1. According to the novel, how does the Ibo culture, and Okonkwo specifically, divide up qualities based on
gender, especially strength vs. weakness? Analyze a specific example from the novel to show how gender is
applied to concepts other than a person’s biological sex.
2. Look up the word hubris. What does it mean and how does it apply to Okonkwo? Explain the significance of
hubris in this novel.
3. Do you know what locusts usually represent in literature? If not, look it up. Now, relate the significance of
locusts to this novel. In what way are the locusts in the novel foreshadowing and perhaps ironic. What is their
significance?
4. How does the last paragraph in the novel change our entire understanding of the whole story? In effect, what
does that paragraph, like colonialism, do to the Ibo people?