Problems of Women and Their Security

Generally speaking about the problems of women and their security is a highlight only for upper class society in India. But when look at the universe it is only for western or majority country may occupy it. It should be changed. So it is a study which discussed about a particular female community in the world. The researcher tries to portray the status of African women through Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Anthills of the Savannah.

Chinua Achebe’s novels have been the subject of much critical study and debates within and outside the literary circles but enough attention has not been paid to a study of his novels from the tribal perspective.

As progenitor of a literary tradition and as the father of the Modern African Literature, Achebe becomes a foundational figure who engages in tribal representation through literature. This dissertation is a depiction of the real feelings of oppressed women in the African society. It beautifully portrays how women suppressed by male community and even sometimes in the same gender.

Freedom of women is for all over the globe. It is not a fruit for a particular society. Things Fall Apart begins with the untouched glory of Igbo past and ends with the death of their village hero. The novel is divided into three sections and each section deals with a milestone in Okonkwo’s career. The first section introduces the village life of Umuofia in all her glory and independence. The novel opens with the fiercest wrestling match ever witnessed among the nine villages in which Okonkwo was introduced as the champion over the seven years reigning champion, Amalinze the Cat.

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Unlike his father Unoka, Okonkwo achieved greatness by dint of hard work and fearlessness, meeting perfectly the traditional standard by which greatness is measured. Greatness is assessed solely on personal achievement; “Fortunately, among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father.” (Things – 6) By pairing Okonkwo with his lazy and ease loving father, the novelist puts emphasis on Okonkwo’s ‘solid personal achievement.’ Every challenge that he faced transformed him into a more accomplished person; for instance, the impending war with Mbaino over the murder of an Umuofia woman raised his stature within and outside his village. The impetus, both for his success and tragedy spring largely from his fear to be found weak like his father. For this reason, Okonkwo hardly expressed his feeling to others except that of anger.

Okonkwo was feared by his wives and children but the needful respect for the father of the house seems to be missing, largely because Okonkwo ruled his household by the threat of force or with a heavy hand. Okonkwo’s family consisted of his three wives and nine children. His wives and children lived in constant fear of him. In a male chauvinistic tribal world that he lived in, Okonkwo capitalized on his people’s culture with the misguided emphasis on the inflated notion of manliness. The warmth of fatherly love and kindness is not seen in his fiery eyes, though he is not a cruel person.

The description of Ekwefi, Okonkwo’s next wife, approximately seems unimportant to one analysis from a patriarchal position, but when reevaluated, single will find that she is a fine of information, love, and violent liberty. Ekwefi has endured much sadness and stigmatism. In Things Fall Apart women are viewed mainly as child carrier and assist mates for their husbands. Accordingly, she dislike the good fortune of the primary wife: her ability to produce healthy, strong male children. The conformist perspective of most readings of this book is that Ekwefi has been incapacitated by life’s cruel circumstances. However, as an substitute of ongoing to lament her difficulty, Ekwefi devotes her instance and vigor to the one child who does live and finds comfort in her affiliation with her daughter.

While male readings indicate that “the man is the point of reference in this society” (Palmer – 22) Palmer stresses that as child bearers, women are pivotal to the literal survival of community and societal norms. After the death of her next child, it is Okonkwo, not Ekwefi, who ask the dibia to locate the foundation of her difficulty. It is also Okonkwo who award with yet one more dibia after the death of Ekwefi’s third child, highlighting Palmer’s argument that Ekwefi has failed, not because she cannot have a feasible child but because she cannot give her husband with male offspring who would then bear on in his father’s name.

Okonkwo is anxious about the deaths of the children but impermeable to Ekwefi’s privation. No one comforts Ekwefi as she is required to watch the dibia injure her child, drag him during the streets by his ankles, and lastly lay him to relax in the Evil Forest with other Obanje children and exile. It is important, though that Okonkwo does reveal concern for the female child, Ezinma, as he go after her into the woods after she is taken by the Priestess, Chielo.

The work of fiction continues with a brief discussion of this continued cruelty later when Okonkwo intimidate Ekwefi with a gun after hearing her speak softly under her breath. Yet, the next day, the New Yam Festival continues without a public outcry for this battered woman. Consequently, even though a male critic may believe these events as minor instance, the feminist reader must note that there is, in these passages, a great sense of irony and be apologetic. Preparing to attend her favorite pastime, the annual wrestling event, Ekwefi recollects her great love for the impoverished Okonkwo. Although she was married to one more man, Ekwefi’s wish for Okonkwo is so great that at the first chance she dump her husband to be with him, yet a sound thrashing is the compensation she obtain for her love and loyalty. Although this cruelty does not warrant any notice from the elders, Okonkwo’s flogging of his youngest wife, Ojiugo does. There is a community outcry, not because of the physical rough treatment but rather the timing of the occurrence.

He could have continued, elaborating that particularly in reference to women, the unanimity of the patriarchy is the main priority of the community, rather than the physical safety of its women. Culler notes that one strategy in the attempt to read as a woman. There is furthermore no week or even day of calm for the women of Umuofia. They cannot locate sanctuary within the limits of their own homes, or in the weapons of their own husbands.

There is one woman, or youthful girl who elicits unadulterated love from all the lives she touches, still her father, Okonkwo. However, he cannot completely be grateful for Ezinma as a person. Instead of appreciative her for her power and disposition as a growing woman, Oknonkwo is saddened by the information that she is not male.

Ezinma calls her mother by her name, suggestive of the expansion of an autonomous, effective being. Ezinma and Ekwefi split a bond that is unlike the majority other parental ties in the work of fiction: they are virtually equals. Their association is based on common love, respect and considerate. They share secret moments such as eating eggs in the confines of her bedroom (eggs are considered a delicacy), solidifying their esprit de service, even after Okonkwo threatens them both. Thus, this maternal association becomes a warning for Okonkwo and traditional civilization because he cannot organize the depths of love and the shared eagerness between mother and daughter.

This is most obvious when, for instance, Okonkwo forbids Ekwefi to leave her hut following Ezinma is carried off by the leader priestess. Ekwefi ignore her husband and risks a thrashing to follow Chielo and her daughter all through the nighttime, until she is sure that her daughter will revisit home securely. Ekwefi boldly declare that she is subsequent Chielo. But instead of effort to detain her, Okonkwo joins the expedition, following from a safe coldness, also to ensure the safety of his dearly loved child. This mother daughter coalition is explicated throughout the book, though there is little conversation of it in most analyses of the work of fiction.

One should recognize as well that male and female place are societal build, and thus, the complete female individuality is based additional ahead societal constraints rather than physiological realism. Women are trained to mother, while men are habituated to dominate and organize. While elucidation as a woman, one should recognize that women are too indoctrinated to imagine the world from a patriarchal viewpoint and that in Ezinma’s case, one must adapt or modify these prejudice to realize her strength, miracle and liveliness.

Initially alleged to be an obanje child who had only come to stay for a petite period, after Ezinma thrives, she is pampered by her mother, and as the child who would be king if she were male. Ezinma is the personification of all the women in this work of fiction represent: intelligence, energy, and strength.