Things Fall Apart quotes

“Dominated by the fear, the fear of failure and weakness”

Narrator talking about Okonkwo. This is the opposite from his dad wants to prove himself and avoid being seen as weak (like a women)

“She should have been a boy”

Okonkwo to his wife about his daughter Ezinma. Highlighting how Ezinma is thoughtful but also how boys are valued more than women

“to hate everything his father loved”

Refers to Okonkwo's intense dislike for his father's values and lifestyle, which he perceives as weak and effeminate. While this pushed him to succes also led to his demise

“Yam, the king of crops”

Yams took a lot of work so men prided themselves for the amount of yams a symbol of wealth and success. But also showing how women were inferior and they were man jobs and women jobs

“Sit like a woman”

Okonkwo to Enzinma his favorite daughter showing how he can be brash to anyone if it concerns masculinity and pride. Also shows societal expectations in the Igbo community

“He has put a knife on the things that held us together”

Obeiraka to Okonkwo. Reflecting the destructive impact of colonization. Obeirak in this passage also reflects Achebe views on colonialism.

“Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half way through.”

Shows Okonkwo’s impulsiveness but also underscores how this would be directed at people who were inferior children or women. This is when he beats his third wife in the weak of peace.

“You drove him to kill himself; now he will be buried like a dog”

Obeiraka says this to the District Commissioner. Shows how the colonizers disregard Igbo life and because of them things are falling apart

“mother is supreme”

Despite the patriarchal society where women are viewed as submissive mother are still put in higher regard viewed as nurturing. This is when Okonkwo gets exiled from Umuofia and goes to Mbanta, because of this Uchendu tries to comfort him

“the vast, hungry swarm”

When the plague of locusts came they were a symbol of the colonizers as they broke everything just like the colonizers.

“The greatest in war and medicine”

Narrator talking about Umuafia shows how they valued masculinity but also cultural icons.

"Looking at a king's mouth,", “one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast."

An old man talking about Okonkwo and his unexpected rise

“Chielo was not a woman that night.”

Ekwefi talking about Chielo when she is carrying Ezinma. Saying how women’s specials role can elevate them above what they normally are in society.

“Pacification of the primitive tribes of the Lower Niger”

Book that the district Commissioner will write about his travels where he will include a “reasonable paragraph” about Okonkwo. Shows how colonialism disregard Igbo life treating them as worse and hwo they have brought havoc on them.