Things Fall Apart: Quotes Flashcards

Question

Quote about Okonkwo's fear of failure and weakness

Answer 1

'His whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw'

Answer 2

'His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children'

Answer 3

'The Earth Goddess whom you have insulted may refuse to give us her increase, and we shall all perish'

Answer 4

'That boy calls you father, do not bear a hand in his death'

Answer 5

'Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak'

Answer 6

'He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women'

Answer 7

'Okonkwo said that until the abominable gang was chased out of the village with whips, there would be no peace'

Answer 8

'Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umofia would not go to war'

Answer 9

'Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell'

Answer 10

'Nwoye overheard him and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily'

Answer 11

'But there was a young lad who had been captivated'

Answer 12

'The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul - the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed'

Answer 13

'The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry plate of the panting earth'

Answer 14

'Why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son?'

Answer 15

'If such a thing were ever to happen, he, Okonkwo, would wipe them off the face of the earth'

Answer 16

'Something seemed to give way inside of him'

Answer 17

'At first Ikemefuna was very afraid'

Answer 18

'When Okonko heard that he would not eat any food he came into the hut with a big stick in his hand and stood over him while he swallowed his yams'

Answer 19

'Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course'

Answer 20

'Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna'

Answer 21

'But he and Nwoye had become so deeply attached to eachother that such moments became less frequent and less poignant'

Answer 22

'He grew rapidly like a yam tendril in the rainy season, and was full of the sap of life'

Answer 23

'He seemed to have kindled a new fire in the younger boy'

Answer 24

'Unoka was, of course, a debtor, and he owed every neighbour some money'

Answer 25

'Unoka would play with them, his face beaming with blessedness and peace'

Answer 26

'He was poor and his wife and children barely had enough to eat'

Answer 27

'But Nwoye resembled his grandfather, Unoka, who was Okonkwo's father'

Answer 28

'Ekwefi had suffered a good deal in her lifetime'

Answer 29

'She had borne ten children and nine of them had died in infancy'

Answer 30

'The birth of her children, which should be a woman's crowning glory'

Answer 31

'She determined to nurse her child to health, and put all her being into it'

Answer 32

'Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on his door'

Answer 33

'Her mother always took her into their bedroom and shut the door'

Answer 34

'The wife who had just been beaten murmured something about guns which never shot'

Answer 35

'These women never saw the inside of the hut. No woman ever did'

Answer 36

'We all know that a man is the head of the family and his wives do his bidding'

Answer 37

'Worthy men are no more'

Answer 38

'Ezinma was an only child and the centre of her mother's world'

Answer 39

'The relationship between them was not only that of mother and child. There was something in it like the companionship of equals'

Answer 40

'Her daughter was only ten years old but she was wiser than her years'

Answer 41

'Okonkwo was especially fond of Ezinma'

Answer 42

'If Ezinma had been born a boy I would have been much happier. She has the right spirit'

Answer 43

'Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed'

Answer 44

'Of all his children she alone understood his every mood. A bond of sympathy had grown between them as the years passed'

Answer 45

'He brought with him two young men, each of them carrying a heavy bag on his head...It was clear that the bags were full of cowries'

Answer 46

'Okonkwo was very happy to receive his friend'

Answer 47

'God will not permit it... I do not know how to thankyou'

Answer 48

'That man was one of the greatest men is Umofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog'

Answer 49

'I am worried about Nwoye'

Answer 50

'But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you'

Answer 51

'Why should a man suffer so greviously for an offence he commited inadvertently...He remembered his wife's twin children, whom he had thrown away. What crime had they committed' ## Footnote He is questioning the collective and unfair punishment from not only the clan by the gods as well

Answer 52

'Obierika was a man who thought about things'

Answer 53

'The Oracle did not ask me to carry out its decision' ## Footnote Shows how Obierika would not kill somebody who regards him as a father simply because he was afraid of being weak, showing his flexibility and adaptability in contrast to Okonkwo

Answer 54

'But what of our own people who are following their way... They would go to Umuru and bring the soldiers and we would be like Abame' ## Footnote He sees this, but he can also see the good things in the religion such as the 'trading post'

Answer 55

'Mr Brown... who was very firm in restraining the wrath of his flock from provoking the wrath of the clan'

Answer 56

'He had been presented with a carved elephant tusk which was a sign of dignity and rank'

Answer 57

'He learnt a good deal about the religion of the clan and he came to the conclusion that a frontal attack would not work'

Answer 58

'Mr Brown begged and argued and prophesised'

Answer 59

'He saw the world as a battlefield in which the children of light were locked in mortal conflict with the sons of darkness'

Answer 60

'He believed in slaying the prophets of Baal' ## Footnote Baal represents false idols

Answer 61

'The over-zealous converts who had smarted under Mr Brown's restraining hand now flourised in full flavour'

Answer 62

'Her suitor and her relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe'

Answer 63

'Okonkwo's wives...might have noticed that the second egwugwu had the springy walk of Okonkwo. And... that Okonkwo was not among the titled men and elders who sat behind the row of eguwugwu, **but if they thought these things they kept them within themselves'** ## Footnote This also shows the strong religious authority they hold that people would not dare to question

Answer 64

'Nwoye became quite inseperable from him because he seemed to know everything'

Answer 65

'Nothing pleased Nwoye more than to be sent for by his mother to do one of those difficult and masculine tasks'

Answer 66

' “This meeting is for men.” The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That was why he had called him a woman.'

Answer 67

'Do what you are told, woman,” Okonkwo thundered, and stammered. “When did you become one of the ndichie of Umuofia?'

Answer 68

'Uzowulu bent down and touched the earth with his right hand as a sign of submission'

Answer 69

'Okonkwo pleaded with her to come back in the morning because Ezinma was now asleep'

Answer 70

'Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a God speaks? Beware!'

Answer 71

'It was the justice of the earth goddess, and they were merely her messengers. They had no hatred in their hearts for Okonkwo'

Answer 72

'The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market... And they began to shoot'

Answer 73

'They had built a court where the District Commisioner judged cases in ignorance'

Answer 74

'Okonkwo was choked with hate'

Answer 75

'At last the day came by which all the missionaries should have died. But they were still alive'

Answer 76

'One of the greatest crimes a man could commit was to unmask an egwugwu in public'

Answer 77

'We see that every pauper wears the anklet of title in Umofia. Does it cost as much as ten cowries?'

Answer 78

'Some of these prisoners were men of title who should be above such mean occupation'

Answer 79

'It seemed as if the very soul of the tribe wept for a great evil that was coming - its own death'

Answer 80

'The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peacefully with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart'

Answer 81

'And that was how he came to look after the **doomed** lad who was sacrificed to the village of Umofia by their neighbours'

Answer 82

'He had a bad chi or personal god, and evil fortune followed him to his grave, or rather to his death for he had no grave'

Answer 83

'When a man says yes, his chi says yes also'

Answer 84

'And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors, his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm'

Answer 85

'Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things. A man could not rise above the destiny of his chi. The saying of the elders was not true'

Answer 86

'They did not carry guns, for that would be unseemly'

Answer 87

'Never kill a man who says nothing'

Answer 88

'But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his mother-land' ## Footnote Okonkwo rejects this value as he believes a man should always take pride in being in his fatherland and is angered by how his success was ruined by his exile to his motherland

Answer 89

'I did not hang myself, and I am still alive'

Answer 90

'But when a father beat's his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut'

Answer 91

'Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten'