Narrativizing Patriarchy Within the Framework of Things Fall Apart

Abstract

Patriarchy, well defined by many theorists refers to the man who exerts power and supremacy over his family. The paper seeks to discuss not just how women are oppressed and subjugated but also all the unidentified and hideous horrors that men are subjected in a patriarchal society concerning Chinua Achebe’s novel Things fall apart within the framework of Bell Hooks ‘Understanding Patriarchy.

An analysis of the impact of patriarchal society over men and how it informs dominant gender roles in daily discourses of life. Naturalized and ritualized through religion, it is infused in women and children on a psychological level and then is exercised in almost every society. The superfluity of male entitlements furnished by patriarchy develops an iniquitous consciousness among men as well as the pillars of hyper-masculinity. Thus, it is evident that patriarchy confines men to a certain code of dispositions which precludes their natural articulation of emotions and feelings. This endangers their dehumanization.