38 pages • 1 hour read
Chinua AchebeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter One begins with the narrator observing preparations to receive Minister Nanga. He is due to deliver an address at Anata Grammar School, and villagers have come to flood the school to hear him speak. In addition, there are dancers and singers performing in his honor, including one the narrator calls “Grammar-phone,” who is known for her singing acumen. She uses her song to praise Nanga’s handsome appearance. The Hunter’s Guild has also arrived in all their regalia. They carry loaded guns and the narrator observes mothers fleeing from them with their children.
The narrator explains that since the government took control four years ago, inflation has soared. He feels embittered toward the people because he thinks they’re foolish and cynical. He criticizes their opinion of Nanga: “Tell them that this man had used his position to enrich himself and they would ask you—as my father did—if you thought that a sensible man would spit out the juicy morsel of good fortune placed in his mouth” (2). The narrator believes Nanga should spit out that juicy morsel because it was not obtained through honest means.
The narrator reflects on how he was once Minister Nanga’s student, when he was in grammar school, and that he was once fond of politics, but became disillusioned after the Prime Minister’s attempt to clear his cabinet of anyone he viewed as highly educated.
By Chinua Achebe
Anthills Of The Savannah
Anthills Of The Savannah
Chinua Achebe
Arrow of God
Arrow of God
Chinua Achebe
Beware Soul Brother
Beware Soul Brother
Chinua Achebe
Civil Peace
Civil Peace
Chinua Achebe
Dead Men’s Path
Dead Men’s Path
Chinua Achebe
Marriage is a Private Affair
Marriage is a Private Affair
Chinua Achebe
No Longer at Ease
No Longer at Ease
Chinua Achebe
There Was a Country
There Was a Country
Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart
Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe