Things Fall Apart, Chapter 18 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. According to the stories reaching Mbanta, what has the white man built in Umuofia?

   • A large market where only Christians may trade
   • Correct answer: A place of judgment to protect his followers
   • A shrine where converts give sacrifices to God
   • A strong wall to keep the clan's warriors out

   The stories say the white man brought a government as well as a religion, with a place of judgment in Umuofia to protect his followers.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Why does the clan believe no one could simply kill one of the converts?

   • The white man's government would hang the killer at once
   • Mr. Kiaga would curse the killer's family with his strong medicine
   • The earth goddess forbids violence during the coming Week of Peace
   • Correct answer: The converts still belong to the clan, so a killer would have to flee

   In spite of their worthlessness the converts still belong to the clan, so killing one would mean fleeing it; the hanging stories seem like fairy-tales.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What argument does the protesting convert make against receiving the osu?

   • Correct answer: The heathen will laugh at a church that receives osu
   • The osu have not yet learned the hymns of the new faith
   • Mr. Brown has forbidden outcasts to enter the church
   • The osu will bring sickness into the Christian homes

   He asks what the heathen will say when they hear the church receives osu, and warns that they will laugh.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How does Mr. Kiaga use his own experience to calm the osu's fear of shaving?

   • He shows them the scars from the beating the priests gave him
   • He reminds them that Mr. Brown once shaved and was not harmed
   • Correct answer: He notes that he was told he would die for building on that ground
   • He tells them the python itself was killed and no one has died

   The heathen said he would die for building his church in the Evil Forest and for caring for twins, yet he is still alive.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What punishment does the clan prescribe for a man who kills the royal python knowingly?

   • Exile from the clan for seven years
   • Burial of the killer alive in the Evil Forest
   • An expensive burial ceremony for the snake
   • Correct answer: None, since no one imagined it could happen

   Accidental killing required atonement and a costly burial, but no punishment was prescribed for a deliberate killing because nobody thought it could happen.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What shocks the men-converts most about how the women were treated?

   • That the elders had done it without any warning from the bell-man
   • Correct answer: That they had never heard of women being debarred from the stream
   • That Okonkwo himself had led the young men who held the whips
   • That the women were beaten inside the church during their prayers

   They had all heard the bell-man, but they had never in their lives heard of women being kept from the stream.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does one Christian woman say the clan intends to do next?

   • Burn down the church in the Evil Forest
   • Correct answer: Keep the Christians out of the markets
   • Send the converts back to their own villages
   • Take the rescued twins back into the bush

   She says they want to ruin the Christians and will not allow them into the markets.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events happen in Chapter 18?

   • Three converts boast that the gods are dead and are badly beaten.

     Happened

   • Mr. Kiaga sends the osu away until the elders approve them.

     Didn't happen

   • Nearly all the osu in Mbanta follow the first two into the church.

     Happened

   • The elders vote to drive the Christians out of Mbanta with whips.

     Didn't happen

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events from the python affair happen in Chapter 18?

   • Several villagers see a convert kill the python in his hut.

     Didn't happen

   • A bell-man announces that the Christians are excluded from the clan.

     Happened

   • Mr. Kiaga leads the men-converts to fight the young men.

     Didn't happen

   • Okoli falls ill and dies before the day is over.

     Happened

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'zeal' mean as used in: 'who in his zeal brought the church into serious conflict'?

    • Correct answer: Fierce enthusiasm for a cause
    • Quiet doubt about one's beliefs
    • Careless ignorance of the rules
    • Secret fear of being punished

    Zeal is great enthusiasm, here carried so far that it set the church against the clan.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'ostracise' mean as used in: 'But let us ostracise these men.'?

    • To beat them in public as a warning
    • Correct answer: To shut them out of the community
    • To bring them before the egwugwu
    • To forgive them and invite them back

    To ostracise is to exclude people from a community, which is what the bell-man then announces.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'perplexed' mean as used in: 'asked Mr. Kiaga, who was greatly perplexed'?

    • Angry and ready for a fight
    • Pleased with the women's work
    • Tired after a long morning of prayer
    • Correct answer: Puzzled and unable to understand

    Perplexed means puzzled; Mr. Kiaga does not yet know why the women have been chased away.

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