Women in Things Fall Apart (Week 2)

Rosiah Binti Omar

1. How are the women treated in the novel? Do all members in the community agree with the status quo? Why? 

"Sit like a woman!" Okonkwo shouted at her. Ezinma brought her two legs together and stretched them in front of her”(Chp 5), this quote obviously showed the great power and difference between males and females in an household in an Igbo society. In Things Fall Apart, women considered as a second-class citizens which means that in the society, they are disregarded and voiceless because they believe that women have no right to talk about their own opinion. For example in this novel, women plant maize, beans, and melons meanwhile for the men, they have been given the trust by the society to plant yam. Okonkwo said that “Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed”. The society treated women as their servant because the job of women in the community is to serve their husband in every way possible, they should cook, doing all the chores and help out in repairing the huts. They also needed to be good storytellers to tell the young children the origin of their life.  For example, Mother tells stories how to behave themselves to attract husbands, serve husbands to win their hearts.

However, not all of the community agree with the status quo. Every women in the society cannot voiced out and express their dissatisfaction. They just do the things that have been order or command by the men. For example, Okonkwo said to his wives "Do what you are told woman". Everything that his wives did were based on a orderly routine constructed by Okonkwo and everybody had to listen to him regardless of whether he was right or wrong.

 2.  What contributions are made by the Igbo women to the survival of their culture? 

Even though women in the society were considered as weak and low-class, their contribution to the survival of their culture was really big. They take care of the children, do all the housework, serve as priestesses, tell the stories to their daughter, and build relationships with other villages. Those are the contributions of women in the Igbo community. For example, Ezinma’s mother, Ekwefi, who tells her daughter the fairy tale about the Tortoise: “Tortoise saw all these preparations and soon discovered what it all meant? That is why Tortoise's shell is not smooth”. Ekwefi told Enzima the stories of Tortoise which has moral value in it that can make her daughter understand about life.

3. What are the changes in women’s roles in this present world?

In this present world, women’s roles in the community are no longer as a servant and have no right to voiced out their opinion. This modern society allows women to voiced out their opinion whether they agree or not and they also have the right to further their studies to the higher level as high as men. Women can have far greater opportunity in social, political, and commercial endeavors rather than the past. For example, in the novel, women only stay at home, raise their children and do all the chores but in this present day, we can see that women also can have a career even though they have children. Nowadays, women are the same level as men. They also can do what men can; women can be a pilot, engineer and army. Women's traditional role as wives and mothers has not disappeared but has been reinvented to fit in with the needs of the society.