Role of Women in 'Things Fall Apart'

In the Ibo tribe, women and children were seen as inferior compared to men in the eyes of society. Women have weddings arranged by their parents. After getting married, the women are considered to be the property of the husband. The main purpose of women in the Ibo society was staying home and taking care of the home and children. It was very important for a woman to give birth to a child, preferably a boy so that

In Ibo culture women are seen as weak, yet they are deemed as crucial to the community. Towards

The Role of Women in the Ibo Culture The culture in which 'Things Fall Apart' is centered around is one where patriarchal testosterone is supreme and oppresses all females into a nothingness. They are to be seen and not heard, farming, caring for animals, raising children, carrying foo-foo, pots of water, and kola. The role of women in the Ibo culture was mostly domestic. The men saw them as material possessions and thought of them as a source of children and as cooks.

As expressed by Young (2002), male dominance was not present in Oglala society, both genders had complimentary roles within their community and both were considered equally important. Although women were the caretakers, they did not think of themselves less than their husband’s counterpart who had to hunt to support his family and protect them against other enemies. However, in Islam, patriarchal families were institutionalized as a way of excluding women from becoming involved in the professional arena, which contributed to the decline of their social status. While men were allotted to commit adultery with their slaves or prostitutes, women were punished with death if found guilty of the same act.

The lack of male presence symbolizes their disdain in the women’s lives. As portrayed in the book, the protagonist and other major characters are all females, suggesting self-sufficiency. The author writes about the women being left by their husbands, but moves on, depicting male triviality. The female characters also develop their independence when they rely on each other during difficult times.

Before going a little off topic, the way women are portrayed in this story is that they’re seen as being weak, or that they always need to be protected, (I could be a little ahead of talking about more than a third of the book). But besides how the women feel, they’re always at home, while men are outside doing work. Considering this book isn’t a modern day novel, but I can very much say that women are

To begin with, women are treated horribly, they are abused and have no voice at first glance, they basically are slaves who are bought for a bargained price from the woman’s family and then taken to live with her new husband, but throughout the book there are many roles an Ibo woman has. The ordinary woman in the village is treated with a lower respect than men are, but there are some women that are both feared and extremely powerful. Also, Ani their earth goddess is a woman that is greatly revered by the whole village who plays a large part in their daily lives. They say that a man goes to his fatherland during good times, but he goes to his motherland when he is sad and suffering, this shows that the mother is also there to help and comfort

It is important that all the members of the clan observe the Week of Peace prior to the harvest in order, “to honor the great goddess of the earth without who’s blessing the crops will not grow” (chapter 4). For a female spirit to have such impact in the role of the success of the yam crops is indicates the actual deep-rooted power of women because that is a major aspect of the Ibo culture

Property is passed down from mother to daughter and women control the tribal government. In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe the relationships between men and women in the Ibo tribe are explored. At times, women are considered lesser than men, for example, the author says, “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and

However, their role and power was not always reflected in their treatment. The paradox that is women’s treatment is manifested in their subordination, abuse and regard as property, and yet their symbolic and influence play a vital role in the community’s religion, trade and emotional well-being. In Igbo culture, “feminine”

Throughout the literary works of Things Fall Apart, The God of Small Things, and The Hungry Tide, they all share the universal theme of gender inequality. Although Things Fall Apart is African based and the other two novels Indian, the three demonstrate similar struggles women are forced to overcome strictly due to being female. Throughout time, women have been considered the inferior gender, constantly being dominated by men. One can link this to men generally being the more physically stronger gender, and how they have used this as an advantage to control women. Each book has its own examples of gender relations and the difference in women’s roles.

At one point, Okonkwo’s father is called agbala, meaning woman, but is a derogatory word when referring to a man. Okonkwo’s fear of repeating his father’s reputation as woman-like, causes him to not only embrace his hyper-masculinity and violent ways, but also to stay ignorant during change. Throughout the novel, Okonkwo stays true to his own idea of his culture’s customs, from the killing of his adopted son to beating his wife, being exiled to committing suicide. Okonkwo could not come to terms with his communities true ideals, and the impending evolution of his

Chinua Achebe’s literary treasure, Things Fall Apart, chronicles the collapse of a society through the eyes of one man, Okonkwo. He was a very respected man in his tribe who had killed many men in battle, and was also an unwavering believer in Igbo culture and in all of its traditions. He was so faithful to igbo culture that he would rather die than to abandon it despite all of its errors. With the most prominent example being the treatment of women. Igbo culture allowed for men to abuse women in harsh, painful ways, and it restricted the freedom of women in their actions. However, despite the cultures harshness, it was not completely ruthless, for there were a few women who managed to use the culture for their benefit to gain power and respect.

Societies are like folktales, the stories and values get passed down from generation to generation, but along the way something changes, until you end up with a completely different story. Every society has derived from another to create their own unique characteristics and values that differ from every other in the world, but still have some uniformities to the ancient ones they sprang from. The Umuofian society possesses cultures that are deeply indebted to their traditions that have been followed over generations. As of today, religious practices and beliefs have greatly changed and people find ancient beliefs to be almost barbaric. Some of the beliefs that are discussed in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart are polytheism, polygamy, patriarchy,

One of the major themes presented in this book is gender roles and the importance of children. To be considered a woman at this time in Ibo land, one had to have had a child. This is also talked about in the readings about how a wife was important, either being one or having one and then afterwards having children. To be without a child