“Discuss the differential impact of contact with the English on men and women in Umuofia.” How were traditional gender roles changed as a result of this contact?

Gender Roles in Things Fall Apart

Nigerian author Chinua Achebe published Things Fall Apart ' in 1958 and had a large impact on the literature and civil rights communities This novel about the way that his tribal ancestors had lived during the 1800s and 1900s is important for showing that Africans had a unique and developed culture that was later hidden by the white cultures that eventually came in to conquer them . In particular , the distinction in gender values between the tribes of Umuofia , which inherently tended to empower women , and the Christianizing

colonialists of British origin is demonstrated the core cultural conflict in the text . The author uses his main character , Okonkwo , to discuss the conflict between Africans and the arrival of the white Christians to Nigeria . Achebe talks about such themes as the values of strength in African men , the symbolic impact of Christianity on gender roles and the actual reaction that caused a destructive division between Africans . These s help to show that there were many specific qualities of the tribal lifestyle in his book that would be damaged by foreign invasion , particularly in the disruption of gender power arrangements

Strength would be written about as an important quality for people in African society to show . This means both strength of character and actual physical strength . The author does a good job of using the character of Okonkwo to point out that strength can be both a good quality and , if in the wrong hands , dangerous . In a manner , the aggressive and carnal nature of Okonkwo demonstrates the type of passion and violence which distinguished power for a man in a society where female fertility was otherwise given the greatest reverence . Under the thumb of villages would be forced to surrender both an identification with strength and with the type of value system which viewed women thusly

Okonkwo , a man who would spend his whole life escaping from the bad impression left by his father , is demonstrative of the futility of the traditional male role professing physical strength as bearing great value . He would aspire to be as strong as possible to remove the unfair stain of his father 's weakness on his reputation . This would be mostly defined for the village by his physical strength . Famous for wrestling and defeating the village 's reigning and never-defeated wrestling champion , Okonkwo would be known by others in the tribe as a man of great strength . He would work hard to live up to this reputation behaving with aggression and often attempting to show his strength , even in the wrong settings . This was the case with his wives and children who he treated sometimes terribly . He was aggressive , violent and even capable of murder . Achebe would show that Okonkwo , a sort of tragic hero , could be used to show the imperfection of the African people , even though he was also arguing that they had been mistreated . Okonkwo was sometimes seen to be a very decent man , but he often made...