Literary Analysis of Things Fall Apart Essay

She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme.” (Chapter 14, Achebe) Ironically enough, this quotes serves the confession of the positive aspects women possess in Igbo society. A mother’s duty is to raise a man. As time goes on Okonkwo is determined to find a way to make an impression when is able to return to Umuofia.

The big thing that Achebe utilizes is the use of major themes."Nwoye did not fully understand. But he was happy to leave his father." (Page 152) Nwoye decides that leaving his father is him growing up and finally having his life. In his eyes, he has become a man and he finally is free of his demanding, terrorizing father. "Okonkwo was very lucky in his daughters. He never stopped regreting that Ezinma was a girl." Throughout the book, Okonkwo makes sure the line between men and women is clear. He, like the rest in his culture believe that a woman is nothing compared to the males. There is a lot of gender inequality in the text. Even though he is proud of his daughter he would never dream of treating her as an equal or he would never leave her anything as he would with the his male sons. It's sad to hear that regretted his daughter.

The omniscient narrator acknowledges a near-invisibility of women in Things Fall Apart. Describing a communal ceremony, he confesses, "It was clear from the way the crowd stood that the ceremony was for men. There were many women, but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders"(pg.77). They are not invited to stay when men are engaged in any discussion; they are not included in council of war; they do not form part of the masquerades representing the judiciary and ancestral spirits. Okonkwo views women AS weak and foolish. He has a different expectation for men and women. This can be clearly SEEN by the way that he raises his children. He tries his best to train Nwoye to be strong and brave while he feels sorry that Ezinma is a girl. Okonkwo knows that "Ezinma has the right spirit", but he does not try to make her TOO be brave or TOO strong. He favors her the most out

The way in which the women of the Igbo village are presented, by Achebe, make it seem as if they serve very little purpose to the society. The main character, Okonkwo, is infatuated with making sure he does not turn out to be like his father. By living in a village where manliness was crucial and weakness was not, Okonkwo viewed his father as being a weak and cowardly mean because he could barely support his family. To make sure he did not become an adult that resembled his father, he developed the characteristics of being brave, wealthy and even violent. Since he acquired these traits, it gave him a sense of superiority over his wives and the other women of the village. Perhaps because of Okonkwo’s behavior, the women of the village are treated with less respect. It is portrayed by Achebe that the women of the Igbo village only purpose is looking after the children and helping their husbands when or if it is needed. Although the women of the Igbo village are described as being insignificant, the women are the people that fill in the gaps in the society. For example, the women are the ones that cook, clean, take care of everyone, help harvest and grow food, as well as all the other everyday tasks that are easily overlooked.

One quotation that expresses Okonkwo’s view of manliness states Okonkwo “was always happy when he heard [Nwoye] grumbling about women. That showed that in time he would be able to control his womenfolk” (53). This quotation shows that Oknonkwo feels pleasure when his son displays signs of power, such as the control of the perceived weaker gender. Ergo, Okonkwo views the subordination of others by his son as an example of “masculinity.” This idea is further supported by the quotation: “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children… he was not really a man” (53). Oknonkwo clearly considers utter authority of one’s nuclear family as a prerequisite to meet “manhood.” He literally states that a man without patriarchy in his family is not a man. Therefore, when Nwoye displays the early signs of this dominance, like the grumbling about his subordinate women’s issues, Okonkwo is finally considering his son “masculine” as shown by his happiness.

Women are often thought of as the weaker, more vulnerable of the two sexes. Thus, women’s roles in literature are often subdued and subordinate. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, women are repressed by an entrenched structure of the social repression. Women suffer great losses in this novel but, also in certain circumstances, hold tremendous power. Achebe provides progressively changing attitudes towards women’s role. At first glance, the women in Things Fall Apart may seem to be an oppressed group with little power and this characterization is true to some extent. However, this characterization of Igbo women reveals itself to be prematurely simplistic as well as limiting, once

Okonkwo thinks he is the owner of his household and he shows no mercy to anyone who angers him. “He ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives…lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.” (Achebe, Chapter 2, p.8). Okonkwo beats his children and wives because of his temper which is influenced by the Igbo society; he puts on a hard exterior because he is afraid of being weak and unsuccessful. At one point, he attempts to kill his second wife with a gun because he thinks she is the cause of a tree’s death. In order to prove his power and strength, without thinking of the consequences, Okonkwo beats his youngest wife during the week of peace - a week when the village celebrates peace and who ever disrupts the peace will be punished by Ala, the earth goddess (Lycos, online). “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 the fear of a goddess.” (Achebe, Chapter 4, p.21). Okonkwo lives in a male dominant society where men are pressured to be strong and successful; because of these influences, Okonkwo develops an inner

Among the people of this society, the condition of weakness is strongly associated with the state of being female. The worst insult that a man can receive is to be called a woman. The novel's main character, Okonkwo, is often obsessed with proving his strength as a man because he seeks to escape the reputation of his father who was considered by his fellow

Okonkwo took his struggles to the extreme. A boy called Ikemefuna came to stay with Okonkwo and his family. Okonkwo and his family grew close to Ikemefuna and so did he. Nwoye considered Okonkwo his father figure because Nwoye did not have a father. Nwoye became best friends with Okonkwo’s son Nwoye. One day a group of Village elders from all nine villages came to okonkwo’s house and let him know that Ikemefuna was to be killed. The next day they all went out together along with Ikemefuna and as they were walking, one of the men raised his machete and struck him down. “My father, they have killed me!” As he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak”(Achebe 61) Okonkwo throughout the whole book doesn’t act the way he wants to scared he might be though weak and not manly. Okonkwo blocks off his emotions quite a lot. Okonkwo feels disappointed with his son but he is very proud of his daughter, yet he doesn’t want to admit it to her so he takes it out on her mother. He had wished that his daughter were to be a boy so he can be proud of her and praise her but he does not want to acknowledge a female.

For much of the book the we see the role of women through the life of Okonkwo and his wives. Much of Okonkwo’s early life he was made fun of and emasculated, after his experience he has seen women to be inferior and weak. From this point on Okonkwo tends to consistently feel the need to prove his strength

The novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe, is a tale based on the traditional beliefs and customs of an Ibo village during late 1800’s Africa. Through the telling of this story, we witness the remarkable depth of Igbo culture through its functions of religion, politics, judiciary and entertainment.

“Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now 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 to title.” This quote, taken from Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” (1959), depicts almost the whole idea of gender roles in the entire book. Women are weak, men are strong. A man with no power is called a woman.

At the end of chapter 14 Unchendu tells his family about Nneka which means 'Mother is Supreme'. Uchendu tells them that when times are pleasant and sweet they shall stay with their father but, when times are sorrow and sad then they should stay with their mother. The mother is the one who protects you from any kind of hardship and that's why it is considered right for Okonkwo to stay where his mother is so he can feel comfort from his mother. While Unchendu describes 'Mother is Supreme' he reduces the power of men to show them that woman are not considered invisible. In fact, women are very important in society because they are the one's who keep faith in their sons. While men are

Would you want to be humiliated in front of people because they don't understand your culture ? Imagine having people come into your home and taking advantage of you and everything you have. Just like the missionaries coming into the clan and saying they want to live in peace but have a great fight with them is unrealistic. Just as Okonkwo started to Settle down again back into his village the missionaries started to come and change things. At first people agreed to be living side by side in peace no one will attack each other. The people actually saw it as a good thing to have other they could teach but also saw them as a threat.

Okonkwo, who is the main character in this novel is the one who showed the most impact with the gender roles throughout. He believed that it was truly wrong for a male to show any qualities of a woman. It did not matter whether their age too. Okonkwo is known to be strong and hardworking, so he is the one who sees it as an expectation in any other man. He was ashamed of any male who showed feminine qualities, especially if it was his own son. “I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands,” (Achebe, 33).This shows how much Okonkwo is against any