The Evolution of Women in Nigeria

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe discusses the rise of an Igbo chieftain who came from great poverty to power and the eventual loss of Igbo traditions, rites, and the influence of his clan through his eyes due to western imperialism and colonialism. The intended audience for this novel is very broad, but if we tried to define it would primarily be people who have not experienced the Igbo culture and westerners or people who speak English. In this essay I will be focusing on the last six chapters: chapters 20 to 25. These chapters highlight the loss of power and customs of the Igbo people who have succumb to colonial rule. I fell Achebe is rhetorically effective and

The way women and children are treated differed greatly across the world as time passed. In the Ibo Tribe, time caused major changes in the way the women and children were treated. At first, they suffered but soon they gained more rights and better treatment from the rest of the tribe due to influence from the rest of the world.

In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, the protagonist, represents the manly ideal in a native African society of the Igbo that puts great value on masculinity. He prides himself on the fact that he became a well-respected member of the community with little help from others. However, he is not without flaws. When European powers begin colonizing Africa, Okonkwo finds his way of life disrupted. His greatest challenge becomes accepting the beliefs of others and relating to the majority. Okonkwo resists change, trying to hold onto the old way of life. In Things Falls Apart, Okonkwo proves himself to be a notorious anti-hero as he struggles with his own self-image, rules his household with fear, and

The collection of short stories ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’ written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie demonstrates that in Nigeria, men women, boys and girls are treated differently, and these relationship in which gender inequality exists leads to family conflict. And corruption exists in Nigeria and also the violence. These issues have lasting impacts on the characters.

Women have always been partly equal to men in pre colonial Nigeria, having equal but separate roles politically and shared authority in the home. Colonialism changed this form of life of the Igbo culture by imposing Christianity and the idea of the man being the head of the village and the women inferior. Women were also stripped of their rights to have or not have children and forced to be in abusive arranged marriages. Colonialism then ended because the natives felt that self-determination had to replace colonialism and the colonizing nations were bankrupt from World War I resulting in small investment to the colonies. Decolonization was not an effortless trouble, but rather arduous and extensive, especially to women’s rights. Women’s roles in the Igbo culture changed drastically from equal, to less than men and to struggling to get by in each stage of colonialism within the work force, family and rights.

African society, influenced by its traditional economy, held strict gender roles, and Ekwefi stayed in the home and focused on traditional female tasks. Although African American society in the twentieth century prized women and elevated females to powerful matriarchal positions in the family, pre-colonial Nigeria in no way tolerated women outside the bounds of the home. Ekwefi lives “in perpetual fear of [Okonkwo’s] fiery temper,” and pours herself into raising her daughter, Ezinma (Achebe 13). Because Okonkwo fails to respect the religious customs and “beat” his wife “very heavily” during the “Week of Peace,” others in clan lose respect for him and his family, and Ekwefi can do very little to change this (Achebe 29) . To deal with her husband’s inadequacies, Ekwefi pours herself into Ezinma and raises her to exhibit strength and bravery. Because Okonkwo and traditional Nigerian society hailed masculinity as supreme and despised femininity, Ekwefi knew that in order to appease Okonkwo’s anger, she must raise her child to exhibit these characteristics, despite her gender. Her strategy proved successful, as “Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma,” but only showed his “fondness on very rare occasions” (Achebe 44). Furthermore, Okonkwo repeatedly states that Ezinma “should have been a boy,” (Acehbe 64) because he loves her, but continually

Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus is a story set in Nigeria told from the perspective of Kambili and her journey towards independence; along the way, she looks to the female role models in her life, each which aid her path to liberation. Mama and Aunty Ifeoma are two vital female characters to the development of the story but with stark contrasts; Mama’s submissive and reserved demeanor provides a perfect foil to Aunty’s outgoing and independent personality. They both influence Adichie’s bildungsroman, but how they aid Kambili’s endeavor is strikingly different. Mama and Aunty Ifeoma represent the female figures in Kambili’s life; Mama shows Kambili to submit to the men in her life, while Aunty Ifeoma opens up the idea of being independent and free thinking. Mama stresses submission and dependency as a sacrifice to tradition while Aunty Ifeoma emphasizes independent thought to embrace oneself and progress over all others. The way that these two women uphold themselves throughout the novel, demonstrates how these patriarchal societies, like the one in Nigeria, restrict women like Mama, while women like Aunty are deemed rebellious to society.

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

The Nigerian woman is put in the position of fitting into the culture at large and maintaining her own

Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is mainly known for his trilogy that investigates, using fiction, the history of Nigeria. The trilogy begins with Things Fall Apart, followed by No Longer at Ease and ended with Arrow of God. Furthermore, in this critically analytical essay, through a feminist perspective, a chapter of his second novel, No Longer at Ease, published in 1960, will be discussed. The setting of the novel is Lagos, Nigeria and Umuofia, Nigeria during the 1950s, before Nigeria attained independence from Great Britain. The novel, No Longer at Ease begins with Obi Okonkwo on trial, charged for accepting a bribe. However, using flashback, the author takes us back to the point before Obi’s departure

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart gives us a vivid description of the Igbo culture through the stories of Okonkwo and his village, Umuofia. In regards to Igbo culture, contributions of women cannot be ignored. Although their position and status seems to be underestimated by the people in the novel, women do play an important role in the Igbo culture in four aspects: women take care of the children, do all the housework, serve as priestesses, and build relationships with other villages.

This paper reflects the novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. Achebe gives an overview of pre-colonialism and post-colonialism on Igbo, detailing how local traditions and cultural practices can “fall apart” in some scenarios through some introduced, externally created hassles elevated because of colonization. The protagonist named Okonkwo mentioned in the story is a proof showing the lifestyle of the tribe. My main objective and focus is to lay emphasis on Africa specifically the Igbo society, before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Umuofia community; the results of their arrival concerning Igbo culture, thus leading to the clash of cultures between the two categories. I will also draw on post-colonialism with respect to globalization.

More than those of any other African writer, Chinua Achebe’s writings have helped to develop what is known as African literature today. And the single book which has helped him to launch his "revolution" is the classic, Things Fall Apart.  The focus of this essay includes: 1) Achebe's portraiture of women in his fictional universe, the existing sociocultural situation of the period he is depicting, and the factors in it that condition male attitudes towards women; 2) the consequences of the absence of a moderating female principle in his fictions; 3) Achebe's progressively changing attitude towards women s roles; and 4) feminist prospects for African women. In the context of this study, the Igbo people whom Achebe describes will

The degeneration of young Nigerians is very objectively illustrated. In the novel, Nigerians are shown to have little ethical values. Young girls offer their sex to win favours from bureaucrats. About Obi himself, the novel verbalizes: “he had been quite intimate with a few (women) in England…a Nigerian, a West Indian, English girls and so on.” (Achebe, Chinua. 1960. No Longer at Ease. London: Heinemann.63.) Because of colonial influence, the virginity of Africa is

The novel Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was published by Anchor Books in 2004, a first person narrative of life in the political turmoil of post-colonial Nigeria. Purple Hibiscus, exemplifies how the western feminist theory has greatly failed to address the needs and wants of the african women and their children. This essay focuses primary on the forms of patriarchy presented in the novel and how each utilizes violence, religious oppression and silence as forms of control over the mother and the children of the Achike family. The family's patriarch Eugene, the patriarchal religious leaders and the corruption of the patriarchal government attempt to control homes, parishes, and nations through silence and violence.The use of