Things Fall Apart, Chapter 15 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What prompts Obierika to tell the story of Abame?

   • Okonkwo asks why so many strangers have come into Mbanta
   • Correct answer: Uchendu names Abame among the clans he knows well
   • One of the young men mentions a survivor now living in Mbanta
   • Uchendu asks whether the roads to Umuofia are still safe

   Uchendu lists the clans he knows, ending with Abame, and Obierika asks whether he has heard that Abame is no more.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. What does 'fugitives' mean as used in: 'a little band of fugitives came into our town'?

   • Traders from far away
   • Hunters seeking game
   • Correct answer: People fleeing danger
   • Messengers of a god

   Fugitives are people who have fled; the survivors of Abame escaped to Umuofia.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What did Abame's Oracle say the first white man would do?

   • Bring guns and strong drink to trade for slaves
   • Teach them of a new god greater than their own
   • Correct answer: Break their clan and spread destruction among them
   • Take their best farmland for his own people

   The Oracle said the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction, and that other white men were on their way.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Why did the people of Abame tie the iron horse to their sacred tree?

   • They wanted to offer it to the earth goddess as a sacrifice
   • Correct answer: It looked as if it might run away to call the man's friends
   • They planned to sell it at the next big market in the clan
   • The Oracle ordered it kept as a proof of their great victory

   Obierika says they tied it up because it looked as if it would run away to call the man's friends.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. Which of these details are part of Obierika's account of Abame?

   • The white man arrived riding an iron horse.

     Happened

   • The people let the first white man leave unharmed.

     Didn't happen

   • Three white men later came, saw the iron horse and went away.

     Happened

   • The attack came while most people were working on their farms.

     Didn't happen

   • The clan's sacred lake turned the colour of blood.

     Happened

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. Who survived the attack on the Abame market?

   • Only the women, who had stayed behind on their farms
   • The men away at a wrestling match in another village
   • Correct answer: The old and sick at home and a handful who escaped
   • The children, whom the attackers carried off with them

   Everyone at the market was killed except a handful whose chi brought them out, along with the old and sick who were at home.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does 'ominous' mean as used in: 'There is something ominous behind the silence'?

   • Correct answer: Threatening
   • Comforting
   • Foolish
   • Disrespectful

   Ominous means suggesting that something bad will happen; Mother Kite fears the duckling's silent mother.

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8. 8

   Question 8. How does Uchendu's response to Abame's fate differ from Okonkwo's?

   • Uchendu blames the Oracle; Okonkwo blames the dead man's friends
   • Uchendu wants revenge; Okonkwo wants Umuofia to stay out of it
   • Uchendu doubts the story; Okonkwo believes every word of it
   • Correct answer: Uchendu faults the killing; Okonkwo faults their lack of weapons

   Uchendu says they were fools to kill a man who said nothing, while Okonkwo says they should have gone armed to market.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which old stories about white men does Obierika say no one thought were true?

   • Correct answer: That they made powerful guns and took slaves across the seas
   • That no weapon made by a blacksmith could ever wound them
   • That they had already conquered the clans around Mbaino
   • That they worshipped a god who lived alone in the sky

   Obierika recalls stories of white men who made powerful guns and strong drinks and took slaves away across the seas.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'woeful' mean as used in: 'they fled into Umuofia with a woeful story'?

    • Hard to believe
    • Correct answer: Full of sorrow
    • Very long
    • Light and comic

    Woeful means full of misery; the survivors bring the sorrowful story of their clan's destruction.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does Uchendu suggest about albinos when discussing the white men?

    • They are the children of white men who visited long ago
    • They are a sign that the gods are angry with the clan
    • They are born to mothers who broke a taboo while pregnant
    • Correct answer: They may have strayed from a land where all look like them

    Uchendu wonders whether albinos came to the clan by mistake, straying from a land where everybody is like them.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Which of these events happen during Obierika's visit?

    • Ezinma brings a bowl of water for washing hands.

      Happened

    • Obierika reports that Okonkwo's yams rotted after he fled.

      Didn't happen

    • Nwoye brings in sweet wine from the raffia palm.

      Happened

    • Uchendu sends the guests away before the meal.

      Didn't happen

    • Okonkwo's first wife serves pounded yams and bitter-leaf soup.

      Happened

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