A collection of key quotations from throughout Achebe’s Things Fall Apart studied for A-level English Literature. Presented as a table the quotes are cross referenced with characters, themes and techniques to help prompt extended analysis.
micro-quotation page character
Okonkwo was well known 3 Okonkwo
slippery as a fish in water 3 Okonkwo
fame had grown like a bushfire in the
harmattan 3 Okonkwo
as if he was going to pounce on somebody 3 Okonkwo
slight stammer 4 Okonkwo
use his fists 4 Okonkwo
He had no patience with unsuccessful men 4 Okonkwo
Unoka was, of course, a debtor 4 Unoka
his face beaming with blessedness and
peace 4 Unoka
when the rains stopped and the sun rose
every morning with dazzling beauty 4 Unoka
He who brings kola brings life' 5 Okoye
Among the [Igbo] the art of conversation is
regarded very highly 7 Okoye/narrator
proverbs are the palm oil with which words
are eated 7 Okoye/narrator
And that was how he came to look after the
doomed lad 8 Okonkwo/Ikemefuna
He had discerned a clear overtone of
tragedy in the crier's voice 9 Okonkwo
Darkness held a vague terror for these
people, even the bravest among them. 9 narrator
a vibrant silence made more intense by the
universal trill of a million million forest
insects 9 narrator
He was a man of action, a man of war 10 Okonkwo
And ten thousand men answered 'Yaa!' each
time. 10 narrator
When he began again, the anger on his face
was gone 11 Ezeugo
a sort of smile hovered, more terrible and
more sinister than the anger 11 Ezeugo
Umuofia was feared by all its neighbours 11 narrator
The lad's name was Ikemefuna, whose sad
story is still told in Umuofia to this day. 12 Ikemefuna
Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy
hand 12 Okonkwo
Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not
a cruel man. 12 Okonkwo
And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion -
to hate everything that his father Unoka had
loved. 13 Okonkwo
One of those things was gentleness and
another was idleness. 13 Okonkwo
, he sought to correct him by constant
nagging and beating 13 Okonkwo/Nwoye
And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-
faced youth. 13 Nwoye
Okonkwo thundered, and stammered 14 Okonkwo
Go home and work like a man. 17 Unoka/Chika
Unoka was an ill-fated man. 17 Unoka
the swelling which was an abomination to
the earth goddess 18 Unoka
And indeed he was possessed by the fear of
his father's contemptible life and shameful
death. 18 Okonkwo
especially these days when young men are
afraid to work hard 21 Nwakibie/Okonkwo
Yam, the king of the crops, was a man's
crop. 22 narrator
The earth burned like hot coals and roasted
all the yams that had been sown. 23 narrator
That year the harvest was sad, like a funeral 24 narrator
This meeting is for men.' 25 Okonkwo
Okonkwo knew how to kill a man's spirit 25 Okonkwo/narrator
Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of
the boy - inwardly of course 27 Okonkwo/narrator
Okonkwo never showed any emotion
openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. 27 Okonkwo/narrator
And, indeed, Ikemefuna called him father. 27 Ikemefuna
And that was also the year Okonkwo broke
the peace, and was punished, as was the
custom 27 Okonkwo
But Okonkwo was not the man to stop
beating somebody half-way through, not
even for fear of a goddess. 28 Okonkwo/narrator
But he was not the man to go about telling
his neighbours that he was in error. And so
people said he had no respect for the gods
of the clan. 29 Okonkwo/narrator
Yam stood for manliness 31 narrator
children sat around their mother's cooking
fires telling stories 33 narrator
She was the ultimate judge of morality and
conduct 35 Ani/narrator
And then the storm burst. 37 Okonkwo
But although Okonkwo was a great man
whose prowess was universally
acknowledged, he was not a hunter. 37 Okonkwo/narrator
He trembled with the desire to conquer and
subdue. It was like the desire for a woman. 41 Okonkwo
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