Good Omens

by

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Good Omens makes teaching easy.

Famine/Black/Sable Character Analysis

Famine is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. While posing as human, he takes the form of a tall, slim, dark-haired man named Mr. Sable. Wherever he goes, people suddenly find themselves hungry. As Mr. Sable, Famine popularizes the trend in expensive restaurants of serving miniscule portions. He’s also the mastermind behind the meal products CHOW and MEALS, which contain only filler and no nutritional value—so people who eat enough of them ultimately die of malnutrition. He takes special delight in seeing wealthy people go hungry by choice (rather than famine and hunger affecting mostly poor people, as has often been the case historically). In the hours before Armageddon (the end of the world) is supposed to begin, Famine receives a set of scales (which symbolize the way food might be weighed out during a famine). His young counterpart in Adam’s gang the “Them,” Wensleydale, vanquishes Famine with his own makeshift set of scales.

Famine/Black/Sable Quotes in Good Omens

The Good Omens quotes below are all either spoken by Famine/Black/Sable or refer to Famine/Black/Sable. 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:
Good and Evil Theme Icon
).
Saturday Quotes

And then it was Pigbog’s turn.

“I, uh...I think I’ll be them answer phones. They’re pretty bad,” he said.

“You can’t be ansaphones. What kind of a Biker of the Repocalypse is ansaphones? That’s stupid, that is.”

“S’not!” said Pigbog, nettled. “It’s like War, and Famine, and that. It’s a problem of life, isn’t it? Answer phones. I hate bloody answer phones.”

“I hate ansaphones, too,” said Cruelty to Animals.

Related Characters: Pigbog (speaker), Death, War/Red/Scarlett, Famine/Black/Sable, Pollution/White , Greaser, Big Ted, Skuzz
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND, he said. SURELY YOUR VERY EXISTENCE REQUIRES THE ENDING OF THE WORLD. IT IS WRITTEN.

“I dunt see why anyone has to go an’ write things like that,” said Adam calmly. “The world is full of all sorts of brilliant stuff and I haven’t found out all about it yet, so I don’t want anyone messing it about or endin’ it before I’ve had a chance to find out about it. So you can all just go away.”

Related Characters: Adam Young/The Antichrist (speaker), Death (speaker), War/Red/Scarlett, Famine/Black/Sable, Pollution/White
Related Symbols: Dog (The Hell-Hound)
Page Number: 326
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Good Omens LitChart as a printable PDF.
Good Omens PDF

Famine/Black/Sable Quotes in Good Omens

The Good Omens quotes below are all either spoken by Famine/Black/Sable or refer to Famine/Black/Sable. 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:
Good and Evil Theme Icon
).
Saturday Quotes

And then it was Pigbog’s turn.

“I, uh...I think I’ll be them answer phones. They’re pretty bad,” he said.

“You can’t be ansaphones. What kind of a Biker of the Repocalypse is ansaphones? That’s stupid, that is.”

“S’not!” said Pigbog, nettled. “It’s like War, and Famine, and that. It’s a problem of life, isn’t it? Answer phones. I hate bloody answer phones.”

“I hate ansaphones, too,” said Cruelty to Animals.

Related Characters: Pigbog (speaker), Death, War/Red/Scarlett, Famine/Black/Sable, Pollution/White , Greaser, Big Ted, Skuzz
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND, he said. SURELY YOUR VERY EXISTENCE REQUIRES THE ENDING OF THE WORLD. IT IS WRITTEN.

“I dunt see why anyone has to go an’ write things like that,” said Adam calmly. “The world is full of all sorts of brilliant stuff and I haven’t found out all about it yet, so I don’t want anyone messing it about or endin’ it before I’ve had a chance to find out about it. So you can all just go away.”

Related Characters: Adam Young/The Antichrist (speaker), Death (speaker), War/Red/Scarlett, Famine/Black/Sable, Pollution/White
Related Symbols: Dog (The Hell-Hound)
Page Number: 326
Explanation and Analysis: