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  • Essay / Okonkwo's polarized concepts of femininity and masculinity in Things Fall Apart

    The South African Igbo tribe of Umuofia, as depicted in Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" (1958), encompasses layer upon layer social complex. From birth to death, every aspect of Umuofian culture is defined by a complex balance of rituals, passed down through oral tradition. The protagonist Okonkwo seems to uphold the ways of his ancestors and represent the elite of his culture. It seems that the invasion of the colonialist empire is responsible for the disfigurement of Okonkwo's life. However, upon closer inspection, one sees that it is Okonkwo's polarized concepts of masculinity and femininity that are disfigured and that he never represented the balanced wisdom of his ancestors at all. Thus, as Achebe's juxtaposition of Okonkwo's rigid perspective and Umuofia's adaptive reality expands, the reader follows Okonkwo and his falsely gendered world into chaos. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “Okonkwo was well known in the nine villages and even beyond” (2860). The first sentence of the novel brings Okonkwo's narration directly into an internal perspective. This helps to establish a fair and largely emic vision of Umuofian culture. In this way, readers can not only observe an inclusive insight into music and dance, law and justice, and religious rituals, but also understand the practicality of values ​​such as tribal unity, hospitality brotherhood and veneration of ancestors. Each of these values ​​represents an aspect of Igbo culture essential to preserving the order of their world. Without any of these, the Igbo people would be prone to collapse into “mere anarchy”. An important emic narrative in chapter one describes the highly developed and elevated art of oration as only an initiate can: through the proverb. “Among the Igbo, the art of conversation is highly appreciated and proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten” (2862). Throughout the novel, ancestral wisdom is passed down in the form of proverbs, fables and stories. For the Igbo oral tradition, the power of story becomes the very means by which culture is transmitted – just as palm oil is necessary for an Igbo person's livelihood. Thus, it can be argued that in the story of “Things Fall Apart,” stories not only represent order, but are necessary for its maintenance. What is the wisdom that drives his “Chi” to do what he does? Okonkwo's gruff exterior should not be confused with his true feelings. On the contrary, the reader's vantage point reveals many paradoxical inner emotions. Achebe repeatedly frames Okonkwo's thoughts with the condition “inwardly.” His "slight stutter" reveals far more of his Chi than his father's skillful speech ever could. All these contradictions push the reader to investigate the truth about Okonkwo. To understand a man's Chi, you have to understand where his story begins. Just as Okonkwo's fall is framed within the context of Umuofia, the story of his father, Unoka, is also framed within Okonkwo's chronicle. The reader first learns objectively that Okonkwo's father was a creative and loving man with great potential for happiness. In the context of Igbo culture, however, it floundered; he was considered a failure. Thus Unoka retained her passion for beauty and joy, but became familiar with sadness and pain. Despite everything, man has never let the contempt of others control his behavior: Unoka literally takes his flute to his graveignominious. Okonkwo's pride makes him vulnerable where his father was not. He vividly remembers a playmate who insulted his father, putting Okonkwo to shame. This passage alludes not only to the psychological origin, but also to the cultural relevance of Okonkwo's Chi. Okonkwo's pride makes him susceptible to succumbing to his great all-consuming fear of rejection and contempt. And so, transforms his fear into motivation: to become everything his father is not and reject his father's most precious values. There is, however, another story that is spectacularly ignored by Okonkwo, and often overlooked by the reader as well. Only once, in the ninth chapter, is his mother elevated to the background of the story. A few nights after Ikemefuna's gruesome murder, Okonkwo squashes mosquitoes by his ear as he tries to sleep, and he remembers a fable his mother used to tell him. “Mosquito,” she said, “had asked Ear to marry him, whereupon she fell to the ground in uncontrollable laughter. “How long do you think you will live?” » She asked. “You’re already a skeleton. “Mosquito went away humiliated, and every time he passed by her, he told Ear that he was still alive” (2892). Okonkwo's repression of his mother's story in no way diminishes its importance or meaning. The ear, a symbol of creative power, femininity and listening, shames Mosquito with its rejection. By emphasizing his mortality, Ear cuts to the very heart of Mosquito's fear. Ear will always live and be included as long as there are stories to be told and heard. The story combines listening and life force in a female representation while impressing the reader with Mosquito's loneliness and mortality. Although the mosquito continues to live, it hums in shame, all too aware of its fragility and loneliness. Okonkwo believes that his own escape from Mosquito's fate can come through forceful manipulation of the Igbo relationship between success, age and respect. “As the ancients said, if a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands so he ate with the kings and elders” (2863). Okonkwo's need to wash his hands of shame for his father is immense. In his despair, Okonkwo sees beyond the power of storytelling and the wisdom of the ancients. He assumes real authority which rests on those who have accomplished exploits: the kings. Thus, although the proverb is true in itself, Okonkwo goes even further by internalizing it with the notion that “among these people, a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father” (2863). The outward import of this phrase objectifies the truth of its content, but also does not reflect the wisdom of Igbo elders. Obviously, to be included in Igbo life, one must be familiar with the customs, traditions and culture, all passed down from generation to generation. in the oral tradition of storytelling. Despite the considerable importance of this fact to Okonkwo, he is already motivated by fear of his father's history and therefore rejects his mother's traditions. “But it was as stupid as all women's stories,” he thinks. The dramatic irony is painful. Even his son, Nwoye, recognizes the value of the story. Okonkwo moves away from his own mother and continually shows the world his manhood with all his accomplishments. Yet, “he felt like a drunken giant walking with the limbs of a mosquito” (2887). It buzzes, reminding the ear that it is still alive. Umuofian culture uses several measures to assess a man's worth: wrestling, farming, and battle. Each task is an integral part of the community in its own way. Agriculture ensures the subsistence security of family units. The struggle brings the community together in acompetitive entertainment. The battle protects what matters most: the bowels of the community. In every field, men have equal opportunity to improve the community and be rewarded with wealth and honor. Ability and willingness will play a central role in all three tasks. A man's worth therefore rests on his physical prowess, predilection for violence, hard work and determination in Igbo culture. Okonkwo strives to acquire all of these characteristics as if his life depended on them – and the reader finds him accumulating many wives, expensive titles, lots of land, and a full barn early in his life. Such a successful man has no time to listen. to silly stories: he makes his own luck and his own wisdom. “Okonkwo both hates the memory of his father and represses the traditions of his mother” (188). It's quite easy for Okonkwo to shape his behavior based on what his father is not, and to be rewarded for that behavior by his culture. However, without any specific personal example with which to form a framework between masculine and feminine, Okonkwo must resort to cultural context to develop his identity: washing his hands to dine with kings. “In doing so, he distorts both the masculine and the feminine by keeping them strictly separate and by the ferocity of his war against the “feminine.” (188)1 In Okonkwo's determined hatred of his father's ways, he abolishes the traits that would allow him to understand the feminine. Okonkwo's concept of women in general is repeatedly controversial through impressions of individual feminine characteristics, such as his strong-willed daughter, Ekwezi. “'She should have been a boy,' he thought, looking at his ten-year-old daughter” (2893). The contradictions can be so open that even he must recognize the irony. If Umuofian culture both antagonizes Unoka while rewarding Okonkwo, while providing him with the framework for his biased perspective, then Igbo culture itself must have inherently patriarchal elements. Culturally tolerated domestic violence and unequal opportunities between the sexes are just two examples. Achebe draws criticism with the novel written to open minds and undo stereotypes. In addition to highlighting the patriarchal characteristics of the Igbo, it focuses on customs based on fear and insecurity. In the Evil Forest, ominous twins, people infested with “evil” diseases and the unknown magic of deceased healers will die: they are all offerings to the “heart of darkness” that is the Evil Forest. The undeniable presence of these customs does not, however, exclude all other aspects of Igbo culture. To simplify an entire culture in terms of black and white morality is to fall into the Okonkwo trap. However, as mentioned earlier, Igbo cultures rely on a delicate balance. Many examples of feminine aspects in culture are overlooked by Okonkwo, but not by the informed reader. During Okonkwo's lingering shame for his father, he tells the story of the powerful priestess known as Agbala. “She was full of the power of her god and she was greatly feared” (2866). Women can achieve such high status and are truly an integral part of the functioning of society. Chapter five relates that it is women who are the main domestic architects. Okonkwo once again ignores female power in the concept of dowry, illustrated in chapter eight and then fourteen. A young man must pay for the privilege of marrying a young woman, and virgins are considered particularly valuable. Okonkwo does not understand or accept the importance of women or their contribution, 2003. 95–122.