A Feminist Critique of Things Fall Apart
 You’re
going to college, right?
 It sheds new light on the story
 It helps us understand the world (and
people) around us
 It makes you smarter
 Check
out the first paragraph of our
article…
 Approaching with a feminist lens means
two things:
1. Taking female characters seriously
2. Challenging patriarchy (male domination)
 “…the
entire female identity is based
more upon societal constraints rather
than physiological realities.”
 This is the difference between gender
and sex
 Feminist readings are concerned with
gender – expectations, roles, ideas
Source
 Traditional
readings portray Okonkwo as
a flawed hero
 But what if we put Ekwefi at the center of
the story?
• Think: what kind of power do Igbo women have?
• Think: how does Ekwefi respond to setbacks?
• Think: how would the book be different if it was
about Ekwefi, not Okonkwo?
 Look
at how the author of the article
describes Ezinma…
 Within Igbo society, is Ezinma masculine
or feminine?
 How does the relationship between
Ezinma and Ekwefi challenge Igbo
patriarchy?
A
feminist reading of TFA shows us two
things:
• How the book’s female characters are just as
important, interesting, and heroic as Okonkwo
• How the book’s female characters offer a
challenge to patriarchy
 Now
you know how to use this lens to
examine not only books and media, but
the whole world around you
 After all, the unexamined life…
Gender
Does reading with this lens
change your perspective on
TFA? What are some
problems with this lens? Can
men read “as women”?
Religion
How does religion influence
gender roles in Igbo culture?
What about in our culture? In
what cases does religion
help or hurt women?
Tradition & Change
List some traditional ideas
about masculinity/femininity
in our culture. How have they
changed over time? How
might they change in the
future?
Fate/Destiny
Think about the parts of your
life that you can’t control. How
many of these relate to your
sex or gender identity? How
do gender expectations
control our lives?