Gender in "Things Fall Apart"

With appreciating the aspect of gender in Achebe's novel, this allows for a greater understanding of Okonkwo's character. For example, in the beginning of the book the audience is introduced to the term "agbala" (meaning women, and someone who does not have a title) when he describes his childhood as this is to give insight not only on his relationship with his late father, but also with the people below his social and economic status. With the shame Okonkwo holds over his father's poverty due to his lack of achievement, the labeling of his family as weak as a child had acted not only as an incentive for Okonkwo to be successful as an adult, but also demonstrated how his character  associates weakness with a lack of masculinity. Knowing this, his major flaw is his fear of losing power in his community of which, when basing it on his warped perception of traditional Igbo culture, can happen by having effeminate qualities. Not to mention that, with this father-son dynamic, the underlying conflict between the two was the effect of Okonkwo's need to stray from qualities against his gender (i.e. expressing emotion) would discredit him as a man; allowing one to see the inner sensitivity of the protagonist. As, throughout the novel Achebe associates activities with genders (in Okonkwo's mind) where bed-time stories would be a feminine, and wrestling would be masculine. However, the external conflict  of Okonkwo's perception of the community around him is his own downfall, as his son (Nwoye) had joined the missionaries as they, unlike his father, appreciated his 'feminine' behaviour and held similar values to Nwoye (i.e. western way of thinking). Furthermore, with Achebe including the scene where Uchendu explains that "mother is supreme" and the difference between motherland and fatherland, this was a vital inclusion as it revealed to the reader and to the protagonist how each gender has a purpose in an individual's personality and highlights the impossibility of having a happy life with relentlessly leaning on only one end of the spectrum. With understanding his character and the change of understanding of what it means to be "human" rather than what it means to be a "man", allows for the reader to garner a greater appreciation of this balance. With Okonkwo's maltreatment of women (specifically, his wives) as he does not see them as equal to him, this allows for his character development to be more impactful as he partially learns the importance of duality in someone's identity.