Treatment Of Women In Things Fall Apart

One of the overarching themes in the novel Things Fall Apart was that in Ibo society, anything that was considered strong meant having a manly characteristic and anything deemed to be weak meant having a womanly characteristic. The men of the village tend to keep their wives under submission, the wives are servile to their husbands. Also, men who are not successful, such as those without a title, are sometimes referred to as women in a demeaning manner. I found the treatment of the Igbo woman to be very unfortunate but typical of our violent human species. This underlying disregard and lack of compassion for anyone who appeared vulnerable, especially by the main character, Okonkwo, contributed to “things falling apart” in the novel.
As the reader proceeds through Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, a picture of gender roles becomes into focus. We learn that the most successful males are fierce and fearless in war and that the females do the many chores such as care for the children, prepare the meals, and grow the vegetables that are considered weaker or feminine. Yams were to only be planted by males but the females would be …show more content…
Once again the reader is reminded just how much Okonkwo sees accepting the missionaries Christian way of life as being a weakness like the women of the clan yet I believe that it is his violent tendencies and lack of parenting skills that drove Nwoye to the religion. Of Christianity, Okonkwo said “To abandoned the gods of one’s father and go about with a lot of effeminate men clucking like old hens was the very depth of abomination’ (152-153). Okonkwo could see the ways of brute force and masculinity dominating the clan’s way of life slipping away and he chooses to resist this