TFANovelAnalysisDirectionsHUM211Winter2010

Things Fall Apart Novel Analysis Directions
20 points possible; DUE: Mon. Feb. 8, 2010

1. Label your assignment with a complete MLA-style heading:

Your First + Last Name
HUM 211, Prof. C. Agatucci

Things Fall Apart Novel Analysis

8 February 2010

 

2.  Identify the HUM 211 text [i.e. the novel] being analyzed:

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart: Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Francis Abiola Irele. New York: Norton, 2008.

3. Novel Analysis: Write a one or two page analysis (using complete sentences, please) on BOTH A and B:

 A:  How and why did things fall apart – for Okonkwo and for the Igbo people?

Be sure to develop and illustrate your points with specific examples from the novel.

AND

B. Analyze at least one other aspect of the novel—e.g. character, setting, plot event, customs, use of oral tradition, narrator, etc.—that you believe is significant to better understanding the novel.   Be sure to develop and illustrate your points with specific examples from the novel.  And be sure to explain why you think this aspect of the novel is significant to notice and examine in helping us better understand and interpret the meaning of the novel .

When quoting and/or paraphrasing from the novel, please identify page and chapter number as in this example: Okonkwo calls his eldest son a “great abomination” and disowns Nwoye after he converts to Christianity (Achebe 97; ch. 20).

4. Backgrounds:  Write a paragraph (using complete sentences please) that identifies TWO points you select from one or more of the assigned Units 5 & 6 background readings (listed below) or the Bill Moyers’ interview with Achebe.  Quote or paraphrase the two points and identify the source/s from they come.  Then explain why you consider each point significant and interesting background to our study of Chinua Achebe and/or Things Fall Apart. 

--5.3   Don C. Ohadike, "Igbo Culture and History," pp. 236-257

--5.5   Simon Gikandi, "Chinua Achebe and the Invention of African Literature," pp. 297-303

--6.2   Francis Abiola  Irele, "Introduction," pp. ix-xxi,

--6.3   Achebe in His Own Words ONLINE:
http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/CoursePack/achebewords.htm
--In-Class Viewing:  China Achebe: A World of Ideas [Bill Moyers’ interview with Chinua Achebe, 1989/1994)

Winter 2010 HUM 211 Syllabus | Course Plan | Online Course Pack Index |HUM 211 Home Page

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Last updated: 05 February 2010