TFA Masculinity and Gender Flashcards
Paragraph 1 ?
TFA, presents the process to gain masculine reputation as toxic. In contrast, it is argued that masculine traits are necessary for a functioning society
“Unoka was an ill fated man”
“Unoka was, of course, a debtor, and he owed every neighbour some money”
When Nwoye Left he threatened to break everyone elses necks
Caused Okonkwo to be like he is today –> Killed Ikemefuna (although he called him ‘father’)
Okonkwo has thrown a hundred cats
Paragraph 2?
From a Western Perspective, Igbo Culture appears unnaccepteably misogynistic, but the value of African culture are in the end, far higher than those of the Western Culture
Wife was beaten during peaceweek “And when she returned he beat her very heavily”
Nwoye’s mother gre women crops like “coco-yams and beans” whereas Okonkwo harvested “yams”
Chielo “Okonkwo pleaded with her”
Reverend Smith “Black and White”
Paragraph 3?
Achebe contrasts masculine figures in Igbo Culture and Western Society to underline the flaws within both societies
Okonkwo not good –> too stubborn. When he realises that Umofoia won’t wage war he kills himself
Nwoye –> “causing his father great anxiety for his incipent laziness”
He adapts too much to change and abandons Igbo culture and calls himself “Isaac”
Smith “Black and White”
Reverend Baynes
Obierika does not lay the blame wholly on the side of the white man. He feels also that the Umuofians who have converted to Christianity have consciously and wrongly turned their backs on their “owns”
Paragraph 4?
Achebe presents Masc as greater than Femininity but still highlights the equal importance of the two in the culture
“Sit like a woman”
Man forced to cut off genitals because he beat his wife and his wife does not want to come back “It is not bravery to beat a woman”
“Okonkwo rules his household with a heavy fist”
“Okonkwo is a man of action”
Most common name Nneka “mother is supreme”
Obierika - Brings Bags of Cowries to Okonkwo but still thinks that Umuofians who have converted into Christians have consciously turned their backs on their “owns” (‘a man who [thinks] about things.’)
Things Fall Apart Paragraph 5?
Violence:
Wrestling –> Form of warfare “Who Will Wrestle For Our Village”
Okonkwo sees this and wants to be that kind of person
“When he walked, his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs, as if he was going to pounce on somebody. And he did pounce on people quite often.”
Bravery - not afraid to take on ‘the white man’ singularly, if the clan fails to go to battle
with him. Bravery for him is a quality so undeniably and inextricably linked to
masculinity and the condition of manhood t hat ‘he mourn[s] for the warlike men of
Umuofia, who ha[ve] so unaccountably become soft like women’
Violence —> Necessary because men in Umofoia have become soft like woman and that has caused the downfall
