Gender Roles In Things Fall Apart
Albert Chinualamogue Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, was born into a large African village known as Ogidi in Nigeria. He would go on to receive his education in English, nonetheless, he would obtain an upbringing that was multi-cultured. This would no doubt be due to the town of Ogini, in the early 20th century, continuing traditions. While in college he would discover an interest in Indigenous Nigerians, furthermore, he would reject his Christian name Albert and instead standing by his indigenous name Chinua. In 1959, Things Fall Apart, would be published by Achebe. The novel would be a response to novels which saw Africa as uncultured and uncivilised, when in comparison to Europe. These were written by authors such as: Joseph
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Conrad, who wrote Heart of Darkness. Conrad wrote a story of Africa through the eye of the European Colonizers. Where he would depict the natives as simply savages. Conversely Achebe, when creating Things Fall Apart, aimed to give Africa and its colonization from the native African perspective. In Addition, the author sought to paint a fuller picture of Africa, its culture, and the misused colonial subjectivity. By the conclusion of this essay I plan to determine the methods used by Achebe to de-romanticise and therefore judge whether these methods are successful?. In this study I shall focus on the issues the novel covers such as Gender, Hybridity and language.
In the Novel, Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe, saw himself as an artist whom inherited the chore of correcting the misjudgement displayed in the Heart of Darkness. However, despite his work protesting against, what, he believed, racist portraits of Africa as seen in the, Heart of darkness Achebe refused to paint a romantic picture of the Igbo culture. His novel displayed all. In his writing he develops the protagonist character Okonkwo into a complex human being. In an interview Achebe states that he was ‘‘determined not to make this look nicer than it was. I went out of my way to gather all the negative things, to describe them as I think they were good and bad. ‘‘ In that above quote he tells us how he planned a true display, which did not paint over the cracks. As an author he had no time for the Romanisation which was often found in the negritude movement.
When one is to consider Gender in the late 1950’s novel they must study the way in which Achebe writes, Things Fall Apart, on how women of the Igbo culture were truly treated in the times in which the novel was based.
Many readers of this may be shocked by the way in which the lives of women in the novel are displayed. They may see the composition of women in the text as sexist and perhaps judge the main character Okonkwo as the leading ’’chauvinist ‘’ .Furthermore, there is no doubt that the author Achebe planned to show how Okonkwo’s views of the roles of men and women, how this has a major influence on both his thoughts and actions …show more content…
.
Biodun Jeyifo’s paper entitled, ‘’ Okonkwo and his Mother: Things fall apart and Issues of Gender in the Constitution of African Postcolonial Discourse ‘’ , is where Jeyifo tells us how Achebe’s only mentions Okonkwo mother one time within the novel. Nevertheless Okonkwo’s mother still holds an important role in the story. Jeyifo points out from the start that ‘‘the male centeredness in Achebe’s novel.’’ Jeyifo 849. Nevertheless, while Jeyifo’s doesn’t go as far as excusing Achebe, he does explain that African life in general is ‘’quite gendered in its framing’’ . Which Jeyifo feels is the reason which ,Things Fall Apart, holds such male subjectivity . In Spite of this he does point out how the novel is gender based as Jeyifo states ‘’Things Fall Apart not only has one of the most extensive and dense novelistic inscriptions of genderistation of (Male) subjectivity’’ .
One can see when reading the novel how maleness seems to set the standard within Igbo Society. The books leading character Okonkwo gives the impression that he see’s females as ‘’a weakness, fecklessness, cowardice and irresolute’ . Furthermore, In the novel, the difference of life of male and female in Igbo Society can even be seen through the food that is ate. The Igbo Society has developed a system which women have smaller crops such as Cocoyam and men have the bigger crops like Yam. This is the case in Igbo society because Yam is believed to be the most important of their foods. Whereas Cocoyam is just seen as a filler.
In the novels most masculine section we see that Okonkwo’s mother is not named in the narrative. By leaving Okonkwo mother with no name she is ‘’assimilated into a neutral, abstract function. Jeyifo in discussing Okonkwo’s mother quotes a part of the story which contains Okonkwo’s comment on his mother’s story ‘’but it was as silly as all women’s stories’’ This is a key example of the novels display of women being held below men in Igbo society. However, one must note that the subject of gender is an intricately complex and cultured theme that requires much more than simply a view of male and female tension. Achebe shows Okonkwo to be hyper masculine and looks down at everything that is feminine , this makes him as a character very one sided. Okonkwo’s weakness is how he is blind to the important role in which women hold within the tribe. An example of this can be seen when Okonkwo’s Uncle States ‘’ It’s true that a child belongs to its father. But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother’s hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you’’
All the characters of, Things fall Apart, can be discussed when looking at Hybridity. For each of the characters are in some way affected by the Colonizers ways and rules. When One studies, Things fall Apart, they can see the complications of combining old and new traditions. When we see how Achebe’s shows the reader how the Igbo people are increasingly having too accept the new standards. The reader sees the changes that occurred in African society, when old traditions cease with this new hybridity and therefore the reader discovers how the Igbo’s way of life has revolved.
In Addition, the book shows how the creation of new and old. When the people of the village of Umuofia lives are transformed by the missionaries and governs, with the enforcement of new rules, regulations and religion. However, Achebe tells how the Igbo people did not see the new religion as a major threat when he states ‘‘Many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man’s god would not last’’ (Achebe 105) However this would be an under-estimate of the new culture as some of the villagers would embrace the new culture.
The novel shows us how Okonkwo’s resistance to the new culture.
This resistance is what alienates him in his own village. When Okonkwo arrives back to Umuofia after seven years in exile he finds it difficult to believe the transformation and is bewildered on how the people of the village have not fought back against these colonizers and the colonial power. Okonkwo says ‘’what is it that happened to our people? Why did they not fight back ‘’ (Achebe 128).Okonkwo feels isolated and confused as his rigid attitude towards Colonizers and a lack of understanding towards his fellow tribesmen leaves him in an apposition where the colonial power have become much
stronger.
When discussing the language we learn that many African writers would feel that African literature should be written in the native language and therefore not in English. One of these writers, Nguni Wa Thiong’o, feels very disappointed with the use of the English language in African literature. He believes that ‘’ it is the final triumph of a system of domination when the dominated start singing its virtues’ ’.Wa Thionga’o believes that it was the triumph of the English language that attacked and damaged the riches of both oral and written African literature. In Addition Wa Thinga’o deemed that language was ‘‘the carrier of culture ‘’ . Furthermore when seeing, Things fall apart , written in the English language he mourned the loss of the African language and identity that went with it. However, in opposition ,Abigail K. Guthrie, states that these fears are unwarranted and how he believes that an author like Achebe may write in English, for practical purposes with the work ,this while continuing the belief that Igbo ‘’is the true carrier of his Nigerian Culture’’ .
Moreover, Achebe wrote in an Essay in 1966, which was reprinted in his book Morning Yet on creation day’ that ‘‘by using English he presents a new voice coming out of Africa. A Voice that is Speaking of African experience in a Wide language’’ . Achebe advised that an African should use English ‘‘in a way which brings his message through in the best way without altering the language to the extent that its value as a medium of international exchange will be lost’’ Furthermore, what it is that initiates ,Things Fall Apart ,as a powerful ,Nevertheless, accessible artwork is why Achebe wrote in English. While he did not submit to western framework, therefore making his piece distinctly African.
Conclusion
When he wrote Things Fall apart, Achebe, would create what is widely seen as the first honest account of what African people felt ‘’transpired in the advent of colonisation” . In the novel, Achebe, doesn’t show the reader a faultless and idyllic cultural Africa that were being displayed in negritude works. Furthermore, Achebe detested, how writers like Conrad were romantic in their portrayal and would create noble savages. These African savages would be displayed as primitive and Animalistic, yet uncorrupted and innocent. When Achebe focused on this he sees it as a ridiculous notion, for he believed the Igbo’s were not noble savages and saw Conrad’s perception as incorrect and Simply Myth. Moreover, he stated that he produced, Things Fall Apart, ‘’to help my society regain belief in itself and put away the complexes of the years of denigration and self-abasement. . . . I would be quite satisfied if my novels . . . did no more than teach my [African] readers that their past — with all its imperfections — was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God's behalf delivered them.’’ What Achebe wanted the novel to aspire to was to enlighten the entire world on the truth of Africa. He hoped to ‘’elucidate the discussion on the devastating impact which ensued as a consequence of foreign colonial intrusion onto the continent ‘’
Finally I feel the novel succeeds and achieves its aim profoundly, as what Achebe created in ,Things Falls Apart , was ground breaking work that would leave us a new and truer portrayal of African life, Culture and how the colonisation was received. One cannot under-estimate the author’s impact in the role of construction of modern African literature as a part of world literature and hence, therefore Chinua Achebe today being renowned as the ‘’Father of Modern African Literature.’’
Bibliography
Achebe Chinua, Things Fall Apart (London: Penguin Classics, 2006)
Achebe Discusses Africa 50 Years After 'Things Fall Apart', dir. by (PBS News Hour, 2013 Chinua Achebe on The Purpose and Values of Things Fall Apart (2014) <http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/achebequ.htm> [accessed 23 November 2014].
Guthrie, Abigail K.,Language and Identity in Postcolonial African Literature: (2011) <http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1177&context=masters> [accessed 17 November 2014].
Introduction to Guide on Things Fall Apart (2014) <http://library.howard.edu/thingsfallapart> [accessed 15 November 2014].
Monica Olsson, Colonial Legacies -Ambivalence, mimicry and hybridity in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Louise Erdrich’s Tracks (2010) <http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:302445/FULLTEXT01.pdf> [accessed 17 November 2014].
Conrad, who wrote Heart of Darkness. Conrad wrote a story of Africa through the eye of the European Colonizers. Where he would depict the natives as simply savages. Conversely Achebe, when creating Things Fall Apart, aimed to give Africa and its colonization from the native African perspective. In Addition, the author sought to paint a fuller picture of Africa, its culture, and the misused colonial subjectivity. By the conclusion of this essay I plan to determine the methods used by Achebe to de-romanticise and therefore judge whether these methods are successful?. In this study I shall focus on the issues the novel covers such as Gender, Hybridity and language.
In the Novel, Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe, saw himself as an artist whom inherited the chore of correcting the misjudgement displayed in the Heart of Darkness. However, despite his work protesting against, what, he believed, racist portraits of Africa as seen in the, Heart of darkness Achebe refused to paint a romantic picture of the Igbo culture. His novel displayed all. In his writing he develops the protagonist character Okonkwo into a complex human being. In an interview Achebe states that he was ‘‘determined not to make this look nicer than it was. I went out of my way to gather all the negative things, to describe them as I think they were good and bad. ‘‘ In that above quote he tells us how he planned a true display, which did not paint over the cracks. As an author he had no time for the Romanisation which was often found in the negritude movement.
When one is to consider Gender in the late 1950’s novel they must study the way in which Achebe writes, Things Fall Apart, on how women of the Igbo culture were truly treated in the times in which the novel was based.
Many readers of this may be shocked by the way in which the lives of women in the novel are displayed. They may see the composition of women in the text as sexist and perhaps judge the main character Okonkwo as the leading ’’chauvinist ‘’ .Furthermore, there is no doubt that the author Achebe planned to show how Okonkwo’s views of the roles of men and women, how this has a major influence on both his thoughts and actions …show more content…
.
Biodun Jeyifo’s paper entitled, ‘’ Okonkwo and his Mother: Things fall apart and Issues of Gender in the Constitution of African Postcolonial Discourse ‘’ , is where Jeyifo tells us how Achebe’s only mentions Okonkwo mother one time within the novel. Nevertheless Okonkwo’s mother still holds an important role in the story. Jeyifo points out from the start that ‘‘the male centeredness in Achebe’s novel.’’ Jeyifo 849. Nevertheless, while Jeyifo’s doesn’t go as far as excusing Achebe, he does explain that African life in general is ‘’quite gendered in its framing’’ . Which Jeyifo feels is the reason which ,Things Fall Apart, holds such male subjectivity . In Spite of this he does point out how the novel is gender based as Jeyifo states ‘’Things Fall Apart not only has one of the most extensive and dense novelistic inscriptions of genderistation of (Male) subjectivity’’ .
One can see when reading the novel how maleness seems to set the standard within Igbo Society. The books leading character Okonkwo gives the impression that he see’s females as ‘’a weakness, fecklessness, cowardice and irresolute’ . Furthermore, In the novel, the difference of life of male and female in Igbo Society can even be seen through the food that is ate. The Igbo Society has developed a system which women have smaller crops such as Cocoyam and men have the bigger crops like Yam. This is the case in Igbo society because Yam is believed to be the most important of their foods. Whereas Cocoyam is just seen as a filler.
In the novels most masculine section we see that Okonkwo’s mother is not named in the narrative. By leaving Okonkwo mother with no name she is ‘’assimilated into a neutral, abstract function. Jeyifo in discussing Okonkwo’s mother quotes a part of the story which contains Okonkwo’s comment on his mother’s story ‘’but it was as silly as all women’s stories’’ This is a key example of the novels display of women being held below men in Igbo society. However, one must note that the subject of gender is an intricately complex and cultured theme that requires much more than simply a view of male and female tension. Achebe shows Okonkwo to be hyper masculine and looks down at everything that is feminine , this makes him as a character very one sided. Okonkwo’s weakness is how he is blind to the important role in which women hold within the tribe. An example of this can be seen when Okonkwo’s Uncle States ‘’ It’s true that a child belongs to its father. But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother’s hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you’’
All the characters of, Things fall Apart, can be discussed when looking at Hybridity. For each of the characters are in some way affected by the Colonizers ways and rules. When One studies, Things fall Apart, they can see the complications of combining old and new traditions. When we see how Achebe’s shows the reader how the Igbo people are increasingly having too accept the new standards. The reader sees the changes that occurred in African society, when old traditions cease with this new hybridity and therefore the reader discovers how the Igbo’s way of life has revolved.
In Addition, the book shows how the creation of new and old. When the people of the village of Umuofia lives are transformed by the missionaries and governs, with the enforcement of new rules, regulations and religion. However, Achebe tells how the Igbo people did not see the new religion as a major threat when he states ‘‘Many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man’s god would not last’’ (Achebe 105) However this would be an under-estimate of the new culture as some of the villagers would embrace the new culture.
The novel shows us how Okonkwo’s resistance to the new culture.
This resistance is what alienates him in his own village. When Okonkwo arrives back to Umuofia after seven years in exile he finds it difficult to believe the transformation and is bewildered on how the people of the village have not fought back against these colonizers and the colonial power. Okonkwo says ‘’what is it that happened to our people? Why did they not fight back ‘’ (Achebe 128).Okonkwo feels isolated and confused as his rigid attitude towards Colonizers and a lack of understanding towards his fellow tribesmen leaves him in an apposition where the colonial power have become much
stronger.
When discussing the language we learn that many African writers would feel that African literature should be written in the native language and therefore not in English. One of these writers, Nguni Wa Thiong’o, feels very disappointed with the use of the English language in African literature. He believes that ‘’ it is the final triumph of a system of domination when the dominated start singing its virtues’ ’.Wa Thionga’o believes that it was the triumph of the English language that attacked and damaged the riches of both oral and written African literature. In Addition Wa Thinga’o deemed that language was ‘‘the carrier of culture ‘’ . Furthermore when seeing, Things fall apart , written in the English language he mourned the loss of the African language and identity that went with it. However, in opposition ,Abigail K. Guthrie, states that these fears are unwarranted and how he believes that an author like Achebe may write in English, for practical purposes with the work ,this while continuing the belief that Igbo ‘’is the true carrier of his Nigerian Culture’’ .
Moreover, Achebe wrote in an Essay in 1966, which was reprinted in his book Morning Yet on creation day’ that ‘‘by using English he presents a new voice coming out of Africa. A Voice that is Speaking of African experience in a Wide language’’ . Achebe advised that an African should use English ‘‘in a way which brings his message through in the best way without altering the language to the extent that its value as a medium of international exchange will be lost’’ Furthermore, what it is that initiates ,Things Fall Apart ,as a powerful ,Nevertheless, accessible artwork is why Achebe wrote in English. While he did not submit to western framework, therefore making his piece distinctly African.
Conclusion
When he wrote Things Fall apart, Achebe, would create what is widely seen as the first honest account of what African people felt ‘’transpired in the advent of colonisation” . In the novel, Achebe, doesn’t show the reader a faultless and idyllic cultural Africa that were being displayed in negritude works. Furthermore, Achebe detested, how writers like Conrad were romantic in their portrayal and would create noble savages. These African savages would be displayed as primitive and Animalistic, yet uncorrupted and innocent. When Achebe focused on this he sees it as a ridiculous notion, for he believed the Igbo’s were not noble savages and saw Conrad’s perception as incorrect and Simply Myth. Moreover, he stated that he produced, Things Fall Apart, ‘’to help my society regain belief in itself and put away the complexes of the years of denigration and self-abasement. . . . I would be quite satisfied if my novels . . . did no more than teach my [African] readers that their past — with all its imperfections — was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God's behalf delivered them.’’ What Achebe wanted the novel to aspire to was to enlighten the entire world on the truth of Africa. He hoped to ‘’elucidate the discussion on the devastating impact which ensued as a consequence of foreign colonial intrusion onto the continent ‘’
Finally I feel the novel succeeds and achieves its aim profoundly, as what Achebe created in ,Things Falls Apart , was ground breaking work that would leave us a new and truer portrayal of African life, Culture and how the colonisation was received. One cannot under-estimate the author’s impact in the role of construction of modern African literature as a part of world literature and hence, therefore Chinua Achebe today being renowned as the ‘’Father of Modern African Literature.’’
Bibliography
Achebe Chinua, Things Fall Apart (London: Penguin Classics, 2006)
Achebe Discusses Africa 50 Years After 'Things Fall Apart', dir. by (PBS News Hour, 2013 Chinua Achebe on The Purpose and Values of Things Fall Apart (2014) <http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/achebequ.htm> [accessed 23 November 2014].
Guthrie, Abigail K.,Language and Identity in Postcolonial African Literature: (2011) <http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1177&context=masters> [accessed 17 November 2014].
Introduction to Guide on Things Fall Apart (2014) <http://library.howard.edu/thingsfallapart> [accessed 15 November 2014].
Monica Olsson, Colonial Legacies -Ambivalence, mimicry and hybridity in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Louise Erdrich’s Tracks (2010) <http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:302445/FULLTEXT01.pdf> [accessed 17 November 2014].