Things Fall Apart Masculinity Analysis

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“Black men struggle with masculinity so much. The idea that we must always be strong really presses us all down - it keeps us from growing” (Donald Glover). In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo and the other men struggle with the ideas of masculinity in their tribe. The emphasis that is put on strength and being "manly" for the Ibo and American culture demonstrate how the culture put too much pressure on young men, it promotes unhealthy standards, and derails femininity in societies. To begin the ideas of trying to be a strong and powerful man put too many regulations on adolescents trying to figure themselves out in their societies. One example being hell when Nwoye started growing up with Ikemefuna around he starts …show more content…
For example Okonkwo kept muttering about his daughter how “she should have been a boy” so that she could rise society and gain the power she deserves (Achebe 64). This gives negative connotations by have a strong and intelligent woman is thought of as good as the boys and yet her own family is putting her down by saying she should've been what they thought as the better gender instead of being the one she is which is just as capable of being strong and intelligent. Another example of the suppression of what they believed as femininity is seen through after Nwoye stops listening to his mother’s stories Okonkwo “no longer [rebukes] or [beats] him” (Achebe 54). By having punishment for listening to the folktales and stories that his mother would provide it shows how when listening and interacting with your emotions and tails just proves weakness in their tribes as it is shown that men should not have emotions or like anything as silly as stories and they would get seriously injured if they appreciated them. Overall when forcing impressionable men to confine to these masculine ways, also demeans women and the ideas of being feminine in their