Things Fall Apart Reading between the lines Quiz

Things Fall Apart Reading between the lines questions

The answers and an explanation for each question appear as you play, and on the answer-key page of the printout.

1. Why does Umuofia send an ultimatum to Mbaino instead of attacking at once?
   The dead woman's husband asked for payment instead · It fights only a war the Oracle has approved · Mbaino was far larger and better armed than Umuofia · Its warriors were away trading in distant markets
2. Why does Nwakibie give Okonkwo seed yams when he has refused other young men?
   Okonkwo offers to marry one of Nwakibie's daughters · Okonkwo has already proved that he will work · Nwakibie owed a debt to Okonkwo's late father · Okonkwo had wrestled on behalf of Nwakibie's village
3. Why does Okonkwo strike Ikemefuna himself after being warned to keep out of it?
   The Oracle had named him as the one to do it · He wishes to spare the boy a slower death · Ezeudu had changed his mind on the journey · He dreads being thought weak by the other men
4. Okonkwo's wives notice something about the second masked spirit but say nothing. What have they seen?
   It limps in the way Ogbuefi Ezeudu did · Its springy walk is their own husband's · Its voice is the priest Ezeani's own voice · It wears cloth taken from Okonkwo's barn
5. What does Okonkwo's appearance at the mouth of the cave reveal?
   He has come to order Ekwefi back to her hut at once · His care for his family runs under his hard surface · He intends to challenge the priestess with his machete · He doubts that Agbala summoned the child at all
6. What troubles Obierika as he helps destroy Okonkwo's compound?
   Whether the earth goddess has accepted the cleansing · Whether Okonkwo will take revenge when he returns · Whether a man should suffer so much for an accident · Whether the clan can spare so large a barn of yams
7. What is Uchendu's point in the story of Mother Kite?
   Strangers should be fed before they are questioned · A mother's first duty is to feed her own young · Silence in a stranger is more dangerous than threats · A clan must answer a raid with a raid of its own
8. Sitting alone afterwards, what does Okonkwo fear most about Nwoye's choice?
   That his line will abandon the ancestors' rites · That Nwoye will lead the Christians against him · That the clan will strip him of his two titles · That his other sons will be refused brides
9. In Obierika's account of the land dispute, why was a man of the clan hanged?
   He gave false evidence before the District Commissioner · He attacked a court messenger who seized his yams · He killed his rival and the white man's court judged him · He refused to pay a fine the Commissioner imposed
10. Why does Mr Brown press families to send their children to his school?
    Otherwise the Commissioner will close the mission · Otherwise outsiders will fill the new posts of power · Otherwise the clan will lose its right to trade oil · Otherwise the children will be taken away to Umuru
11. Why do the masked spirits burn the church but leave Mr Smith unhurt?
    They want the building gone, not the man's blood · His interpreter persuades them to spare the mission · They fear the soldiers who emptied Abame's market · The Commissioner's messengers are standing guard
12. What do the court messengers do with the fine the clan collects?
    They pass all of it to the District Commissioner · They return it once the prisoners are released · They keep part of it and hand over the rest · They demand cowries again after the men go free
13. What does Okonkwo understand from the crowd's behaviour after he kills the head messenger?
    The clan will now be forced to pay a second fine · Umuofia will not fight, since the others got away · The messengers' deaths will bring soldiers at once · The elders mean to hand him to the Commissioner
14. Why must strangers take Okonkwo's body down?
    The Commissioner has forbidden the clan to approach it · Only titled men may handle a dead man of two titles · His sons have all gone over to the new religion · Suicide offends the earth, so kinsmen may not touch him
15. Why does Nwoye find the mission easier to accept than his father's household?
    It promises him revenge on Okonkwo in time · It offers him land and a title of his own · It lets him go on hunting and wrestling as before · It answers questions his father forbade him to ask

More Things Fall Apart practice: all Things Fall Apart quizzes · characters quiz · themes quiz · language & structure quiz

Original questions written for Pagine. This book is in copyright, so questions paraphrase rather than quote it.