Masculinity In Things Fall Apart

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In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is characterized as a person who emphasizes physical strength over emotions. Okonkwo is afraid of being perceived as weak because he wants to have a good reputation amongst his clansmen. As a result, he wants to earn the highest title in his clan to have power over others by demanding their respect and admiration. The white missionaries were changing Igbo society by establishing Christianity as the dominant religion. These clashes of different cultures led Okonkwo to his fatal end as he was unable to preserve the structure of his society.
Throughout the book, Okonkwo focuses on proving his masculinity to others and himself. Any sign of physical or mental weakness to Okonkwo means that he is resembling …show more content…

The community in Umuofia was not unified and as a result, they did not resist the influences of the white missionaries in unison. Instead, some of them adapted the lifestyle of the white missionaries proving that colonization resulted in the emergence of a new culture with aspects from Igbo society and Western society. When Okonkwo noticed that he could not reverse the impact of the ideas of the white missionaries, he commited suicide as a way to free himself from the power of the colonizers. Ironically, what led Okonkwo to his death was his desire to gain power because he noticed that the white missionaries had more power than him and he will not be able to free himself from their power. After finding out about his suicide, the white Commissioner decided to write a book about Igbo people titled The Pacification of the Primitives Tribes of the Lower Niger which reveals their ignorance about Igbo society because they underestimate the natives and label them as a stereotypical primitive person that needs to be civilized. In reality, the natives are more complex than that stereotype because they have their own personalities and culture. By including that title, Achebe makes reference to how Europeans write about the history of Africa through their eurocentric perception of

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