Phillip Larios
English 10
November 11, 2002

Book Response

Title of Work: Things Fall Apart

Author: Chinua Achebe

Biographical Information: Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He was 

raised in the large village of Ogidi, one of the firsts centers of Anglican missionary 

work in eastern Nigeria, and is a graduate of University College Ibadan. (from the 

book “Things fall Apart” author info). He had an early career in radio but it ended 

abruptly. He began lecturing widely abroad after being appointed Senior Research 

Fellow at the University of Nigeria. Mr. Achebe was also a Professor of English 

throughout the years of 1972-1976 and again in 1987-1988 at the University of 

Connecticut, Storrs. He was citied as one of the “1000 Makers of the Twentieth 

Century” for “making a major contribution to world literature” and defining “ a 

modern African literature that was truly African. Mr Chinua Achebe was the joint 

winner of the first commonwealth Poetry Prize.

Genre: Postcolonial critique; tragedy

Historical Context: During the time the book was published Nigerian 

independence was scheduled for 1960, elections were held in 1959. No party won 

a majority.

10 Significant Quotes

1. He always said that whenever he saw a dead man’s mouth he saw the folly of 

not eating what one had in ones lifetime.

2.Our elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on 

those who kneel under them.

3.Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid 

of being thought weak.

4. The inhabitants of Mbanta expected them to be dead within four days.

5. Everybody in the assembly spoke, and in the end it was decided to ostracize the 

Christians.

6. More People cam to learn in his school, and he encouraged them with gifts of 

singlets and towels.

7. There were still many who saw these new institutions as evil, but even they 

talked and thought about little else, and certainly not about Okonkwo’s return.

8. Enoch’s devotion to the new faith had seemed so much greater than Mr. 

Brown’s that the villagers called him the outsider who wept louder than the 

bereaved.

9. Enoch had killed an ancestral spirit, and Umuofia was thrown into confusion

10. My father used to say to me: “Whenever you see a toad jumping in broad 

daylight, then you know that something is after its life.”

Category II
Write a poem based on the moods, images, or feelings aroused by the novel

Only once in a long while
Comes a book of enchanting imagery.
This is one of them.
The words spring out at me
Pulling, and sucking me in.
I live the story
Feed off its flowing words.
Anger, sadness, pain
I feel them all as those in these pages do.
Things fall apart
So perfectly named.
The loss of one so dear as Ikemefuna
Cut deep wounds through my soul
Annoyance at the main character
came easily.
A man of “pride” and “strength”
Yet he cannot hold back his anger
Or admit he is or was wrong.
Things fall apart.
They fell apart because of him
Okonkwo, a man of wealth
Material wise, yes
Knowledge and morals, no
Hate was a must.
In order to enjoy this story
I could picture the village,
Smell the earth,
Taste the wine
An enticing adventure
Things fall apart.