"The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That was why he had called him a woman."
I think that one interesting topic in Things fall apart is the one about gender. Reading the novel we can
immediately understand that the society of Umofia is a chauvinist one, based one men’s supremacy and on
acquisition of titles. The quote I previously wrote highlights this situation because in this society who doesn`t
obtain titles is considered a woman, a person who is not strong enough and without virtues.
Men must have some specific characteristics such as strength and courage (“The only thing worth
demonstrating was strength” in chapter 4) because they are the only ones who have the right to rule and to
provide for the sustain of their family farming the yams; in fact women could only farm melons, maize and
beans that were not sufficient to maintain a family. Men have to control their wives who must be passive and
obedient and who must spent their time taking care of children and cooking; the laws of Umofia even allow
a man to beat his wives in order to punish them and in fact Okonkwo beat his wife, breaking the weak of
peace, and he also tries to kill her because she is not home and because she didn’t prepare his dish.
As we can see this society doesn’t accept men’s weakness because they are usually considered the
cornerstone of the community; in fact characters like Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, are considerate effeminate
because they don’t have physic and moral strength.
“Nwoye overheaded it and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily “ (chapter 7)
“He, Okonkwo, was called a flaming fire. How could he have begotten a woman for a son?” (chapter 17)
In this two quotes we can see how the Ibo despise the weakness, in fact it is a dishonor for Okonkwo to have
an “effeminate” son who even betrayed his father and his clan joining Christian religion.
On the other hand, Okonkwo appreciates his daughter’s qualities, admitting that “If Ezinma had been a boy
[he] would have been happier. She has the right spirit”. In fact she is a combative girl, she never gives up,
she fights against illness and every time she wins. She want to do men’s things but she has to behave like
every woman.
After this explanation about the role of men in this community I think that it is important to highlight the real
position of women. Can we say that they were not important as it seems from the reading of the novel?
Absolutely not. Although they were treated in a bad way, I think that they were an important part of society.
First of all, they had the important task of procreating, raising and educating children; then they had to
provide the needs of the entire family that, as we can notice, is very big. Then they painted the houses of the
Egwugwu, the ancestral spirit and, the most important thing, they were priestess.
If we think about it we can notice that the majority of the divinities were women, such as the Earth, and we
can also find priestess, like Chielo.
“Can you tell me, Okonkwo, why it is that one of the commonest names we give to our children is Nneka, or
"Mother is Supreme"? We all know that a man is the head of the family and his wives do his bidding. A child
belongs to its father and his family and not to its mother and her family. A man belongs to his fatherland and
not to his motherland. And yet we say Nneka--"Mother is Supreme." Why is that?”
Although they live in a chauvinist society they recognize the importance of feminine figures, conferring
them a divine aspect.
To sum up, we can say that at the first sight Things fall apart can look like a novel in which women are only
despised but, analyzing it, we can see that they have an important role in different fields of society.
