lived. They are not concerned because the people who are following the religion are not anyone who is important in the clan.
What news does Obierika bring to Okonkwo?
The village of Abame has been wiped out, massacred by a group of white in retaliation for the villagers’ killing of a white man.
In what ways is Nwoye’s being with the missionaries significant?
Nwoye’s apparent conversion is significant for a number of reasons. First, because his father has always seen him as weak and effeminate, he is one of the disenfranchised to whom the new religion is so attractive. Second, his conversion, turning his back on the traditions of his clan, is a personal slight to Okonkwo. It is a part of the main story, not a mere subplot or bit of background detail
What did the Oracle mean when it told the Abame that the white men were locusts?
Like the locusts in Chapter Seven, the white men first arrived in a small party that seemed harmless, even beneficial. Then a large horde of them arrived bringing mass destruction.
How are Nwoye and Okonkwo revealed to be more similar than different?
Just as Nwoye will not speak of his father, claiming to have no father, Okonkwo will not speak of his son.
To what do Obierika, Uchendu, and Okonkwo liken the arrival of the white men in Abame?
The men recall the stories of slavers who came and captured Africans to be sold into slavery in Europe and the Americas.
What imagery does Achebe use to illustrate how Nwoye felt after hearing the missionary’s message?
Achebe uses two images. The first one is of a parched soul. “He felt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul.” The second image mimics the first in that it references how Nwoye has felt the past few years. “The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth.”