what does this quote mean??

Question

"If one finger brought oil, it soiled the others." i have no clue wat it means ...its from THings Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Answer 1

It means the fingers on one hand are all affected by whatever one does -- just as a government is affected by what its representatives do.

Another way of saying it is, "No man is an island" that is, whatever we do affects other people.
Does that help?

Answer 2

Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

I have found 7 summaries for you to look at, via the links below.

http://www.antistudy.com/search.php?title=Things+Fall+Apart%22+by+Achebe

http://www.freebooknotes.com/book.php3?id=403

These links will give you a summary of the book, character analysis, plot and much more, so that you will be able to answer literary questions. Here is a short extract of what you can expect from the summaries.

http://www.freebooknotes.com/page.php?link=http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/things/&book=403

Good luck.

Kevin, Liverpool, England.

Answer 3

I think it sort of means something like, if a good thing comes to a place, everyone there partake of it. Something like wealth can influence others present making them get from it or something.