Comparing Gender Roles In Things Fall Apart 'And Kaffir Boy'

The women were expected to carry out the duties of the house without complaint and to remain diligent to her husband, as well as God. During this time, motherhood transformed from just being a child bearing figure to

. More importance was given to the wife rather than the husband, as a companion and producer of children

7. “Okonkwo ruled his house with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children.”

Whether it is the past or the present, there have always been gender roles in society. In most homes, it is the woman’s responsibility to take care of the house. This includes cleaning, meal preparations, raising and taking care of the children as well as the husband. Compared to the men who take care of the more physical activities, such as yard work. It was known throughout many years that it was a woman’s responsibility to stay in the house while the man would go out and look for work to provide money for his family. Although the intensity of gender roles has changed, it still exists.

While social change has brought on more changes than what women are a custom too, at one point in history women actually felt a form of importance in fulfilling their roles not only in the home; but outside as well. “These demographic shifts account for many new or altered roles, such as increased number of duel-earner families, later and fewer marriages, fewer children, increased life expectancy, and the massive migration shifting employees across a nation and across the globe” (Lindsey, 2011, pg. 275).

Walker displays this idea by, “[…] marriage and motherhood were the only futures anyone envisioned for the young women […]” (Walker 4). This quote explains how women were expected to be a mother and wife. Society did not encourage women to do anything else, but these things. This made women settle in to the mind frame that they were only allowed to stay at home to take care of the children, and the house. Once a woman got married in the 1800s, her main focus would be on her husband and the children (once she had them). Moody explains this through, “When a woman marries she assumes two new sets of relations-those of sentiment, through which she becomes the loving, faithful companion of one man and the mother of his children, […] (Moody 153). This quote explains how women gain new experiences by being married. These sets of experiences relate to being a good wife to her husband and having children. Women are able to actually see what being a wife is actually like after they are married. Before marriage women were taught how to be a good wife and how to take care of their household as well. This quote emphasized that women were supposed to be faithful to their husband and that they should take good care of him. This shows how women’s sole purpose after getting married was to take care of their husband and kids. They were not supposed to do anything that would take too much of their

The traditional gender role of a women includes participating in household work, caring for their children, and showing obedience and dependence towards their husbands. “The Good Wife’s Guide” reinforces the traditional gender role of females. “The Good Wife’s Guide” is written in the 1950’s, after women have gained suffrage. The author of the article goes in depth of what he or she believes is the role of a woman. The first direction of the guides states, “Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and prospect of a good meal (especially

Women were considered inferior to their husbands and were expected to be obedient to them. According to Mencius, one of Confucius’ most important follower who spread the teachings of Confucianism, “When a daughter marries, her mother instructs her. Sending her off at the gate, she cautions her, saying, ‘When you go to your family, you must be respectful, and you must be cautious. Do not disobey your husband.’ To regard obedience as proper is the Way of a wife or concubine.”

In the 1970’s the average family had a wife that would take care of all of the cooking, the cleaning, everything concerning their kids, and even caring for her husband too. They did all of this without complaining, while their husband was at work. In those times nothing less was expected from them. In the article “Why I Want a Wife” Brady uses ethos, logos, and pathos to illustrate her opinion of what a wife do in a marriage, in which she infers that wives do too much for their families.

"Upon marriage, woman became the legal wards of their husbands, as they previously had been of their fathers while still unmarried" (Martin, 68). It was common for a father to sell his young daughter into marriage and the young women had no say in her preference of her suitors (Mahaffy, 48). This was done while the girl was in her young teens while the groom was ten to fifteen years older (Martin, WEB2). As the father, or guardian, gave the young girl away he would repeat the phrase that expressed the primary aim of marriage: "I give you this women for the plowing [procreation] of legitimate children" (Martin, WEB2). The woman’s role was primarily in the home. "Households thus depended on women, whose wok permitted the family to economically self-reliant and the male citizens to participate in the public life of the polis" (Martin, WEB2).

and is the figure head of the family. The mother, on the other hand, is where the child goes

Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna. He drank palm-wine from morning till night, and his eyes were red and fierce like the eyes of a rat when it was caught by the tail and dashed against the floor. He called his son, Nwoye, to sit with him in his obi. But the boy was afraid of him and slipped

Ancient Greek literature always seems to have one thing in common; writers either perceive the wives as faithful and ideal or lustful and selfish. By looking at the effect literature and writers had in shaping the role of wives, one can find several differences. However, many ideas stayed the same, and exploring the reasons these concepts did not change describes a great deal about the ancient Greeks and their strong belief on the duties of wives.

The relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye is very stressful and bitter as Okonkwo has very high expectation for his eldest son. Hence Okonkwo always “sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating” when he was irritated

Achebe uses the proverb "When a man says yes his chi says yes also" in the character development of Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a very successful man in his village of