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Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village QUOTES

Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village QUOTES

1 " I have seen young boys in this village get married. They think it all bed, poor fellows. I see it quite different to this. I’m in no hurry at all. I must work. I mustn’t be worried or distracted. Not yet. I couldn’t spend time on my work if I was married. "

― , Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village

2 " We set to work to bury people. We pushed them into the sides of the trench but bits of them kept getting uncovered and sticking out, like people in a badly made bed. Hands were the worst; they would escape from the sand, pointing, begging - even waving! There was one which we all shook when we passed, saying, 'Good morning', in a posh voice. Everybody did it. The bottom of the trench was springy like a mattress because of all the bodies underneath. "

― , Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village

3 " I went to the pub to meet the young men. They never talk ideas, it is always people with them. The church is the vicar - that kind of thing. They seem, well, hemmed-in by the village itself. "

― , Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village

4 " My father worked on a farm - and his father. They both got very near to ninety, I believe. They were hardy old sorts. They never had a thing amiss with them. They worked and lived, and then kind of toppled over at the end. I should have been like them but my accident made the difference to me. The horses ran away with me on the farm. It was only two fields away from this house. It was a terrible accident; it jagged me all to pieces. The horses bolted in the field and ruined me. We were using the self-binder at the time. It was the second year I was in this village and thirty-eight year ago or more. I was at the top of the field whole and then at the bottom of the field, broken, and all in minutes. I should not have come here. "

― , Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village

5 " People look to education now in the same way as they once looked to religion. Are you save? Have you got your O-levels? It’s the same thing – salvation. "

― , Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village

6 " This is what luxury means—perfect consideration. We gave, they took. It was the complete arrangement. This is luxury. "

― , Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village