Things Fall Apart Gender Themes/Issues:

How does Okonkwo’s relationship with male and female characters differ? Why?

What role do women play in this novel? What is life like for Okonkwo’s wives?

Some female characters in the book don’t seem to fit the mold according to Okonkwo’s view? Who are they and why are they important to the text?

When Okonkwo is sent into exile, he is sent to Mbanta, his “motherland,” where things seem very different than life in Umuofia. How are they different? What do these differences tell us about gender? What do you make of the expression “Mother is Supreme” that is mentioned in the book?

What do the terms “patriarchy” and “matriarchy” mean? Give one example of each from the text.

How is Okonkwo’s view of gender different from other characters’ view of gender roles in the novel? Give examples.

Think about the character Ezinma. Of Ezinma, Okonkwo thinks: "She should have been a boy" (p. 64). Why is it necessary to the story that Okonkwo's most favored child be a girl? What does it mean that she has all of the characteristics that her father finds more valuable in a son?

In the novel, there are two kinds of murder – male and female (124). What are these and what do they mean to the novel? Does it matter that Okonkwo committed the “female” kind of murder?