Things+Fall+Apart

Unit Guiding Questions

 * 1) How does Point of View determine what is morally right?
 * 2) When is it okay for a more powerful culture to direct or dominate a less powerful culture?

Seminar Questions

Period 3
 * 1) Is showing so much outer strength actually a sign of internal weakness?
 * 2) How does the falcon and the falconer relationship relate to leadership as a theme and how does it play out in TFA?*
 * 3) What is the tragic element in the novel?
 * 4) What ultimately caused things to fall apart? Did the colonists do it or did the Igbo do it to themselves?
 * 5) Consider the poem whose line served as the title for this book. Is the connection between the poem and the novel a legitimate one? Why or why not?
 * 6) What is the irony of the poem and title of the novel? What does this irony suggest about what Achebe wants us to take form his novel?
 * 7) Consider the circumstances under which Okonkwo builds his sense of self as a man. Does his idea of masculinity help him or hurt him more?

Period 6
 * 1) What’s more important, following “the tribe” or following your own judgement?
 * 2) If people are comfortable in their positions are there reasons to change?
 * 3) What is the tragic element in the novel?
 * 4) What ultimately caused things to fall apart? Did the colonists do it or did the Igbo do it to themselves?
 * 5) Consider the poem whose line served as the title for this book. Is the connection between the poem and the novel a legitimate one? Why or why not?
 * 6) What is the irony of the poem and title of the novel? What does this irony suggest about what Achebe wants us to take form his novel?
 * 7) Consider the circumstances under which Okonkwo builds his sense of self as a man. Does his idea of masculinity help him or hurt him more?

Socratic Seminar Questions: