Chapter 15

1. Chapter 15 Obierika’s First Visit / Abame and the White Men

2. What is the main purpose of Obierika’s visit? • The reason for Obierika’s visit and for the bags of cowries that he brings Okonkwo is business. • Obierika has been selling the biggest of Okonkwo’s yams and also some of his seed yams. • He has given others to sharecroppers for planting. • He plans to continue to bring Okonkwo the money from his yams until Okonkwo returns.

3. What has happened to the Abame clan? • A village named Abame has been destroyed. • A white man arrived in Abame on an “iron horse” (which we find out later is a bicycle) during the planting season. • The village elders consulted their oracle, which prophesied that the white man would be followed by others, who would bring destruction to Abame.

4. What has happened to the Abame clan? • The villagers killed the white man and tied his bicycle to their sacred tree to prevent it from getting away and telling the white man’s friends. • A while later, a group of white men discovered the bicycle and guessed their comrade’s fate. • Weeks later, a group of men surrounded Abame’s market and destroyed almost everybody in the village.

5. Discuss these questions with your partner • HOW DO UCHENDU AND OKONKWO ACCOUNT DIFFERENTLY FOR THE "FOOLISHNESS" OF THE ABAME? WHOSE REACTION SEEMS WISER IN RESPONDING TO NEW CHALLENGES TO OLD WAYS OF LIVING? • WHAT DOES UCHENDU MEAN WHEN HE SAYS, "‘THERE IS NO STORY THAT IS NOT TRUE’“ • LOCUSTS ARE AGAIN MENTIONED IN THIS CHAPTER. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY SYMBOLISE IN THE NOVEL?

6. How do Uchendu and Okonkwo account differently for the "foolishness" of the Abame? • Uchendu says the men of Abame were fools as one must “never kill a man who says nothing” as “something ominous” lies behind the silence. • Okonkwo on the other hand talks abot how the Oracle had warned the people of Abame and they should have ‘armed themselves with their guns and their machetes” when they went to the market.

7. Whose reaction seems wiser in responding to new challenges to old ways of living? • Considering the emphasis that the Igbo place on careful thought before violent action, Okonkwo’s belief that the people of Abame should have armed themselves and killed the white men reflects a rash, violent nature that seems to clash with fundamental Igbo values. • Throughout Things Fall Apart, Igbo customs and social institutions emphasize the wisdom of seeking a peaceful solution to conflict before a violent solution. • Uchendu voices this social value when he states that the killing of the first white man was foolish, for the villagers of Abame did not even know what the man’s intentions were.

8. What does Uchendu mean when he says, "‘There is no story that is not true’" • There is a certain truth behind every fiction. The stories may have been exaggerated or distorted, but many stories have fact behind them. • He wisely goes on to say that we live in a large world where one country’s practices may seem like ‘an abomination’ in another country. • He speaks of tolerance and understanding of other cultures and customs. A reflection again of the Igbo beliefs in peace and harmony.

9. Locusts are again mentioned in this chapter. What do you think they symbolise in the novel? • Achebe depicts the locusts that descend upon the village in highly allegorical terms that prefigure the arrival of the white settlers, who will feast on and exploit the resources of the Igbo. • The fact that the Igbo eat these locusts highlights how innocuous they take them to be. • Similarly, those who convert to Christianity fail to realize the damage that the culture of the colonizer does to the culture of the colonized.

10. Locusts are again mentioned in this chapter. What do you think they symbolise in the novel? • The language that Achebe uses to describe the locusts indicates their symbolic status. The repetition of words like “settled” and “every” emphasizes the suddenly ubiquitous presence of these insects and hints at the way in which the arrival of the white settlers takes the Igbo off guard. • Furthermore, the locusts are so heavy they break the tree branches, which symbolizes the fracturing of Igbo traditions and culture under the onslaught of colonialism and white settlement. • Perhaps the most explicit clue that the locusts symbolize the colonists is Obierika’s comment in Chapter 15: “the Oracle . . . said that other white men were on their way. They were locusts. . . .”