Chinua Achebe's Seemingly Negative Depiction of Women in Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a well-known African novel in the twentieth century.  The novel is famous for it’s depiction of a stable African society’s spiral into destruction following invasion of white Europeans.  Achebe tells the tale of fallen societies through the story of Okonkwo, an Igbo warrior from the village of Umuofia.  Traditionally, women fulfilled subservient roles and were not important in the structure of many African stories.  Women “may have been portrayed as less visible then men in Umuofia, but their roles were as important as those of men” (Ogbaa, 165).  Achebe depicts the female characters in his novel mostly in this traditional way, however, upon closer inspection, some of these female characters, and the portrayal of feminine traits, are integral to the story of Okonkwo and his demise. 

While colonialism plays a major role in the destruction of Umuofia and Okonkwo, Okonkwo is a tragic hero, and his inability to adjust to a different society is what leads Okonkwo to his demise.  It is in the story of Okonkwo and his tragic flaw that the female characters figure predominantly.  Okonkwo’s relationship to and feeling towards women in the novel help to demonstrate his weaknesses that ultimately lead to his demise.  Achebe remains true to his culture in the outward appearance of the female characters, however, he gives the reader female characters that are much more complicated and characters that play significant roles in the story of the fallen Okonkwo and his fallen Igbo tradition.  In the novel, “Achebe’s ‘primary concern is woman’s place within larger social and political forces’” (Jeyifo, 847).