Things Fall Apart And The Lottery: A Literary Analysis

“Things Fall Apart” by Achebe and “The Lottery” by Jackson, share the theme of masculinity. Although, these stories are different they suggest particular gender roles and stereotypes of men and women. “The Lottery” reveals that the males of the village see women as their inferior. A clear example would be this particular passage, (SJ) “A tall boy in the crowd raised his hand. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘I’m drawing for my mother and me.’ He blinked his eyes nervously and ducked his head as several voices in the crowd said things like ‘Good fellow, lack.’ and ‘Glad to see your mother’s got a man to do it.” This community believes that women are weaker and fragile and that they need a man to save them from the hardship of selecting a paper from the box.

Also, the crowd was muttering phrases like “Good fellow, lack.’ and ‘Glad to see your mother’s got a man to do it” implies to the idea that women need a man to do hard things like drawing their slip of paper in the lottery. Since it’s a hard thing to do and women are emotionally unstable they need a man to help them when they’re in distress. Meanwhile, “Things Fall Apart” by Achebe introduces us to a very similar perspective of gender roles but in a very intense way. For instance, Okonkwo, the protagonist of the book, believes in the traditional gender roles of his village. This particular passage can tells us so, (Achebe,2.13) “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper..” Here, Achebe reveals the importance of the genders in the Igbo community, men are meant to be the dominant sex and women their