Men's Role and Expectation of the Gender Role in Africa - Essay Example

Changed mens role and expectation of the gender role in Africa and the influence of colonialism: comparing two selected texts Introduction Traditionally African society consisted of a tribal culture that was built around masculine strength. Men were supposed to feed and house the family as well as protect them from invasion and capture. The myriad tribes that existed in Africa prior to colonization were mostly warrior like in nature and territorial claim came only through exertion of masculinity during skirmishes and wars. Given these facts it is apparent that African society was strongly patriarchal in most respects prior to the advent of the Europeans (Glick 37). The onslaught of the Europeans and other nations into Africa for the slave trade and colonization presented massive shifts in culture and thinking. As the dominant African culture changed and as the Europeans turned the native “savages” into civilized peoples, the patriarchal structure of society thinned out though it did not completely vanish. A sizable portion of African literature confronts the audience with issues related to the slave trade and greater focus is generally always placed on these issues (Drysdale and Blake 55). However it cannot be denied that this literature represents the major patriarchal shift of the African society too. This text will reflect on similar shifts experienced by the protagonists in two well recognized African novels Things Fall Apart and The Houseboy penned by Chinua Achebe and Ferdinand Oyono respectively. Both authors can be seen reflecting on the ways in which colonialism affected the African domain through the use of small community settings. The reflections of the authors can easily be superimposed such that they apply throughout the entire African continent but more so in the heavily colonized regions where the natives were not allowed to keep their cultural ways. These novels represent the state of African males before and after the onslaught of the Europeans where Okonkwo’s life finds subjugation of the male creed while Toundi’s life finds the male creed already subjugated and unable to resist. 2. Okonkwos Life before Colonialism In Things Fall Apart the author has related the life of Okonkwo who is the local leader as well as wrestling champion in Umuofia village. This village is part of nine fictional villages in Nigeria that have been shown inhabited by the indigenous Igbo people. The novel also presents the three wives and children of Okonkwo under the influence of British colonials and Christian missionaries (Achebe 7). The novel has been set in the late nineteenth century with resounding detail. Achebe has been known to depict African history in his novels strongly and his other works such as Arrow of God, A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah bear testament to this fact. In this respect the story related by the author holds great value in assessing the changed roles of masculinity in the African continent. Sifting through Okonkwo’s views on masculinity one finds an ambitious young man in a patriarchal society with bright chances to make it all the way to the top. The typical Igbo society depicted in the novel is seen composed of strong masculine values with overall dominance placed with the male gender alone. The males depicted are heads of the household and dominate the decision making activities while the women are subjected to the confines of their homes. Okonkwo is strongly impressed upon by the values of his society as well as his childhood trauma of growing up under a father who is lazy, squanders a lot and is an effeminate in his view. In contrast Okonkwo is shown as climbing his way up the food chain trough is hard work and projection of hard masculine power. He is shown to possess enough wealth to support three wives and eight children which is again seen as a strong symbol of masculinity. Put succinctly Okonkwo is a strong masculine character to whom success in masculinity is everything (Ezenwa 146). Okonkwo is depicted as murdering a child that he rears and fancies from another tribe merely to satisfy his strong masculine position in society. He is shown as feeling weak and debilitated for trying to defend the boy and so in an attempt to regain his masculinity he murders the child as the child pleads for mercy. In contrast when Okonkwo’s gun misfires and kills some people he is exiled because his intentional actions are perceived as male while his female actions are perceived as female. In the author’s words (Achebe 54): "The crime [of killing Ezeudus son] was of two kinds, male and female. Okonkwo had committed the female because it was an accident. He would be allowed to return to the clan after seven years." In a similar manner when Okonkwo is exiled he tends to go to his mother’s village because such refuge is considered female like in nature. In the novel Uchendu explains this to Okonkwo as (Achebe 60): "It is true that a child belongs to his father. But when the father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mothers hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness, he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme." 3. Okonkwos Life after Colonialism However, when Okonkwo returns after exile he finds that his village has been overtaken by white missionaries and government emissaries. In various attempts to reclaim his position and that of his people from the British, Okonkwo uses a number of masculine foolhardy techniques but ends up in failure. Most people in the village have turned to Christianity and have come under the influence of colonialists. Okonkwo is bent upon trying to restore his power and his tribe’s pride by somehow forcefully forcing these people back to their ancestral religion. However Okonkwo’s strongly masculine methods yield little result except that he finds himself cornered to fight the British (Cengage 15). After the murder of some British representatives (who had come for peace and were thus seen as a sign of weakness) Okonkwo resorts to suicide in order to deal with his troubles. Perhaps the greatest sign of change portrayed by the novel is Okonkwo’s suicide as Okonkwo is a super man like character who eventually resorts to the womanly method of suicide in order to rid himself of his troubles. 4. Toundis Life On the other hand the novel Houseboy is concerned with the life of Toundi who runs away from an abusive father only to be adopted by a catholic missionary who dies soon after. Subsequently Toundi is subjected to torture at the hands of his new masters especially at the hands of his new master’s wife. Over time Toundi had acquired strong Christian faith at the hands of Father Gilbert but towards the end Toundi relinquishes his faith till he dies of his injuries. Again as the previous novel the central concept remains with the effects of colonialism and the Christian faith’s imposition on indigenous Africans (Oyono 39). While the previous novel was set in the late nineteenth century but this novel is set much before that in Cameron. Again the novelist is able to convey the dismay and anguish of shifting masculine roles in African society with meticulous attention to detail. In dealing with Houseboy it must be noticed that Toundi is a troubled child who is sick and tired of his father’s strongly masculine role while he is depicted as far more tolerant and effeminate. Toundi initially leaves home because of the constant beatings that he receives from his father. It is apparently clear that masculinity dominates the day because Toundi is not shown being saved by his mother during his beatings. In order to escape his fate as an abused child Toundi runs away from home and is adopted by a Christian missionary Father Gilbert who is shown far more considerate and accommodating. The boy becomes so strongly accustomed to Father Gilbert’s “feminine” manner that he refuses to go back with his blood father that represents a watershed for Toundi and his masculine father. If the colonists and the missionaries had been absent in Africa there was no method in which Toundi would be able to refuse his return to his blood father who would have resorted to violent masculine means (DeLancy, Mbuh and DeLancy 113). Moreover the progression of Toundi’s tale is filled up with distorted images of masculinity in the African tradition. The poor houseboy Toundi is shown weak and indeterminate enough to receive beatings and torture at the hands of his commandant’s wife who is a female. In a traditional African society it would not be possible for a woman any age to beat up and torture a grown up boy because of the strong masculine traditions. In a similar manner Toundi is shown unable to fend off for himself when accused of theft and instead of acting up violently to fend for his pride he is subjected to prison and an unfair trial (Tande 19). The progressive decline of patriarchal traditions is far clearer in Toundi’s tale than it was for Okonkwo. 5. Conclusion These two texts provide a pervasive view on masculinity and the ensuing change in it in the African continent because both characters represent the opposite ends of society. While Okonkwo is a tribal leader, Toundi is a poor slave boy. Similarly Okonkwo is a strong patriarch while Toundi tends to shift his views. Moreover Okonkwo is stubborn and resistant to change while Toundi changes his views as his life progresses. Conclusively it can be declared that the strong traditions of masculinity in Africa were subjected to watershed changes after the introduction of colonialism and Christian values and faith. The once powerful creed of male dominance in society was not altogether depleted by these influences but its erosion to far lower levels cannot be denied outright either. 6. Bibliography Achebe, Chinua. Things fall apart. London: William Heinemann, 1958. Cengage, Gale. “Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe: Introduction.” Hunter, Jeffrey W. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2002. DeLancy, Mark Dike, Rebecca Neh Mbuh and Mark W. DeLancy. Historical Dictionary of Cameroon. London: Scarecrow Press, 2010. Drysdale, Alasdair and Gerald H. Blake. The Middle East and North Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985. Ezenwa, Ohaeto. Chinua Achebe: A Biography Bloomington. Indiana University Press, 1997. Glick, Thomas F. Islamic And Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages. London: Brill Academic Publishers, 2005. Oyono, Ferdinand. Houseboy. London: Heinemann, 1966. Tande, Dibussi. Scribbles from the Den: Essays on Politics and Collective Memory in Cameroon. 2009. Read More