You have abandoned your gods and ancestors like wild animals!
-- Nwabueze (Prologue)

Importance: After determining that the Amalike people are the only ones who can break the curse they have put on Ichulu, Igbokwe sends eight emissaries to beg Obi Iroatu for help. When the emissaries explain their situation to Obi, he laughs at them and scoffs at their plight. The above line is one of the emissaries Nwabueze's response to the king. He believes that Obi and his people have forsaken and betrayed the gods in order to appease the white man. His words contribute to the author's overarching explorations concerning faith and truth. While Nwabueze and the Ichulu people have maintained their belief in Chukwu and the minor gods, other villagers have embraced Christianity in order to avoid devastation. These conflicts are central to the entirety of the novel's plot and evolution.

There is the final truth; and Ijeoma knew it...
-- Narrator (Part I: Chapter 1)