In Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart, set in the village of Umuofia women are first seen as an oppressed group with no power, however as the story progresses women are given roles with power and are seen as someone in which males can find refuge. Although many can view the women being portrayed as only a victim of domestic violence as was the case of many wives in the Ibo tribe. Achebe portrays women as powerful, as a stronghold, and as a symbol of admiration through characters such as Chika, the earth goddess, and Okonkwo’s mother. Women with power can be seen in the role they play in the Ibo religion.“The priestess in those days was a woman called Chika. She was full of the power of her god, and she was greatly feared” (Achebe 17). …show more content…
“Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other deity. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. And what more, she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth” (Achebe 36). Showing us how women 's roles played a pivotal role in their religious customs. Widely respected throughout the village, certain actions had to be taken in order to please the goddess to make sure that their yam crops were blessed into having a fruitful harvest. By having a goddess bless the yam crops ,which symbolize masculinity, one can see how the power of the women transcends gender roles. Not only did women hold power but also they were seen as a stronghold. “It’s true that a child belongs to its father. But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother’s hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme” (Achebe 134). Okonkwo finds refuge in his mother 's homeland after being exiled from his own land. Achebe uses Uchendu to describe how women, in particular mothers, are seen as a stronghold when things are not going your way and how the mother will always protect her …show more content…
“He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo’s return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess.” (Achebe 29). Okonkwo would repeatedly beat his wives when they angered him. Not caring that it was the week of the peace he continued with his rage. The beating of wives was acceptable throughout the Ibo tribe and not seen as a crime unless if done during the week of peace. However, Okonkwo was not given any punishments because of the fear the villagers had of him, only proving that men could get away with such inhumane acts towards women. Women were also not associated yams for they were seen as crops that demonstrated masculinity. The lives of women consisted of being educators to their children’s as well. “Low voices, broken now and again by singing, reached Okonkwo from his wives’ huts as each woman and her children told folk stories” (Achebe 96). Achebe shows how women are vital in passing and teaching traditions to the children to continue with their customs and traditions. Educating the younger generation was seen as an important part for them to understand the culture and be part of
They both performed tasks for their community. For instance, men used to hunt whereas women gathered and gathered wild fruits. They both showed tasks that could help their communities. Women were valued as they played a central role in their communities. The author narrates the Masai community's culture in Tanzania where she experienced involving themselves with the process of construction. That means that they were engaged in more productive and economically viable activities, not compared to other capitalist societies where the house chore women perform degrade the status of women. In my opinion, women play an essential role in society as much as men do. They complement men, and together they work as a system (Angela, 2011). If women are left out in community activities, the whole system collapses and fails to work appropriately hence it is imperative that they are working together for the betterment of the
In the book, “Things Fall Apart”, women are portrayed in a negative way. They are abused, hard labor workers and treated in a bad manner. The women are seen worthless in this book but in many other situations the women are actually portrayed in a positive way. They still possess significant roles, such as householders, educators of the children, caretakers of crops, and also playing important rules in religion. In the book Women are seen as caregivers in the Igbo society, they give power to men, and are powerful in religion. Women are portrayed in many powerful ways in the Igbo society.
The yams they grew acted as their main source of food, and stood as the backbone in their agriculturally rich society. When the missionaries came to Umuofia their desire to convert these people resulted in less people to work their farms and I think in the end if the story was to continue would cause a crippling problem. The social culture in Umuofia is one that is dominated by the male figure. Each family in this culture is run by the man of the house, and the women who ran it came to every beckoning call of their husbands. The woman’s tasks consisted of farming, cooking, raising the children and also the chickens they housed. These tasks are seen in many cultures as the “normal” behavior for the women in the families, but in Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe the author shows us that the women are also subjected to violence from their husbands when they feel she has earned it. Also, the women are seen as property of the men and not as individual women. Women in this culture are essentially bought with yams and palm wine and are then their ownership is passed to their new husband. When the missionaries came to Umuofia I think it gave the women who were brave enough to go against their husbands the chance to seek freedom from their bondage. These women were capable of joining the Christian faith and along with that acquire an education and no longer have to disgard their children when they bare twins. These changes offer a new more independent life possibility for the women and Umuofia and I think that is one of the only positives the Christian missionaries brought to the village of Umuofia and
The writings of women in West Africa are similar to the writings of men in reaction to the distorting images and representation projected by the imperial colonial masters. Authors like Chinua Achebe and others wrote to tell the African man’s story by an African in order to set ‘the record straight.’ In doing this, they bring to the fore their own bias and stereotypes about women in the society. Their writings were replete with the ‘African way’ of treating women – objects, properties, and expendable (Boyce Davies 1994). While women like Flora Nwapa and other earlier writers told the African woman story without an appearance of opposition to the male hegemony, “male literary critics have tended to marginalize women’s writing and to dismiss foundational
Women had an important role in the family as the caregiver to their husband and children. They were also expected to cook and clean their compound, plan parties and entertain guests. Men were involved in the politics of their culture and were in charge of the King Yams, their main and most important crop. According to Carrera, the women’s role in the Igbo culture was to be weak and pure for their husbands. The men’s role was to be dominant, in society and at home, this is why they have the “right” to beat their wives. In chapter 4, the author shows the right that men have, “... she returned he beat her very heavily.” The reason that Okonkwo beat his wife was because she didn’t make dinner for him and her children, instead she went to plait her hair. Also, in the Igbo culture men were able to have multiple wives, on the other hand, women were expected to have only one husband. There is however a lot of respect for both genders in their culture though because women were allowed to leave one husband to be with another. On page 109, chapter 11, it shows that Ekwefi was able to do this, “Two years after her marriage to Anene she could bear it no longer and she ran away to Okonkwo.” The respect and value for both of these gender’s was what helped keep the Igbo culture alive and
In things fall apart women are proclaimed as a unpowerful human being with no rights within the Igbo society. The reason behind this is because of the culture and as well as ,the way they were taught to treat there spouse . In the book women were perceived as being weak and also received very little or no respect in the Igbo society. They also were harshly abused and look down upon. In things fall apart it says “The women and children live in perpetual fear of his fiery temper. He believes in ruling his household with a heavy hand”( Chapter 2 Pg13) . This quote is restating that Okonkwo was the
Okonkwo’s desire for respect motivates his quest to preserve the practices of Ibo culture, while Obierika preserves the practices of the Ibo culture with a more humanistic perspective. Achebe uses the differing approaches of Okonkwo and Obierika in maintaining the cultural doctrines of the Ibo people to reveal his sympathy for Obierika over Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s motives for maintaining the customs of the Ibo originate with fear. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna while “dazed with fear,” drawing “his machete [to] cut him down” because, “he was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Though Okonkwo attempts to appear strong to the people of Umuofia, his fearful motivation speaks to a hidden internal weakness. Okonkwo’s focus on eradicating the taint of “his father’s weakness and failure” and his yearning for respect drive him to kill Ikemefuna instead of the more proper motive of simply effectuating what the Ibo conside...
“As a matter of fact the tree was very much alive. Okonkwo’s second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food, and she said so. Without further argument, Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her daughter weeping”, women were expected to be there for their husband to get beaten when things were not going well for them, even though it was not the woman's fault.He was so mad at the fact that a woman stood up to him and he did not respect her enough to let her explain so he just beat her. In Igbo culture men get more than one wife, for them having many wives means more power or have control. Women could also be considered as slaves,that is why men feel to have more power when they have a many wives. In chapter two Okonkwo treats his wife like a worker telling her that she has to do whatever he commands with her not asking any questions.”Is he staying long with us?” “Do what you are told, women” Okonkwo thundered and stammered” women were taught to be silent and obedient. Sometimes they were not called by their given names but as to what their men want to call
In Umofia, manliness is associated with strength and womanliness with weakness (Okhamafe 127). There is no such thing as a strong woman, and all men should disdain weakness. In Umofia, “all men are males, but not all males are men” (Okhamafe 126). Only the strong men who hold titles deserve to be called “men”. The Igbo word “agbala” is an alternate work for “woman” and for a man who had no title. Women in Igbo society are expected to act a certain way. Okonkwo scolds his daughter, Ezinma, when she does not “sit like a woman” (Achebe 44). He will not let Ezinma bring his chair to the wrestling match because it is a “boy’s job” (Achebe 44). Eve...
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is a powerful novel about the social changes that occurred when the white man first arrived on the African continent. The novel is based on a conception of humans as self-reflexive beings and a definition of culture as a set of control mechanisms. Things Fall Apart is the story of Okonkwo, an elder, in the Igbo tribe. He is a fairly successful man who earned the respect of the tribal elders. The story of Okonkwo’s fall from a respected member of the tribe to an outcast who dies in disgrace graphically dramatizes the struggle between the altruistic values of Christianity and the lust for power that motivated European colonialism in Africa and undermined the indigenous culture of a nation.
A main character in the novel, Okonkwo has several wives. He orders them around like dogs. They are never to question what they are instructed to do; they are expected to be obedient. We see this early in the story, when Okonkwo brings Ikemefuna into his home. Okonkwo tells his senior wife that Ikemefuna belongs to the tribe and that she is expected to look after him. She in turn asks him if he will be staying with them for a long period of time. This sends Okonkwo into a fury. He snaps at her in a very degrading manner, "Do what you are told woman. When did you become one of the ndichie (meaning elders) of Umuofia?"(pg.12) Clearly she receives no respect. Later in the story we see this woman try to comfort Ikemefuna. She "mothers" him as if he is one of her own children. She tries to put him at ease and can almost instinctively feel how much he misses his own mother.
Women have many responsibilities in the Igbo society such as having children, cooking, cleaning, and farming. These are important functions for women, yet they are not given much credit or meaning for their existence in the roles they fill. As Rose Ure Mezu points out “The world in Things Fall Apart is one in which patriarchy intrudes oppressively into every sphere of existence. It is an andocentric world where the man is everything and the woman nothing.” In some way, Mezu is correct in saying that the man is everything and the woman nothing.
Throughout history, there have been many instances of people struggling to identify and cope with change and tradition, and this is no different in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
All throughout history, we see this dichotomy between tradition and modernity. On one hand, we have tradition, the force living perpetually in the past and refusing to change. On the other hand, modernity leaves tradition behind in favor of progress. These two concepts, much like oil and water, dare to divide but coexist as a debatable founding solution. Not only are the themes Western ideas, but they have been present and are found in literature all around the world, from China to Africa.
The way women were viewed has changed, from being close to slaved by their spouses, to working and demanding alongside them. According to the Ibo culture in Things Fall Apart, women didn’t and couldn’t have the high status they hold today, there were obedient, wouldn’t speak for themselves and followed every order their husband command. Therefore were just taken for granted in the village. “In those days a good woman was basically seen as a wife and mother who spoke when she was spoken to, brought up the children and maintained the “home front.”” (1). Today's modern society in Nigeria had changed for many women, not a huge change, but big enough that the women had more freedom and rights. “Women still have fewer legal rights than men.” (4). Women aren’t as liberated as you think, but they no longer have to answer to anybody but themselves. The values and needs of women has been incorporated into the society and will continue to upgrade throughout a large number of