Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: Women In Achebe Things Fall Apart - 660 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

China Achebe's Things Fall Apart was published in 1958 and is the seminal African novel in English. Although there are others, none are as influential, not only in African literature, but in literature around the world. Its most amazing feature is that it portrays Africa, but mostly the Ibo society, before white men arrived. Achebe is trying not only to tell the outside world about Ibo cultural traditions, but to remind his own people of their past and its value. In teaching the reader about Ibo society, he also explains the role of women in pre-colonial Africa. Nigeria's traditional culture, Muslim as well as non-Muslim, had been masculine-based even before white men arrived.

This has caused many problems in African literary debates. Many other female writers believe that the image of the helpless, dependent, unproductive African woman was one that was delivered by Europeans whose women lived that way. Colonial rule just aggravated the situation by introducing a lopsided system in which African men received a good education while, like Europeans, African women received only the kinds of skills that could prepare them to be useful helpmates of the educated successful men. In Things Fall Apart, the reader follows the trials of Okonkwo, a hero whose tragic flaw includes the fact that "his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness. " For Okonkwo, his father Unoka was engulfed in failure and weakness.

Okonkwo was teased as a child by other children when they called Unoka ambala. Agbala could either mean a man who had taken no title or "woman. " Okonkwo hated anything weak or frail, and when he would describe his tribe and the members of his family show that in Ibo society anything strong had to do with man and anything weak with woman. Because Nwoye, his son by his first wife, reminds Okonkwo of his father Unoka he describes him as woman-like. After hearing of Nwoye's conversion to the Christianity, Okonkwo questions how he, "a flaming fire could have begotten a son like Nwoye, degenerate and effeminate" On the other hand, his daughter Ezinma "should have been a boy. " He loved her the most out of all of his children, but "if Ezinma had been a boy he would have been happier. " After killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo, asks himself, "When did you become a shivering old woman?" When his tribe looks like they are not going to fight against the intruding missionaries, Okonkwo remembers the "days when men were men. " In keeping with the Ibo view of female nature, the tribe allowed wife beating.

The novel describes two specific times when Okonkwo beats his second wife, once when she did not come home to make his meal. He beat her severely and was punished but only because he beat her during the Week of Peace. He beat her again when she referred to him as one of those "guns that never shot. " When a severe case of wife beating comes before the egwugwu, he found in favor of the wife. Achebe shows that the Ibo do assign important roles to women.

For instance, women painted the houses of the egwugwu. Furthermore, the first wife of a man in the Ibo society is paid some respect. This is shown by the palm wine ceremony at Nwakibie's obi. Anti, Nwakibie's first wife, had not yet arrived and "the others could not drink before her." The importance of woman's role appears when Okonkwo is exiled to his motherland. His uncle, Uchendu, noticing Okonkwo's unhappiness, explains how Okonkwo should look at his exile: "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. " A man has both joy and sadness in his life and when the bad times come, his "mother" is always there to comfort him.

From that comes the saying "Mother is Supreme."


Free research essays on topics related to: things fall, ibo society, white men, wife beating, father unoka

Research essay sample on Women In Achebe Things Fall Apart

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com