Test 1 (Things Fall Apart) Flashcards
Biafran War
1967-1970
Igbo/Ibo/ Igbo lands
a member of people from southern nigeria
Counter Narrative
Achebe didn’t like the way colonizers portrayed igbo people so he wanted to paint them in a new light
okonkwo
protagonist
obierika
okonkows friend visited him when he was banished
1958
when things fall apart was published, at the time of publication was still colonized by the british
achebe wants to…
- delight his audience
2.Edify them/ educate them and uplift them morally
Proverbs
“a mother puts a scalding yam in her child’s hand”, Emphasizing that this is the natural course of the world and if violated it would be like putting a yam in a child’s hand an abomination
“mother is supreme”
“if a child washes his hands, he ways with kings” takes good care of himself and paid his dues so he’s able to eat with kings
Mbaino
village where ikemefuna is from
ikemefuna
15 year old who is traded along with a virgin to avoid war between villages due to the killing of an innocent woman from umofia
igbo towns
southern/ southeastern nigeria
iguedo
village within larger town
mbanta
okonkwos mothers village
abame
village massacred by white colonizers based on real historical event
nwoye
okonkows eldest son who converts to christianity was very close to ikemefuna
unoka
oknokwos father died of swelling of the stomach
oracle
plays big role in tribal decision, decided ikemefuna must die but never gave reason as to why
prejudices achebe combats about africa with his book
- belief that everyone in africa is a savage
- belief that africans are inarticulate and stupid
hamartia
tragic flaw
hubris
excessive pride
5 skulls
okonkwos 5 kills of which he drinks palm wine out of
Ekwefi
okonwos second wife Enzimas mother
Ojiugo
okonkwos 3rd wife
Ani
earth goddess
atone
right a wrong
enzima
okonkwos daughter
district commissioner
head of white organization/commission
agbala
woman, also used of a man who has taken no title
efulefu
worthless man
ogbanje
changeling, a child who repeatedly dies and returns to its
mother to be reborn. It is almost impossible to bring up an ogbanje
child without it dying, unless its iyi-wwa is first found and de-
stroyed.
osu
outcast: usually have long matted hair
umuada
a family gathering of daughters, for which the female kins-
folk return to their village of origin.
uri
part of the betrothal ceremony when the dowry is paid.
iba
fever
nso-ani
a religious offence of a kind abhorred by everyone, literally
earth’s taboo.
obi
living quarters of the head of the family
lyi-uwa
a special kind of stone which forms the link between an
ogbanje and the spirit world. Only if the iyi-uwa were discovered
and destroyed would the child not die.