The Women of Umuofia in Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart Essay

The Women of Umuofia in Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart The only women respected in Umuofia are those same Chielo, the priestess of the Oracle of the Hills and Caves, who is removed from the pale of normalcy. Clothed in the mystic mantle of the divinity she serves, Chielo transforms from the ordinary she can reprimand Okonkwo and even scream curses at him Beware of exchanging words with Agbala the name of the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. Does a man articulate when a God speaks? Beware (95). Yet if Okonkwo is powerless before a goddesss priestess, he can, at least, control his own women. So, when Nwoyes mother asks if Ikemefuna will be staying long with them, Okonkwo bellows to her Do what you are told woman. When did you become one of the ndichie clan elders? (18). possibly Umuofias shabby and degrading treatment of women and wives stems from unconscious fear of, rather than idolize for, the ubiquitous and capricious Earth goddess Ani or Ala, who wreaks such havoc on the townspeople s lives. She is the goddess of fertility. She also gives or withholds children she spurns twin children who mustiness be thrown away she prohibits anyone inflicted with shameful diseases from burial in her soil. To the men of Umuofia, she must seem the embodiment of the two-faced Greek furies and Scylla and Charybdis joined together -- vengeful, unavoidable, and incomprehensible. Umuofia s men can compare to the ancient Greeks who were noted for similar female images such as Pandora, Circe, Medea, and Clytemnestra. In helpless, mortal dread of a dreadful divine female principle, they come down heavily indeed on ordinary women whose lives they can control as they like. A cursory tincture at the place o... ...e African Novel Essays in Analysis. capital of the United Kingdom Saros International, 1992. pages Nwapa, Flora. Efuru. capital of the United Kingdom Heinemann, 1966. ---. Idu. London Heinemann, 1970. Ogunyemi, Chikwenye Okonjo. Women and Nigerian Literatur e. Perspectives on Nigerian Literature. Vol. 1. Lagos, Nigeria Guardian Books, 1988. pages Okonkwo, Juliet. The Talented charwoman in African Literature. African Quarterly 15.1-2 pages. Rich, Adrienne. Of Woman Born maternity as Experience and Institution. New York Norton, 1976. Thiong o, Ngugi wa. Petals of Blood. London Heinemann, 1977. ---. Devil on the Cross. London Heinemann, 1982. Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mothers Gardens. In Search of Our Mothers Gardens Womanist Prose. New York Harcourt Brace, 1983. 231-243. Weinstock, Donald, and Cathy Ramadan.