Gender Division In Things Fall Apart

The novel, Things Fall Apart, tells the life story about Okonkwo, who is a clansmen of the Ibo tribe, which is located in Nigeria. Okonkwo is a famous wrestler, a skilled farmer and a respected leader, in spite of his modest upbringing. The novel is told through Okonkwo’s chauvinist point of view, where he accepts the theory that man is everything, and women is nothing (Bite & Bite, 2013). Okonkwo supports and encourages the traditional gender divisions, and regards women as weak, and powerless human beings. Okonkwo, like other clansmen, are known to call men, who are considered to be weak, worthless or those who carry no title, “Agbala”, which stands for, women-like. Although, it appears women receive little to no respect by clansmen

The Ibo tribe celebrates a Week of Peace, this is when “a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbor” (Achebe, pg. 30). Unfortunately, Okonkwo became so enraged by one of his wives’ actions, he mistakenly beats her, during the Week of Peace. Ezeani, who is the priest to Ani, demanded Okonkwo bring a she-goat, one hen, a length of cloth and a hundred cowries to the goddess’s shrine, in order for Okonkwo to obtain her forgiveness and to protect the clan from perishing, due to his ignorant mistake (Kucharski, 2015). This substantiates the important roles females achieve in the tribe, and how they are respected and feared by the

He was always revered as warrior in the clan. However, when the Goddess Chielo comes for Okonkwo’s daughter, he is described as pleading with the Chielo, and begging her to come back in the morning, because the child, Ezinmea had been up late due to an illness and was fast asleep in her mother’s hut (Achebe, pg. 100). Chielo, insisting Okonkwo hand over the child, and everyone could witness how truly powerless Okonkwo was to the goddess. Okonkwo’s tolerance and acceptance of the goddess demonstrates perfectly how the female’s power is stronger, than any man’s power are in the Ibo