Things Fall Apart Analysis

In the novel, “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe the Igbo tradition revolves around structured gender role. Everything essential of Igbo life is based on their gender, which throughout the novel it shows the role of women and the position they hold, from their role in the family household, also planting women crops, to bearing children. Although the women were claimed to be weaker and seemed to be treated as objects, in the Igbo culture the women still provided qualities that make them worthy.

In the novel Things Fall Apart it states, “The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others.” (Achebe 153). This quote conveys a negative tone in the word, “abomination” portraying the colonization and destruction of native people. This story focuses on the era of colonization/imperialism and in this quote the clash of cultures and its consequences is evident. The focus of the story is the head chief, Okonkwo, of an Igbo village tribe in Nigeria. It follows this “strong man,” Okonkwo, and his many heroic exploits and triumphs. In addition, it elaborates on his subsequent fall and expulsion from his tribal land. However, throughout this tale it is clearly evident that women were seen as

Preconceived ideas about one’s culture often arises from stereotypes passed down from generation to generation. It is those stereotypes which shape one’s way of thinking, without being educated properly. In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, misunderstood culture is what drives the story of a small African clan called the Umuofia and the life story of Okonkwo, a fearless warrior and farmer. An in-depth look into pre-colonial African culture helps the reader discover and understand an unbiased point of view of a world one may not understand. In doing so, Achebe uses imagery as well as strong narration to describe the cultural norms and activities that the Nigerian tribe undergoes in everyday life. Through this he offers a nonbiased point of view, and communicates and accurate picture of pre-colonial African culture to a western reader.

In Things Fall Apart the Igbo society is dominated by gender roles. Husbands beat their wives just for bringing food a few minutes late. Women are completely discriminated against. In fact, it is an insult to call a man an agbala (a woman). To men, women exist in a world in which they are "to be seen not heard, coming and going, with mounds of foofoo, pots of water, market baskets, fetching kola, being scolded and beaten before they disappear behind the huts of their compound" (Mezu 2). However, the role of women is far more essential than the male villagers believe. Achebe repeatedly refers to the masculinity or femininity of a person. Though Achebe seems to believe that men seem to dominate relationships, in fact, there are many ways in

With the arrival of third-wave feminism, gender roles are an increasingly popular topic for discussion, and literature is an effective catalyst for it. This is shown through Chinua Achebe´s 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, which discusses the effects of European colonization on African society, using a fictional group of Igbo villages as an example. His main character is Okonkwo, an aggressive and powerful male figure in the community. He is a prime example of how male gender expectations can negatively affect people. As Achebe states, “fiction [is] entirely fictitious [but] it could also be true or false, not with the truth or falsehood of a news article but as to its disinterestedness, its intention, its integrity” (Franklin 3). Clearly, he writes with the purpose of conveying truths through the broader untruth of fiction, and so could not have unintentionally created a character with such problems that are glaringly caused by gender roles. The way that Okonkwo embodies stereotypical gender expectations for men makes clear how they can be toxic to everyone.

Gender roles played a crucial part to the understanding of the people of Umuofia; especially to Okonkwo. But just as in today’s world, one person of a group cannot define the entire group, it was the same back then, which further proves how the District Commissioner’s view of Umuofia would not represent the entire clan, let alone Africa as a whole. Okonkwo’s motivation behind his views of patriarchy stem from his father Unoka; he wanted to be such a great man of the tribe, unlike his “agbala” of a father. Okonkwo’s son “[n]woye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell, and which she no doubt still told to her younger children…but he now knew that they were for foolish women

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

Things Fall Apart is a literary novel written and published by Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, or Chinua Achebe, in the 1959. Chinua was born on November 16, 1930 into a Nigerian village named Ogidi. Things Fall Apart is based in Nigeria around the year 1890. The book addresses topics including, “Nigeria’s white colonial government and the traditional culture of the indigenous Igbo people” (SparkNotes Editors). The book also contains several controversial topics involving, Christian missionaries being labeled, “foolish”, the subject matter of death and suicide, and the physical and verbal abuse that the women received. Chinua well portrays the “macho” and chiefly attitude of the African men in the Ibo society. But the question is, how exactly are women treated within the society? The well respected Okonkwo is a prime example on exactly how men treated women during this time period.

   In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, the Ibo people's patriarchal society has a strict system of behavioral customs according to gender. These customs strongly restrict the freedom of Ibo women and help to reinforce generation after generation the notion that Ibo men are superior to the women of their tribe.

Women’s Rights in the Igbo Tribe In the Igbo tribe, women are portrayed as submissive wives to their husbands and taking care of their family. They have limited rights and freedom, and have arranged marriages planned by their fathers and other males in their tribe. The men they get married to freely beat them when they do not do what they are asked or behave properly.

People around the world have been taught for many years that men should be strong, big, superior to women, and show no emotion to be considered a man, but over the years this has changed. Now in day men and women are considered equal, but there's a tribe in Africa where these rules don't apply, this tribe is called the Igbo tribe. In the Igbo culture men have roles that women are not allowed to do and these duties define them as a man; for example, in the book "Things Fall Apart", the main character Okonkwo portrays the perfect example of what a men should do and how to act, the importance of how a man should provide for his household, and the importance of leadership as a man in the Igbo culture.

Seeing that wealth is a major factor within their culture it makes sense that women can achieve the status of Ozo, they cultivate their own crops and create material for the majority of the village and others in the surrounding area within their market. It can be seen as a feat that most women could achieve with persistence. Going on with the thought of cultivating crops, there is an apparent divide in what women and men grow and sell. For men it is yames, which are the reflection of what a man should strive to and are keystones of the ibo or all nigerian culture. Women on the other had have to cultivate beans and cassava.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe follows the African village of Umuofia as it transitions into a colonial society. The story follows the respected clan leader, Okonkwo, as he navigates and responds to the consequential paradigm shift. Motifs of respect and masculinity feature prominently throughout as a means to discuss socioeconomic conditions in Umuofia prior to colonization. Achebe opens his novel by characterizing Okonkwo as a strong and direct man before detailing the aftermath of a clash between two clans. Here, the characters’ interpersonal relationships are developed, and a dichotomy is drawn between the village’s and Okonkwo’s respective views on manhood and responsibility. While the village in general adopts more lenient stances, Okonkwo’s hardline, old-fashioned approaches represent fundamental beliefs in the Umuofian culture that ultimately assist the English in colonization. Using the manifestations of masculinity in societal expectations, respect, and conflict resolution, Chinua Achebe posits that the colonization of Umuofia is not solely the result of European interference; it is also the result of divisions within the nation due to outdated standards that rendered its people susceptible to colonization. Achebe’s piece serves as a social commentary

“Tragedy arouses not only pity but also fear” this is a quote from the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. In the novel, Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe, it is filled with drama and action on what is going to happen in the story line and what is currently happening.

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