The Role Of Men And Women In Things Fall Apart

“The damage done in one year can sometimes take ten or twenty years to repair.” written by Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart, tells the story of a man’s life and how he reacted and the ways that men and women must act towards each other. The Igbo way of living was a patriarchal one where men dominated women who live in a world where they don’t have any rights. There are many people following this culture but also veering away from the cultural norms that men and women must follow. There were many ways that people had to act and the mainly the women had to learn and understand a lot from the tasks that man and women could do, the respect that they were to give, and accept that they do not have control of their life. The tasks that men and

When women became of age they were forced into an arranged marriage. Continuing with the celebration of marriage a bride price was made. The bride price was made up of the established worth of the girl one man was celebrating his daughter’s marriage to her husband who had “(..already paid the greater part of her bride price) (110). Women had no input as to the bride price. Women were of value yet had no say with their value. The law of the land was that men had control over the women of their compound and women had no say. There were a few instances that this was not the case. Okonkwo and the connection with his daughter Ezinma was one of these cases. When Okonkwo’s family was getting ready to head back to Umuofia he came to Ezinma and said “there are many good and prosperous people here, but I shall be happy if you marry in Umuofia when we return home” (173). Okonkwo didn’t demand that she marry in Umuofia rather stated that he wanted she to wait knowing that Ezinma would honor his wishes and wait to marry. Okonkwo knew in his heart that Ezinma possess the skills a man ha because she understood why things must happen. All in all, Okonkwo doesn’t make demands of his daughter. Ezinma is of value to her father and she knows