Things Fall Apart

1. The village has a village meeting. In this meeting they discuss their grievance with the other village, and whether going to war would be just. Everyone is allowed to speak. If war is decided upon, they choose a messenger to send to the other village. They determine the content of the demands and the style and content of message to send to the other village.
2. The village consults the oracle to determine if their god supports the war.
3. The village sends a messenger to the offending village to attempt a peaceful settlement.
4. If the response to the messenger is negative, the village wages war upon the other village.

He thinks this will prevent the child from returning to be born again.

Later on, after Okonkwo is exiled, Okonkwo plans to have Ezinma and Obiageli marry men in Umuofia, so that they will still be in the village, and Okonkwo and his family will have additional influence in the village.

Thus Ezinma and Obiageli refuse every offer of marriage from men in Mbanta.

The bride price could be determined by haggling symbolically with sticks. Each stick represented a bag of cowries. They would pass a group of sticks back and forth to each other, altering the number until they could agree on a set amount of sticks.

In other areas, they barter over the bride's price as if she were a cow. In other areas, the groom's family keeps bringing bags of cowries until the bride's family tells them to stop.

• Being well respected. - Nwoye agrees with this. In particular, in the later book No Longer At Ease, he seems to implicitly agree with this respect.
• Having titles. - Nwoye seems to have no problem with this.
• Being able to represent egwugwu in the egwugwu court. - Nwoye does not even consider this.
• Killing men in war. - Nwoye has an aversion to these stories.
• Being wealthy. - Nwoye seems to have no problem with this.
• Being a good farmer and a hard worker. - Nwoye seems to have no problem with this, but is not particularly skilled at farming.
• Having wives. - Nwoye seems to have no problem with this, but does not take a wife early in life.
• Having many children, particularly strong boys. - Nwoye seems to have no problem with this.
• Having his daughters marry respected men. - Nwoye seems to have no problem with this.
• Voicing one's opinion. -Nwoye's opinions do not always agree with his father's, so Nwoye is forced to hold his tongue in the presence of him.
• Being unafraid of war, and advocating for strong actions. - Nwoye seems to have a dislike of war, and is more a man of peace.
• Having everything in one's household under control, including wives and children. - Nwoye as a boy attempts to mutter about women and their problems in an attempt to please his dad. However, he doesn't really feel that strongly about this. He does however, exert control over his wife and her opinions later on in No Longer At Ease.
• Fighting lazy or stupid people. - Nwoye is not a fighter.
• Having respected friends. - Nwoye seems to have no problem with this.
• Being able to wrestle. - Nwoye is not a wrestler.
• Disliking idleness including excessive music. - Nwoye loves music, in contrast with the coolness exuded by his father towards it.
• Disliking feminine stories. - Nwoye loves his mother's stories, and is enchanted by them as well as the stories told by the Christians.

The priestess crawled out of her cave with her belly to the ground like a snake. With Ezinma on her back, the priestess travelled back to Ezinma's home and placed Ezinma in her own bed to sleep.

The white men were Europeans who had come to colonize and convert the lands of the Igbo to Christianity.

The palm-oil with which words are eaten are some of the proverbs in the novel Things Fall Apart. the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them is another proverb used in the book.

he tried to rape him

Things Fall Apart is a book that centers around a tribesman named Okonkwo, in a Nigerian village called Umuofia. Okonkwo struggles to become a great tribesman, attempting to escape his lazy father's shadow. He then struggles to deal with exile after accidentally killing a man. Later the book discusses his and the villages' struggle with the European influence.

Okonkwo originally wanted Ekwefi for his first wife, but did not have the money. It appears that the two are more together for love, whereas the other marriages were originally marriages of convenience and business.

Okonkwo was famous because as a wrestler, at the age of 18, he defeated another wrestler known as the Amalinze the Cat, whom had never landed on his back and was undefeated for seven years. Okonkwo was then declared the best wrestler in all of the villages, and made a hero of his village.

Okonkwo also gained fame as a hard worker and a fierce warrior, who had killed 5 other men in wars.

Okonkwo kills 5 warriors while in war with other villages.

He later kills his 'adopted' son, Ikemefuna.

He accidentally kills Ekeudu's son at Ekeudu's funeral.

Near the end of the book, he kills a messenger who demanded the village stop their meeting.

Finally, he kills himself.

At first Ikemefuna is fearful, being away from his mother and father, but in time he adapts, becoming an older brother to Nwoye, and becoming Okonkwo's son. Ikemefuna even calls Okonkwo 'father'. He becomes the most manlike of the children in Okonkwo's eyes.

During Ezeudu's funeral, Okonkwo accidentally kills a clansman (Ezeudu's son) when his gun explodes.

Whenever a man kills a clansman, it is an affront to the Earth goddess, and the murderer must be exiled from the village, according to the tribe's traditions, with the murderer's possessions destroyed. However, since it was an accident (the female version of the crime), he is only exiled for seven years as opposed to life.

it show the significance of the python , the ibo people respected the python, treating it like a god. Also , it show us tht Ibo has a strong spirtitual belief that the python is a revered animal.As python is an important animal, there are serious consequences for killing it. this reflects their justice system as they have key point a set of punishment for those who commit this offense

This depends on what proceedings are being discussed. The funeral? The wrestling match? Ikemefuna's death? The feast? The haggling of bride price?

Okonkwo has anger problems and takes it out on his spouses.

Okonkwo's wife Ojiugo forgets to get Okonkwo and her children their meals, as she went to get her hair plaited at her friend's house. The first wife ends up feeding her children. Okonkwo beats Ojiugo for her negligence.

Unfortunately, this beating violates the sacred Week of Peace.

During the New Yam Festival, Okonkwo gets restless and angry, and makes up an excuse to beat his second wife.

The narrator keeps an impartial tone throughout the book, neither supporting nor condemning Okonkwo's actions.

Most of the proverbs can be related to the bible in various ways and metaphors.

"Proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten."

"Our elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them." If you take the light to be the grace of god, then those who worship god are more likely to be saved first.

"If a child washes his hands he could eat with kings."

"A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness."

"You can tell a ripe corn by its look"

"A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone."

"Those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble."

"When a man says yes his chi says yes also."

"They called him the little bird nza who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his chi."

"A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm"

"When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth."

"If one finger brought oil is soiled the others."

"Never kill a man who says nothing."

"A child can not pay for his mothers milk."

"I cannot live on the bank of a river and wash my hands with spittle."

"As a man danced so the drums were beaten for him."

"Men have learned to shoot without missing their mark and I have learned to fly without perching on a twig."

They are Nigerian names.

Okonkwo disowns Nwoye when he converts to Christianity. Okonwko originally assaults Nwoye when told of Nwoye's association with the Christians, resulting in Nwoye leaving the compound and joining the Christians.

Spirits of the ancestors of the Nigerian tribes