Things Fall Apart Essay - Value of Ibo Women

Minh Bui

Things Fall Apart Essay

Composition 10

January 5, 2012

Women's Treatment in Ibo society

The novel Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe portrays the customs of the primitive tribes of the Lower Niger river, particularly how the Ibo society was affected when white man came. Achebe describes the destruction of Okonkwo's world with the arrival of aggressive European missionaries. He shows that Ibo women are less important than men. However, the significance of Ibo women to the contribution to the economy and family yet their value are not appreciated. By that, his readers know about the treatment of ancient culture to Ibo women.

During the time period in the novel, women have no rights and they are treated as property. In a family, especially in the Ibo village, men have all the power over women. It is a normal thing for a husband to beat his wives. The novel describes two examples when Okonkwo beats his wives. The first example is when the youngest wife goes to plait her hair and she forgets to prepare the meal for her family. He beats his wife severely until the neighbors and the village priest, Ezeani, come to stop him because his action violates the sacred Week of Peace. Okonkwo is not a man who will stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess. Okonkwo knows that he is wrong, but he does not show his regret to the clan because he does not want to appear as a weak man. Another time, he beats his second wife, Ekwefi, during the New Yam Festival when she only cut a few leaves off from Okonwo's favorite tree to wrap some food and she makes criticizing comments about Okonkwo's gun not working when he wants it to. Ekwefi 's words provoke Okonkwo and he beats her seriously. He was so angry that he pointed a gun at her and almost killed her. These are examples of spousal abuse that women in Ibo culture have to bear everyday. Spousal abuse does not only happen in Okonkwo's family but in all families in the village. There is another man named Uzowulu who usually hits his wife, and one time the beating is so bad that his wife miscarries. While the village allows beatings, they discourage excessive beatings. That is why Uzowulu obeyed the egwugwu, the ancestors, when they told him to bring the wine to his wife family and beg her for forgiveness. Spousal abuse proves that women are less valuable than men in Ibo culture.

Also, women in "Things Fall Apart" are valued only as the primary educators of children. The stories that mothers tell their children every night are the way they educate and socialize their sons and daughters. Those stories entertain them, and moreover, teach them how to be a conscious and honest person. Women let children help them with their daily work. Usually, daughters are closer with their moms than their dads. They help their moms grow coco yam, feed fish, cook, and serve meals for the family. Children really trust their mothers. They find their mothers more reliable and closer than their dad. Therefore, they always want to share their secrets to their mothers and that makes the bond between them become closet, like the relationship of best friends. A good instance is Ekwefi and her daughter, Ezinma. Sometimes, Ekwefi secretly lets Ezinma eat eggs without Okonkwo's agreement, and she always calls her mother by her name. However, as the boys grow up, they are not close to their mother anymore. At that time, they are always with his father, in order to study how to be the true men of Umofia. And that is why Okonkwo always wishes that Ezinma, his daughter, was a boy because she understands and she has the characteristic of a warrior exactly what he wants. However, an example of the significance of women' role occurs when Okonkwo is exiled to his motherland. Okonkwo's uncle - Uchendu says to him, "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 mother land"