Societal Gender Roles In Things Fall Apart

Can Societal Gender Roles Limit an Individual? A man is supposed to be strong, powerful, and well respected. What if all genders were seen in the same light? In most societies, past and present, men are viewed as the dominant gender. The novel Things Fall Apart, establishes the idea that gender roles can limit a society.. There are many situations in the novel where women 's talents are wasted simply because of their gender. Characters struggle with their identities, who society forces them to be, and characters successes are predetermined by their sex. The novel Things Fall Apart displays the unnecessary limits societal gender roles can place on a person 's potential. Often times women 's skills are often overlooked or misjudged due to

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. When Ikemefuna was alive, Okonkwo saw him as a son and allowed the boy to call him “father”. The first sentence following Ikemefuna death is, “[Okonkwo] was afraid of being thought weak,”(61) This line demonstrates that Okonkwo is aware that killing Ikemefuna is wrong, but his excessive need to be a strong man forces him to kill the boy. Okonkwo could have grown up to be a wise and ethical man if it were not for the pressures society put on men to be the strongest in the village. This actions proves that the fear of not fitting in often forces you to become someone

Gender roles also predetermines one 's likelihood of a successful life in accordance with societal standards. In the beginning of the novel, Okonkwo is talking about how his father is incapable of supporting their family because he was not living a successful life. He even claims that he had to help support his mother and sisters due to the fact that they were not supported by anyone else. On page twenty-three Achebe writes, "His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women 's crops, like coco-yams, beans, and cassava. Yam, the king of all crops, was a man 's crop.”(22-23) This quote exhibits that in this culture, even if a woman is capable of doing a job that is generally associated with men, they are not allowed to do it. Okonkwo 's mother and sisters were capable of supporting themselves, but were not allowed to because they are women. This limits not only women, but the entire society. Women 's lives would have been different because they would have been seen as equal to men and would also gain a greater respect within their society. If the women were allowed to do a man 's job, they could have been supporting themselves while the men were out doing things to help the village. Instead the men had to stay to support the women therefore progression in the work slowed down. . Chinua Achebe demonstrates the strains societal gender roles put on an individual 's future in Things Fall Apart. He uses gender roles in the Ibo culture to display the neglected