Things Fall Apart Masculinity English Literature Essay

Things Fall obscure Masculinity position Literature EssayOur lives are influenced by our peers and on that point supposes. For instances, Ibo tribes in Africa imagine in male maleness and dominance, such that all individuals are well-read from a adolescent age to understand the concept of male superiority. Any hot digging who strays external from this believe is shunned by the community or considered watery. In Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart the main character Okonkwos life is based upon the believe of male masculinity and tight work. He prides himself on his masculinity and does not accept disappointment or impuissance of both kind including any from his family members.An example of an individual that Okonkwo despised and does not accept was Okwonkos stupefy Unoka. To the community he was weak and considered to not be a true firearm. He was a mischance in the eyes of society and constantly burrowed money. Unoka had only taken one wife and was un able to support his family. This unfitness to support his family stemmed from his swelled work ethic and laziness. When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt (pg. 5). Due to his failure Unoka was frequently called an Agbala, which is a word that means a wo bit or an aggravate that describes a man that has taken no titles. Seeing his father inability to give for the family Okwonko devoted his life to hard work and to hate e genuinelything his father loved. Unokas failures sculpted Okwonko to the man he was in the novel he became hard wor might and despised laziness. He was the comp allowe opposite of Unoka, earning many an other(a)(prenominal) titles, having many wives and being a successful man.All aspects of Okonkwos life were devoted to masculinity. yet when farming he was conditioned by his clansmen that yams their staple array is the tabby of crops. This is however the male dominance in the Ibo culture because males will be the only people able to provide f or the family. When his family was working hard to provide nutriment he thought it would not help because they could not set out yams. He thought that His mother and sisters worked hard enough, solely they grew womens crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava.(pg. 19) and that yam plant, the king of crops, was a mans crop (pg. 19). These believe caused him to seek yams seeds at a young age to try to help grow crops for his family.Masculinity is so meaning(a) to Okonkwo that he would have done everything he could to pr yett anyone from questioning his masculinity. This is cod to his father failure and position in the Ibo community. Every time he felt weak Okonkwo was reminded of his father failure and how he was not able to provide for his family. Which lead Okonkwo to even participated in the killing of his adoptive son Ikemefuna because he was afraid of being thought weak (pg. 53). Afterward he slumped into a period of depression because of his actions. Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna (pg.55). His view of masculinity is so high that he was even willing to kill his loved ones. ace of the main traits of masculinity that Okonkwo believed in was the ability to control everyone in his shack call for. He believed that all people must obey what he says in house and do what they were told. Whenever any of his wives talked back or tried to argue with him he would beat them. Okonkwo ruled his kinsfolk with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper (pg. 10). In addition he believed that no matter how prosperous a man was, if he was uneffective to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man (pg.46). This is why he would always talk down to his children and wives to show that he is the way figure in the house and if anyone one would question this he would beat them.Overall Okonkwo refused to accept any mutual oppositions of someone ch allenging his authority as the leader of his house hold. During The New Yam Festival, a holiday that is celebrated by feasting an argument arises between Okonkwo and his second wife Ekwefi. The New Yam Festival was a time of relaxation but in the eyes of Okonkwo it is a sign of laziness which he hates so very much. This causes him to become angry and in a fit he complains nigh a banana tree which Ekwefi cut some leaves form. Without further argument Okwonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her only lady friend weeping (pg. 33). Okwonko became even more enraged when he heard her murmured something about guns that never shot (pg. 33), an insult on his poor hunting skills and shot at her with his gun. Luckily for Ekwefi he missed, but this proved how any sign of defiance or challenge to his masculinity is unacceptable to him in anyway. passim the novel Okonkwo does not show any signs of compassion for his children. In his opinion it is effeminate and a sign of weakness. Th is is likewise the reason why he never shows any love for his daughter Enzima. He even verbalise that he will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan (pg. 28) and that he would alternatively strangle him with his own hands. (pg.28). At one point he scolded Nyowe his eldest son and Ikemefuna his adoptive son about how to grow yams properly. Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were quiet too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. save he thought that one could not begin too early. Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one gravest to another was a very great man indeed (pg. 28). This shows how important being a man is and how being effeminate will not be tolerated in his household patch he is alive.Okwonko even put his favorite child in danger because of his masculinity. When Ezinma fell sick Ekwefi wanted to take action, but the seer would not let her. Okwonko did not try to stop the visionary even thought he loved Ezinma. He was afraid that if he showed any compassion he would be thought of as less of a man. Ekwefi could not even take any action for her own daughters pastime for it was against the tradition and culture of their village Umofia. Ekwefi already lost five other children at young ages but now that Ezinma had come to ten age of age she refuse to let anything hurt her. She did everything she could to protect her. Even onward Ezinma was born Okonkwo hired a medicine man to help pass away rid of the bad spirit that was haunting her. The doctor ordered that there should be no more mourning for the dead child. Then he took it away to bury in the Evil Forest, holding it by the mortise-and-tenon joint and dragging it on the ground behind him. (pg. 69). Yet Okwonko let the Oracle take Enzima away and only went looking for her after a while because it was the manly thing to do.Okwonkos belief in the Ibo masculine lifestyle in conclusion leads him to h is death. He wanted to take action and kill everyone who was trying to variety his way of life that he grew up with. When the messengers came to stop the gathering Okonkwo move his machete(pg. 176) and cut the lead messenger down. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwos machete descended doubly and the mans head lay beside his uniformed body. (pg. 176). Then everyone started to panic and question why he killed the messengers. That was when he realized his way of life was over because they let the other messengers escape. Later on he committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree. This shows that he was so ingrained in his cultures lifestyle that when it was taken away he had nothing left to live for.Okonkwos believe of masculinity lead him to beat his own children and wife. In addition it similarly lead him to kill one of his loved ones. Even thought he loved Ikemfuna like a son he hated weakness so much because of his father laziness and inability t o support his family. Okonkwos also believes that yams are the king of all crops like all his clansmen does because it is the staple crop of the Ibo people of Africa. He is so ingrained in the belief of masculinity that he commits suicide when he discovered his way of life that he lived his entire life had been taken away from him. We live our lives based on the ideas of people around us and when it is gone we are gone with it such in the case of Okonkwo.Words 1502