CHINUA ACHEBE (1930-2015)
Achebe was born in 1930. Chinua Achebe is the best-known novelist from Nigeria. He was the first black novelist from Africa, who got international appreciation and a global readership. He is now one of the world’s most widely translated novelists and one of the most universally respected writers.
His novels, therefore, reflect on the changes which have come about in Ibo culture and Nigerian life after an encounter between Europe and Africa during the colonial period.
Honored with scores of awards, medals, honorary degrees, fellowships, and the editorship of a series of publications of African literature.
Chinua Achebe passed away on 21st March 2015.
MAN- WOMAN’S RELATIONSHIPS IN THINGS FALL APART
Achebe portrays man-woman relationships in Ibo society primarily through Okonkwo and his three wives.
This behavior on the part of Okonkwo was because Okonkwo was a member of the Ibo social organization or Ibo culture. In Ibo culture, men are considered as superior to women. The ideal family leader is the one who controls their wives with strong hand. This ideal family leader can be visible in Achebe’s protagonist male character Okonkwo. it was obvious at the very beginning of the novel:
Okonkwo is portrayed by Achebe to be a man of short temper but he is particularly harsh with women. There is an episode in the novel in which he is preparing some herbal medicine for his daughter Ezinma. Ekwefi, his wife and Ezinma’s mother gives him a pot full of water and pours some on the herbs, and asks Okonkwo, “Is that enough?” He shouts at her… “A little more…I said a little. Are you deaf?” (p.60).
Apparently, the shouting is absolutely unnecessary but is in keeping with Okonkwo’s belief about ‘ruling his household with a heavy hand.
Okonkwo has the habit of beating his wives. He beats Ojiugo, his youngest wife during Peace Week for failing to cook his afternoon meal on time. On another occasion, his second wife is beaten for killing a banana tree. This practice of wife beating however seems to be common among the Ibos.
This is an undisputed thing that, man is the boss in the family. It may not be wholly correct when considering the educated women in Ibo. For instance, women in most ethnic groups in Nigeria, including the Ibo, did enjoy economic independence. Again, educated urban women could not be dominated as completely as their uneducated rural sisters.