Book

The African Trilogy: Things Fall Apart; Arrow of God; No Longer at Ease

(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Chinua Achebe is considered the father of modern African literature, the writer who "opened the magic casements of African fiction." The African Trilogy--comprised of Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, and No Longer at Ease--is h

(9 total)

Characters

Chinua Achebe (9)

“What was missing in all of them, he thought, was a recognition of Africans as people with projects—lives they were leading, aspirations they were striving for—and a rich existing culture, exemplified in the proverbs and the religious traditions that are threaded through these novels. He was writing,…”

— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com

Tagged: Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, Religion, Tradition, African People

“She believed because it was that faith alone that gave her own life any kind of meaning.”

— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com

Tagged: Belief, Faith, Meaning

“Children left their old parents at home and scattered in all directions in search of money. It was hard on an old woman with eight children. It was like having a river and yet washing one’s hands with spittle.”

— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com

Tagged: Extreme Poverty

“We do not seek to hurt any man, but if any man seeks to hurt us may he break his neck.”

— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com

Tagged: Pacifism, Threats

“His mind, never content with shallow satisfactions, crept to the brink of knowing. What kind of power was it if it would never be used?”

— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com

Tagged: Contentment, Power

“Its body was carved with men and pythons and little steps were cut on one side; without these the drummer could not climb to the top to beat it. When the Ikolo was beaten for war it was decorated with skulls won in past wars. But now it sang of peace.”

— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com

Tagged: War, Peace, Brutality, Drummer

“When you have paid a hundred and thirty pounds bride-price and you are only a second-class clerk, you find you haven’t got any more to spare on other women.”

— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com

Tagged: Dowry, Working Class

“Real tragedy is never resolved. It goes on hopelessly forever. Conventional tragedy is too easy. The hero dies and we feel a purging of the emotions. A real tragedy takes place in a corner, in an untidy spot, to quote W. H. Auden. The rest of the world is unaware of it.”

— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com

Tagged: Tragedy, Hero, W.H. Auden

“Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.”

— Chinua Achebe, amazon.com

Tagged: Fire, Ash, Death, Impotent