Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe.
What is the role of the women in the story?
In reading
the story about Okonkwo and his life journey,of him falling from his grace with
the tribal world and his life clashing with the European missionaries. This
story revealed that the women in the story played a bigger
role despite them being ridiculed in being the weaker sex. They
were the caregivers and laborers in the household.
At first
glance women are not respected as real
people, but are more just the men’s property. All they had to do is to be good
housewives, and make sure to please their husband at all times. Women then had
no identity of their own; but were defined by their status or position of their
husband. Okonkwo is the husband, of whom is a hardworking, and well
known throughout the nine villages and beyond. He is feared throughout the
villages, he has a higher rank compared to others from other villagers. He has
3 wives and 8 children all of whom he lived with.
Women are
discriminated in several ways throughout the novel. For example Okonkwo manhandles his first wife Ekwefi for
not returning home to cook the afternoon meal. In this specific example,
Okonkwo is penalized greatly for beating up his wife during the "week of
peace", even though in the Ibo culture its perfectly normal and acceptable
for the men to beat up their wives on other times of the year. Its also okay
for men to talk down to the women of the village and treat them however they
want. Women have no control of their households and have no say in decision
making when it comes to the living condition. (21)
This is not
something new that i have read about, i have lived this life. I come from
a country, Kenya that is non developed and men are the dominators, and
women are called the "lamb that follows", meaning the only value women
hold is to bear children, cook,clean and serve your husband as he may pleases.
This is culture and tradition, and its different in all 65 tribes they all
hold different customs. Its uncunning but its a way of life, with the
current century things have somehow changed because people are now
more aware with the fact that its happening, but in some rural places
they have chosen to keep this culture.
It may seem
that the Ibo women have no to little power, this portrayal is true to some
extent but the story uncovers another side of the Ibo women. They hold a
powerful place in religion in being priestesses. When Okonkwo was young,
" the priestess in those days was a woman called Chika. She was
very powerful , she had the power of her god, and she was very
feared"(17). The current priestess is
Chielo, "the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the hills and
the Caves" (49). There was a time that Chielo came for Okonkwo and
Ekwefi's daughter Ezinma. In the reading ,"Okonkwo pleaded with her to
come back in the morning because Ezinma was asleep. But
the Priestess Chielo ignored what he was trying to say and went on
shouting at Agbala wanting to see his daughter... The priestess screamed. '
Beware, Okonkwo!
she
warned" (101). There is no other part in the novel in where Okonkwo is
seen "pleading" with anybody male or female. We notice a woman
ordering and threatening Okonkwo to give her his daughter. The fact that
Okonkwo allows this is evidence of the priestess's power.
"No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to
rule his women and his children, he was not really a man" (7.53)
This quote was
told to Nwoye by Okonkwo because he wanted his son to be strong and
tough ,because if he was ever to die he would rule his household like his
father did. This shows us how men had total domination over women, male
children had one thing to uphold and that was to have
a structured household women had no authority in that department. I
really do not like this quote because i am all about equal rights, men and
women should share all of them when it comes to the household
and decision making. If i lived in this time, i don't think i
would survive i would want to voice my opinions. This shows me how
far we have come as women from total domination to shared equality.
