Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

Elizabeth Ferrebee

Mrs. Sturgis

IB English HL - 2

27 August 2015

Part One:

* In the second chapter of this novel, we start to learn more about Okonkwo and his relationship with his father. We soon obtain information on how he clearly resented his father starting at an early age because of his failures and weaknesses. But, while reading this and just becoming introduced to Okonkwo himself, it makes you questions if all Okonkwos success was just to prove that he was and could be better than his father. It is more than obvious that he didn’t want to end up unsuccessful and have a terrible reputation like his father, but as a reader it really makes you think/wonder how this will affect how he strives to live his life and the rest of his character development in the rest of the story.

* An “aha” moment I came across when reading this novel was on page 18 when he began to talk about a man in his village who was very wealthy, owned three large barns, had 9 wives and 30 children. He also had one of the highest but one title in the village. When they mentioned he had one of the largest title it made me question if there were social classes. There are the higher ranked, wealthier people within the tribes and then the unsuccessful, in debt, such as Okonkwo’s father, members and it makes you able to relate it to many other time periods and cultures with social classes involved.

* On page 38-39 we observe another outburst from Okonkwo on another one of his wives. This time was for a different reason, but it was unnecessary just like the first. He got upset with his second wife because his wife made a comment about his guns, which he didn’t appreciate very much and reacted in a way that was not handled appropriately. But the comment I made while reading this was that I saw that coming. With the way he has reacted in the past, I knew that he was going to retaliate in a violent way, which was obvious that he did.

* One of the biggest questions I had while reading...