Things Fall Apart: Gender Roles and Toxic Masculinity Thesis

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The 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, follows the life of the protagonist, Okonkwo, a leader and a local athletic hero in a made-up Nigerian hamlet, named Umuofia. The novel is divided into three very distinct sections— the first which examines the family of the hero, another his personal perspective and lineage along with the current societal customs, the following sections look at the influence of outsiders on the village such as colonists from the United Kingdom and missionaries of the Christian faith. Despite these clear separations within the book, there is a consistent treatment of gender and gender roles that paint a disturbing picture. Achebe’s novel shows the scathing legacy of destruction that strict gender roles can unleash upon society. The strict divisions of gender and gendered work, along with gendered roles in society, are one of the ways this society manifests fear. Rather than confronting the source of the fear, the society at large and its leaders allow this fear to create dysfunction, even if that dysfunction wields much destruction.

In the society of Umoufia, all things connected women or to things that are female or feminine, are considered weaker or subordinate. One of the most flagrant ways in which this manifests is in the treatment of crops: crops were either male or female and the most profitable, nutrient crops were always male. Consider the following: “His mother and sister worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like cocoa-yams, beans and cassava. Yams, the kind of crops, was a man’s crops” (Achebe 1996, p.16). This is just another way in which the author demonstrates how in this society, all things which are at the pinnacle of excellence are masculine; all things which are subordinate are feminine. By constructing society in this way, the leaders of the village can be certain that women will feel inferior and will feel less than, and thus “know their place.”

Umoufia society is a judgmental one, and there are very clear expectations regarding how women should act, the ideal qualities ascribed to them, and how men should act. It is disgraceful if men should ever embody qualities that are considered feminine. Such disgrace is something Okonkwo is made to understand firsthand. His father is known to be a failure by everyone in the village in part because he is lazy and in part because of his lack of accomplishments. In the midst of his failures, the father is given the term “agbala”: “That is how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken no title” (Achebe, 1996 p. 10). This quote showcases a very revelatory aspect of the society and their perspective upon the worth and value of a woman.

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A man who has no title is one who has made a minimal financial contribution and essentially has the flimsy value of a woman to society. This piece of evidence serves yet again to demonstrate how the dysfunctional treatment of women within this society is only helping to sow the seeds of their own destruction and the ultimate weakness and demise of the village.

Furthermore, the fact that the society Okonkwo is a member of, so readily demeans his father only helps to create an obsession within the protagonist to become a champion of masculinity, something that ultimately turns toxic (Osei-Nyame, 1999). “Okonkwo’s masculinity becomes a defensive resource and his adherence to a masculine philosophy will thenceforth order his world. In articulating his identity and justifying his actions, he cultivates his masculinity as a defense of personal honor in the face of potentially overwhelming circumstances in an antagonistic universe” (Osei-Nyame, 1999, p.10). And the universe of this village is indeed antagonistic: by constructing such severe gender roles and societal boundaries between genders, the village ensures there is subjugation, fear and tension. Femininity becomes feared and reviled as masculinity becomes a shield to defend oneself with (Osei-Nyame, 1999). Okonkwo’s preoccupation with all things masculine is consistently manifested in his overdramatic assertiveness and his outrageous rejection of particular qualities considered female, such as being gentle or idle. This is just another manifestation of how this society rejects all things feminine and in doing so, rejects a side of its very self and its very history.

As one scholar writes, Okonkwo has a complex and tortured relationship with his father, but the book only makes one direct mention of his mother, presumably the person who spent the most time with him as a child (Jeyifo, 1993). Okonkwo refers to telling the boys of the village stories of violence and bloodshed as they sat with him in his obi, and his son, Nwoye “knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories his mother used to tell him, and which she no doubt still told to her younger children, stories of the tortoise and his wily ways…” (Achebe, 1996, p.38). This excerpt demonstrates the sadness inherent in this toxic masculinity. Young boys are encouraged to dismiss the wonder and imagination of their childhood in exchange to cultivate a thirst of bloodshed. This passage also demonstrates how unnatural forcing this violence and bloodshed is on these young boys: they don’t naturally take to it and instead miss the charming and imaginative stories of their youth. Achebe further demonstrates the lengths of this toxic masculinity that is taken….....

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