Kanyarat Tirasirichai 1208

The Impacts of Muscularity

Gender roles are presented to people as soon as becoming face to face and being a part of

this world. ​Thing Fall Apart,​ written by Chinua Achebe, takes place in an Igbo village in

Nigeria, in a society where men are superior to women. The Igbo people are one of the largest

tribal groups in Africa, they emphasize on personal achievements, and taking titles as a

leadership and respect. According to Okonkwo, the main character, he is affected by the

influences of the Igbo society and given an undertaking to become a man of the highest title and

to gain respect from all the lands. His family living in a society of male dominant, there for

Okonkwo owns his household and beats his three wives and children. Throughout today’s

society, almost every aspect of people around the world is having the same thought that males

are perceived to be powerful, straightforward, focused on tasks and stronger in many ways. On

the other hand, an aspect in the society shown that females are too soft also weaker in lots of

actions so people think that men are. ​Things Fall Apart demonstrate that feminine qualities are

considered to be weak based on the gender roles that were determined by society.

In ​Things Fall Apart​, a motherland is a good supporter for Okonkwo while a fatherland is

not. After Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village of Umuofia is death, his news was spread

throughout the village. His funeral was constructed up at the village. Okonkwo and all the other

clans were joining there. While the funeral has proceeded there was an accident happened.

Okonkwo’s gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced to one of the boy’s heart. The boy

was dead and Okonkwo flees from the clan and exiled from fatherland for seven years. He then

going back to his motherland, a place for supporting when someone feeling unwell or weakness.

An example of this can be found on line 16-29, which states "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. Is it right that you, Okonkwo, should bring to your mother

a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead. Your duty is

to comfort your wives and children and take them back to your fatherland after seven years. But

if you allow sorrow to weigh you down and kill you they will all die in exile." (Achebe, pg.134).

In the Igbo society, when a woman gets married they will move to live with her husband and

resides with them. Thus Okonkwo lives in his fatherland. When he is exiled from his fatherland,

he is forced to return to his motherland and live there for seven years. Okonkwo has only a

masculine but somehow when he feels weaker he cannot express how he really feels in the

fatherland because he is the greatest clan in the village. After he came back to his motherland

was different everybody was welcome and understand his feeling at that point. Even though he

still needs a motherland to revive himself back again.

Femininity was overcome by the domination of masculinity. Gender roles in the society

have a limitation between both females and males. The meaning of feminine is gentleness,

empathy, and sensitivity. In every society, there is a widely accepted judgment or bias in the

genders cause an unequal and unfair treatment. For women, they are often expected to be

accommodating and emotional, while men are usually expected to be self-confident and

aggressive. The domestic women behaviors are taking care of their children, cook, cleaning, and

much other stuff more, while men took control of their business or finances, do the repairing

things. Additional, in occupations as women are weaker than men so the roles of women are
nurses, teacher, and other weaker jobs that men do not take a role on it. Another point is women

are expected to be graceful, while men need to be tall and muscular. Also clothing ways between

men and women. This demonstrated by “Cooking pots went up and down the tripods and foo-foo

was pounded in a hundred wooden mortars Some of the women cooked the yams and the

cassava, and others prepared vegetable soup. Young men pounded the foo-foo or split firewood.

The children made endless trips to the stream.” (Achebe, pg.112-113). It is clear, therefore, that

women in the Igbo society only has a role to prepare food for their husband, take care of their

children, harvesting, and doing things for the household. On the other hand, men can express

their masculinity through the fight, meeting ceremony, growing yams seeds - plants that show

how strong and greatest the men in the Igbo society. Those situations make men be more

powerful but for the women, they need a protection from the men so the aspect of the whole

world makes the female look weaker by judging from the actions of the women in that ways.

In conclusion, feminine are weaker in society because of the gender and aspects of the

people from the whole world. Women were particularly having a trait of caring, supporting,

encouraging, and many more. So the aspect in the world is that woman are weaker in every way

of the actions and men can do many things more than women can. There are lots of limitations

between both genders for example jobs or a role in society. The jobs for women are looking

easier and use less power comparing to men. Moreover in the past female cannot step in or take

any part of those jobs. Although women were treated unfairly since in the past, so they have

fewer abilities to have a voice or take a role like men. There still a huge gap in our world which

could have changed in the future.

References

Planned Parenthood. (n.d.).Retrieved from

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/sexual-orientation-gender/gender-gender-identity/w
hat-are-gender-roles-and-stereotypes

Singh, N. (2017). Retrieved from

https://kalaharireview.com/masculinity-in-things-fall-apart-3c8d11fecee0