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Things Fall Apart Gynocentric Lens

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Analysing Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart through a gynocentric lens, she exposes the flaws within patriarchal ideals that fundamentally make up the Ibo society. Ibo culture has strict expectations of each gender to act in a certain way, preventing people from being who they are. As well as having patriarchal ideals that devalue women and systems that do not protect them. To start off, the Ibo society prevents their citizens from personal growth by abiding to the stereotypical view of men and women. For instance, the teachings of Ibo men to be warriors drives Okonkwo and Nwoye away from each other. They assume that to be masculine is to be violent and Okonkwo views anything that resembles his father, Unoka, as feminine. However, Nwoye “resemble[s] …show more content…

Witnessing each of her children die at an early age, Ekwefi “become[s] a very bitter woman” (Achebe 78), jealous of the other wives. Ekwefi goes through a lot to bear a child, yet Okonkwo’s main concern is how Ezinma is not a boy. The miracle child for Ekwefi is Okonkwo’s sadness, reinforcing the notion that Ekwefi is a failure for not giving Okonkwo a son. It shifts the spotlight onto Okonkwo, illrusting him as a victim, diminishing the hardship Ekwefi went through giving birth, making Ezinma appear more of a curse than a blessing. Additionally, women are protectors just as much as men, fighting wars for their kids. 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 constantly struggled to create the same masculine character in Nwoye that he made for himself and constantly found a reflection of his effeminate father, Unoka, in Nwoye. Chapter two describes the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye in Nwoye’s youth. “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness... He sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating” (13-14). Okonkwo’s efforts to change Nwoye’s resemblance of Unoka were causing their relationship to be pushed apart because of Okonkwo’s violence and Nwoye’s resistance.

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The author, Chinua Achebe, used Okonkwo as an example of the father/son conflict and how the conflict affects a man’s life. Just because one does not always act like the typical strong, almost emotionless man, that does not mean one is coward. Okonkwo’s thought process leads to his demise because he cannot bear to see the strong willed tribe and culture he has known his whole life fail him: just

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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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Okonkwo grew up being humiliated by his dad who was not viewed as a fruitful man in Igbo society. He was more intrigued by playing music than being an effective agriculturist and he had earned no titles. Okonkwo is embarrassed about his dad and spends as long as he can remember endeavoring to satisfy the picture of a fruitful man in his culture. Notwithstanding when he is compelled to go to Mbanta to take in more "female" ideals, he sticks to his picture of what a "genuine man" ought to be. When he comes back to his home and the way of life has changed because of the coming of the missionaries, Okonkwo can't change his picture of masculinity, keeping in mind the end goal to make due in the new society.

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Hence, Okonkwo needs to work extremely hard to get a title and land. This also creates a fear of weakness that became indelibly built in his heart. He does not want to follow in his father’s footsteps, so he becomes driven to be strong and masculine. However, Okonkwo’s fear of being weak and womanly, becomes his ultimate downfall, for it not only affects his relationship with his family, but it will also contribute to his death. Okonkwo's fear of showing weakness undermines his relationship with his sons.

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He didn’t marry her because he didn’t have money to pay for he dowry, instead a few years later Ekwefi escaped from her husband and got married to Okonkwo. This is very rare that something like this happens in the Umuofian society. It shows that there is courage and that even in the toughest situation rules can be

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His father was a weak, unsuccessful, and dishonored man. Okonkwo has his own beliefs and wants to stay true to himself. However, throughout the book, the author shows rare glimpses of Okonkwo’s emotional father-son instincts towards Nwoye and Ikemefuna. Okonkwo fears this side of himself because he does

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Okonkwo’s values are restricted to physical strength, power, and prosperity, and when the Europeans suddenly arrive, the cultural convergence prompts Okonkwo to respond with even more violence. While the majority of his tribe, including his son Nwoye, is open to considering

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His fear of weakness and failure is derived from his father, Unoka’s failures, which ignite Okonkwo’s misogynistic views. Throughout his lifetime, Okonkwo associates femininity with weakness because of Unoka, who was called an “agbala” or woman by the people of Umuofia. Since women have this reputation for weakness, Okonkwo lives with constant fear that he will be given the same title as his father. Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye’s effeminacy reminds Okonkwo of his own father. He says, "I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man, but there is much of his mother in him ."(Achebe, 66).

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Fear is the core cause of the dramatic shift of lifestyle for both Okonkwo and Nwoye. Through the management of reputation and the avoidance of their father’s likeness, Okonkwo and Nwoye built new lives for themselves. Okonkwo sought power and authority to prove his masculinity and make up for Unoka’s reputation as a weak man. He did this to the point where manliness became his character. Fearlessness and violence were masculine qualities that in Igbo culture signifies strength and influence.

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His uncle, Uchendu, noticing Okonkwo's distress, eloquently explains how Okonkwo should view his exile: "A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. " A man has both joy and sorrow in his life and when the bad times come his "mother" is always there to comfort him. Thus comes the saying "Mother is

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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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