Monday, October 4, 2010
Things Fall Apart Assignment # 2 Pg. 24-45
We read a short story introducing Feminist theory in class, now apply your knowledge of this concept to Things Fall Apart. Find a good quote from the assigned reading, that a Feminist critic would identify as being sexist or biased, and explain how the quote works as support of such a theory. Remember, this is not an exercise in what you believe, but rather, like our Lit Circles, you are reading through a "lens" to identify an aspect of a novel that you might not have noticed. Use MLA style in your response. The length is only ONE paragraph, but I want it to be a well constructed paragraph. Post by Wednesday / Thursday.
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The feminist idea, I think, is firstly introduced in the third chapter of Things Fall Apart. The good example would be, "She walked up to her husband and accepted the hornfrom him. She then went down on one knee, drank a little and handed back the horn. She rose, called him by his name and went back to her hut. The other wives drank in the same way in their proper order, and went away" (Achebe 20). I chose these sentences because they well depict that social rankings in this village was evident, and that women were ranked at the bottom, even lower than young boys. Younger boys were allowed to drink before women, but older women had to wait and even keeled down in front of their husbands. I also felt that it was satirical when Achebe mentioned that the first wife called Okonkwo by his name; it sounded as if Achebe wanted to say that the wife should not have the right to call him by the name, and has to respect more than she actually does. Not only from the chapter, indirect feminist ideas can be found also. Men are allowed to have as many wives as they want, but I do not think that these wives have multiple husbands (it did not actually say in the book, and there are some countries that allow polyandry).
ReplyDeleteB2 Saya Shimoyama
Mai Hiroyama
ReplyDeleteB2 History
Reading through this novel, I have found some quotes which mentions about the feminism. One of the strong quote that I have found is "That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for wooman, it could also mean a man who had taken no title" (Achebe 13). This absolutely despises the existence of women. It is very obvious that man who has not achieved title is in a low rank, and will not receive any respect from others. The quote shows that this kind of men are at the same level as woman. In this novel, it shows the society of women having less power than men. The story also indicates about wives. In the novel, man who has more wives will receive more respects. Man who has titles and wealth will have more wives. People pretty much can determine if the man must be respected or not by knowing the number of wives. And men tries to marry more wives to gain respect from others, and for their pride. "There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had three huge barns, nine wives and thirty children. His name was Nwakibie and he had taken the highest but one title which a man could take in the clan" (Achebe 19). Okonkwo highly respects this man and works under him to earn the seed yams. Unoka is a man who do not achieve respect from others and Okonkwo despises him. "He neither inherited a barn nor a title, nor even a young wife" (Achebe 18). This quote strongly supports the idea that women are the tool which shows the power of the man.
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ReplyDeleteAs a feminist view, there are several quotes that men gave judgmental perspective towards women in this novel. For example, “This meeting is for men” (Achebe 26). This quote depicts the severity of gender matter. It is obvious that there is huge gap in power between men and women. Men are the only ones allowed to make important decisions and simultaneously receive fame and honors from other societies. Women are presented as oppressed group with no power. They were just considered to be outsider in society. Women’s job is only to raise their child and follow the order given by men without disputing. "That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for woman, it could also mean a man who had taken no title"(Achebe 13). It implies that women were ranked extremely low. A person with no titles is recognized to be useless. Additionally, by reading through this novel, men often use words that criticize women. Such as Agadi-nwayi meaning old woman and Eze-agadi-nwayi, the teeth of an old woman. They intentionally use these words to insult and depict the weak status of women. The other perceptive quote is “There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had three huge barns, nine wives and thirty children. His name was Nwakibie and he had taken the highest but one title which a man could take in the clan" (Achebe 19). Having more wives, the more respect you receive from others. Women were just things for them to brag about.
ReplyDeleteFarah Okada B2
Just only reading several chapters, there were numerous ideas that are sexist and biased in the story "Things Fall Apart". One of the first quote that feminist will find as biased is, "Do what you are told, woman" (Achebe 14). This is when Okonkwo brought Ikemefuna to his house and told his fist wife to look after him and live with him in her hut. Women needs to obey to what her husband. It is an absolute rule in the society in this book for women to obey men. There is also a scene where Okonkwo and others drinking palm wine, "She walked up to her husband and accepted the horn from him... The other wives drank in the same way, in their proper order, and went away" (Achebe 20). This is a good example of what the feminists would identify as sexist or biased. The social rank is depicted well in this scene. First, Okonkwo drinks the wine, then the oldest to the youngest men in the village, and at last the wives. The wives even need to kneel down and drink and then after drinking a sip of wine, they go back to their hut. There were several other scenes that feminist will find biased but these two were the main or well illustrated in the story.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry, I forgot to put my class period again.
ReplyDeleteRisa Yamada B2
One obvious example of a feminist view would be that men could own woman but woman couldn't own men. Throughout this reading assignment men would own multiple wives. woman were treated more as property that men could own and exchange rather then equal human beings. A second example through a feminist view point would be "His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew woman's crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of all yams was a mans crop." This sentence demonstrates the fact that men were considered to be more powerful then woman. This true in most cases but a secondary meaning that this sentence could bring is that woman aren't strong enough to do mens work. In other words, I think that this quote from the book is challenging the power or authority of woman.
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ReplyDeleteDaniel Snow B2
There were several quotes that I found in Chapter 3 which showed the feminist idea that the author had. One of the quotes is the one when everyone was drinking wine. "Then the group drank beginning with the eldest man. When everyone had drunk two or three horns, Nwakibie sent for his wives." (p.19) In this quote it is clearly shown that the womans were ranked lowest in this society. Wives were the last ones to drink the wine. Since the order of drinking went from the eldest man, it means that the upper ranked people drank the wine first. So the wives who drank at the very end means they had a really low rank. Also after the wives drank the wine it saids, "The other wives drank in the same way, in their proper order, and went away."(p.20). Although men stayed their and kept on drinking and had fun, wives went home right away. This part depicts an image of guys having fun outside and wives staying home and keep in charge of the family. It is shown like women cannot have fun talking and drinking with their friends in night. Other than this part, the author also showed a feminist idea later in the chapter. "She could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband starved."(p.22) This quote tells that women were always lower than men so wives should not leave their husbands in a bad condition. It tells that husband always comes first so you have to take care of your self after your husband. Among all the parts, I thought these quotes best expressed the feminist idea which the author had.
ReplyDeleteHikari Mizuno B2
There are actually quite a lot of feminist aspects in the book "Things Fall Apart". From page 12 where it said "... as everyone knew they would, that the girl should go to Ogbuefi Udo to replace his murdered wife.", it showed that women were treated as objects and did not have their own rights. The virgin had to replace the dead woman and marry a man that she had never met before for a crime committed by someone, probably man, in her village. Right next to that page, a line said "...agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken no titles" which clearly shows how women were despised to the point that they were compared to men with no title. Throughout the whole beginning of the story, it is made very clear that men are the head of the household and women have little rights. Men can marry more wives to show higher status and power while women are often ordered around and must obey their husbands.
ReplyDeleteOne of the feminist ideas is that men have more power than women in this book. Men can marry more than one wife, but women can't. In the last paragraph of page 18, it said that Nwaikibie, a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village, has nine wives. This could be sexist to some countries, but in Africa, this is probably normal(part of culture). Secondly, this book mentioned, "His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew crops, like coco-yams, bean and cassava. Yam, the king of crops was a man's crop."(Page 22-23) This quote tells us that men can grow and eat the best food, but women cannot grow or eat the best food, such as Yam. Also, women must obey their husbands. These things are sexist in my opinion, and show that men have more authority than women. These are feminist aspects I found in this novel.
ReplyDeleteKento Ikeda B1
The most feminist ideas was that men is very stronger than women. In this story, I found one good quote in Things Fall Apart p.29. Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his his youngest wife.In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. His first wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. Ojiugo was the third wife of Okonkwo."Where is Ojiugo? who came out of her hurt to draw water from a giganic pot in the shade if a small tree in the middle of the compound. Anyway, this quote is really funny sentence for me.
ReplyDeleteForm page 24 to 45, the book is mainly dealing with feminism. During the time period a man may have many wives and children, women doesn't not share equal rights with man, they were after man. specially the chapter where they were serving wine to the villagers "The other wives drank in the same way, in their proper order, and went away."(Achebe form p.20) this quote shows sexist, feminism and women weren't allowed to discuss with man.We can easily imagine that Man has a certain pride and level that women are not allow to effect them. This also relates to what we are leaning in World History, women were never treated fairly as man, they were treated as a products or property.
ReplyDeleteOne feminism I have found was in page 38. Where Okonokwo ask his wives harshly "Who killed the banana tree" then insulted them by saying "Are you all deaf and dumb?" and then when one of the wife (second wife) admitted that she cutted a few leaves off to wrap some food with it. All of a sudden he just gets angry without a argument he beated her up. I think that it was unfair that he just get mad over cutting some piece of leaf a banana tree although it takes time to make it, it is still no reason to beat her. Another thing that I think about of this part is that the banana tree wasn't even dead but he still got angry for that just because it doesn't look alive. That is what one of the feminist quote I found in the book and is what I think of.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of feminist aspects in this novel. First of all, it is really obvious from the beginning that there is a huge gap between men and women, how the men can have more than one wife, but the women cannot. It shows how men have more rights to use their wives. “... know that agbala was not only another name for woman, it could also mean a man who had taken no title” (Achebe 13). From this sentence we can tell that woman is nothing but a useless human, and it is obvious that they don’t get any respect by others. “Each of his three wives had her own hut, which together formed a half moon behind the obi” (Achebe 14). It shows the social rank, how woman are on the low rank and men are on top to rule the women. We can also tell that by this quote, “Do what you are told, woman,” (Achebe 14). “His mother 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” (Achebe 22 -23). Thing that are created by women are not something that they can tell people and be accepted, even though they worked hard.
ReplyDeleteThe feminism that caught my attention was on page 22, "she could not be expected to cook and eat while her husband is starving", this is impling to me that she cant do anything without her husband. The wife was forced to starve her self so her husband could be equal or better, in that its just a bit cruel because everyone surpose to have their own right. But from that quote the wife surpose to follow her husband wishes. I think if a feminist person read this, they will be abit offended because the man is treating the women as a slave that follows him, and cant do anything without the man participating.
ReplyDeleteThis book has a lot of feminism in it. Even though it would be normal to people in that country but the feminism on page 29 still surprise me in a way. "He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo's return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily." In the beginning of the story, Okonkwo was yelling at his wife and that more on the okay side. But now he started beating his own wife just because she left the house for some "girl time". Who ever read this, even male will think this is not right. No feminist person would want to read this kind of book as a choice.
ReplyDeleteA4
Seiya T - B2
ReplyDeleteFrom feminist 'lens', there is difference between the treatment of women and men. One of the quote that shows this is "Do what you are told, woman (Achebe, 14)." Okonkwo saids this when he brought Ikemefuna to one of his wife to take care of him. This shows the absolute power of man over woman. Woman are just not allowed to be subjective. Another example would be Men in the novel has multiple wives. Obviously women are not treated equally. It feels like woman were more like property and things.
So far from the Things Fall Apart reading, it has shown many aspects of Nigerian culture. For example, their society is based on male dominants. Up to p. 45, I have found many male chauvinistic quotes, showing that husbands own their wives, and wives never stand in the same position as their husbands. This quote, “ She wore the anklet of her husband’s title, which the first wife alone could wear.”(p.20) reminded me of what my sister said a long time ago. My sister said that when a girlfriend gets a ring from her boyfriend, that is kind of marking as in boyfriend showing that the girl is his. The quote is exactly the same things as what my sister has mentioned. The first wife of Nwakibie wore a anklet of her husband's title, which indicates her as a mrried wife and as a owned property. Almost like a dog collar in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThere were one feminism quote in Things Fall Apart. This is "He threw down the gun and jumped into the barn, and there lay the woman, very much shaken and frightened but suite unhurt." on page 39. When Okonkwo had been walking, he found banana tree that leaves were cut buy someone. His wife was the one who cut them to wrap some food but i think she didn't expext that he gets mad that much. That's why her body was shaking and frightened.
ReplyDeleteThe 'Things Fall Apart' had alot of feminist critics that would identify as sexist. It somehow seems like the author tries to tell us that somewhere in Africa village, there was a extreme inequality between males and females just few hundred years ago. While I was reading this book, I could find alot of sexist quote, one of them was this, "Do what you are told, woman," (Achebe, 14). The situation was, Okownkwo told to one of his wife to take care of this boy. And woman asked whether the boy's going to stay long or not, and Okonkwo just ignore her, and answered like the quote above instead. I could totally see that Okonkwo was disrespecting his wife, which is very sexist.
ReplyDeleteBy reading this story, I found a lot of feminism quote from this story. The quote that symbolizes feminism and the quote that I hate the most is "" Do what you are told woman,"" (Achebe, 14). This quote was said by Okonkwo to his wife, when he said this he did not have any respect to his wife and his loking her as his servent. This quote tells how Okonkwo does not respect woman, and how sexist he is.
ReplyDeleteKei Saya A4
Kiran Dixit A4
ReplyDeleteThis book is absolutely full of sexist concepts that feminists would go crazy about. One especially good example of these is "The other wives drank in the same way, in their proper order, and went away" (Achebe 20). This shows that they had no respect for the women in the society, and they were not even permitted to sit in the circle of men and socialize. They were told to come in, drink, and then go away. Not only that, but the words 'proper order' have great meaning in this kind of context. It shows that a woman's class in society is only to do with the husband. It depends on whose wife you are, and what number wife. Thats all that matters if you're a woman in Umuofia. That's what this quote is suggesting when read and analysed by a feminist, and he or she would go crazy!
p.s. sorry its late! :(
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