Class Handouts:
Internet Resources:
- A good introduction to the novel, with some chapter questions worth considering, was put together by Paul Brians at Washington State University, Pullman. Here's the same thing in PDF format, if you'd like to print one for yourself.
- Cora Agatucci, professor of English at Central Oregon Community College, has developed a really nice set of pages devoted to Chinua Achebe and Things Fall Apart for her classes, including an excellent set of chapter questions with lots of things to think about, and more.
- Take a look at the "G.I. Jones Photographic Archive of Southeastern Nigerian Art & Culture," with many photos of village life near the time of the novel, presented by the Southern Illinois University of Carbondale.
- There are lots of articles to read--and perhaps study for what you like or don't like about their style and choice of subjects in analyzing the novel--at the Chinua Achebe page of the Contemporary Post-Colonial and Post-Imperial Literature in English site.
- The U.S. Library of Congress has a quick, but fairly complete, tour through Nigerian history, including brief pages on the influence of Christian missions and the extension of British control, in their historical context.
- Stephen Froehlich asks, "What effect did the fact the Reverends Brown and Smith were priests of the Church of England as opposed to missionaries of the Methodist or Roman Catholic churches have on the story?" in his well-informed essay on this aspect of the novel.
- I include Peter N. Peregrine's page on the book not only for the reading and discussion questions, but particularly for the three quotes on Okonkwo's flaw.
- Tchaiko Kwayana's Study Guide to Things Fall Apart has more than the usual chapter questions; there are some good things to click on related to colonialism in Africa, and some good quotes from Achebe, as well.
- For some reason, I really enjoyed this little blog entry about the novel, a very personal response to the book written by Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah, "from Ghana by way of France and England, technologist, omnivorous reader, sometime writer and music lover."
- For what it's worth, here's an alphabetical list of characters, places, and concepts in the book.
- Although the main site is not exactly overloaded with information, this page on the Igbo people is a nice little addition to a page on Things Fall Apart made by some students at St. Francis University.