Question

Read the excerpt below and answer the question. Nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father’s wives to do one of the difficult and masculine tasks in the home, like splitting wood, or pounding food. On receiving such a message through a younger brother or sister, Nwoye would feign annoyance and grumble about women and their troubles. Why does Nwoye “feign annoyance and grumble about women and their troubles” when asked to perform tasks that he is pleased to do? A. He is imitating his father Okonkwo. B. He is imitating his brother Ikemefuna. C. He is worried they will ask him to perform harder tasks. D. He is insulted that they would ask him to do women’s work.

Answer 1

I believe the answer is A.  It can't be D because he's 'feigning' annoyance so he can't actually be insulted by the tasks.

Answer 2

Answer:

D. He is insulted that they would ask him to do women’s work.

Explanation:

In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, the lives of the Igbo village came to a conflict after the emergence of the Christian missionaries. But through it all, it also delves into the lives of the African trial people who have their own traditions and cultures, which they want to preserve and thus, have a conflict of interest with any ideas of 'outside' development.

The given passage is from the text's chapter 7 where Nwoye, the oldest son of Okonkwo, felt more manly and mature after the 'adoption' of Ikemefuna into the household. The very presence of the new boy made him feel more "grown-up", and even raised his father's opinion of him. Okonkwo had always worried that his son is too lazy and unable to hold the reins of the family as a man, but with the new boy's presence, he was pleased to see that change. And whenever he (Nwoye) was asked to do any work for the womenfolk, he would act as if he's insulted into doing all the menial task, while he has more manly things capable of doing. This shows that he was pleased to be finally able to be taken as a man, and even raised his status in the eyes of his father.