Eco-feminist reading of women in things fall apart

Eco-feminist reading of women in things fall apart

 Eco-feminism is a branch of criticism which seeks to analyze and interpret the relationship between women and nature. It describes movements and philosophies that link feminism with ecology. The term is believed to have been coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in her book Le Féminisme ou la Mort in 1974.

 

• Eco-feminism is based on the theory that the subjugation of women and the oppression of nature are linked together.

• Eco-feminism is linked to the study of the internal and intricate relationship between women and ecology.

• Eco-feminists believe that these connections are illustrated through traditionally "female" values such as reciprocity, nurturing and cooperation, which are present both among women and in nature. 

Women and nature

Women and nature are also united through their shared history of oppression by a patriarchal Western society. 

Women and nature are closely tied together and their role in society is predicated towards a common goal which is to nurture, reproduce and recreate. The primary aims of eco-feminism are not the same as those typically associated with liberal feminism./

Ecofeminists do not seek equality with men as such, Central to this liberation is a recognition of the value of the activities traditionally associated with women; childbirth, nurturing and the whole domestic arena.

Events and festivals in things fall apart

The Week of Peace

The exploitation of the women due to power class, gender and race are directly linked to the exploitation of our environment. All these are made manifest in Chinua Achebe’s Thing Fall Apart. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, the writer, perhaps consciously or unconsciously revealed through his writing this interconnectedness between women and nature. Week of Peace, devoted in her honor of Earth goddess. Season of harvest and the next planting Special norms and rules of this festival .

 He (Okonkwo) had beaten his wife, Ojiugo during the week of peace for her inability to provide his meal at the appropriate time, a duty she abandoned to go and plait her hair. It was Ezeani, the priest on Ani that spelt out the implication of this abominable act to Okonkwo, thereby showing the role, value and importance of the earth goddess in the lives of the Umuofia people. He had reprimanded Okonkwo in these words:

"Listen to me,’ he said when Okonkwo has spoken. ‘You are not a stranger in Umuofia. You know as well as I do that our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crops in the earth we should observe a week in which a man does not say a harsh word to his neighbor. We live in peace with our fellows to honor our great goddess of the earth without whose blessing our crops will not grow. You have committed a great evil….. (24)"

Feast of the New Yam

Another festival that honor's the goddess of Ani was the feast of the New Yam. It was an occasion for giving thanks to Ani, the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. Ani, was believed to play a greater part in the lives of the people more than any other deity. The role and place of Ani, the earth goddess can never be over emphasized in Umuofia community. When Ani is pleased, the community enjoys fertility and great harvest.

Again breaking of Reserved perspectives……

women in the novel were productive and fertile and Ani, blesses them all, yet Okonkwo would always find a way to molest his wives and by so doing threaten the peace of the community. Apart from desecrating the Week of Peace, he beats his second wife, Ekwefi for merely plucking leaves from a banana tree. He had beaten her and while the woman was crying and muttering something about Okonkwo’s gun that will never fire, Okonkwo almost killed her to prove to her that the gun has bullet and can kill.

Sacrifice a cock in things fall apart

Unoka had complained thus: ‘Every year, ‘he said sadly, ‘before I put any crop in the earth, I sacrifice a cock to Ani; the owner of all land. It is the law of our fathers. I also kill a cock at the shrine of  Ifejioku , The God of Yams. (13) The priestess hard criticized him thus: ‘You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers. harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm you stay at home and offer sacrifices to a reluctant god. Go home and work like a man. (14) 

Critical Support to the Argument

 As Moslem Zolfagharkhani and Reyhaneh Sadat Shadpour project: 

“The culture of African people did not allow them to abuse nature. In fact, they asked their needs from the earth and sacrificed to appreciate its gifts and favors. The reason for which the colonizer tired to destroy this culture was because this culture did not allow the colonizer to exploit human beings and nature.”

 Okonkwo accidentally killed the son of Ezeudu during his burial, his mother’s place was the only place he could find peace, shelter and comfort in the seven years of his exile from Umuofia……….

Mother’s place and Repentance of Okonkwo

It was in Mbanta, his mother’s place that Okonkwo came close to realizing the value and importance of women in life. It was Uchendu, his Uncle that took him to explain the reality of this natural phenomenon, the interconnectivity between the earth and women to him in these words:

“It is true that a child belongs to its father. But when a father beat his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother’s hut. A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme… (107). 

Tragic End Of Things Fall Apart…

“Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. his wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these (11)

Okonkwo'ssuicide is an unspeakable act that strips him of all honor and denies him the right to an honorable burial. Okonkwo dies an outcast, banished from the very society he fought to protect. The novel's second tragedy occurs on the broader level of history. It was this fear that destroyed him in the end.

Conclusion:  every culture has its own traditions and cultural to perform in particular way as according to their fixed norms, when some one disturbs the whole process of keeping tradition at that time it becomes a historical monument to study that aspect with more accurate theories, things fall apart is one of the best tradition breaker novel in which we get ourselves confused that weather this novel consisting and projecting the ideas of ecofeminism so far the women's respect and the worship of nature is concerned on the other hand muscular power patriarchy and racism is also equall part of this novel. 

           Thank you 😊

• Works Cited
• Achebe, Chinua. Weebly. n.d. 28 May 2021. <http://thingsfallapartzaria.weebly.com/traditions-and-celebrations.html>.
• Nkechi, Ifechelobi Jane and Asika Ikechukwu Emmanuel. "Women and Ecology: An Eco-Feminist Reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart." International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences 2.4 (2014): 33-40. PDF. 26 May 2021. <https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/239192-women-and-ecology-an-eco-feminist-readin-64ec2ebc.pdf>.

Click here to see work citation