The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

by

William Kamkwamba

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind makes teaching easy.
William’s cousin, the son of Uncle John, and one of William’s best friends. William and Geoffrey work in the fields together and share many games and jokes as they grow. Geoffrey’s family is hit hardest by the famine and Geoffrey suffers from anemia until William can help him get more food. Geoffrey supports William’s somewhat crazy schemes to build electric generators and water pumps, often helping him gather materials or put together machinery. Geoffrey shows the importance of familial support in Malawi, as both Geoffrey and William help each other whenever they can.

Geoffrey Quotes in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

The The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind quotes below are all either spoken by Geoffrey or refer to Geoffrey. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Rebirth, Recycling, and Reinvention Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Although Geoffrey, Gilbert, and I grew up in this small place in Africa, we did many of the same things children do all over the world, only with slightly different materials. And talking with friends I’ve met from America and Europe, I now know this is true. Children everywhere have similar ways of entertaining themselves. If you look at it this way, the world isn’t so big.

Related Characters: William Kamkwamba (speaker), Gilbert, Geoffrey
Page Number: 19
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“We know this man has left behind some riches, and these treasures include his kids. We'd like to advise his brothers to take full control of these children. Make sure they finish their secondary education as they would have if their father had been alive. And in regards to the material wealth, we don't want to hear of troubles in the family as a result. If anyone here wants to help this family, help the children with clothing and school fees.”

Related Characters: Mister Ngwata (speaker), Geoffrey, Uncle John, Jeremiah
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Since we learned everything through experimenting, a great many radios were sacrificed for our knowledge. I think we had one radio from each aunt and uncle and neighbor, all in a giant tangle of wires we kept in a box in Geoffrey’s room. But after we learned from our mistakes, people began bringing us their broken radios and asking us to fix them.

Related Characters: William Kamkwamba (speaker), Geoffrey
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

But Geoffrey was scared we would be arrested by the authorities for messing with their frequencies. People were also saying this nonsense about my windmill: “You better be careful or ESCOM power will come arrest you.”

If the first people to experiment with great inventions such as radios, generators, or airplanes had been afraid of being arrested, we'd never be enjoying those things today.

“Let them come arrest me,” I'd say. “It would be an honor.”

Related Characters: William Kamkwamba (speaker), Geoffrey
Related Symbols: The Windmill
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis:
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Geoffrey Quotes in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

The The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind quotes below are all either spoken by Geoffrey or refer to Geoffrey. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Rebirth, Recycling, and Reinvention Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Although Geoffrey, Gilbert, and I grew up in this small place in Africa, we did many of the same things children do all over the world, only with slightly different materials. And talking with friends I’ve met from America and Europe, I now know this is true. Children everywhere have similar ways of entertaining themselves. If you look at it this way, the world isn’t so big.

Related Characters: William Kamkwamba (speaker), Gilbert, Geoffrey
Page Number: 19
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“We know this man has left behind some riches, and these treasures include his kids. We'd like to advise his brothers to take full control of these children. Make sure they finish their secondary education as they would have if their father had been alive. And in regards to the material wealth, we don't want to hear of troubles in the family as a result. If anyone here wants to help this family, help the children with clothing and school fees.”

Related Characters: Mister Ngwata (speaker), Geoffrey, Uncle John, Jeremiah
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Since we learned everything through experimenting, a great many radios were sacrificed for our knowledge. I think we had one radio from each aunt and uncle and neighbor, all in a giant tangle of wires we kept in a box in Geoffrey’s room. But after we learned from our mistakes, people began bringing us their broken radios and asking us to fix them.

Related Characters: William Kamkwamba (speaker), Geoffrey
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

But Geoffrey was scared we would be arrested by the authorities for messing with their frequencies. People were also saying this nonsense about my windmill: “You better be careful or ESCOM power will come arrest you.”

If the first people to experiment with great inventions such as radios, generators, or airplanes had been afraid of being arrested, we'd never be enjoying those things today.

“Let them come arrest me,” I'd say. “It would be an honor.”

Related Characters: William Kamkwamba (speaker), Geoffrey
Related Symbols: The Windmill
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis: