Gender Roles In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

When something begins to slip away from people, they tend to hold on tighter or simply let it go entirely. In the Ibo society this is apparent. The main character in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, is attempting to hold on to his traditional ways, Nwoye, his son, struggles with meeting his father’s expectations as well as the community’s expectation for gender roles and religious practices. While Nwoye struggles with following traditional practices he decides to leave his original heritage and take on a new one brought by the white man.

Farm work and other physical labor was expected of men in Ibo culture. This was very much a part of Okonkwo and made him who he was and what he held on to dearly. However, Nwoye and the younger generations do not see the merit in such work. “During planting season Okonkwo worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost...Nwoye...was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness”(13). Okonkwo was very concerned that Nwoye would not follow in his footsteps. Nwoye, on the other hand, realizes the importance of being masculine but he does not want to be like his father. We see this from how he interacts with his mother. “Nothing pleased Nwoye more …show more content…
However, after Ikemefuna dies Nwoye seeks change in his life because he is miserable and empty. When the white men come with a new religion and culture he wants to join and leave his old culture behind because he doesn’t fit in. “He was captivated by songs and stories of Christianity”(147). He sees an alternative to his own community’s culture and likes it. “He had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians”(152). Nwoye is attempting to assimilate himself into the white man’s society. Taking him further away from his father and the community he was born