How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
"Don't make me laugh," said Ezeulu again. "So I betrayed Umuaro to the white man? Let me ask you one question. Who brought the white man here? Was it Ezeulu? We went to war against Okperi who are our blood brothers over a piece of land which did not belong to use and you blame the white man for stepping in. Have you not heard that when two brothers fight a stranger reaps the harvest? How many white men went in the party that destroyed Abame? Do you know? Five." He held his right hand up with the five fingers fanned out. "Five. Now have you ever heard that five people – even if their heads reached the sky – could overrun a whole clan? Impossible. With all their power and magic white men would not have overrun entire Olu and Igbo if we did not help them. Who showed them the way to Abame? They were not born there; how then did they find the way? We showed them and are still showing them. So let nobody come to me now and complain that the white man did this and did that. The man who brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit." (12.79)
Ezeulu points out that if the white man is gaining power over the people of Umuaro, they have nobody to blame but themselves. They can't blame one man, Ezeulu, and they cannot blame the white man. They have to look at how they are fighting their own brothers, and how that gives the white man a way to defeat them.