How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The days of hunger had begun so early that five goats and two bullocks [...] were sacrificed to strengthen everyone's prayer's that Allah might spare the village from starvation. (3.1)
Even before he's kidnapped and enslaved, Kunta is well acquainted with suffering. West Africa can be a harsh land, with sudden jumps in the climate making it difficult to grow crops at certain times of the year. Because of this, Kunta lives through some seriously lean years, and at many times he's forced to subsist on insects, roots, and grubs.
Quote #2
As far back as time went, Kunta guessed, the lives of the people had been hard. Perhaps they always would be. (14.9)
As a result of his early brushes with suffering and mortality, Kunta gains a mature disposition at a young age. He has a broad understanding of how his people have adapted to the harsh natural world, and that makes him feel less alone.
Quote #3
The pain of his blistered feet was terrible, but Kunta found by the fourth night that he somehow didn't mind. (23.11)
Another big learning experience for Kunta is his visit to his uncles' village with his father. It's unheard of for a kid as young as him to take part in such a long journey, but it ends up making him a lot tougher as a result, like we see here during his manhood training.
Quote #4
Kunta wondered if he had gone mad. Naked, chained, shackled, he awoke on his back between two other men in a pitch darkness full of steamy heat and sickening stink. (34.1)
Kunta hardly remembers how he ended up in the hold of the slave ship, but he knows that it's the most horrifying experience of his life. It would be awful enough if he was suffering alone, but he's forced to witness the agony of men, women, and children as they suffer alongside him. This is the brutal reality of the American slave trade.
Quote #5
And he turned his thought to prayer for the souls of the men who had been thrown over the side, joined already with their ancestors. He envied them. (38.25)
At a certain point, Kunta's pain becomes so intense that he gives up his will to live. It's a heart-breaking moment, especially for someone as clearly bursting with life as him. If he wants to survive this experience, however, he'll need something to help keep hope alive. As it turns out, that thing is community.
Quote #6
And mingled with his agony was the smell of something like tar. He had though he knew all about suffering before, but this was worse. (50.2)
After his final escape attempt, Kunta's brutally beaten and his foot cut off by slave-catchers. It's one of the hardest passages in the novel to read. But this goes beyond the physical pain of the moment for Kunta—he'll never quite be the same again.
Quote #7
"You done got snatched over here, an' got your foot cut, you thinks you been through all dey is! Well, you ain't de only one had it bad." (54.13)
Kunta tends to retreat into himself when he undergoes suffering, but the fiddler's saying here that he is far from the only one who's had to deal with such painful stuff. Instead of being a bummer, however, this warms Kunta's heart. It shows him that he is not alone in his suffering, and that others will help him bear it.
Quote #8
The lives of all black people in the toubob land seemed full of suffering, but he wished he could spare her some of it. (82.27)
This is a heart-breaking moment because Kizzy ends up suffering more than anyone else in the novel, both physically and psychologically. As a parent, Kunta would do anything to protect his daughter, but he can't do much in the face of the institution of slavery.
Quote #9
"An' I left, figgered somewhere [...] had to be better. But seem like the only somebody even give me the time of day been your n*****s." (111.61)
This is an important detail to note, but we're not quite sure why the family is the only people who help out Ol' George. Is it because they've endured so much suffering themselves and are empathetic? Or are they just plain old good people? What do you think about this one?
Quote #10
Stripping to my underwear, I [...] forced myself to stay there though all ten nights of the crossing, trying to imagine what did he see, hear, feel, smell, taste. (120.66)
In order to get into the mind of Kunta during his most horrifying ordeal—the voyage to America—Alex Haley locks himself in the belly of a ship and doesn't emerge for a week and a half. That might go a long way towards explaining the intensely visceral nature of that scene.