Paper 2 Analysis

Guided Question: 

To what extent has an awareness of context enriched or enhanced your understanding of Things Fall Apart?

Things Fall apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel that depicts the colonization of Nigeria in a different light. Written through the perspective of the oppressed the novel explores the different themes of power and colonization Umuofia, a town comprising of 9 villages in Southeast Nigeria. The novel follows the story of Okonkwo, the protagonist who is the clan leader. As the plot progresses one is able to understand the different aspects of the Igbo culture through the interactions he has with different characters. One understands the different culture values and traditions as well as different social statuses. Gender roles also come in to play here, where in the Igbo society the portrayal of men and women are very different to that of the modern world. When examining this novel one must also keep in mind the context and setting of this particular novel, since their cultural values are much different from other parts of the world. The following will be discuss how understanding the context of the Igbo culture helps better understand the text Things fall apart when it comes to the understanding of the different gender roles in their society.

The portrayal of women has changed immensely over time, from a time where women were not allowed to vote, to a time where women hold high stature in the social world.  Achebe aims to portray a traditional Igbo family as best as he could considering the social acceptance during the time period of colonization. The stereotypical view of women was prominent where their jobs included housekeeping, tending to the children and the well-being of the household.  Women were not seen as strong in an independent fashion but physically strong enough to carry out the manual labor of crop harvesting. Another practice which was common in referral to women, was physical abuse. Men often times used women as a way to control their anger and show stature through physically harassing them. Often times women were seen as prizes rather than human beings, and their marriages included a dowry. Although women were seen prizes they were respected in a certain way because they were seen as the more spiritual sex, hence closer to god. There were also special cases when it came to war counseling. The priestess Chielo of agbala was a woman who would take the role of the Oracle and advise the men of the village in further actions when it came to combat and areas of difficulty. By looking at these examples one can see the true nature of the civilization, where women were given a different type of respect but would have to be bestowed special gifts to be respected.

Men in the Igbo tradition were portrayed as complete opposites from women. Their power was determined by their accolades and were seen more powerful than woman. Through the characterization of Okonkwo one can see the traditional beliefs the culture has. Okonkwo is a very narrow minded character who has the fear of becoming like his father, so much that he has ensured that he is the complete opposite by creating an image for himself where he is put across as strong and brutish. The first time he gains social credibility it is for winning a physical fight against Amalizine the cat. The ideology of titles are translated quite literally where a man is made from "the robes he buys".  In the novel we see many examples of this, one of which being polygamy. Okonkwo has many wives and only because they are titles. He does not show our modern day examples of love out of fear of being seen as weak. Another example we see is the physical labour men partake in. 

Based on this information when taking on different perspectives for example a modern day lens, this novel would be seen as "offending (racist) and sexist" since the cultural values and beliefs the Igbo have are very stereotypical in relation to exactly what the world does not want to see in media today. It is important to understand and accept the fact that this is what was common in the 1890's time period and does not depict or mirror our modern day society in any way. It is easier for Africans to understand the purpose of this novel and look past all the modern day "quirks" of it than westerners, or europeans because this was their culture and essentially their roots until europeans changed because they saw it as offensive. Therefore reading things fall apart with a colonial lens in mind is important because it helps with understanding then novel for the reason it was written, telling the story of the oppressed.