Things Fall Apart, Chapter 4 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Okonkwo find when he goes to Ojiugo's hut to see why his meal is late?

   • Ojiugo asleep inside, with the pot of soup boiling over
   • Correct answer: Nobody inside the hut, and the fireplace already cold
   • Her children eating yams alone by the door
   • A friend of Ojiugo's waiting there to plait her hair

   There was nobody in the hut and the fireplace was cold; Ojiugo's children were eating with the first wife's children.

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2. 2

   Question 2. How do Okonkwo's neighbours respond when they hear his wife crying during the beating?

   • They ignore it, since a husband's compound is his own affair
   • They send for Ezeani at once to stop the beating
   • Correct answer: They call over the walls to ask what is wrong, and some come over
   • They gather at the meeting ground to demand that Okonkwo be fined

   The neighbours send their voices over the compound walls and some come over, because beating anyone during the sacred week was unheard of.

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3. 3

   Question 3. According to Ogbuefi Ezeudu, what is the result of Obodoani's custom of casting out those who die during the Week of Peace?

   • Correct answer: The clan is full of the evil spirits of the unburied dead
   • Their harvests have failed every year since it began
   • Their neighbours refuse to trade with them in the market
   • The earth goddess has sent no rain to their farms for years

   Ezeudu calls it a bad custom born of a lack of understanding: the unburied dead become evil spirits hungry to harm the living.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Why do people say Okonkwo has no respect for the gods even after he makes his offerings?

   • He brings fewer offerings to the shrine than the priest demanded
   • He beats Ojiugo again before the Week of Peace has ended
   • He refuses to let Ezeani speak inside his obi a second time
   • Correct answer: He will not admit his error to his neighbours, though inwardly repentant

   Okonkwo is inwardly repentant but is not the man to tell his neighbours he was wrong, so they judge him by his silence.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why does the village rain-maker not try to stop the heavy rains?

   • The elders forbid him to interfere until the yams are staked
   • Correct answer: Countering such extreme weather would endanger his own health
   • He believes the rains are a punishment sent for Okonkwo's crime
   • He has lost his powers since the year of the great drought

   The personal dynamism needed to counter such extremes of weather would be far too great for the human frame, so nature is left alone in mid-season.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What makes Ikemefuna's folk tales special to Nwoye?

   • Correct answer: Even familiar tales gain a new freshness and the flavour of another clan
   • They are the first stories Nwoye has ever heard in his whole life
   • Ikemefuna sings each one as a song accompanied on his bamboo flute
   • They are tales Okonkwo has forbidden his children to tell indoors

   Ikemefuna has an endless stock of tales, and even ones Nwoye already knew are told with a new freshness and the local flavour of a different clan.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does the narrator say Okonkwo knew how to do to a man who contradicted him?

   • Shame him into leaving the clan for another village
   • Ruin his harvest by turning the elders against him
   • Challenge him to a wrestling match before the clan
   • Correct answer: Kill his spirit with a single cutting remark

   The narrator says Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit, as when he called the titleless Osugo a woman.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events of the Week of Peace actually occur in Chapter 4?

   • Okonkwo's first two wives plead with him to stop because it is the sacred week.

     Happened

   • Ezeani eats Okonkwo's kola nut before he begins his rebuke.

     Didn't happen

   • Okonkwo takes a pot of palm-wine to the shrine along with the required offerings.

     Happened

   • Okonkwo publicly confesses his error to his neighbours.

     Didn't happen

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these details about Ikemefuna's life in Okonkwo's household appear in Chapter 4?

   • Ikemefuna tries once or twice to run away.

     Happened

   • Nwoye is two years older than Ikemefuna.

     Didn't happen

   • Ikemefuna carries Okonkwo's stool and goatskin bag to village meetings.

     Happened

   • Ikemefuna refuses to call Okonkwo father.

     Didn't happen

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'brusqueness' mean as used in: 'he was struck, as most people were, by Okonkwo's brusqueness in dealing with less successful men'?

    • Generous kindness
    • Correct answer: Abrupt, blunt rudeness
    • Careful, quiet patience
    • Nervous shyness around strangers

    Brusqueness is a blunt, curt manner; Okonkwo dismisses less successful men without courtesy.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'valediction' mean as used in: 'kites appeared from different directions and hovered over the burning field in silent valediction'?

    • A warning cry
    • A hungry search for prey
    • Correct answer: A farewell
    • A celebration of victory over rivals

    A valediction is a farewell; the kites seem to say goodbye before the rainy season sends them away until the dry season returns.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'disquieting' mean as used in: 'He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him'?

    • Hidden from view
    • Correct answer: Causing worry or unease
    • Easily overlooked or ignored
    • Quiet and gentle

    Disquieting means troubling; the signs of laziness Okonkwo thinks he sees in Nwoye make him anxious, given his fear of resembling his father.

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