Roberto Cano

Cairns

English 2H R1

12 December 2016

Okonkwon't Treat Women Respectfully

Since the beginning of time, society has always maintained the predestined ideal that the

separation of gender is of utmost importance in order to maintain a sense of equilibrium between

men and women. For some reason, humanity has always been unable to grasp the simple concept

of equality between genders, and often times modern folk find themselves struggling and

fighting for an unreachable sense of equality. Sadly, despite the many efforts and battles of both

men and women alike, in present society, feminism is often compromised, and more times than

not, men find a way to dominate many aspects of daily life. However, the preference of men over

women is not a new concept, dating back to the time of the European conquest of Africa. In fact,

in Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe highlights male superiority and female incapability in order

to convey the Ibo's negative attitude towards women.

Chinua Achebe stresses male superiority in order to emphasize the Ibo's negative attitude

towards women in Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo was angered when a strange man arrived at a

clan meeting, and: "Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said: This meeting is for men.

The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That was why he had called him a woman.

Okonkwo knew how to kill a mans spirit"(Achebe 34). Okonkwo's heated tone when telling the

man that the meeting was "for men" only emphasizes how gender played an extremely important

role in Ibo society. Because the man had absolutely no titles, it was not incorrect for Okonkwo to

treat him as inferior, for a man with no titles had the same power in society as women: none. Not
only does the mistreatment of this unnamed man highlight the fact that titles determine

masculinity in Ibo society, it exhibits how the idea of being feminine in any way was used as an

insult and an overall deterioration of one's dignity. Ergo, since Okonkwo had called the man a

woman, he had inadvertently "killed his spirit", exemplifying the negativity conjoined to the

overall ideal of women. Okonkwo further exhibited his disapproval for feminine customs since,

He [Okonkwo] wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man capable of

ruling his fathers [Okonkwo's] household...He wanted him to be a prosperous

man, having enough in his barn to feed the ancestors with regular sacrifices. And

so he was always happy when he heard him grumbling about women. That

showed that in time he would be able to control his womenfolk" (Achebe 69).

Through his many efforts to "better" his son, Okonkwo explains the qualifications that Nwoye

must meet in order to be capable of "ruling his household". Since Okonkwo did rule with such a

heavy hand, his beliefs regarding the inferiority and overall mistreatment of women were simply

unwavering, leaving his son no other option but to learn to "control his womenfolk". Nwoye was

in fact rewarded and praised when he acted impolitely towards women, highlighting the

superiority of men in Ibo culture. Okonkwo's corrupt teaching instilled on his son not only

emphasizes an extreme lack of civility, it exhibits a horrid and negative overall view of women

in general. Not only does Achebe convey the fact that men were superior in Ibo society, but also

that women were in fact incapable in many ways.

In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe highlights female incompetence in order to

underline the Ibo's negative attitude towards women. In an effort to explain Ibo agrarian

practices, Nwoye states that: His [Nwoye's] mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they

grew womens crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a mans
crop" (Achebe 32). Nwoye's depiction of female farming all in all highlights the incompetence of

women, for even if they could grow crops, they could not grow the most important: the yam.

Achebe even associates Ibo crops with different genders in an effort to exemplify harsh gender

separations amid Ibo society, which again, placed feminism at the bottom. Not surprisingly, since

the yam was the ultimate "king of crops", only men could successfully grow it, negatively

underlining how women were overall incompetent. Achebe further depicts the inferior role of

women, whom in fact: "...never saw the inside of the hut. No woman ever did. They scrubbed

and painted the outside walls under the supervision of men. If they imagined what was inside,

they kept their imagination to themselves. No woman ever asked questions about...the clan"

(Achebe 113). Through Achebe's description of what women could and could not do regarding

the huts, the reader is shocked as to how miserable life was for females. Not only did men

seemingly have utmost authority and constant supervision of womanly activities, women were

constantly degraded and not allowed to even express their thoughts. It was as if women could

never win, for despite them even trying, they could never live up to the wondrousness that was

being a man. Ibo women were not only excluded from hut privileges, but from the idea of

freedom of speech as well, serving to further place a negative emphasis on the belief that women

were just overall incompetent.

Chinua Achebe stresses the Ibo's negative attitude towards women by highlighting male

superiority and female incapability in Things Fall Apart. In modern society, both the ideas of

misogyny and unequal opportunities for men and women are still prominent, much like in

Things Fall Apart. However, one would think that such discriminatory beliefs against one

particular group of people would be terminated in this day and age, but seemingly they are just

getting worse. Sadly, society is coming to a bit of an evolutionary standstill regarding equality,
bringing up the idea that perhaps the transcendent phrase "Things Fall Apart" wasn't only

referring to Ibo culture...

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Ed. Matilda Harrison. Oxford: Heinemann, 1992. Web. 12

Dec. 2016.