What Is Gender Roles In Things Fall Apart

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). With that being said, it is thought that the woman’s role is to ultimately serve and be devoted to her husband. This gender role does not apply to the men of this culture, since it is so predominantly masculine this tribe is. Not only are the Igbo women devoted to their …show more content…
When an Igbo father gives permission for his daughter’s suitor to marry her, that suitor and the men of the girl’s family settle a price in which the suitor and his family pay. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, as the narrator states, “In this way Akuke’s bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries” (Achebe 51). The suitor and his family also critique the soon-to-be bride if everything goes as planned. In Things Fall Apart, the daughter of the main character Okonkwo’s best friend is taking part of an arranged marriage, “ Her suitor and his relatives surveyed her young body with expert eyes as if to assure themselves that she was beautiful and ripe” (Achebe 49). This ritual of marriage displays how object-like woman are to the men of this …show more content…
Through colonization, Igbo woman gained more freedom through the new religions being brought into the country. However, there were certain expectancies of both genders in society in European culture, that related back to how Igbo culture had been pre-colonization. Things like masculinity were valued among both groups, while femininity remained a female gender role, and was still not well valued among the males. In present Nigeria, woman are still seen as object-like and could potentially be sold into prostitution, or used as suicide bombers. In the video, Nigeria’s War Against Boko Haram Claims Civilian Victims, terrorist group Boko Haram, would use female suicide bombers in attacks because of the weakness and fragility that is viewed among the female gender. Women are also being sold off into trade or being kidnapped by the terrorist group that settles in Nigeria. In the video, Nigeria’s War Against Boko Haram Claims Civilian Victims, this terrorist group Boko Haram, kidnapped a now 17 year old girl and help her captive there. When she was released, she had already been impregnated, and is now trying to survive in a country that has one of the highest poverty rates as a single, homeless, young girl, This shows the corruption within the society around gender, and the similarities to certain aspects of gender roles