Essay About Daily Life Examples And Things Fall

Things Fall Apart
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In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, women of the Ibo
tribe are terribly mistreated, and viewed as weak and
receive little or no respect outside of their role as a mother.
Tradition dictates their role in life. These women are
courageous and obedient. These women are nurturers above
all and they are anything but weak. In the novel Things Fall
Apart, Okonkwo has several wives. He orders them around
like dogs. They are never to question what they are
instructed to do; they are expected to be obedient. We
clearly see this early in the story, when Okonkwo brings
Ikemefuna into his home. Okonkwo tells his senior wife that
Ikemefuna belongs to the tribe and that she is expected to
look after him. She in turn asks him if he will be staying with
them for a long period of time. This sends Okonkwo into a
fury. He snaps at her in a very degrading manner, “Do what
you are told woman. When did you become one of the
ndichie (meaning elders) of Umuofia?”(pg.12) Clearly she
receives no respect. Later in the story we see this woman try
to comfort Ikemefuna. She “mothers” him as if he is one of
her own children. She tries to put him at ease and can almost
instinctively feel how much he misses his own mother.
In keeping with the Ibo view of female nature, the tribe
allows wife beating. Okonkwo beats his youngest wife
one-day because she was visiting with a friend and did not
get home in time to prepare a meal for him. Another one of
his wives tries to cover for her when she is questioned as to
whether or not the youngest wife has fed the children before
she left. Certainly she does this in effort to protect the
youngest wife, knowing full well what she faced. Okonkwo
does not let them down, he beats his youngest wife severely
until he is satisfied. Even in spite of pleas from his other
wives reminding him that it is forbidden to beat your wife
during the Week of Peace. Okonkwo will face
consequences, not for beating another human being, but only
because of his timing. He beats his second wife when she
refers to him as one of those “guns that never shot”. When a
severe case of wife beating comes before the egwugwu, he
finds in favor of the wife, but at the end of the trial a man
wonders “why such a trifle should come before the
egwugwu”(pg.83). The husband considers his wife as a
property. He either wants his wife back or his bride price.
The omniscient narrator acknowledges a near-invisibility of
women in Things Fall Apart. Describing a communal
ceremony, he confesses, “It was clear from the way the
crowd stood that the ceremony was for men. There were
many women, but they looked on from the fringe like
outsiders”(pg.77). They are not invited to stay when men are
engaged in any discussion; they are not included in council of
war; they do not form part of the masquerades representing
the judiciary and ancestral spirits.
Okonkwo views women to be weak and foolish. He has a
different expectation for men and women. This can be seen
clearly by the way that he raises his children. He tries his
best to train Nwoye to be strong and brave while he feels
sorry that Ezinma is a girl. Okonkwo knows that “Ezinma
has the right spirit”, but he does not try to make her to be
brave or strong. He favors her the most out of all of his
children, yet “if Ezinma had been a boy [he] would have
been happier”(pg.69). This kind of contradiction comes up
in the novel repeatedly. Those practical, daily life examples
of how Okonkwo views women play an important role in
showing Okonkwos real drive for his behaviors. From
those examples, we can see that Okonkwo hates any
womens characteristics because they remind him of his
father. He is afraid of becoming like his father. He hates the
fact that his father is so unsuccessful; therefore, he does not
want to be like his father. The underlying theme for those
examples is not to show that Okonkwo does not respect
women at all. In fact