Masculinity In Things Fall Apart Essay

Okonkwo and Walter may or may not have achieved it, but while their eyes are fixated on their end goals for success and what they are gaining, they overlook their losses. Because of Okonkwo’s fear of being regarded weak, he often acts overly aggressive to demonstrate his masculinity. Examples of his acting aggressive and cruel fills the entire novel. The first incident is his beating of his wife Ojiugo during the week of peace. No violence is permitted during this week, but Okonkwo breaks the laws only to establish his dominance in the house. Afterall, he cannot be “like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo” (Achebe 57). This incident is an indication of Okonkwo’s disregard for tribal laws because of how less they weigh than his masculinity does in his heart. After already losing respect for the Igbo cultures and customs, Okonkwo continues on losing a dear son. Ikemefuna is captured from

Okonkwo is a rude, unforgivable and spiteful person. He beats his wives and even takes innocent girls and boys away from enemy tribes. In some way he may even resemble his father, Unoka. He was lazy and very much in debt. If Okonkwo continues what he does he will become him. Although Ekwefi and Ojiugo are both wives, they get beat for different reasons.

“Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure” (Achebe 4). As Okonkwo grows up, he realized his biggest fear and fatal flaw is the fact that he desperately did not want to end up like his father, disrespected and very emotional. Therefore, Okonkwo fears weakness and open shows of emotions, so he contains himself and only shows anger, as he associates it with manliness. He is so scared of becoming his father and changing his ways that he resorts to beating people to show his dominance. “And when she returned he beat her very heavily” (Achebe 19). In this quote, Okonkwo beats his youngest wife, Ojiugo, for not returning soon enough to cook the afternoon meal. Since he decided to act without thought, he beat his wife in the Week of Peace, where no one is to be harmed. This causes a great unrest between Okonkwo and his chi, or his inner spirit, and gradually leads to his downfall of luck and

First, Okonkwo is a controlling gentlemen. He wants to be nothing like his father, him and his father are very different. During the week of peace Okonkwo beats his wife. He beats his wife up because she was braiding her hair instead of

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

It was not uncommen in the igbo society for husbands to beat their wives, but beating your wife during peace week was unthinkable. "(Achebe 29) In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace, but Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess." Okwonkwo was so fixiated on showing his wife a lesson that he put his whole can in trouble. in their culture they believe that if they beat some one during the Week of Peace then they will anger the earth goddess, and she will keep the yams from growing. He broke one of their most sacred rules just to teach a lesson. Aside from beating his children and his wives Okwonko is a murderer. "Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him dow. He was afraid of being thought weak." (Achebe 61) In order to look strong Okonkwo did things that a hear never would have done.

Things Fall Apart a historical fiction novel written by Chinua Achebe, starts off with the main protagonist Okonkwo, who was one of the most respected people in the Umuofia village, defeating the seven-year wrestling champion. Okonkwo was never really a patient man especially with the ones that show no promise to him, the only emotion that he ever shows is his anger and that does not end well for people who are around him. Since Okonkwo is one of the most fearless people in the village and is the most respected there he believes that there is no one that can mess with him which means that he shows a lot of masculinity and pride in himself, but this could lead to the downfall of his fame. Okonkwo is going to be only reason for why his downfall is coming so soon. This is because he shows too much pride and masculinity in himself which affects him and others around him.

Author J. S. Bryan once said, “Many men can make a fortune but very few can build a family.” This can be said of many families today and may be the reason why successful men have not-so-successful marriages. The importance of family and healthy communication is emphasized in the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - ironically- by portraying the complete opposite: a fairly broken relationship and the consequences of that negative influence. The main character, Okonkwo lives his whole life obsessed with the idea of masculinity and is “dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness"(22). This fear was implanted into him because of his firm desire to be nothing like his father, who was seen as a shameful man who had taken no title in

Okonkwo is a man who has to have things his own way. In the novel, there is a scene where his second wife, Ojiugo, did not make him his afternoon meal. Okonkwo, in an act of anger, started to beat his wife heaviley. His other two wives begged for him to stop beating Ojiugo, as it was the Week of Peace, a sacred Igbo holiday. However, “...Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess” (Achebe 30). Despite believing that he may be punished by a god, Okonkwo did not stop beating his wife. Unoka was a more compassionate man than Okonkwo, he was also stubborn. Unoka was lazy and fiscally irresponsible. He spent what little money he had on alcohol and didn’t

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, graphically demonstrates the authority that the men have in the Ibo culture. The men are allowed to perform things that are restricted to the women and be the way that they choose to be. The Ibo culture allows the men have several wives making them under the title of a successful man just for the fact that they are able to maintain several women and their children at the same time. The social group in that is being represented in a certain way are the men, they are represented in the Ibo culture as successful men depending on what they have achieved. The men are put under titles in their culture and having a title meant you were someone, but yet there were those who didn't have a title for being considered weak or without

In Igbo culture the planting season is a very joyful time because soon they will have many yams to feast on during the harvest season. This time of year is when they hold their annual Week of Peace, to ensure kindness for everyone and to please the gods. During this week, beating wives is illegal, and that is an issue for Okonkwo. Always resorting to violence when things do not go his way is the only way Okonkwo knows how to deal with things. It seems that his obsession with showing his power overcomes him, and he is not able to hold back lashing out at his wives until after the Week of Peace.

“His fame rested on personal achievements… he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat…” (Achebe 1). Hence, he has three wives and eight children. Okonkwo has a very bad temper. For instance, when his youngest wife did not come home on time to cook the afternoon meal, “Okonkwo bit his lips as anger…when she returned (Okonkwo) beat her heavily” (Achebe 29). This shows that women in this society do not have power and society allows men to beat women if they were not doing what they were told.

The only thing he (Okonkwo) fears most is not ending up like his father, Unoka. However, Achebe ‘‘makes an insightful comment on the nature of masculinity through his representation of the tribal leaders. Achebe basically, was conducive in creating four alter egos of Okonkwo: one of which were the masculinity; next of his fatherly abilities; and the last of his family progress and four of his likelihood of success’’ (Achebe.179). My paper will explain how Okonkwo’s Masculinity from Achebe’s Things Fall Apart will be characterized by his fears, beliefs, and emotions for several reasons.

While Okonkwo and Ojiugo are in relationship, Okonkwo holds dominion over his wife, beating her for the slightest actions. These actions contribute to the fact that Okonkwo just cannot control his intolerance of failure. “He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo’s return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily.” Although this may be a sign of sympathy towards his children by making sure they had food to eat, beating his wife was not the correct punishment to deliver. It just emphasizes his fiery temper and the lack of control he has of it.

In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart,the audience is introduced to the Ibo people of Africa with the goal of better understanding their culture, so that the audience is more likely to accept them and their culture. One important factor in understanding this culture is how they defined femininity and masculinity. Throughout the novel, Chinua Achebe uses characterization, symbolism, and a character foil help demonstrate how Okonkwo and traditional Umuofian culture define masculinity as being strong, showing no emotions, and being superior to women,and femininity as being weak, inferior, and being histrionic.