FEMINISM IN ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART AND AMMA DARKO’S HOUSEMAID

SETH N ESSIEN, UCC, 2012. LITERARTURE AND SOCIETY-TERM PAPER

Abstract

This paper underpins the notion that feminism is a social construct and that a female

person can equally portray herself as masculine through actions and words. Womanhood is

described as weak, humble and subordinates. They are physically, sexually and psychologically

abused. People have not paid much attention to it beyond going along with the assumption that

this novel presents women as a sadly oppressed group with no power. This assumption may

appear to be right, but upon delving beneath this deceiving surface, one can see that the women

of the clan hold some very powerful positions. Thus, this article is an attempt to show the

important role of women both in family and in African patriarchal society. The women’s

powerful positions in the clan deal with their functions, i.e. spiritually as the priestess,

symbolically as the earth goddess, and literally as the nurturers of the Ibo people, the caretakers

of the yam crops and the mothers and educators of the Ibo children. The discussion is based on

Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ and few other references from Amma Darko’s Housemaid.

Introduction

By revisiting the literary works of men, bringing recognition to the works of females, or

philosophizing about the feminine language present, feminist critics seek to analyze the

reflection of attitudes that have oppressed women throughout history. Men and women have

always lived different lives in every classic literary work, open to the author’s personal biases,

stereotypes or cultural traditions of the times. Chinua Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" is no

exception.

Feminism is a theory that men and women should be equal politically, economically and

socially according to Peterson (2006). This is the core of all feminism theories. Sometimes this

definition is also referred to as core feminism or core feminist theory. This theory does not

subscribe to differences between men and women or similarities between men and women, nor

does it refer to excluding men or only furthering women's causes. Most other branches of

feminism do, explains Edwards (2011). The novel is told through a male protagonist’s point of

view in nineteenth century Nigeria, and while it is a country where women had no civil rights,

women wield heavy influence over the leaders of the clan. Most women in the novel are

oppressed by western standards, but there are some instances where women free themselves from

their oppressive chains and live lives of their own. Chielo, the priestess for the Umuofia lives on

her own, is free of the dictatorship style marriages the rest of the women live. Ezinma,

Okonkwo’s daughter is the pride and joy of her father; while he fails to express his love for her

he clearly treats her better than his wives and sons, even worriedly waiting outside the cave

while Chielo is healing her.

In this story, Housemaid, we meet Efia a maid in the house of Tika, who has been single,

and is childless at the ripe old age of thirty-five. At the age of eighteen, Tika had entered into a

relationship when she met Owuraku. Owuraku was a brilliant guy who had passed his

examinations with distinction while Tika failed miserably. This made Tika to divert her attention

from education into the world of business. Her decision, however, came from the motivation of

her mother, Madam Sakyiwa who was an illiterate yet had become extremely wealthy.  Madam

Sakyiwa owed her  wealth to her  man who was a wealthy married man yet did not have a child.

And so once Madam Sakyiwa was able to give him a child – Tika, the man made her rich by

setting her up with big businesses.   Later on in the story, Tika’s father died and Tika blamed her

mother for being the cause. Feminism in Housemaid is a gender of hardship and tribulations.

All is not well between Tika and Efia. The latter, egged on by her village relatives,

secretly plots to fall “innocently” pregnant, whereupon her mother and her grandmother will

blame Tika for not taking care of their daughter, and demand some form of compensation. Their

scheme, however, falls apart. And when Tika learns the truth, greater tension is mounted

between the housemaid and her Madam. Some of the relevant themes to look out for in this novel

are that of superstition, ignorance, greed and corruption. The relatives of the young female, Efia,

use her as a sex object to exploit people for wealth. Thus, the problem of the female character is

made worse, not by the people in the street only, but by her own relatives, due to poverty.

The Housemaid  by Amma Darko is about these women lives, but it does not paint them

as passive victims as it is in Things Fall Apart. Instead, these women are fierce, cunning and do

what they need to do in order to survive. We not only see how the rich women in the story

became wealthy, but we also see the elaborate plans of a female rural family trying to escape the

poverty they are in. Other than that, we also get to see how different city life is from village life

and the price women have to pay for living in the city. Young girls know that living in the city

will lead to exploitation and uncertain job prospects, but it also beats life in the boring village.

"Life as a porter in Kumasi was not what a normal person would call living. It was survival. But

Akua knew that, come the yam festival (back in the village), the adoration she would receive in

Kataso would make all her sweat and humiliation sweet.  Like her mates, Akua had no regular

home. They all lived in unfinished buildings; when final completion work started, they moved

out. Thanks to bribe of cash and sex, workers at the building sites regularly tipped them on the

next place available for occupation" (p.32). Feminism is therefore seen as homeless people.

In her books, Darko has been keen on exploring issues concerning women as the society

in which we live in. She seems to frown on certain aspects of the woman’s world. And in The

Housemaid, right from the onset, Darko presents before the reader what is at stake for the ‘she’

in the Ghanaian society: “In Ghana, if you come into the world as a she, acquire the habit of

praying. And master it. Because you will need it, desperately, as old age pursues you, and

Mother Nature’s hand approaches you with a wry smile, paint and brush at the ready, to daub

you with wrinkles.”

She continues:

“If, on top of this, your children, wagging a desperate war

of their own for economic survival, find themselves having

too little time for you, count you among the forsaken and

forgotten; and if, crowning it all, cash, fine sweet cash, decides

it doesn’t really fancy your looks and eludes you in all nooks,

crooks and crannies, then know for sure that you are on route to

qualifying grandly as a witch.” – (p. 3).

The woman in Housemaid is an object for sexual exploitation. She is at the mercy of wicked men

of society. She is also labeled a witch when she becomes old with wrinkles on the face. Every

mishap would be attributed to the ‘old witch’. But unlike the woman in Things Fall Apart, these

women try to hustle with the men. They are not so pitiful as the women of Ibo society but resist

the wickedness of men when they could.

In Things Fall Apart, the reader follows the trials and tribulations of Okonkwo, a tragic

hero whose tragic flaw includes the fact that "his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of

failure and weakness." (pp. 16). For Okonkwo, his father Unoka embodied the epitome of failure

and weakness. Okonkwo was taunted as a child by other children when they called Unoka

agbala. Agbala could either mean a man who had taken no title or "woman." Okonkwo hated

anything weak or frail, and his descriptions of his tribe and the members of his family show that

in Ibo society anything strong was likened to man and anything weak to woman. Because

Nwoye, his son by his first wife, reminds Okonkwo of his father Unoka he describes him as

woman-like. After hearing of Nwoye's conversion to the Christianity, Okonkwo ponders how he,

"a flaming fire could have begotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate and effeminate" (pp. 143)? On

the other hand, his daughter Ezinma "should have been a boy." (pp. 61) He favored her the most

out of all of his children, yet "if Ezinma had been a boy “he” would have been happier." (63)

After killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo, who cannot understand why he is so distraught, asks himself,

"When did you become a shivering old woman?" (pp. 62) When his fellows look as if they are

not going to fight against the intruding missionaries, Okonkwo remembers the "days when men

were men." (pp.184).

In keeping with the Ibo view of female nature, they allowed wife beating. The novel

describes two instances when Okonkwo beats his second wife, once when she did not come

home to make his meal. He beat her severely and was punished but only because he beat her

during the Week of Peace. He beat her again when she referred to him as one of those "guns that

never shot." When a severe case of wife beating comes before the egwugwu, he found in favor

for the wife, but at the end of the trial a man wondered "why such a trifle should come before the

egwugwu." (p. 89)

Achebe shows that the Ibo nonetheless assign important roles to women. For instance,

women painted the houses of the egwugwu (84). Furthermore, the first wife of a man in the Ibo

society is paid some respect. This deference is illustrated by the palm wine ceremony at

Nwakibie's obi . Anasi, Nwakibie's first wife, had not yet arrived and "the others wives could

not drink before her" (22). Here, a woman is honoured above other women even among the

women themselves because of her seniority in marriage. Hence, the first wife of a man is given a

high accord of respect.

Also in another situation, the importance of woman's role appears when Okonkwo is

exiled to his motherland. His uncle, Uchendu, noticing Okonkwo's distress, eloquently explains

how Okonkwo should view his exile: "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 motherland." A man

has both joy and sorrow in his life and when the bad times come his "mother" is always there to

comfort him. Thus comes the saying "Mother is Supreme". This is one of the few instances

where women were perceived as higher than man. Throughout most of the book, women were

put down as things, not people.

Women are also revered when they occupy a priestess position. "Okonkwo pleaded with

her to come back in the morning because Ezinma was now asleep. But Chielo ignored what he

was trying to say and went on shouting that Agbala wanted to see his daughter . . . The priestess

screamed. 'Beware, Okonkwo!' she warned" (101). There is no other point in the novel in which

we see Okonkwo "plead" with anyone, male or female, for any reason. We witness a woman not

only ordering Okonkwo to give her his daughter, but threatening him as well. The fact that

Okonkwo allows this is evidence of the priestess's power. The ability of a woman to occupy the

role of a priestess, a spiritual leader, reveals a clear degree of reverence for women being present

in Ibo society.

In yet another instance in the novel, women are portrayed as more powerful than men,

"Okonkwo was also feeling tired, and sleepy, for although nobody else knew it, he had not slept

at all last night. He had felt anxious..." This is another time when women have more power than

the men know. Here, Okonkwo lost sleep with worry over his "women", even though society

would point to the conclusion that the women are just property- nothing to actually care about.

While women are vastly subjugated in the novel they are not oppressed for the times and the

region they live in; in fact women show signs of independence from the tyranny of normality that

so many generations of women in the region had endured.

In the novel, the secondary status attributed to a woman by the male community is clearly

portrayed. The novel establishes the notion that certain roles are imposed upon the women and

the women are the silent and obedient receivers of the jobs assigned to them without rights to

show any sign of objection against it. When Ezinma ordered Okonkwo to bring him a chair, he

replies, “No, that is a boy's job” (pp. 41). The women are not supposed to engage in the

agriculture of the Yams because “His (Okonkwo) mothers and sisters worked hard enough, but

they grew women's crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a

man's crop”. (pp. 21).

Another pathetic situation is that the women themselves internalize the stereotyping done

by the patriarchal society. According to Kate Millet in Sexual Politics, women themselves are

responsible, to a considerable extent, for their state of being victimized. The result of this

internalization of the male discourse by the women is that they fail to identify the trap in which

they are caught. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe also suggests the same idea. When Okonkwo was

a child, his father Unoka would go to the priestess, Chika to inform his plaintive state of affairs

due to his failure in the harvest of yam crops. Then the priestess suggested him to “go home and

work like a man” (pp. 16). This order of Chika indicates that even Chika internalizes the notion

that hard work is the attribute of a man and not of a woman. Achebe particularly says that the

priestess in those days was a woman called Chika. She indirectly suggests that Unoka is woman-

like. So, working hard as a man does alone can bring the success in the field of agriculture. The

women themselves think that they are too weak in labour to produce yam crops.

As mentioned above, there were crops designed to be cultivated for men and women

separately. Even a priestess in the novel is not exempted from that stereotyping of the women

community. Unoka is represented as passive, lethargic and one without any title. These are the

negative attributes given to him. These negative aspects of one's life are considered to be

womanish though a male character shows them.

Another circumstance used to carve women is the view that women are object for

compensation. It is very pathetic to let a woman suffer as a victim of war in the name of peace

for all. The elders, or ndichie, met to hear a report of Okonkwo’s mission. At the end they

decided, as everybody knew they would, that the girl should go to Ogbuefi Udo to replace his

murdered wife. As for the boy, he belonged to the clan as a whole, and there was no hurry to

decide his fate. (2.11). While the young boy’s fate remains undecided, the virgin girl’s fate is

quickly sealed. For someone else’s crime, she must give up the life she has known, her

maidenhood, and her hand in marriage to a complete stranger. This new girl seems to be

considered a complete replacement for Ogbuefi Udo’s former wife, implying that women are

essentially all the same and therefore interchangeable. In the Akan history of matrilineal

inheritance, a similar incidence occurred. A virgin was used for sacrifice to save a dying king.

The gods demanded a virgin girl for the sacrifice. That virgin happens to be the niece of the king.

So, when the king got well, it was decreed that only children of a brother’s sister or nephews and

nieces should inherit their uncles, hence matrilineal inheritance. Basically, women are passed

around like mere objects in the Igbo world.

In Igbo society, a man without any title is a man without bravery. So he is also feminine.

“That was 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” (pp. 13) If a woman shows the positive

qualities like courage, hard work, confidence and enthusiasm, the patriarchic society does not

recognize it. The society has already constructed what a woman should have and what she should

not have. If she has so called manly qualities, they are thought to be abnormal or antisocial or

something against the destiny. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo says about his daughter Ezinma

like this, “'She should have been a boy', he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter”

(pp. 57-58). Okonkwo says this because she serves him very much in a bold and enthusiastic

way. She is very active in every matters, she is very enthusiastic and hard working in nature. She

is very helpful to his family. But, Okonkwo cannot approve of these qualities in the girl, because

these are considered to be manly traits. So, Ezinma is not supposed to show her own personal

features.

In another incident, “The priestess comes and says Agbala wants to meet Ezinma, Ekwefi

firmly says to follow her. Then the priestess says. 'How dare you, woman, to go before the

mighty Agbala of your own accord? Beware, woman, lest he strike you in his anger” (pp. 92). A

woman like Ekwewfi is considered to be insufficient to show the courage and boldness in front

of Agbala, though it is for her own child's safety that she does it. The astonishment, 'how dare

you, woman' (pp. 92) expressed by the priestess, Chielo towards Ekwefi, sends the message that

the woman is not expected to express courage and strength. Women are represented from the

negative and distorted angle.

In addition, the traditional ceremonies and conventions are male centered. In Things Fall

Apart Achebe draws it in a vivid way by portraying a ceremony in the village, Ilo. He explains

that crowds gathered for the ceremony. Then, “It was clear from the way the crowd stood or sat

that the ceremony was for men. There were many women, but they looked on the fringe like

outsiders” (pp. 79). Even in a ceremonial function, the women are marginalized. They are treated

as mere onlookers. It means that the discriminations against women are practiced even in public

life. In the personal life of Igbo people, the discrimination against women is too much to bear.

They underwent many tortures imposed by the men in the family. Okonkwo breaks the peace

during the week of peace by beating his youngest wife. A man's identity itself is measured by the

way he treats the women in his home. A man is considered good if he is able to successfully

control the women and children in his family. The words, “No matter how a prosperous a man

was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children; especially his women, he was not

really a man” (pp. 48), indicate this fact. In the private life of a woman too, she has no right to

think what to do. Everything is decided by the males in the family. Her role is so passive that she

receives the order given by the male members of the family. It is easily perceptible from the

order of Okonkwo that, “Do what you are told, woman,” (pp. 14).

So these customs are constructed and practiced as an institutionalizing and legalizing

apparatuses for the exploitation of the women in a phalocentric social system. Women are

represented as the subordinates and are not given any vital roles in the society. Okonkwo's exile

and his life for seven years during exile are clearly portrayed. The desperate state of his

psychological state during exile is vividly represented by the novelist. But, the sufferings of the

women and children due to the exile of the family do not occupy any considerable space in the

novel. When Okonkwo commits suicide, three women turn widows and become isolated. There

is no allusion to how their life would be after the death of Okonkwo. In other words, the novel,

Things Fall Apart silences the very voice of women.

Apart from being oppressed under the usual stigma of ethnicity, race etc., the women are

supplemented with the inferiority caused by the negative attributes of their gender too. As far as

a black woman is concerned (for example, the wives of Okonkwo), she has to wear the burden of

the marginalization and humiliation caused by both of their race and gender. But the males only

suffer the racial discriminations and the consequent violations perpetrated by the dominant

groups. So, women have to face an added or double oppression both from the male community

and from the colonizers. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo's wives are severely beaten by

Okonkwo. Apart from that, they also are the scapegoats of the cultural transitions caused by the

colonial invasion and occupations. As indicated above, beating Okonkwo's wife is naturalized

and internalized by herself. But, another serious issue is that it cannot be sidelined as a mere

instance of a strained relationship between a husband and wife.

Moreover, these kinds of tortures upon women are naturalized by the social system they

are part of. Though there is a council of elders in Umuofia to discuss serious issues and to make

judgment of them, they are not ready to deal with these issues. What is more, they elevate the

figures like Okonkwo even without castigating or warning him for his beating of his wife. So,

Even though it happens at domestic level, it is obvious inequality of the genders known to the

public. Okonkwo is only a representative figure of these inequalities deliberately unnoticed by

the concerned social and cultural authority. Kirsten Holst Peterson in his First Things First:

Problems of a Feminist Approach to African Literature says that, “my sense of humor has always

stopped short at the pleasant little joke about Okonkwo being punished, not for beating his wife,

but for beating her during the week of peace.” (pp. 237). Here, the offence done against the

woman is given less significance than that done at a particular time. “The elders, or ndichie, met

to hear a report of Okonkwo’s mission. At the end they decided, as everybody knew they would,

that the girl should go to Ogbuefi Udo to replace his murdered wife.” Women are seen as

replaceable, as they can be exchanged for one another. “As a matter of fact the tree was very

much alive. Okonkwo’s second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food, and

she said so. Without further argument, Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her

only daughter weeping.” They are expected to be there for the men to beat if something goes

wrong (even if it was not their fault). Women are seen as little better than slaves to men. Men

take on more than one wife, many times within years; more wives mean more power to a man.

The wives are expected to be there for the children but not to stand up for them.

Odukwe: “The law of Umuofia is that if a woman runs away from her husband her bride-price is

returned.” Women are treated like pieces of property, worth a set sum of money, which can be

exchanged from man to man. However, women are allowed to run away from their husbands.

There is no "punishable by death" law that keeps men and women together. They can separate, as

long as the bride-price is returned. “With two beautiful grown-up daughters his return to

Umuofia would attract considerable attention. His future sons-in-law would be men of authority

in the clan. The poor and unknown would not dare come forth. (20.14)” Okonkwo cares not for

having daughters, just that they will help him to get back on top by giving them up to men of

authority. Then again, he is still proud of his daughters for being so beautiful. “It’s true that a

child belongs to its father. But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in it mother’s hut.

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 motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is

buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme.” This is one of the few instances

where women were perceived as higher than man. Throughout most of the book, women were

put down as things, not people. "Okonkwo pleaded with her to come back in the morning

because Ezinma was now asleep. But Chielo ignored what he was trying to say and went on

shouting that Agbala wanted to see his daughter . . . The priestess screamed. 'Beware, Okonkwo!'

she warned" (101). There is no other point in the novel in which we see Okonkwo "plead" with

anyone, male or female, for any reason. We witness a woman not only ordering Okonkwo to

give her his daughter, but threatening him as well. The fact that Okonkwo allows this is evidence

of the priestess's power. The ability of a woman to occupy the role of a priestess, a spiritual

leader, reveals a clear degree of reverence for women being present in Ibo society. "Okonkwo

was also feeling tired, and sleepy, for although nobody else knew it, he had not slept at all last

night. He had felt anxious..." This is another time when women have more power than the men

know. Here, Okonkwo lost sleep with worry over his "women", even though society would point

to the conclusion that the women are just property- nothing to actually care about. While women

are vastly subjugated in the novel they are not oppressed for the times and the region they live in;

in fact women show signs of independence from the tyranny of normality that so many

generations of women in the region had endured. Using a feminist critique to analyze "Things

Fall Apart" brings up interesting discussion and thoughts that are missed upon a general reading.

By analyzing the novel through the feminist perspective, women can be seen as both oppressed

and treated well at the same time. However, it still leads to the conclusion that women were

definitely secondary to men. This is a positive of the feminist critique. It leads to a new world of

questions and thoughts and ways to look at the cultural setting of the novel. 

Despite being thought provoking, the feminist critique can leave much meaning in the

novel ignored. For instance, by only looking for the feminist part, it can be forgotten that Achebe

was trying to make the novel as accurate for the time period as possible. He isn’t attempting to

make some statement about the oppression of women; he is just telling the facts like it was back

then. By focusing on that little part of the novel, the bigger conflict of the invasion of the white

men can be forgotten or overlooked. 

Using the feminist approach helps to provide a new perspective in the novel, "Things Fall

Apart". Rather than just follow Okonkwo, we can get a slightly better idea of the woman's view.

It has its disadvantages too, because if you rely on it too much, you can start to neglect other key

information. I think it is useful to look at "Things Fall Apart" from a feminist point of view

because it allows the reader to look at characters differently and also can help the reader

understand the African society displayed in the book. Looking at the novel from a feminist point

of view does highlight negative aspects of the society and of the characters, but I don’t believe

the book was made to be sexist or to have a negative attitude towards women. The author,

Chinua Achebe, was simply painting a picture of the African culture that the characters lived in.

Using a feminist perspective when reading "Things Fall Apart" brings up the idea that women

were suppressed in Africa. Though some women have power (those who are involved with

religion), most are treated as nothing more than property for men. Yet, the purpose of "Things

Fall Apart" is to show the Africans response to white men coming and taking over, not how

women are treated in Africa. If a person is to look at only how women are treated, they miss the

historical aspect of the book. They will miss the new perspective on the white people moving

into other people’s lands just for their own gain. Looking "Things Fall Apart" through a feminist

perspective is not the best way of looking at this book, as a reader would miss the essential point.

While the feminist perspective gives the reader a new aspect of the novel, the researcher finds it

to be unnecessary compared to other analytical views. A large number of the famous feminist

analysis are written by women who are biased against men; they write them with the sole

purpose of making men look lesser, violent, or abusive, and in many of the famous novels they

are. Okonkwo beats one of his wives during peace week and tries to shoot another, and while by

western and modern standards this is completely unacceptable in nineteenth century Nigeria this

was acceptable, in fact this book leans towards women becoming more independent from men,

Chielo and Ezinma are prime examples. Both are strong willed and have the capabilities to lead

their own lives free from the traditionally patriarchal society. While the feminist perspective of

analytical views can be useful for a reader trying to view characters in a different way, the

perspective is too easily biased not only by some sexist men readers but female readers as well.

It is useful to look at "Things Fall Apart" from a feminist point of view because it allows

the reader to look at characters differently and also can help the reader understand the African

society displayed in the book. Looking at the novel from a feminist point of view does highlight

negative aspects of the society and of the characters, but the researcher believes the book was

made to be sexist or to have a negative attitude towards women. The author, Chinua Achebe, was

simply painting a picture of the African culture that the characters lived in. Using a feminist

perspective when reading "Things Fall Apart" brings up the idea that women were suppressed in

Africa. Though some women have power such as those who are involved with religion, most are

treated as nothing more than property for men. Yet, the purpose of "Things Fall Apart" is to

show the Africans response to white men coming and taking over, not how women are treated in

Africa. If a person is to look at only how women are treated, they miss the historical aspect of the

book. They will miss the new perspective on the white people moving into other people’s lands

just for their own gain. Looking "Things Fall Apart" through a feminist perspective is not the

best way of looking at this book, as a reader would miss the essential point. While the feminist

perspective gives the reader a new aspect of the novel the researcher finds it to be unnecessary

compared to other analytical views. Okonkwo beats one of his wives during peace week and tries

to shoot another, and while by western and modern standards this is completely unacceptable in

nineteenth century Nigeria this was acceptable, in fact this book leans towards women becoming

more independent from men, Chielo and Ezinma are prime examples. Both are strong willed and

have the capabilities to lead their own lives free from the traditionally patriarchal society. While

the feminist perspective of analytical lives can be useful for a reader trying to view characters in

a different way, the perspective is too easily biased not only by some sexist men readers but

female readers as well.

In the 19th century, in Nigeria, women were socialized to fill specific roles in their

society. However, it is important to note that these women, while assigned to different social

strata, did not necessarily view themselves as victimized or downtrodden. Women’s roles in pre -

colonial Nigerian society were often complementary to those of men. Nigeria, home to the Igbo

people, is made up primarily of patriarchal societies. Igbo society shows prominent male

dominance. In Igbo society, anything strong is likened to men and anything weak to women.

Husband is the head of the family. Bigamy is allowed because the measure of man’s success is

mainly based upon the number of wives he has, the size of his barn, and the title he has taken.

In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, women also show their important role as the primary

educators for their children. They usually educate their children through the ritual of storytelling

and showing good manner as well as behavior to their children. They educate and socialize the

children, inspire their curiosity to the social values, relationships and the human conditions. The

stories the women tell also help the children develop their artistic consciousness, in addition to

entertain them. Okonkwo’s wives

also tell about some stories to their children in order to entertain and give them some valuable

lessons. They join together when they hear a folk story told by their mother. The narrator

describes:

Low voices, broken now and again by singing,

reached Okonkwo from his wives’ huts as each

woman and her children told folk stories. Ekwefi and

her daughter, Ezinma, sat on a mat on the floor. It was

Ekwefi’s turn to tell a story”. (Achebe, 2000: 67)

The quotation above shows that Ekwefi tells a story to Okonkwo’s children. Ekwefi tells the

story not only to entertain them abut also to give them some moral values that they can apply in

their daily life. It is through storytelling that the children learn important lessons about the

human condition, are taught the Ibo creation myths, such as the birds and the tortoise story, and

master the art of communicating by retelling the stories themselves. As stated in the novel,

"Among Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with

which words are eaten" (p. 5). The Ibo women are playing a significant role in the facilitation of

this learning, which is vital to their children's ability to function within the Ibo culture.

Again, in Igbo culture, it is practically a disgrace to be borne as a female. The attitude is

apparent in considering the emphasis placed on women to bear sons in order to carry the honour

of the family. When a woman has given birth to her third son in succession, her husband

slaughters a goat for her, and it has been the custom in the society. Woman is honoured if she

could bear strong sons to carry on a great famiy’s name and honour. It means that in Things Fall

Apart, women are viewed mainly as child bearers and help mates for their husbands. Due to the

phallocentric notion that women must produce many hardy, male progenies to be valued within

their cultural milieu, Ekwefi is considered a cursed woman because after ten live births, only one

child, a daughter named Ezinma, survives. Okonkwo’s first wife has already had three sons, all

strong and healthy. When she gave birth to her third son in succession, Okonkwo slaughtered a

goat for her, as the custom. This condition is diverse in the case of Ekwefi, Okonkwo’s second

wife, who has given birth to ten children but nine of them have died in infancy, usually before

the age of three. Ekwefi, who is actually a well of knowledge, love, and fierce independence, has

endured much heartache and stigmatism. However, instead of continuing to lament her

adversity, Ekwefi devotes her time and energy to the one chi ld who does live, and finds solace

in her relationship with her only daughter, Ezinma. Although ailing she seems determined to

live. Ekwefi believes deep inside her that Ezinma has come to stay. She believes because it is

that faith alone that gives her own life and kind of meaning. She is determined to nurse her child

to health, and she puts all her being into it. Her love to Ezinma can be seen when Ezinma, late

one night, is brought by Priestess, Chielo, the powerful Oracle of Umuofia to a cave for a

spiritual encounter with the earth goddess. Terrified as well as feared harm might come to her

daughter; Ekwefi follows the Oracle at a distance.

Ezinma did not call her mother Nne like all children.

She called her by her name, Ekwefi, as her father and

other grown-up people did. The relationship between

them was not only that of mother and child. There

was something in it like the companionship of equals,

which was strengthened by such little conspiracies as

eating eggs in the bedroom (p. 54).

The relationship between Ekwefi and Ezinma is more than that between a mother and a child. It

is like the relationship between two true friends. Ekwefi devotes her time and energy to Ezinma

as she is the one child who does live. She is the only child and the center of Ezinma. Ezinma

calls her mother by her name, signifying the development of an autonomous, effectual being.

Ezinma and Ekwefi share a bond that is unlike most other parental ties in the novel: they are

virtually equals. Their affiliation is based on mutual love, respect, and understanding. They share

secret moments, such as eating eggs in the confines of her bedroom (eggs are considered a

delicacy) . Thus, this maternal connection becomes a caveat for Okonkwo and traditional society

because he cannot control the depths of love and the shared enthusiasm between mother and

daughter.

Religion also plays important roles in gender stratification of Igbo people. Female gods

are emphasized as fertile and social caretakers, reinforcing the social roles designated by society.

Religion is also used to prevent women from overstepping the social order by inspiring fear of

retribution from spiritual powers of disobedience. An excellent example of powerful women in

the Ibo village is found in the role they play in the Ibo religion. The women routinely perform

the role of priestess. The narrator recalls that during Okonkwo's boyhood:

The priestess in those days was a woman called

Chika. She was full of the power of her god, and she

was greatly feared. (p. 12)

The present priestess is Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the hill and the Caves. In

ordinary life, Chielo is a widow with two children. Anyone seeing Chielo in ordinary life would

hardly believe that she is the same person who prophesies when the spirit of Agbala is upon her.

She can do something that is impossible to be done by a woman. It seems illogical that a society

that views its female members as inferior beings would represent their most powerful deity as

being a woman. However, it happens in Igbo society, and in order to honour the earth goddess,

the Feast of the New Yams is held before the harvest begins.

The ideas of women's power being attached to nature is also found in Chapter fourteen,

when Okonkwo returns to his mother's clan after being exiled from the Ibo village. Uchendu,

reproaching Okonkwo for his sorrow about having to come to live with his mother's clan,

explains:

It's true that a child belongs to its father. But when a

father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its

mother's hut. 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

motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She

is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is

supreme. (p. 94-95)

Conclusion

Using a feminist critique to analyze "Things Fall Apart" brings up interesting discussion

and thoughts that are missed upon a general reading. By analyzing the novel through the feminist

perspective, women can be seen as both oppressed and treated well at the same time. However, it

still leads to the conclusion that women were definitely secondary to men. This is a positive of

the feminist critique. It leads to a new world of questions and thoughts and ways to look at the

cultural setting of the novel. 

The socially constructed rules and regulations from the andocentric point of view and the

negative representations of the women in the literary circles are significantly portrayed in the

novel. By the way of silencing the voice of the women, their marginalization is facilitated.

Women's roles are determined by men, and if a woman transgresses the line drawn by the male

centered society, she is considered to be unfit to the so called normal codes and disciplines of the

entire society. Even the government and political leaders who are supposed to act against

injustice and discrimination in the society seem be indifferent towards the oppression of women.

Despite being thought provoking, the feminist critique can leave much meaning in the

novel ignored. For instance, by only looking for the feminist part, it can be forgotten that Achebe

was trying to make the novel as accurate for the time period as possible. He is not attempting to

make some statement about the oppression of women; he is just telling the facts like it was back

then. By focusing on that little part of the novel, the bigger conflict of the invasion of the white

men can be forgotten or overlooked. Using the feminist approach helps to provide a new

perspective in the novel, "Things Fall Apart". Rather than just follow Okonkwo, we can get a

slightly better idea of the woman's view. It has its disadvantages too, because if you rely on it too

much, you can start to neglect other key information.

Reference

Achebe, C. (1958). Things Fall Apart. New Delhi: Allied Publishers.

Edwards, J. D.(2011). Post colonial Literature: a Readers' Guide to Essential Criticism. New

York: Palgrave Macmillan,

Peterson, K. H. (2006). “First Things First: Problems of a Feminist Approach to African

Literature.” The Post Colonial Studies Reader. (2nd edi) Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and

Helen Tiffin. Newyork: Routledge.

Akogbéto, P. C., & Koukpossi, A. O. (2015). Gender Issues in the Lion and the Jewel. A

Linguistics-Oriented Analysis from a Systemic Functional Grammar and Critical Discourse

Analysis Perspective. Communication and Linguistics Studies, 1(2), 26-34.

Asiyanbola, A. R. (2005). Patriarchy, male dominance, the role and women empowerment in

Nigeria. Paper submitted for presentation as poster at the International Union for the Scientific

Study of Population (IUSSP/UIESP) XXV International Population Conference Tours, France.

Butler, J. (1988). Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and

Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal, 40(4), 519-531.

Butler, J. (1999). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Great Britain:

Routledge.