Comparison Of Fences And Things Fall Apart

For the longest time, women’s role in society was very narrow and set in stone. Women weren’t given the chance to decide life for their own, and there was a very sharp distinction of gender roles. Women were viewed as inferior, weak, and dependant. They were expected to be responsible for the family and maintainance of the house. But as the 19th century began, so did a drastic change in society. Women started voicing their opinions and seeking change. Trying to break away from this ideology called “cult of domesticity” was a lengthy, burdensome, and demanding struggle.

The book introduced Igbo culture and traditions with meaning and value. Okonkwo didn't want to be shown as weak, as a woman, or as his father. His own version of masculinity was aggression, anger, and never showing any weakness. This was why he didn't think much of his first son, Nwoye, who he saw as a female, weak, and not a real man. What was interesting was how he kept on wishing that Ezinma, his daughter and favourite child, were a boy because she showed qualities that he felt men should possess. This here shows how females can be masculine and have have power. We are also shown alternative forms of masculinity from Okonkwo throughout the novel.

In the 1800’s, the women responsibilities were to maintain order in the house, protect and discipline the students. In the 21st century, now women are not just responsible for cleaning, cooking and discipling children, instead women can now work and impose some of those tasks on their husbands. In the story “Our Deportment, or the Manners, Conduct, and Dress of Refined Society”, as the home is considered the “woman’s kingdom” and that it is the women responsibility to “make the lives of her husband and the dear ones committed to her trust, is the honored task which it is the wife’s province” (Gutenberg 1), most of their time is spent in the home making sure the home is kept under control and ready to serve her husbands and children. In reference to the speech by Emma Watson, she states that “we need to end gender inequality” (Watson 1), which in the 21st century it is coming closer to reality. Women now don’t have to remain at home all day, they can now work just like men and provide for their families the same way men do.

A house is not a home if no one lives there. During the nineteenth century, the same could be said about a woman concerning her role within both society and marriage. The ideology of the Cult of Domesticity, especially prevalent during the late 1800’s, emphasized the notion that a woman’s role falls within the domestic sphere and that females must act in submission to males. One of the expected jobs of a woman included bearing children, despite the fact that new mothers frequently experienced post-partum depression. If a woman were sterile, her purposefulness diminished. While the Cult of Domesticity intended to create obliging and competent wives, women frequently reported feeling trapped or imprisoned within the home and within societal

First and foremost, prior to the 19th century, women lived in a patriarchal system in which their views were constantly ignored and ridiculed. They were denied rights that made it difficult for them to gain any opportunity to perform outside their home. The stereotype in which their gender held at the time made them inferior to men. The “Culture of Domesticity” was the term used to describe a set of beliefs about women and gender roles in America and Great Britain (Cummings 1). The set of beliefs described that since men were busy working, women should be at home. An aspect of the Culture of Domesticity describes the ideal woman. This ideal woman, also called “True Woman”, must uphold “4 main principles: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity” (Cummings 1). The combination of these principles expected a woman to be supportive

During the early 1800's women were stuck in the Cult of Domesticity. Women had been issued roles as the moral keepers for societies as well as the nonworking house-wives for families. Also, women were considered unequal to their male companions legally and socially. However, women’s efforts during the 1800’s were effective in challenging traditional intellectual, social, economical, and political attitudes about a women’s place in society.

The “cult of domesticity” is a social system made up of middle-class American Women in the Nineteenth-century that were confined completely at home. This had privatized women’s roles for work, education, and voicing opinions. This gave women a disadvantage unqualified to participate in the realms of politics, commerce, or public service. Women’s roles were viewed by society as raising children, tend to housekeeping, and providing a home in a state of good health and virtue. Being restricted by the cult of domesticity, this encouraged a lot of women to form communities in their homes, to express their moral bravery separate from men in the communal realm. Women became successful in writing, developing their own personal voices, and opinions

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is presented as a violent and harsh patriarch, viciously abusing his wives and children. A near serial abuser, Okonkwo’s physical and emotional abuse could be considered a main contributor to most of the major complications in his adult life. He uses violence in his household to empower himself, seeing any act that dealt with emotions as “feminine”. Throughout the book Okonkwo uses violence as a way of asserting dominance and to take out his frustration.

[An African elder holding his carved cane] In fact, he is so committed to his concept of the superiority and importance of masculinity that he cannot admire his daughter Ezinma without wishing she were a boy. Okonkwo in “Things Fall Apart.” Again and again, he talks about masculinity as well as respect for the past, the traditions of the clan. These qualities identify him with broad themes in the novel.

For most of western history women have been oppressed and restricted in society. In most countries women have had not many economic, legal, or political rights. Women were expected to be submissive to men and were stuck in traditional gender roles, which forced them to remain in the “domestic sphere” of society. “It was assumed that biological and social differences affected the personalities of men and women and their suitability for particular tasks. Men were seen as aggressive, competitive and rational, and therefore fitted for the world of paid work and public activity, whereas women were thought to be emotional, nurturing and passive, traits which made them most suited to care for a family in a domestic setting.

Women have always been treated differently from our male counterpart. As a woman, we are automatically born with a strike on our back, and as an African-American, we are seen at the very bottom of the totem pole. The trials and tribulations that we are put through no man could possibly withstand. In “Homegoing”, many issues that are still prevalent in today’s society is discussed. The author of the novel touch bases on the importance of family, cultural heritage, and gender inequality. Gender inequality is one of the main issues that women today face. In the beginning of the novel, the women of the village were controlled by the men in all aspects of life. Every move they made were scrutinized by their man counterparts. As the book progressed throughout the decades, the women were still facing issues that the women of today face.

the Hills and the Caves telling him to go home and work like a man is

Okonkwo victimizes his family due to his sexism. Okonkwo’s actions and thoughts signifies his idea that men and women are not equal. Throughout the plot he berates his daughter, Ezinma, concerning her gender. Since she is not the son he wishes for he continually abuses her into acting more feminine. When Okonkwo summons Ezinma to his hut and as she sits down “‘Sit like a woman!’ Okonkwo [shouts] at her,” (Achebe 44). Okonkwo forces Ezinma to cook and care for him and usually shows no affection towards her. Okonkwo’s victimization causes Ezinma to feel unwanted and unable to make Okonkwo happy. Yelling to Ezinma and trying to teach her what he wants from her conflicts what she hears her father tell Nwoye. Okonkwo tells Nwoye to become stronger and focus on

In Things Fall Apart, folktales are seemingly used to symbolize femininity. Women in the Igbo culture share folktales to their children as a way to teach them cultural values and to spread wisdom down through the generations. Okonkwo fears for the future of his compound after seeing his son’s, laziness. He notices Nwoye acting in a non-masculine, or in Okonkwo’s mind a feminine, manner. Okonkwo’s compulsive urge to uphold his manly appearance prompts him to view all folktales as “silly”, and refer to them as “women’s stories” (Achebe 75).

In African villages around the continent and even in other countries around the world women 's roles were always subpar to men. Whether it was in Niger like in the Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart or America in the 20th century women’s role was always below men’s. In fact in some cultures being called feminine or female was an insult. In Things Fall Apart it is difficult to compare the roles of man and woman. It is deeper than just women serve their husbands and cook. The word “female” itself was a symbol for being weak or being inferior to another person. In the ibo culture almost everything is segregated by gender from the plants to the crimes. Women in Umuofia did not have an important role in the eyes of men around the village but yet they affected the lives of people all around.