Things Fall Apart Gender Roles Essay
In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the roles that men and women portray is very gender based. Women do what the women are supposed to do, and the men do what the men are supposed to do. No one helps each other get their tasks accomplished. Some of the roles that women have to portray are: taking care of the children, cooking for the family, and staying around the house to clean. On the other side of it, the men have to provide food, make sure they have shelter, rule over their clan, take on as many wives as needed, and they must attain many different titles among the men of their group. In the clans, the women have no authority. They have control over no one and no thing, and the men hold all the power. The stereotypes that are
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This quote goes to show that not only are men the dominant figure in the household, but that they “rule” over the whole family and no one can say anything about it. Many of the women had to live their whole life in fear of their husband as well. For example, in chapter four of the novel, Okonkwo proceeds to beat his youngest wife (19). He does this because his youngest wife had the task to prepare the afternoon meal, but she did not get back from a friend’s hut in time to prepare what he wanted. Even though it was the “sacred week”, and no one had ever broken the rules of the “sacred week”, Okonkwo’s overpowering arrogance, masculinity, and anger caused him to beat his wife until neighbors heard and came to stop him (19).
Throughout history, women were seen as inferior to all men. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe described the women of the Igbo society as very fragile and he stated that the women received little or no respect from anyone in the clan. What is ironic, is that throughout the entire novel the women have numerous roles to fulfil, but they get no acknowledgment in return.
This quote goes to show that not only are men the dominant figure in the household, but that they “rule” over the whole family and no one can say anything about it. Many of the women had to live their whole life in fear of their husband as well. For example, in chapter four of the novel, Okonkwo proceeds to beat his youngest wife (19). He does this because his youngest wife had the task to prepare the afternoon meal, but she did not get back from a friend’s hut in time to prepare what he wanted. Even though it was the “sacred week”, and no one had ever broken the rules of the “sacred week”, Okonkwo’s overpowering arrogance, masculinity, and anger caused him to beat his wife until neighbors heard and came to stop him (19).
Throughout history, women were seen as inferior to all men. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe described the women of the Igbo society as very fragile and he stated that the women received little or no respect from anyone in the clan. What is ironic, is that throughout the entire novel the women have numerous roles to fulfil, but they get no acknowledgment in return.