Gender relations in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, the patriarchal society of the Ibo people has a rigid system of behavioral customs in based on gender. These customs severely limit the freedom of Ibo women and contribute to reinforcing, generation after generation, the idea that Ibo men are superior to the women of their tribe. Among the people of this society, the condition of weakness is strongly associated with the state of being a woman. The worst insult a man can receive is being called a woman. The novel's main character, Okonkwo, is often obsessed with proving his strength as a man because he tries to escape the reputation of his father who was considered weak as a woman by his clanmates. She is ashamed when she learns that "agbala was not just another name for woman, but could also mean a man who had not taken any title" when this insult is applied to her father. Okonkwo takes the insecurity of his manhood to extremes and even needlessly kills the adopted son he loves deeply to demonstrate his unshakable emotional strength. "Stunned with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut it down. He was afraid of being seen as weak."(43)In Ibo culture, it is practically a misfortune to be born female. This attitude is evident when considering the emphasis placed on women in bearing children to carry on the honor of the family. When a woman had given birth to her third consecutive child, her husband “slaughtered a goat for her, as was the custom.”(56) A woman is honored only if she can “beget…children”(82) to move forward. the name and honor of a great family. Okonkwo is very disappointed in his children's tendencies in their gender roles. H...... middle of paper...... physical power they can exert. Although this oppression is deplorable from the modern North American point of view, from the point of view of the Ibo women of this period it is quite acceptable and none of them feel the need to change their social system. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. Things fall apart. 1958. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, expanded edition, vol. 1. Ed. Maynard Mack. London: Norton, 1995. Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourse.” Feminist review. 30 (Fall 1988): 65-88.Nnaemeka, Obioma. “Gender Relations and Critical Meditation: From Things Falling Apart to Anthills on the Savannah.” Challenging Hierarchies: Issues and Themes in Colonial and Postcolonial African Literature. Society and politics in Africa. Vol 5. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1998. 137-160.