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Things Fall Apart Quote Analysis

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In the novel Things Fall Apart, the use of violence in Ibo culture was fairly frequent, especially among the men in the village. In the Ibo village of Umuofia, it was obvious that the men rule the household with a heavy hand, meaning if they felt a beating was necessary they would carry it out with full force. In chapter four of the novel, Okonkwo’s youngest wife decided to plait her hair at a friend’s house. When she did not come home early enough to cook the afternoon meal and failed to ask another wife to feed her children, Okonkwo decided to take it upon himself to give her a hefty beating. The fact that it was supposed to be the Week of Peace did not stop him. The reality that the men take it upon themselves and are expected to control …show more content…

The book states this in the following two quotes. “Your wife was at fault, but even if you came into your obi and found her lover on top of her, you would still have committed a great evil to beat her.” “Go to your in-laws with a pot of wine and beg your wife to return to you. It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman.” Not only is there violence against women, but children too. Ikemefuna came to live in Okonkwo’s household and although he was thought of fondly by Okonkwo and his family to the point of him calling Okonkwo his father and Okonkwo calling him son, that was not a good enough reason for Okonkwo and the other men in the village when they killed him in the outskirts of Umuofia. This is told in chapter seven “He heard Ikemefuna cry, ‘My father, they have killed me!’ as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.” If these men weren’t so scared of being thought of as weak by others the child would still be alive. The Oracle of The Hills and the Caves, two things based purely on belief, were able to decide who lived or

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