Thursday, March 28, 2019
The Many Meanings of "Agbala"
In chapter 2, we are introduced with the Igbo word "Agbala". Agbala is another name for a woman, as well as the name for a man who has no title status. This implies that the Igbo considered all women less than the lowest class of men, reflecting their patriarchal culture. The word is first used as an insult for Unoka, who was considered weak and not respected to the people in the village. Later on, however, we discover that Agbala is also the name of the local Oracle, and in the footnotes it explains to us that although the oracle is masculine, his priestess (Chika) is feminine. I just found it interesting how Agbala is used as an insult in Umuofia, yet it is also the name of the most powerful spiritual being of the village.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I also find it interesting that women are portrayed as the very much inferior sex in Igbo society throughout the novel, yet females hold some of the most important religious positions in the tribe. Men hold the leadership roles and are solely in charge of the Igbo's most important crop, yams. They are allowed multiple wives, and beating women is fairly common. In addition, the nine egwugwu are all men, and no woman has ever even seen the inside of the egwugwu's hut. It seems that men have all the power...yet the people who communicate with their gods are female?
From what we see in Things Fall Apart, Igbo people deeply value religion and superstition. They are afraid of nights when the moon isn't out because they fear evil spirits will do them harm and throw people unworthy of a proper burial in the Evil Forest (such as the twins, Ikemefuna, and Unoka). They are deeply alarmed by Okonkwo breaking the Week of Peace for their Earth goddess, Ani. It seems to me that they would put a male in charge of communicating with their deities, yet the priestess, Chielo, is a woman. It's very unjust for the Igbo men to value the priestess so much, yet treat almost every other woman in the tribe like dirt, in my opinion.
That's a really interesting point! I agree that that is strange that the word seems to carry two meanings and that women are seen as less than men, yet hold powerful religious positions. Maybe this is because masculinity to them is connected to a lack of showing emotion or being heavily impacted by ones feelings; perhaps the roles the women play in religion are seen as more of an emotional role whereas the men are supposed to be great warriors, gain honor, and provide food for the ancestors/ceremonies/spirits. Then I suppose the oracle himself is a man but is called by the name to connect him with the emotions associated with women, maybe? As for the women not being able to see inside the hut, I think this is probably so that the men still feel like they have power over the women. The women do have some powerful religious positions, but they are still restricted and kept lower than the men. I certainly agree that the treatment of the women is unfair also!
Post a Comment