Achebe objected to colonial fiction that made Africans background figures or stereotypes. How does Things Fall Apart answer that tradition?

Achebe once described English as a language he had been given and intended to use. What craft choice in the novel best fits that position?

The title alludes to W. B. Yeats's poem The Second Coming. In the novel, what kind of falling apart does the title most directly name?

The church attracts Nwoye, outcasts, and others who feel injured by clan customs. What does that detail show about colonial encounter?

A student says, "The novel blames only Okonkwo for Umuofia's fall." Which evidence most directly complicates that claim?

Why is it important that Achebe was Nigerian and Igbo rather than a European traveler writing about Africa from outside?

Which feature of the novel most clearly shows Achebe bending English toward oral tradition?

Yeats's poem imagines a historical order breaking apart. How does Achebe's use of that allusion affect the novel's scale?

In Umuofia, missionaries come before the full force of colonial courts. What interpretation does that sequence support?

The novel ends with the District Commissioner imagining a paragraph about Okonkwo in his book. What is Achebe criticizing there?

Achebe includes Igbo words such as chi, egwugwu, and obi without replacing them with simple English equivalents. What is the effect?

Which statement best explains why the Yeats title is ironic in an African novel?

Mr. Brown tries conversation and compromise, while Reverend Smith is harsher. What does this contrast help readers see?

A classmate says Achebe simply rejects all Igbo tradition. Which evidence from the novel best challenges that reading?

Which life fact best explains Achebe's ability to write between Igbo tradition and English literary form?

How does the novel's use of proverbs connect to Achebe's literary response to colonial stereotypes?

Yeats's poem describes a center that cannot hold. After Okonkwo kills the head messenger, how does Umuofia's response echo that idea?

What does the District Commissioner's proposed title, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger, reveal?

Things Fall Apart has three parts, and Part Two follows Okonkwo's seven-year exile in Mbanta. What does this middle section let Achebe show?

A student claims the novel's theme is only "tradition is good and change is bad." Which evidence best tests that oversimplification?