Gender roles have been a big part of society since the eldest known cultures in history had existed. It is not only applied to an individual’s behavior, but to their appearance, their way of thinking, their ideals, and, in some cases, their importance in society. In today’s society we see people stepping outside the binary realm of gender to assume identities that better fit the perception they have of themselves on a psychological level. Because of situations like these, gender roles have proven to be obsolete in modern times; but back in the time where it was only male or female, black and white, or strong and weak, people’s duties, rights and assigned characteristics based on their gender were the way many cultures and belief systems were …show more content…
Umuofia is a group of villages situated in the south of Nigeria. Okonkwo, who is the main character, comes from a background of struggle and hard work. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, had always been characterized by his laziness and neglectfulness towards his duties as a farmer and a family man, so much that he became the definition of everything Okonkwo did not want to be. It can be inferred that, subconsciously, Okonkwo felt that his father not doing any relevant work or generating much income could be associated with the common perception of a woman in the Igbo …show more content…
While Umuofia did assign different duties to people based on their sex, Okonkwo seemed to commit a mistake that is also very common today, mistaking a person’s sex with their gender. According to Achebe, women in Umuofia “worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop” (22-23). Since he was very young, Okonkwo had thought that gender was defined by actions, and so he had gotten an even deeper implication of this idea from a childhood experience, as Achebe states, “he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken no title” (13). Okonkwo had many emotional scars that led to him adopting the idea that defined gender roles were of severe
For many years, society’s view of gender was a simple matter of assigning the appropriate roles for both men and women. In this way, they are defined in an important way based on their gender. However, many studies over the last decade have altered society’s view by showing how gender is a cultural invention. These studies have also demonstrated how men and women are shaped by the culture and environment they’re born into and that what is expected of them may differ from what we deem to be appropriate in our culture. In today’s world, we still are dealing with the same problems that we were hundreds of years ago. These problems being equal rights between men and women, along with breaking away from societal norms revolving around what is expected
Before the arrival of European influence, villagers of Umuofia had a single option for a way of life. It was a place to be feared, dominated by war and violent practices. Ibo culture is centered on a patriarchal system based on hierarchy; the highest titles held by male egwugwu in the legal system and the osu at the bottom. The main character, Okonkwo, represents the ambition to strive for a higher position in society in order to gain status: “His life had been ruled by a great passion-to become one of the lords of the clan” (131). Another aspect in Ibo culture is the representation of women. They are undermined in order for men to achieve success; bride prices are used to able men to marry more than one wife and husbands are
It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first seed yams.” (18-19) The quote shows how polygyny plays a part in the igbo culture. The quote also explains how Okonkwo viewed Nwakibie as a role model for his success and wealth which earned Nwakibie a higher rank in society, rather than his own father, Unoka. Okonkwo did not inherit a farm from his father like many young men in Umuofia did. Father-son inheritance was the beginning of becoming a man in Umuofia, the son helps with the farm then inherits the farm along with starter seeds. Unoka was not able to provide a future for his son Okonkwo because he was broke, lazy & irresponsible as explained in the novel. “With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He
Manliness is one of the most important values in Umuofia. When I say manliness I mean the Umuofian interpretation of manliness. Which is a mixture of strength, determination, and lack of sentimentality. Okonkwo exemplifies all of these traits and because of this he becomes an important and respected man in his village: “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements”(3). His determination and strength led to great successes such as beating the cat at wrestling and being an excellent
Throughout the history of society, women and men both have faced the constricting roles forced upon them, from a young age; each gender is given specific social and cultural roles to play out throughout their lives. Little girls are given dolls and kitchen toys, little boys are given dinosaurs and power tool toys, if one was to step out of this specified role, social conflict would ensue. Contrast to popular belief, sex is a biological construct, and gender is a social construct specifying the roles men and women are to follow to be accepted into society as “normal”. The effects of gender roles have had on women have proved harmful over the decades. Although the woman’s involvement in society has improved throughout the decades,
Gender roles played a crucial part to the understanding of the people of Umuofia; especially to Okonkwo. But just as in today’s world, one person of a group cannot define the entire group, it was the same back then, which further proves how the District Commissioner’s view of Umuofia would not represent the entire clan, let alone Africa as a whole. Okonkwo’s motivation behind his views of patriarchy stem from his father Unoka; he wanted to be such a great man of the tribe, unlike his “agbala” of a father. Okonkwo’s son “[n]woye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell, and which she no doubt still told to her younger children…but he now knew that they were for foolish women
The history of the world is a complex arrangement of happenings and occurrences that have shaped the current state of civilization. At a fundamental level, history is the driving force behind every element of society that exists today. Within history, there are several factors that have and continue to determine the way in which our society functions. One of the most significant of these factors is gender. Today, conceptions, viewpoints and ideas surrounding gender are always changing. It is this fluidity of thought that ultimately allows society to progress forward and create change. However, gender has not always been as openly discussed. Tracing back through history, gender has consistently been a point of identity among humans.
Another reoccurring theme in Things Fall Apart is gender – gender is also an aspect in the genocide, many would not believe that women had a hand at the dismay of the genocide. In both the novel and Rwandan culture, women are not viewed as strong people; their roles were to raise the family and work on the farm. The difference between femininity and masculinity was evident as it shared the common stereotypes between men and women such as the traditional thinking towards men and women in Rwanda. Prior to 1994, women were not taken as seriously, they did not for the most part, get an education, nor did they work in profitable sectors.
Historically, women have been viewed as inferior to men due to a female's lack of physical strength. In the candid novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe clearly defines gender roles; women are the caretakers and cooks- simply existing to satisfy men’s desires. Although “Things Fall Apart portrays the women as weak ,inferior, and being put in their place by men; however, Achebe also notes their importance during several parts of the story. By incorporating powerful dialogues and scenes to develop gender conflicts, Achebe uses the completely divergent character of Okonkwo, who constantly strives to achieve manliness to demonstrate that although women in the Igbo society are important, they are not treated as such. Chinua Achebe, the author suggests that there is a constant conflict which exists between the two genders and the expectations of the roles in which each of them must play.
Unoka is seen as an agbala or a man who has taken no title due to his lack of money, power, and authority over his home and village. The novel states, “And so at a very early age when he was striving desperately to build a barn through share-cropping. Okonkwo was also fending for his father’s house. It was like pouring grains of corn into a bag full of holes. His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava” (Achebe, 22-23). It is shameful for a father to be feed by his own children because he cannot provide and care for his family on his own. Okonkwo also did not inherit a home or a barn like a father provides for his sons when they marry and leave their father’s adobe. Okonkwo swore that he would not replicate his father’s worthless life. The novel states that “Okonkwo was ruled by one passion—to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved” (Achebe, 13). Okonkwo wants to start a new life were his sons will have titles and inherited home. He wants to live a masculine life unlike his father who lived a cowardly one. He strove for success and the hope of an ideal Igbo rightness were he has many wives, children, crops, titles and enough triumph to rule the
One of Okonkwo's most prominent character traits is his intense fear of femininity. This fear can be traced back to his relationship with his father, Unoka, who was lazy and irresponsible. The inability of Unoka to provide for his family is seen as effeminate and shameful to the clan, which ultimately results in Okonkwo’s deep-seated aversion of being at all like his father. His fear is only amplified by the clan’s pervasive subordination of women, and ridicule of their concept of femininity, especially when displayed by men. For example on page 26, paragraph 1, Achebe writes, “Only a week ago a man had contradicted him... Okonkwo had said: ‘This meeting is for men.’ The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That was why he had called
Okonkwo continually rejected the ways of his father, who was deeply indebted to other members of Umuofia, holding no titles, to the point where Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (16). He transferred his fears into the context of Umuofia and the traits that society valued, but what was really the driving force in his decisions “was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” (17). The values of Umuofia resembled the polar opposite of what Unoka was and Okonkwo twisted his motivations around in his mind and presented them to himself and the community as derived from Umuofia’s traditions. From this delusion, Okonkwo established his ultimate goal of becoming a revered member of the village, possessing many titles, and achieving anything necessary displaying his prominence in the community.
Okonkwo illustrates the use of gender roles and lack of feminism in his daughter, Ezinma and his regret of her being a girl (Achebe 137). Okonkwo’s desire for his daughter to be a man is problematic and represents the patriarch’s refusal to view women as equal to men. Throughout Ezinma’s life time, Okonkwo expresses his desires for Ezinma to be born a boy ( Achebe 137). He explictly states to himself that he, “wishes she were a boy,” because she “understands him perfectly” (Achebe 136). Okonkwo expands on this desire as he continue to express how Ezinma is his favorite among the daughters and that she understands the ways of his consciousness and his moods (Achebe 137) . Although these expressions are subtle, Okonkwo’s regret of Ezinma’s gender plays a role in the patriarchal induced gender roles that women are socially lesser than men. Society’s standards
Umuofia values have skewed Nwoye’s self-acceptance at a young age through constant acts of berating, establishing the abusive extent of gender roles. Nwoye’s love for “the stories his mother used to tell” contrasted Umuofian culture of “violence and bloodshed” (53) with his “gentleness and… idleness” (13), implying to the reader of his inevitable ties to Unoka beyond family name and blood. Umuofian response to such ties was woven with “constant nagging and beating” (14), suggesting the fragile nature of masculinity where it is threatened by “women’s stories” (54). It is in this that there is a feminine quality, which although not portrayed as negative “among the Ibo[, where] the art of conversation is regarded highly” yet harms Okonkwo and other men’s definition of virility (7). The reader is able to conclude that this feminine concept of
Early on in the novel, we are specifically introduced to Okonkwo’s later deceased father, Unoka, who was a debtor, coward, lazy, and other qualities that gave him an awful reputation. In the result, Okonkwo was always ashamed of his father and didn’t want that same fate for himself. Achebe addresses, “It was the fear of himself, lest he should resemble his father. Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness...he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala” (13). We can conclude that Okonkwo’s whole life is ruled by the fear of weakness and is the reason why he strives to show his masculinity even at the most heart-rending moments. When that playmate referred to Unoka as an “agbala,” he was simply calling him a woman and a man with no title. Okonkwo was traumatized by this and does