Once again I have pursued an outside reading, this time choosing to reread Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart. A fictional novel detailing the hardships of one African tribe as it faces colonization. It is immediately evident to the reader that Okonkwo, the hero of the story, is obsessed with manliness. His concern manifests itself in almost every chapter. The story begins with an account of his success as a wrestler - a "manly" competition - and ends with his murder of the court messenger, another "manly" act. In every action and every choice he makes, Okonkwo is determined to show that he is masculine. It is powerful irony, then, that the evidence of the novel shows that Okonkwo is actually a latent homosexual. I found this to be very interesting and had to share my analysis of the character. “Latent homosexual" means one’s homosexuality id not only hidden from others but is subconsciously hidden from oneself. After reading a bit of research by psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, I learned a key aspect of male homosexuality is hostility towards women. Okonkwo has treated his wives like servants, and there is no suggestion that he is attracted to them romantically or sexually. There is only one direct reference to sex in the book, when at the end of Chapter Eleven, Ekwefi remembers her first sexual encounter with Okonkwo, when he "just carried her into the his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth." (Achebe, 109) It is significant that this action is initiated by Ekwefi, not by Okonkwo himself. Okonkwo’s indifference is not exactly peaceful either as he has been known to be violent with his lovers, who "lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper." (Achebe, 13) So there is clear evidence of his hostility towards women. He thinks of them as inferior, and shows that in his words and his actions. Okonkwo is determined not to be like his father, whois said to be "agbala" - that is, a woman. He is ashamed of his father's sexuality, and decides that he must be the opposite. It is clear, however, that he overreacts to this situation. Okonkwo is not going to be just an ordinary male; he is going to be a supermodel of masculinity. The intensity of his reaction indicates that he is determined to hinder something. He is not just repudiating his father; he is condemning his own homosexual impulses. So this is the irony, and the paradox, of his situation. His obsessive determination with being a male - with being heterosexual - is clear evidence that he is actually homosexual.
Once again I have pursued an outside reading, this time choosing to reread Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart. A fictional novel detailing the hardships of one African tribe as it faces colonization. It is immediately evident to the reader that Okonkwo, the hero of the story, is obsessed with manliness. His concern manifests itself in almost every chapter. The story begins with an account of his success as a wrestler - a "manly" competition - and ends with his murder of the court messenger, another "manly" act. In every action and every choice he makes, Okonkwo is determined to show that he is masculine. It is powerful irony, then, that the evidence of the novel shows that Okonkwo is actually a latent homosexual. I found this to be very interesting and had to share my analysis of the character. “Latent homosexual" means one’s homosexuality id not only hidden from others but is subconsciously hidden from oneself. After reading a bit of research by psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, I learned a key aspect of male homosexuality is hostility towards women. Okonkwo has treated his wives like servants, and there is no suggestion that he is attracted to them romantically or sexually. There is only one direct reference to sex in the book, when at the end of Chapter Eleven, Ekwefi remembers her first sexual encounter with Okonkwo, when he "just carried her into the his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth." (Achebe, 109) It is significant that this action is initiated by Ekwefi, not by Okonkwo himself. Okonkwo’s indifference is not exactly peaceful either as he has been known to be violent with his lovers, who "lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper." (Achebe, 13) So there is clear evidence of his hostility towards women. He thinks of them as inferior, and shows that in his words and his actions. Okonkwo is determined not to be like his father, whois said to be "agbala" - that is, a woman. He is ashamed of his father's sexuality, and decides that he must be the opposite. It is clear, however, that he overreacts to this situation. Okonkwo is not going to be just an ordinary male; he is going to be a supermodel of masculinity. The intensity of his reaction indicates that he is determined to hinder something. He is not just repudiating his father; he is condemning his own homosexual impulses. So this is the irony, and the paradox, of his situation. His obsessive determination with being a male - with being heterosexual - is clear evidence that he is actually homosexual.
2 comments:
(SPOILER ALERT) Things Fall Apart is a topic I am very familiar with. I adore the book. I read it in 8th grade at Trinity, and again last year for my independent studies book. I wrote a paper in May about Okonkwo's obsession with masculinity, to the point of toxicity. I will firmly argue that it's just that, toxic masculinity. I do find it interesting that you didn't mention Okonkwo's suicide at the end of the book. For everyone who hasn't read it, firstly, I'd like to apologize for the spoiler, and secondly, Okonkwo commits suicide after killing the court messenger, but there's a bit more to it than that.
Okonkwo, like Ryn said, lives in a rural African village in present day Nigeria, during colonization in the 1890s. They are pretty much cut off from the outside world, other than their surrounding villages, all known collectively as Umuofia. At the end, after the colonizers have been in Umuofia for quite some time, Okonkwo returns from exile (a different story, maybe later) to find his people have grown compliant. They are allowing other members of their tribes to worship the Europeans' God and be throw in the Europeans' jails and even use the Europeans' court houses to do so, completely abandoning their traditions and culture they have had for centuries. During a meeting of the village leaders, the court messenger comes to the meeting and attempts to break it up. Okonkwo, not being able to deal with emotion other than anger, cuts off his head, goes home, and hangs himself on a tree in his backyard. Not because he was upset over the murder of the court messenger and didn't want to face the consequences, but because the thought of his clan members losing all their fight caused him to lose all hope.
Deryn, while I agree that Okonkwo is obsessed with appearing masculine to his family and village, and I also agree that this stems from his father, I disagree that this shows his homosexuality and embarrassment of his father. Okonkwo hated his father because he saw him as weak, and consequently, everything his father loved - idle time, music, and laziness - Okonkwo made an effort to hate. He wasn't embarrassed of his dad, he just hated him because he was weak.
Personally, I find the homosexuality argument to be a bit of a stretch. Okonkwo is not hostile towards his wives and children because he is gay, but because he cares about him, and these feelings scare him. It is referenced multiple times in the book about Ikemefuna, Okonkwo's adopted son, that Okonkwo loved him, but would never outwardly show it, due to the fear of coming across as soft or womanly. Okonkwo suppresses his feelings constantly, leaving him emotionally distant and resentful. Is there going to be internalized homophobia and open homophobia throughout the book? Of course, it's the 1890s, but I don't think Okonkwo is gay as a result of his intense homophobia.
I read the book last year, but as a requirement for my English class. That being said, when I am forced to read a novel, nine times out of ten, I will enjoy it less. That being said, that novel was assigned during the third quarter of my junior, arguably one of the most stressful times of a high school career. All of the junior-level teachers knew that this book was not the most popular among the student body, and it was affectionately referred to as the yam book. That being said, I guarantee I did not get as much out of it as some of my other classmates. However, since I believe we will be reading it this year (@msking, not sure if that works like I hope it would), I will be sure to look deeper into it upon a second read, so thank you both for the insight.
Yours truly,
Hunter
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