Powerful Quotes From African Books (Part 1)

African writers have written in diverse forms, styles and in many languages. They have been able to creatively put words about their lives, experiences, culture, history and myth together in books published widely on the African continent and beyond.

Many of these books consist of sentences that impart an almost divine inspiration to the mind and soul. eelive.ng is only glad to explore them with you.

This week’s quote is from the legendary Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart. The quote points out the importance and significance of togetherness. It says:

“A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”

Chinua Achebe/Things Fall Apart

Togetherness is a huge aspect of life. It unites us, gives us security, needed support, sense of belonging, and encourages us to love one another.

Things Fall Apart is a simple story of a “strong man” whose life is dominated by fear and anger, it is written with remarkable economy and subtle irony. Uniquely and richly African, at the same time it reveals Achebe’s keen awareness of the human qualities common to men of all times and places.

Things Fall Apart  is Chinua Achebe’s masterpiece and it is often compared to the great Greek tragedies, and currently sells more than one hundred thousand copies a year in the United States.

Chinua Achebe was a novelist, poet, professor at Brown University and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.

By Samiah Olabimpe