Roles Of Women In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Improved Essays
Achebe states that in her ordinary life she “was a widow with two children” (Achebe 49). It is very interesting that he specifically refers to them in a way that would make the reader think of two very separate people. It shows the way the people of the Ibo culture think about the roles of women. They have normal everyday lives similar to the women of Heart of darkness but there are also specific roles that seem to be specific to women only, which have great importance to their culture. In Ibo culture women have another very important role to play in their gods. In the novel they refer to Ani the earth goddess and say that she “[plays] a greater part in the life of the people than any other deity” (Achebe 36). This is very different from the way that the white women are treated. In both books they did not have any …show more content…
She says that the reason men gained so much status in society started “a thousand years ago. Because human beings lived in a world in which physical strength was the most important attribute for survival; the physically stronger person was more likely to lead” (Adichie 17-18). This really demonstrates an understanding on the topic, and unfortunatly most people don’t seem to make this connection. This shows why men have had such an influence in society throughout the ages. It also explains why woman lack so much status in both of the novels. In Heart of darkness women lack status because (in the story Marlow tell at least) they simply do not take part in anything that seem remotely dangerous or have a high mortality rate which is the setting for most of the plot. This job is for the strong men who have a higher chance of surviving, therefore the woman would have no position that would grant them a high or higher than normal status. One quote from Heart of darkness that shows why men do not really trust women is when Marlow says that women, “live in a world of their own” (Conrad). This quote shows what Marlow thinks women

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    In the novel Things Fall Apart , the author, Chinua Achebe, uses the arrival of the English missionaries who attempt to convert the Ibo peoples traditional values and beliefs to raise the question of what the balance is between change and traditions. Through the struggle and conflict that Okonkwo experiences after he prioritizes traditional values and as a result loses his status, the readers begin to question how the reality of change can affects the personal status of many characters. Achebe demonstrates how a society with different views must overcome problems and make decisions to ensure their society’s future.…

    • 99 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Imagine a society in which it is acceptable for men to treat women as their inferior. The way that women were treated as inferiors in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe helps the reader to understand Ibo society and men’s accepted superiority within the society. In Things Fall Apart, women’s role in Ibo society is crucial to the society, understanding it and grasping the men’s behavior as the superior sex. The preconceived idea that women are weak, the women’s responsibilities and the women being treated as objects will help the reader to make sense of the gender complications within this novel.…

    • 1249 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women and men play different roles. Women are not only generalized as the weaker sex but they are also defined by their relationship to men. This is why to most people marriage is such a big deal; it gives the female a sense of entitlement and if she marries a man of high status, she too gains power. Men exploit the passive and deomesticity traits in women by stifling their voice and stripping them of their identities. If a woman is ambitious, or comes off to strong, she is deemed unattractive.…

    • 162 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Tragic Hero The protagonist of things fall apart, Okonkwo is known as a tragic hero who holds a position of power and prestige choosing his course of action that possesses a tragic flaw, and gains, awareness of environment that lead to his fall. In his thirties, Okonkwo is a leader of the Igbo community of Umuofia. Achebe describe him as “tall and huge” with “bushy eyebrows” and a “wide nose that gives him a very server look”. When he walks, his heels barley touch the ground, like he was walking on springs “as if he was going to pounce on somebody”.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since the beginning of human society, woman have always been considered a subordinate sex, as men have been associated with the upper hand of power in a household. Even today, after decades of for equal rights, many women still play and are viewed as this stereotypical role, and as a result woman have relentlessly attempted to strive away from it. In innumerable medieval texts, such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Lay of the Werewolf, the prestigious women withhold their power in order to disguise the ultimate potential their power has. The Middle English texts, Sir Gawain and the Green Night and The Lay of the Werewolf display the vindictive persona woman possess as they attempt to defy the image society has set.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Gender Roles In Candide

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Voltaire’s Candide: Women’s Role in Society Women during the 1700s, the time period during which the novel is set, understood they had very little power; and it was only through men that they could exert any influence. Women at this time were seen as mere objects that acted as conciliation prizes for the gain of power and their sole use was for reproduction. Maintaining the duty of tiding the home and looking after the children, no outlet for an education or a chance to make a voice for themselves. Men acted as the leading voice in society, making all substantial decisions for women. The hierarchy of genders was ever so present and was based on the physical differences between men and women.…

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Achebe referred to males like yams, as they are considered to be the king of the crops and seen as having “physical strength, kingly attributes, [and] power,” (Saba & Shirin, 2015 p.73). When a man does not have these strong characteristics like a yam, they are then referred to as Agbala which means woman, or a man with no titles (Saba & Shirin, 2015). This reference demonstrates that it is not good to be seen as a woman in society, and to thrive one must have titles and characteristics unlike women. Another metaphoric example is when Okonkwo is exiled from Umuofia and is sent to his mother’s village in Mbanta (Achebe, 1959). A father is seen as distant, violent, war-like where a mother is seen as loving, comforting and always there to heal the wounds and that is why he is sent to his Mbanta to recover from his wrong-doings.…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The backbone of any piece of writing is the type of literary conflict that revolves within it. To truly understand the inner workings of any piece, one must be familiar with the four main types of conflict: Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Society, and Man vs. Self. Many literary works include more than one of these forms of conflict, including Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. However, it can be said that Man vs. Man is the most prevalent of these forms within this work. The Man vs. Man conflict form in Things Fall Apart covers the relationship between the main character, Okonkwo, and his first son, Nwoye.…

    • 1089 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this culture, gender roles are strictly set for the men and women. Among the Igbo people, man rule ultimately. The more masculine one is, the higher they are respected among the community. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, the main character, is one of these respected men. In order to be a man however, as the narrator states, “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man”(Achebe 53).…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “One winter evening she looked at them: the husband durable, receptive, gentle; the child tender golden three. The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again” (Godwin 1). Gender roles in the 70’s tell us that being a successful woman means being a good wife and mother and taking care of her family. “A Sorrowful Woman” by Gail Godwin portrays the story of a mother who is going against the roles given to her by society. The woman in the story is seen as mentally ill, but in actuality she is challenging the gender roles assigned to her by not wanting to be a wife and a mother and hiding herself away and trying to discover what her true passions are.…

    • 1260 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The idea of having such separation of roles based on gender is thoroughly explained in the book and is a concept that several people do not know about. Through the characters, Achebe portrays how important respect in a society is, and how without it, there could be no meaning to one’s life. Ezinma, Ekwefi, and Nwoye are all characters who deserve this respect, but due to the stereotypes, stating that the people of their gender could only be a certain way, they did not receive it. The literary piece proves that there were many obstacles to the lives of the Africans on ideas that are entirely alien to many people, and how it is not correct to judge an entire group of people by a couple of misleading…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Chinua Achebe 's masterpiece, Things Fall Apart, something that is very noticeable are gender roles. Gender roles may be a social construct, but it is one that is vital to the culture of the Umoufia Tribe. It plays a pivotal role in how the characters of the novel are developed and especially how they behave. The novel does a phenomenal job at showing the clear contrast in both male and female. The women are portrayed as submissive in the novel, while the men take charge and make the decisions.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All his wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper (Achebe 13).” Thus explaining the reasoning behind the argument Achebe makes- that women are useless, and only good to cook. Chinua Achebe writes Things Fall Apart with very little consideration to the women of the Igbo…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Kincaid tells us how men don’t want the company of a women like in the Ibo culture because they are looked as weak and useless in the tribe. Most men in the tribe do not spend time with their wives but rather spend it working out in the…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On average, a human adult makes 35,000 decisions in a day, and every one of those decisions is influenced by what that person chooses whether that would be his or her values, situation in life, or people in his or her life. Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, creates a protagonist, Okonkwo, whose life decisions influence by his view of the chi causes destruction. The background of the chi, how the chi and Okonkwo’s characteristics cloud his perspective on his life, and Okonkwo’s actions and effects of his view on his chi all are what influences him to become a tragic hero. The most influential belief system in Okonkwo’s life, his chi, clouds his perspective, which eventually causes his fall.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays