Student Goals  I can analyze the characterization of main characters in Things Fall Apart.  I can identify elements of Ibo culture in Chapter One.  I can analyze deeper meanings of selected quotes from Chapter One.

Things Fall Apart  Setting is Umuofia, Nigeria in the 1880s.  Final days of undisturbed Ibo society.  Missionaries and other outsiders begin to arrive.

Chapter 1 Characters  Okonkwo – (oh-CON-quo) main character or protagonist  Unoka – (ooh-NO-ka) late father of Okonkwo  Okoye – (oh-COY-a) respected elder who had lent money to Unoka

Ibo terms in Chapter 1  egwugwu – a person who dresses like an ancestral spirit for tribal ceremonies  ekwe – a wooden drum  udu – a clay drum  ogene – a musical instrument resembling a gong

Analyze the following quotes:  Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush- fire in the harmattan [wind]. (p. 3)  Whenever [Unoka] saw a dead man’s mouth he saw the folly of not eating what one had in one’s lifetime. (p. 4)  Proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. (p. 7)  If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings. (p. 8)

Homwork  Read Chapter Two of Things Fall Apart.  Write in your notebook two open-ended questions for discussion.