Who Is Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart?

In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the Ibo society is continuously displaying the importance and strength of the male takes over the story when its comes to sumo wrestling or Okonkwo ordering around his wives and many children. But, readers will be able to develop an understanding for the hidden influence of a women. At first glance one may view a family or society as male dominated and patriarchal, but once one digs deeper, the momentousness of the female will begin to shine through. Daily standard may completely consume one’s knowledge of anything other. Achebe explains Okonkwo’s way of life by saying, “Work no longer had for him the pleasure it used to have, and when there was no work to do he sat in a silent half-sleep” (Achebe 131). This passage explains how men are mainly needed to work and are valued for their skills and strength. This quotation is somewhat ironic due to the fact that in society men are constantly being praised for their workmanship, but this shows that working is the only way of life that they know. This helps support the later understanding of how critical women are in one’s home.
It is written in Things Fall Apart, “The men brought their goatskin mats, with which they sat on the floor, and the women sat on a sisal mat spread on a raised bank of earth” (Achebe 133). The way the woman is sitting on a “raised bank of earth” is symbolic for the way a women is above the men in a family or a marriage. This tradition shows that women are recognized as somewhat superior to man. This can be supported by, “A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his mother’s hut” (Achebe 134). This shows how when the going gets tough the place one really wants to be is where they feel most comfortable, which is with their mother rather than their