The Masculine Focused Ibo Culture in Chinua Achebe's, Things Fall Apart

The Ibo religion falls in much the same way. This religion is centered about the worship of male gods and ancestors. The female god among these may be the Earth goddess, but Okonkwo offends this goddess twice in the story to save his masculine image: once when he beats his wife during the week of peace; the other when he strikes down his adopted son. The gods' functions are mainly to help in war, and to aid the yearly yam crop, which is considered a man's crop. The highest members in the religious organization are the most respected men in the society; during ceremonies, they don costumes and play the role of the deceased ancestors. The primary influence women have in this religion is in the role of the oracle, who is a woman, although she embodies a male god. It is the women, also, who practice witchcraft, which is greatly feared in the tribes, but it should be noted that even this is a passive force with only intangible connections to any physical effects.

* The Ibo people have a civilized community because they have an organized structure to their society with rules and laws. A society that employs morals, ethics, and accountability for peoples’ actions cannot be considered savage. The Ibo are highly religious; the base of most of their daily life revolves around religion, whether it is how they raise their families or how they grow crops, such as yams.

Even though the Ibo are described as ‘primitive and savage’ by Mr. Smith, one of the missionary church leaders, the tribesmen evidently show their etiquette through their mannerisms. Proverbs, a form of Ibo mannerisms, are used quite frequently throughout this novel as ‘the art of conversation is regarded very highly [by the Ibo], and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.’ (Achebe. P.5:1986) The Ibo people are also not as violent and savage as many of the missionaries believed. This is shown when a villager from the Mbaino village kills a woman from the Ibo village, the Ibo village elders and those with titles, instead of initiating war against the neighbouring Mbaino, reach a peaceful agreement on the reparations from the Mbaino tribe.‘… [A]t the end it was decided to follow the normal course of action. An ultimatum was immediately dispatched to Mbaino asking them to choose between wars on the one hand, and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation.” (P.8)

Change is a reoccurring theme throughout history. It destroys and creates. It displaces and introduces. It can cause death and life. The movement of imperialism in Africa brought great change to the native tribal life. Forcing the indigenous people to turn away from their century-old traditions caused violent rifts between the European settlers and the tribes, as well as internal problems between once amiable members of the Ibo culture. With the introduction of the foreign Western Society in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the tribe’s life and ideals are drastically altered as the new ethics and principles collide with the old traditions and laws, causing the members of the society to either adapt or be crushed underneath the foot of colonialism. Achebe’s character, Okonkwo, was impacted immensely by the cultural collision, as his previous way of life was pulverized before his eyes, and he found no reason to live any longer.

Okonkwo, a very demanding character, has just finished a day's worth of labor and comes home expecting food at the table and his youngest wife has not prepared it yet. Okonkwo waits for her arrival when, “she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace” (Achebe, 28). This quote displays gender inequality throughout the African villages during the Age of Exploration. The tone seen in the words “beat” and “heavily” give a sense of insecurity and negative connotation towards women during that time. In keeping with Igbo view of female nature, they allowed wife beating. It is clearly evident that tone in the book Things Fall Apart allows Achebe to get his point across that women were on the bottom of the social hierarchy and were treated like property. Women were subjugated to their husbands whims, in this case it meant beating his wife when dinner was not ready. This occurred during a Week of Peace regardless that no violence should

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

In spite of pleas from his other wives, reminding him that it is forbidden to beat your wife during the Week of Peace. Okonkwo will face consequences, not for beating another human being, but only because of his timing. He beats his second wife when she refers to him as one of those "guns that never shot". When a severe case of wife beating comes before the egwugwu, he finds in favor of the wife, but at the end of the trial a man wonders, "why such a trifle should come before the egwugwu"(pg.83). The husband considers his wife property. He either wants his wife back or his bride price.

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.

In the novel Things Fall Apart, the use of violence in Ibo culture was fairly frequent, especially among the men in the village. In the Ibo village of Umuofia, it was obvious that the men rule the household with a heavy hand, meaning if they felt a beating was necessary they would carry it out with full force. In chapter four of the novel, Okonkwo’s youngest wife decided to plait her hair at a friend’s house. When she did not come home early enough to cook the afternoon meal and failed to ask another wife to feed her children, Okonkwo decided to take it upon himself to give her a hefty beating. The fact that it was supposed to be the Week of Peace did not stop him. The reality that the men take it upon themselves and are expected to control

As with the majority of other male / female relations in Ibo culture, sexual relations are marked by a noticeable sense of male domination. It is the man who initiates the sexual activity while the female is supposed to appear passive and uninterested in participating in these acts. The men even mock the women's passiveness in sexual roles by a song:

Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop” (Achebe, 1994, p.22-23). This proves that there are gender roles in every aspect of the Igbo culture including the growing of crops. It is a man job to do the yams because yams are the main food staple of the Igbo culture. In this culture is a man’s job to provide for the family. The yams also show masculinity because it shows they're not afraid of hard work. Even if Igbo faction are sophisticated in male/ female jobs and partnership others may argue that Igbo faction are

As well as maintaining good morals and values, the Ibo people further connected with their gods and ancestors through the act of sacrifice. The Ibo people would sacrifice anything from fruit, small animals and in some instances, people. On page 17, Unoka explains that, “before I put any crop in the earth, I sacrifice a cock to Ani, the owner of all land. It is the law of our fathers. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams.” Although some of the practices of the Ibo religion may seem harsh, its primary goal is to maintain a peaceful and just society. Just as the Ibo celebrate religion with their gods, they also celebrate with each other. Later on page 97, Tortoise explains that he has, “…learned that a man who makes trouble for others is also making it for himself,” which demonstrates how the Ibo people followed principles similar to that of the “golden rule” found in many other religions of the time.

Throughout history, specifically African heritage, wife beating and other forms of abuse are acceptable. Power and strength are pillars of African culture and can not be jeopardized by women and femininity. Many of the men in Umuofia, the main setting of Things Fall Apart, look up to Okonkwo and his actions. In order to demonstrate his strength (or lack thereof), he continually berates his wives. Along with his wives, he also abuses his children hoping that someday they will be as successful as him. Throughout Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo victimizes his family.

The society that Chinua Achebe described in his book, Things Fall Apart, is also based on agriculture. The major crop the Ibo tribe grew was the yam, which was said to be the symbol of virility. The coco-yam, which was a smaller size and had a lesser value than other yams, was regarded as female. The "yam also stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another is a very great man indeed" (33). To produce a great harvest, the Ibo farmer would have needed a lot of help. The women ran most of the workforce by farming, tending animals, and raising the children so that they could help out on the farms.

This paper will look at the contradictions in the work of Chinua Achebe in relation to his placement of woman and femininity. Kristen Holst Petersen states that ‘the African discussion is between feminist emancipation versus the fight against neo-colonialism, particularly in its cultural aspect...which comes first, the fight for female equality or the fight against Western cultural imperialism’. This paper will attempt to highlight these contradictions in relation to Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.