This list of important quotations will help you work with the essay topics and thesis statements by allowing you to support your claims. All of the important quotes listed here correspond, at least in some way, to the paper topics and by themselves can give you great ideas for an essay by offering quotes about other themes, symbols, imagery, and motifs than those already mentioned. All quotes contain page numbers as well. Look at the bottom of the page to identify which edition of the text they are referring to.

“It was this man Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and seven nights” (3).

“He [Okonkwo] had a slight stammer and whenever he got angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists” (4).

“Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” (13).

“Behind them was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred. Spirits of good children lived in that tree waiting to be born. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under the shade” (46).

“Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son's development and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna. He wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man capable of handling his father's household when he was dead and gone to join the ancestors” (52).

“Umuofia has decided to kill him. The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you father” (57).

“A man's life was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer to his ancestors” (122).

“They [the white people] must have used powerful medicines to make themselves invisible until the market was full” (139).

“The white man was also their brother because they were all sons of God. And he told them about this new God, the creator of all the world and all the men and women. He told them they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone” (145).
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