Reading Questions
Part Three Chapters 2025 Chapter 20
1. Why, according to Obierika, did the village not resist the white man’s initial encroachment?
Why won’t he agree to fight now that Okonkwo has returned?
2. Okonkwo and Obierika seem to disagree a great deal throughout the novel. What does each person represent? Chapter 21
1. What turns out to be the real underlying reason for the white man’s success in Umuofia?
● The biggest reason the "white man" is successful is that he's brought a trade center to the community, and the people of Umuofia begin to profit from selling local products.
2. Explain Mr. Brown’s methods of conversion and why he is successful?
● Mr. Brown is a wise and patient man; he befriends many of the local great men, and earns their affection. He spends a good deal of time with Akunna; they speak through an interpreter on the subject of religion.
3. How does Umuofia respond to Okonkwo’s return? Why?
● The white man brings his destructive religion and the yoke of his laws, but he also brings a trade center. The people of Umuofia begin to profit from selling local products, and so not all of the people of Umuofia oppose the whites as much as Okonkwo.
4. What does Mr.Brown’s visit to Okonkwo emphasize about relations between the Ibo and the
Europeans.
● Soon after Okonkwo's return, Mr. Brown pays him a visit. He has sent Nwoye, now called
Isaac, to the teacher's college at Umaru; Mr. Brown hopes Okonkwo will be pleased by the news. Okonkwo chases Mr. Brown away from his house, threatening the man with violence.
Mr Brown's visit not only emphasizes his place in the community, but also the way he has been accepted amongst the people of the clan. Chapter 22
1. How does Mr. Smith’s arrival suggest trouble for the clan?
● Mr. Brown's replacement is the Reverend James Smith, and he is not the tolerant and wise man that Mr. Brown was. Mr. Smith is fanatic and uncompromising, seeing the world entirely in terms of black and white.
2. How does Enoch create the conflict between the church and the clan?
● The festival of the earth goddess comes, when the egwugwu roam around the villages. It falls on a Sunday, and so the main passages are blocked by the ceremonies, especially for women, who have to maintain their distance from the masked spirits.
3. How are Enoch and Okonkwo similar?
● Enoch and Okonkwo are two very similar characters with very different belief systems. Their temperaments are comparable, they both rebel against their fathers, and they both believe themselves to be above their contemporaries.
Chapter 23
1. How does the District Commissioner break faith with the leaders of Umuofia?
2. What punishment does the District Commissioner impose of the men? What is the men’s reaction? Chapter 24
1. What kind of opportunity would a war offer to Okonkwo?
2. How does Okonkwo’s statement about not caring what the group does predict his fall as a tragic hero? Chapter 25
1. Why has Okonkwo committed suicide?
2. Given his role as the tragic hero in the novel, is it inevitable that Okonkwo commit suicide?
● Yes, Okonkwo's humiliation when he loses his place in the community, and his ultimate decision to take his own life rather than surrender it to the "weak" white man dictate his suicide. 3. On what kind of note doe the novel end?
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