Chapter 20
The first part of the novel focuses on Okonkwo and how he rises to prominence in his society. The first part also details customs and traditions among the people.
The second part of the novel depicts Okonkwo’s exile, and the beginning of both his decline and the potential decline of Ibo culture. Chapter Twenty is the beginning of Part Three. What do you think Part Three will be about?
Because of the final speech in Chapter Nineteen, part three will probably be about the continued dysfunction of the Ibo people. This will probably show how Okonkwo fulfills his fate as the tragic hero.
Explain the significance of the following line: “He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
This line is one of the most significant in the novel because it touches on the major theme of the book. The title of the novel is Things Fall Apart, and here the lesson is that the white man cut the cultural traditions and values that held the people together so that the clan, the very fabric of their society, would collapse.
Explain the meaning of the following simile: “The clan was like a lizard; if it lost its tail it soon grew another.”
This simile illustrates how Okonkwo feels as he is getting ready to return to Umuofia. No one is indispensable, and Okonkwo knows that his former positions have all been filled as easily as a lizard replaces its tail.
Okonkwo and Obierika seem to disagree a great deal throughout the novel. What does each person represent
Okonkwo is a traditionalist. He does not question any of the customs or traditions of the tribe. He wants to fight to protect the status quo and is resistant to change.
On the other hand, Obierika is a transitional character. Throughout the novel he questions some of the decisions and practices of the clan. He does not want to fight the white men who come to the village.
What effect does Achebe achieve with his use of anaphora or repetition of a word or phrase in the first page of this chapter?
Throughout the seven years of Okonkwo’s exile, the author depicts him as negative, on what he has lost—despite the exhortations of his brother-in-law. Now, as he is about to return to his fatherland, he is still more concerned with what he has lost than with the riches he has gained. This is emphasized through Achebe’s three-time repetition of “he had lost” in this paragraph.
Why is it ironic that Okonkwo now blames his chi for his losses, especially the “tragedy of his first son”?
In Part One, Okonkwo insisted that one could control one’s chi, one’s destiny. Now that things have not worked out as he had planned, he does not blame himself or his own decisions and actions; he blames his chi.
Why, according to Obierika, did the village not resist the white man’s initial encroachment?Why won’t he agree to fight now that Okonkwo has returned?
Obierika and the other village elders were afraid that something like the massacre of Abame would destroy their village. Now that Okonkwo has returned, Obierika believes it is too late to fight. Too many of the village elders have converted to the white man’s ways