Things Fall Apart Themes Quiz
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe · 14 multiple-choice questions with answers · about 11 min
Test your knowledge of Things Fall Apart with 14 themes questions with answers and explanations — the big ideas and what the writer is saying about them. Ideal for revision once you have read the whole novel.
The big ideas and what the writer is saying about them. Drawn from the whole novel — contains spoilers.
Skills tested: Theme · Difficulty: Standard, Challenge
The answers and an explanation for each question appear as you play, and on the answer-key page of the printout.
- What do the clan's claims about its war medicine suggest about Umuofia's confidence in battle?
It relies entirely on the number of its young men · It believes its wars are won by its best orators · Its power rests on an old charm as much as on arms · It expects neighbouring clans to yield out of fear
- What does Okonkwo's punishment for beating a wife during the Week of Peace show about the clan?
Its men may not strike their wives at any time of year · Its elders use fines mainly to enrich the priesthood · Its laws are enforced only when a victim complains · Its gods' demands outrank even a strong man's household rule
- How does Obierika judge Okonkwo's part in the killing?
The earth may punish a whole family for such an act · Okonkwo acted rightly but should not speak of it · Umuofia's elders should have been consulted first · The Oracle's word excuses any hand that obeys it
- What does the ruling in the marriage case show about Umuofia's justice?
It always favours the husband who paid bride price · It leaves such quarrels for the families to settle · It aims to restore a household rather than punish · It weighs a wife's word as less than a man's word
- Placed beside the night in the hills, what does the betrothal feast emphasise?
The growing distance between Okonkwo and Obierika · The elders' power to command a household's wealth · The clan's indifference to the suffering of women · The clan's life weaves ordinary joy into its dread
- What lesson does Uchendu press on Okonkwo in Mbanta?
A man owes his mother's people his first harvest · A man must never mourn a loss in front of kinsmen · A man's titles follow him wherever he settles · A man turns to his motherland when life goes hard
- Why do the outcasts dedicated to a god become such firm converts?
The church promises them land of their own to farm · The church receives them as equals of free men · The church pays them for clearing its new ground · The church lets them keep their old shrine duties
- What does the oldest guest at the farewell feast say he fears?
That the young no longer value the bond of kinship · That the clan's farms will fail without more rain · That the white man's soldiers will reach Mbanta next · That the elders have grown too weak to judge cases
- What does Obierika blame for the clan's loss of cohesion?
Okonkwo's long absence from the clan's councils · The elders' failure to consult the Oracle on war · The collapse of trade with the neighbouring clans · Umuofia's own sons now serve the stranger's order
- Why is Enoch's act during the earth goddess's ceremony so grave?
It was done in front of the women of the clan · It interrupts a rite that may never be paused · It took place on ground sacred to the python god · Unmasking an egwugwu kills an ancestral spirit
- What does the Commissioner's reflection on his book suggest about colonial accounts?
They record local custom with scrupulous accuracy · They are written mainly to justify military spending · They reduce the colonised to proofs of a thesis · They depend on interpreters for all of their detail
- What does the novel present as the cost of Okonkwo's idea of manliness?
It makes him unwilling to fight when war is offered · It costs him his titles and his standing in the clan · It leaves him unable to farm or feed his household · It cuts him off from the son and the friend he needs
- What do the Week of Peace and the egwugwu trial show when taken together?
Umuofia restrains power through religious authority · Umuofia settles all disputes by paying compensation · Umuofia's elders rule without any check upon them · Umuofia reserves its harshest penalties for women
- By the end of the novel, what has fallen apart?
A clan whose binding customs have been severed · Okonkwo's compound, destroyed twice over · The District Commissioner's authority in the region · The missionaries' hold over their own converts
Original questions written for Pagine. This book is in copyright, so questions paraphrase rather than quote it.
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