Gender Roles In Things Fall Apart

Albert Chinualamogue Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, was born into a large African village known as Ogidi in Nigeria. He would go on to receive his education in English, nonetheless, he would obtain an upbringing that was multi-cultured. This would no doubt be due to the town of Ogini, in the early 20th century, continuing traditions. While in college he would discover an interest in Indigenous Nigerians, furthermore, he would reject his Christian name Albert and instead standing by his indigenous name Chinua. In 1959, Things Fall Apart, would be published by Achebe. The novel would be a response to novels which saw Africa as uncultured and uncivilised, when in comparison to Europe. These were written by authors such as: Joseph
Many readers of this may be shocked by the way in which the lives of women in the novel are displayed. They may see the composition of women in the text as sexist and perhaps judge the main character Okonkwo as the leading ’’chauvinist ‘’ .Furthermore, there is no doubt that the author Achebe planned to show how Okonkwo’s views of the roles of men and women, how this has a major influence on both his thoughts and actions
This resistance is what alienates him in his own village. When Okonkwo arrives back to Umuofia after seven years in exile he finds it difficult to believe the transformation and is bewildered on how the people of the village have not fought back against these colonizers and the colonial power. Okonkwo says ‘’what is it that happened to our people? Why did they not fight back ‘’ (Achebe 128).Okonkwo feels isolated and confused as his rigid attitude towards Colonizers and a lack of understanding towards his fellow tribesmen leaves him in an apposition where the colonial power have become much