Things Fall Apart

This story by Chinua Achebe describes the tale of a man named Okonkwo's life and family living within a tribe in Africa. Like in most communities, individuals are responsible for abiding by what their master says, in this situation it is the Oracle and the spirits. The people in the Umuofia village strongly respect their master's wishes and commands, like in Okonkwo's situation he had to kill his adoptive "son" because the Oracle ordered the act to be done.

Okonkwo is the main character in this novel and Achebe forces the reader into his world of past and present. The author describes Okonkwo's father and his distasteful characteristics-coward and poor, but above all the money he borrowed to people he was a genuinely happy man. However, his son sought never to be anything like this man and learned what hard work was at an early age. Achebe also describes events that are happening in the present moment with Okonkwo and within the tribe. For example, he illustrates a daily live in the main character's house with 3 wives and many children. Also, a wedding is a huge clan event that everyone participates in. The culture within the tribe is very important in this story, because one has to strictly abide by these laws.

Furthermore, I thought some of the words that Achebe reiterated several times were handy to know so I picked out a few.

1. Yam foofoo: this the food that the wives usually bring their husbands and guests to eat. I provided a link that describes the dish and how to prepare it, but I learned that it is an African dish similar to mashed potatoes. http://www.congocookbook.com/staple_dish_recipes/fufu.html
2. Locusts: grasshoppers, if you were not sure what the story was referring to. The tribe was very excited to find grasshoppers every where in their village because it was a source of food. 
3. kola nut: used as religious objects for offerings, burials, naming ceremonies, etc. 

There are many more cultural words that can be defined in this story, but I picked a few to start!