FREE ESSAY ON THINGS FALL APART

THINGS FALL APART

Women in Umuofian Society
It is the woman whose child has been eaten by a witch who best knows the evils of
witchcraft. That simple saying can best relate to the experience of women in the Umuofian
society. A person cannot truly hope to understand how things work unless he or she was
there to experience it. And that can apply to learning a new language, a new culture or
learning history. The perspective given from the book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua
Achebe, states the way of life without any favoritism towards any particular way of life.
Achebe just affirmed that lifestyle as a native would, void of any outside influences. In
this case, the male narration focuses not only of the tragedy of Okonkwo, but also how
the people around are affected and how in turn the culture affects him. Women seem to
play a minor role in everyday life, but their function in the community is just as
important as that of the men. 
The main role that was given to women was that they belonged in the home and for the most
part they were to bee seen and not heard. Their influence and authority do not exist much
in that culture, especially for the wives of Okonkwo. A main character in the novel,
Okonkwo has several wives. Okonkwo presided over all of his wives and children with a
heavy hand. When Ikemefuna comes to live in Okonkwo's household, the first wife questions
the length of the boy's stay. In reply he answers,  'Do what you are told, woman,'
Okonkwo thundered, and stammered. 'When did you become one of the ndichie of Umuofia?' 
(Pg 14). In these two sentences, Okonkwo not only manages to put his first spouse into
her small niche of housewife, but also makes a reference to the village elders. He is
suggesting that she was trying to more knowledgeable than she should be. During the
harvest season, the women of the village provided most of the task force behind planting
and maintaining the crops. Also present in Okonkwo's household were the expectations of
masculinity that Okonkwo held for his son, Nwoye. In his mind, men and women are two
different extremes; men being stronger, tougher and more controlling, while women are
meek, thoughtless and easily dominated. 
In keeping with the Ibo view of female nature, the tribe allowed wife beating. The novel
describes two instances when Okonkwo beats his second wife, once when she did not come
home to make his meal. He beat her severely and was punished but only because he beat her
during the Week of Peace. He beat her again when she referred to him as one of those guns
that never shot. (Pg When a severe case of wife beating comes before the egwugwu, he
found in favor of the wife, but at the end of the trial one of the elders wondered, I
don't know why such a trifle should come before the egwugwu. (Pg 94) The husband
considers his wife as a property.
There is the one exception of Chielo, the priestess of the Oracle of the Hills and Caves,
who is excused from the normal activities of becoming a housewife. Clothed in the
responsibility of the divinity she serves, Chielo transforms from the ordinary; she can
reprimand Okonkwo and even scream curses at him:  'Beware of exchanging words with
Agbala. Does a man speak when a God speaks? Beware!'  (Pg 101).
Achebe shows that the Ibo nonetheless assign significant roles to women. For instance,
women painted the houses of the egwugwu . Furthermore, the first wife of a man in the Ibo
society is paid some respect. This esteem is illustrated by the palm wine ceremony at
Nwakibie's obi. Anasi, Nwakibie's first wife, had not yet arrived and the others could
not drink before her (Pg 20). The value of woman's role appears when Okonkwo is exiled to
his motherland. His uncle, Uchendu, noticing Okonkwo's distress, eloquently explains how
Okonkwo should view his exile: A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and
life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland.
(Pg 134) A man has both joy and sorrow in his life and when the bad times come his mother
is always there to comfort him. Thus comes the saying Mother is Supreme (Pg 133).
Perhaps Umuofia's degrading treatment of women and wives comes from unconscious fear of,
rather than reverence for, the unpredictable Earth goddess Ani, who wreaks such turmoil
on the townspeople's lives. She is the goddess of fertility. She also gives or holds back
children; she spurns twin children who must be thrown away; she prohibits anyone
inflicted with shameful diseases from burial in her soil. To the men of Umuofia, she must
seem the embodiment of the two-faced Greek furies -- vengeful, unavoidable, and
incomprehensible. In anxiety of a divine female principle, they come down heavily indeed
on ordinary women whose lives they can control as they like. The only glory and
satisfaction these women enjoyed was being a mother. They receive respect and love from
their children. They are strong for their children. Women are viewed to be very gentle
and caring. They are expected to take care of their offspring with the best of their
ability. Women are trusted totally by their children. This honorable staging of women is
used by Achebe to identify women's role in the Ibo society. This presentation is
necessary to show that women indeed play an important role in society.