The narrator says that if a child washes his hands, he may eat with kings, and applies it to Okonkwo. What does the proverb mean in that scene?

An old man says, “Looking at a king's mouth, one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast.” What point is he making about Okonkwo?

The novel says that when a man says yes, his chi says yes also. In Okonkwo's rise, what idea does this proverb express?

“When the moon is shining the cripple becomes hungry for a walk” appears in a scene of village night life. What does it suggest?

At Nwakibie's, the men hear that Obiako has suddenly given up palm-wine tapping. Someone says, “a toad does not run in the daytime for nothing.” What does this suggest?

In Chapter 8, while the men talk about Obierika's son Maduka, someone says young cattle watch the mother-cow's mouth. What lesson does the saying point to?

At the final meeting, Okika recalls Eneke the bird learning to fly without perching because men shoot without missing. What is his point?

The narrator says proverbs are “the palm-oil with which words are eaten.” What does the palm-oil metaphor show?

Okoye does not immediately ask Unoka to repay his debt; he first shares kola and speaks in proverbs. What is that indirection doing?

Nwakibie answers Okonkwo's request with examples of men who wasted seed yams. What social action does this storytelling perform?

When Nwakibie breaks kola for Okonkwo, he prays, “Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too.” What value does the saying express?

Uchendu's speech in exile uses sayings about mother and motherland. What is he doing to Okonkwo?

Ekwefi's tale of Tortoise and the birds ends with Tortoise's shell broken. Why include this domestic storytelling scene?

In the feast story, Tortoise renames himself “All of you.” What does this trick show about language?

The novel's tale of Mosquito and Ear, which Okonkwo recalls his mother telling him, explains why mosquitoes whine near people's ears. What kind of work is the folktale doing?

Nwoye secretly prefers his mother's stories, though Okonkwo pushes tales of war and violence. What does this contrast reveal?

Ikemefuna brings new songs and stories to Okonkwo's household. What effect do they have on Nwoye before Ikemefuna's death?

Achebe keeps words such as chi, egwugwu, obi, and ilo in an English novel. What does this choice let the prose do?

In exile, Okonkwo decides his chi was not made for great things, and that his chi said nay despite his own yes. How does this change the earlier saying about a man and his chi?

Achebe often renders Igbo speech in formal, proverb-rich English. What effect does this have?

Words like ogbanje and iyi-uwa stay close to Ezinma's story instead of becoming simple English labels. Why does that matter?

At the end, the Commissioner imagines reducing Okonkwo to a paragraph in his book. What does Achebe's structure argue?

Obierika tells the Commissioner that Okonkwo was one of Umuofia's greatest men and that the white man drove him to suicide. What role does this speech play?

In the Uzowulu and Mgbafo case, the masked egwugwu hear both sides and give judgment. What does this scene show about storytelling?

Missionary songs and stories draw Nwoye because they speak to his grief over Ikemefuna and the abandoned twins. What does this show about authority?