GENDER POLITICS IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

In the present paper an attempt has been made to illustrate, explore and express the image of women in Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart. The author has portrayed female characters in the novel keeping in view the prevailing social and cultural conditions of the society. The writer has also delineated the women characters in the postcolonial environment. As a significant postcolonial writer, Achebe has vividly and graphically described the socio-cultural values of the Igbo community in Nigeria, Africa. Moreover, the analysis of the female characters in the novel has been done through the perspective of postcolonial feminism. Postcolonial feminism finds the relation and intersection between postcolonialism and feminism. Despite the domination of males in the society, the author shows that in traditional patriarchal culture as in the novel, women are portrayed happy, harmonious members of the community, even when they are repeatedly, beaten, exploited and victimized on the basis of sex and gender. Their life seems barren as they are not allowed to participate in the decision-making process and constantly reviled in sayings and proverbs. However, some other interesting findings are that the women also have big role in the belief system of the community, and in Achebe’s novel, we find an authentic and realistic portrayal of all this. Keywords: Postcolonial Feminism, Traditional Patriarchal Culture, Community.