Things Fall Apart, Chapter 2 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Okonkwo hear in the town crier's voice as it fades into the night?

   • A joyful note announcing a feast
   • Correct answer: A clear overtone of tragedy
   • A warning of a coming flood
   • A call to a wrestling match

   Okonkwo discerns a clear overtone of tragedy in the crier's voice and knows for certain that something is amiss.

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2. 2

   Question 2. How does Ezeugo's expression change after he announces the murder?

   • He weeps openly and the crowd falls silent with grief
   • He laughs aloud to show contempt for the men of Mbaino
   • Correct answer: His anger gives way to a smile more sinister than the anger
   • He turns pale and lets another elder finish the speech

   When Ezeugo begins again, the anger is gone and a sort of smile hovers on his face, more terrible and more sinister than the anger.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Why do neighbouring clans try a peaceful settlement before fighting Umuofia?

   • Correct answer: They fear its power in war and its magic
   • Umuofia always pays them to keep the peace
   • Their own Oracle forbids them all warfare
   • They share a market they cannot afford to lose

   Umuofia is powerful in war and magic, and its priests and medicine men are feared in all the surrounding country, so neighbours try peace first.

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4. 4

   Question 4. According to the narrator, why would Umuofia lose a war its Oracle had forbidden?

   • Its warriors would refuse to follow the elders into battle
   • The neighbouring clans would unite against it in anger
   • Correct answer: Its war-medicine would never fight a fight of blame
   • The Oracle would curse its yams with a failed harvest

   If the clan disobeyed the Oracle it would surely be beaten, because agadi-nwayi would never fight what the Ibo call a fight of blame.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why is Okonkwo treated with honour when he arrives at Mbaino?

   • He is related by marriage to the leading family of Mbaino
   • Correct answer: The threatened war is just, and even the enemy clan knows it
   • He brings rich gifts of yams and palm-wine to the elders
   • Mbaino's elders remember his victory over Amalinze the Cat

   The narrator stresses that the war that threatened was a just war, which even Mbaino recognised, so the emissary is received with great honour and respect.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does the narrator say is the deepest root of Okonkwo's fear?

   • Fear that the gods will punish him for his pride
   • Fear of the forest and the dangerous animals in it
   • Fear that Mbaino will one day take revenge on him
   • Correct answer: Fear that he might be found to resemble his father

   Okonkwo's fear is not external but within himself: the fear lest he should be found to resemble his father, Unoka.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Okonkwo's reply, 'When did you become one of the ndichie of Umuofia?', suggest?

   • Correct answer: That his wife has no place asking about the clan's decisions
   • That he plans to propose his wife for a seat among the elders
   • That he does not yet know whether the boy will stay or leave
   • That the elders have ordered him to keep the boy a secret

   The ndichie are the elders who decide the boy's fate; by mocking his wife's question, Okonkwo tells her that such matters are not hers to ask about.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Ikemefuna not understand about why he was taken from home?

   • Correct answer: That his father had taken a hand in killing a daughter of Umuofia
   • That his mother had agreed to send him off to learn a trade far away
   • That he had been chosen to train as a wrestler in Umuofia
   • That the girl travelling with him was his own older sister

   The boy cannot know that his father had taken a hand in the killing; all he knows is that men spoke with his father and he was handed to a stranger.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What does 'ultimatum' mean as used in: 'An ultimatum was immediately dispatched to Mbaino'?

   • A gift sent to honour a friendly neighbour
   • Correct answer: A final demand backed by a threat of force
   • A request for help in a coming harvest
   • An invitation to a feast for the ancestors

   An ultimatum is a final demand with a serious threat behind it; Mbaino must choose between war and handing over a young man and a virgin.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'capricious' mean as used in: 'the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic'?

    • Kind and generous to those who pray
    • Ancient and forgotten by most people
    • Correct answer: Unpredictable and given to sudden changes
    • Silent and distant from human concerns

    Capricious means changeable without warning or reason, which is why such gods are frightening: no one can predict what they will do.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'incipient' mean as used in: 'causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness'?

    • Openly admitted to by everyone
    • Long established and hard to change
    • Deliberately hidden from others
    • Correct answer: Just beginning to show itself

    Incipient means just beginning to develop; Okonkwo believes he sees the first signs of laziness in twelve-year-old Nwoye.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Which of these events happen in Chapter 2?

    • Ezeugo greets the crowd with the cry 'Umuofia kwenu.'

      Happened

    • Ogbuefi Udo gives a long speech demanding immediate war.

      Didn't happen

    • Okonkwo returns home two days after arriving at Mbaino.

      Happened

    • The elders decide at once what Ikemefuna's fate will be.

      Didn't happen

    • The girl from Mbaino is given to Ogbuefi Udo.

      Happened

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13. 13

    Question 13. Which of these statements about Okonkwo's household are true in Chapter 2?

    • Each of his three wives has her own hut in the compound.

      Happened

    • His youngest wife is the one who takes charge of Ikemefuna.

      Didn't happen

    • He keeps the wooden symbols of his personal god in a medicine house.

      Happened

    • His son Nwoye is fifteen years old.

      Didn't happen

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