Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
role of women in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
role of women in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
role of women in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: role of women in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
In Things Fall Apart, Achebe explains the pre-colonial African woman’s role in Ibo society. He presents women as a sadly oppressed group with no power. Even in these circumstances, women play the most important role of all.
The relationship between males and females in this novel is masculine-based. Men with no title are compared to being a woman (representing weakness) and given no respect. Men are expected to control and rule their women and children. Those that cannot accomplish this are not considered a man. Men are considered important. They are respected more with age and revered with achievement (Achebe, 1994). The highest accolades for the successful farmer, warrior, and man of worth are wives, yam barns, and social titles. A man’s social status is determined by these accolades (Mezu, 2013).
Women are presented in the novel as one that should be seen and not heard. They are expected to complete their household duties, raise the children, and be ready to meet the demands given by their husband without questions or complaints. They are beaten by their husband’s without recourse. They are the core of the rural workforce. Yet, women are considered inconsequential.
The family structure in Things Fall Apart is the husband as head of the household. The men marry more than one wife and have many children. The males in the family have specific roles that only males perform, such as carrying their father’s chair to a wrestling match. They are groomed early in life to be like a man, to dominate and control. The girls are also groomed to perform the tasks of females. They are taught to mother, cook, and clean along with their mothers in order to learn the way of life.
In the novel, there are several references t...
... middle of paper ...
...ited
Achebe, C. (1994). Things fall apart. New York, NY: Anchor Books.
Chun, J. (1990). The role of women in Things Fall Apart. Retrieved from http://www.postcolonialweb.org/nigeria/women.html
Hiatt, K. P. (2006). The role of women in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/the-role-women-chinua-achebes-things-fall-apart-42100.html
Mercedes, A. (2009). A feminist analysis of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/a-femanist-analysis-chinua-achebes-novel-things-3187491.html?cat=38
Mezu, R. U. (2013). Women in Achebe’s world. Retrieved from http://www.nigeriaviallagesquare.com/forum/books-creative-writing/4420-women-achebes-world.html
Strong-Leek, L., (2001). Reading as a woman: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and feminist criticism. Retrieved from http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v5/v5i2a2.htm
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. First Anchor Books Edition. New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 1959. Print.
Achebe’s whisper to feminine strengths in his novel was influenced by his intended 1950’s Western audience. Cobham suggests, as cited by Krishnan (2012), that “Achebe chooses representations of Igbo society that are most easily digested by a Western audience” (p.8). In the 1950’s with the end of World War II and men returning home, women’s value was regarded mainly as domestic housewives and mothers. Catalano (2002) illustrates the atmosphere in 1950’s United States explaining, “the Cold War placed an added emphasis on family unity as a defense against communism, making the role of women as wives and mothers crucial to the preservation of the United States and its democratic ideals” and submits, many “identify the 1950s as the pinnacle of gender inequality” (p45). For the benefit of his audience, the stock feminine characters Achebe made obvious mimicked that of 1950’s United States: the inferior female, domesticate...
Cook, David. “The Centre Holds: A Study of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.” Critical Insights: Things Fall Apart(2010): 124-144. Literary Reference Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014
Chinua Achebe analyzes a culture he is not accustomed with. The Madwoman in the attic theory comes into play as a westerner writing about “savage Africa”. Things Fall Apart provides an important understanding of Africana identity and history for those in the West who may be unfamiliar with African culture. Achebe tackles female identity within this book with delicacy keeping with the Ibo view of female nature in the background of the story but the forefront of the reader’s mind. A discussion of womanhood must touch upon manhood because they operate as a complementary, opposing, and equal entity.
Diverse from other African authors of his time, Chinua Achebe, the “father of African Literature”, reconstructions the stigma surrounding traditional African tribes through his ground-breaking novel Things Fall Apart. Set in southern eastern Nigeria, the novel depicts village life through the eyes of Igbo clan members prior to colonization. This fresh take on perspective allows readers to view and examine the variety of individuals that mold Igbo life through the story of a village leader, Okonkwo. Contrasting other authors of his time, Achebe takes great measures to illustrate the varied substantial roles of not only men, but women in his novel Things Fall Apart. The contributions accompanied by pivotal roles in Igbo society are displayed
Nnoromele, Patrick C.. “The Plight of a Hero in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.” Chinua Achebe's
her heavily.” (p. 29). Despite the beatings, Achebe shows that the Ibo women have valuable parts in the
In Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, the Ibo culture revolves around structured gender roles, from the crops that the men and women grow, to the characterization of crimes,which creates tension between the sexes and will ultimately lead to detrimental consequences. Things Fall Apart represents the hardships and struggles between females and males. For example, Ekwefi, the wife of Okonkwo, she is often beat for the things she has genuinely forgotten about . Also, we have Enzima, Okonkwo's favorite daughter, but since she is a female, she must be treated like a women. Although females are considered the weaker gender, they possess many qualities that make them worthy, such as bearing children. Achebe explained the importance of both genders and how they contribute to the society.
In Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the theme of perceived masculinity is prominent and portrayed as a critical characteristic which has the potential to shape clans, families, and the safety of others. Because of the emphasis placed on masculinity, women are widely disregarded and downplayed, as they are seen as property. In African culture men are revered due to their warrior-like natures that can uphold the functionality of a clan, but frowned upon when deemed as weak; the result of this fear of weakness led to the dominance of men over women.
In “Things Fall Apart,” Chinua Achebe incorporates the theme of marginalization. Instead of the typical scenario in canonical works, the focus is on the tribe Umuofia in Africa:
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
Women roles have changed drastically in the last 50 to 80 years, women no longer have to completely conform to society’s gender roles and now enjoy the idea of being individuals. Along with the evolution of women roles in society, women presence and acceptance have drastically grown in modern literature. In early literature it was common to see women roles as simply caretakers, wives or as background; women roles and ideas were nearly non-existent and was rather seen than heard. The belief that women were more involved in the raising of children and taking care of the household was a great theme in many early literatures; women did not get much credit for being apart of the frontier and expansion of many of the nations success until much later.
Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, was based on a story and the culture in Nigeria, Western Africa. Women’s roles and responsibilities have transitioned over several of years. The book arises a situation of how the Ibo women were treated and looked upon. In the Ibo culture, the women did not only suffer a great loss of their dignity, but also their pride as women. The whole role of women in the Ibo culture is different in various ways compared to the female race in modern society. The modern society in Nigeria, women are not so powerless, and also have the opportunity to work alongside the opposite gender.
In Chinua Achebe 's classic novel "Things Fall Apart," the development of European colonization 's lead to extreme cultural changes, leaving a lasting impact on the Igbo village of Umofia in West Africa. In the novel, Achebe displays the impacts of European colonization in both critical and sympathetic terms to provide the reader with both positive and negative factors of Imperialism to develop an unbiased understanding of what the Igbo culture and society went through. While addressing the hardship 's of life by showing the deterioration of Okonkwo 's character, the cultural and traditional changes of society, and the positive and negative impacts of imperialism, Achebe keeps touch on the overall theme of the novel, once a dramatic event
In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the author poses many perspectives for literary criticism and review. This work emphasizes many different cultural aspects that were considered controversial at the time of publication in both African and American culture. This novel’s focus on feminine roles, religion, and cultural norms give readers a glimpse of life in the village of Umuofia while allowing them to think critically about the thematic topics posed.