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Okonkwo's Treatment Of Women In Things Fall Apart

277 Words2 Pages
In the Ibo society, and many other cultures, women are overlooked by the men. The women are thought to be inferior, weak, overly-sensitive, incapable of taking care of themselves. It is in these same patriarchal societies that the men are dependent on the women’s care: placing food on the table, raising the children, taking care of the house. As seen in Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo relies on the labor of his multiple female counterparts. He mistreats their care, as the women and children endure his irrational anger, and physical and verbal abuse. Although it’s natural in the Ibo society for the male to be dominant, Okonkwo shows no respect and oversteps his place. Achebe comments on this disrespect and extreme injsutice saying, “’A man belongs
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Mothers protect their children from “sorrow and bitterness” (134) providing them with comfort in order to continue moving. Okonkwo is able to find a place to stay during his exile in his motherland. However, all he cares about is going back to his fatherland and becoming a warrior. Illustrate how the mother’s sacrifices are overlooked by the father’s successes. The men are over-glorified, defined by their successes in physical labour which cement them as superior, forgetting the love and support of their mother who raised

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Okonkwo was a big supporter of physical and verbal abuse in his home, especially towards his wives and Nwoye. To Okonkwo, physical abuse was another language. This is how he spoke, and punished, on the occasion of the abuse, and how he had handled the situation. Women was treated poorly in Umuofia because men believe that they were weak and in inadequate. “ Even as a little boy Okonkwo had represented his father 's failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was Agbala.

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In most fairy tales and novels a humble male role is used to dictate the normality of writing. In “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo, a strong male role is not only that, a lead character, but he is also cruel and prone to violent tendencies In the novel Okonkwo experiences harsh changes when the white men first came and at the beginning of colonialism. In “Things Fall Apart”, Achebe uses Okonkwo to display the negative change in everyday Igbo culture after colonialism. In this novel by Achebe, before colonialism was introduced, Okonkwo was a known masculine member of Umuofia.

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How important is one's reputation in one's culture? In the novel, Things Fall Apart Achebe portrays how important a man’s reputation in his culture is. Throughout the novel the reader notices Okonkwo struggles with his masculinity and being seen as similar to his father. Okonkwo’s reputation and the way his community view him affects the way he acts from who he really is. The men in the Ibo culture are represented as men who believe that if you show any soft or “feminine” emotions you are weak and not “manly enough” they are taught this their entire lives.

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The distinct separation of power between men and women is repeatedly seen in Things Fall Apart, a fictional book by Chinua Achebe. Through this separation, it is seen that in a male-dominated society, men dislike matriarchal power in women and cause an imbalance in power; but women are just as needed as men in families and societies. Notably, it is clear, that the men in Umuofia view daughters as inferior; women are viewed as properties and they aren’t as well-praised as much as the first-born males. Additionally, women are viewed as mild and weak. In many cases, Okonkwo even uses the words “woman” or “womanly” to insult a man for being weak or of a lesser social rank.

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In the book “Things Fall Apart“ Okonkwo is a very strong man and from time to time he starts showing his true self. He has a lot of responsibilities and other things he has to do around the living environment and interact with lots of people. Okonkwo changes from being that strong man, to a man who feels like his tribe is not with him when he wants to go to war with the missionaries. For someone like Okonkwo a lot of people looks up to him and while in the tribe Okonkwo beats his wives and children. Not good behavior for someone who is supposedly looked at as strong.

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Women are thought to have simplistic, powerless roles. The quote “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper.…”(Achebe 13) showcases this. The issues and treatment brought on to the women by the men make women in the

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Another simultaneously positive/negative aspect of Igbo culture is the role of men and women in society. It is clear that men were the head of this society and the women were delegated to the roles of mothers and wives. Additionally, there was generally no respect or place for women within this society. This is shown by the hideous way that Okonkwo treats his family, nearly killing his second wife, and his choice of insulting other men, which is to call them women. Still, I think this viewpoint is balanced out by the interaction between Okonkwo and his uncle, Uchendu who tells Okonkwo, “A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet.

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The way the gender roles in his society were set up was the women had to always obey the men. This causes Okonkwo to be strict so he can manage his household. But the effect

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According to Okonkwo’s tribe, the Igbo, masculinity is being strong, aggressive, and nourishing. Femininity is being weak, loving, compassionate, and devotional. Achebe highlights the definitions of masculinity and femininity to show that Okonkwo’s hypermasculinity causes his downfall. Okonkwo is trying to act too masculine and by completely rejecting feminine qualities, he sets up his destiny to be his downfall. The first instance in which things fall apart for Okonkwo is when a tribute from another village has to stay with Okonkwo for three years.

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Among those of the same culture, individuals who are adaptive and open-minded can be successful when there is cultural collision. When the Igbo and European cultures collide, Okonkwo gradually spirals out of control, losing everything he values and his own sense of self. From the beginning of the novel, Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a virile warrior and a successful farmer within the Igbo tribe. Reacting with violence to anything he considers “womanly” or “weak”, “He was a man of action and man of war” (10). Because of his reputation as a warrior he is highly respected by his community.

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Gender roles concoct an inner battle between one 's true self and who society believes they should be. This is seen right off the bat in Things Fall Apart through Okonkwo 's fear of being like his father, whom he associates with weakness. For Okonkwo, many of his irrational actions spur from these fears. A perfect example of this is seen on page sixty-one when Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna. Prior to Ikemefuna 's killing, the oldest man in the village comes to Okonkwo and tells him to take no part in the boy 's killing.

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This affects and can also be seen as a reflection of Okonkwo’s other relationships between male characters, namely Unoka, Nwoye, and Ikemefuna. This essay will discuss how Achebe portrays masculinity in Things Fall Apart (Achebe, 1958), how the hyper-masculinized character, Okonkwo, receives and interacts with certain characters. I will also discuss how Okonkwo’s ridged patriarchal ideals of virility are counterintuitive with his actions and intentions of ensuring a masculine household. Okonkwo is a titled and successful warrior in his village, Umuofia. A great amount of respect is received by Okonkwo because his youth did not promise such a prosperous life, he had to work hard for his wealth and success.

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In the Ibo hierarchal society, women are the subject of unequal treatment and patronization. They are considered weak and are not given any power. As the novel, Things Fall Apart unravels, the author, Chinua Achebe reveals the distinct attributes of femininity. Feminine traits are also viewed with disdain in Umuofian society, especially by the protagonist of the novel, Okonkwo. His past experiences shape his disposition and give rise to his stereotypical mentality; however, several events contradict the prevalent perspective of women, leading to Okonkwo facing conflicts within himself.

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He was a caring man down in his heart but “his whole life was dominated by the fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13), and his mission to become one of the greatest men of his clan. Okonkwo was devoted to masculinity, he put it above anything else preventing anyone from questioning his masculinity. When he felt a slight sign of weakness it reminded him of his fathers failure to being a true man not providing for his family or ruling women and his children, therefore “he was not really a man” (Achebe 53).There were many traits to being a masculine man but to Okonkwo the main one was ruling his wife and children, if any of them had disobeyed him he would beat them without hesitation or regret. Although Okonkwo is influenced by masculinity it is because the Ibo culture believes in men dominating women which leads their society to fall

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