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Research Proposal

Gender Roles and Toxic Masculinity: Things Fall Apart

Iqbal Haider

ID: 17203024

Chittagong Independent University

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Abstract

This is a research proposal for the preparation of the paper which will focus on the title

Gender Roles and Toxic Masculinity: Things Fall Apart for the course- Seminar Paper. Things

Fall Apart is the debut novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, first published in 1958.The

novel follows the life of Okonkwo, an Igbo man and local wrestling champion in the fictional

Nigerian clan of Umuofia. His struggles in the family as a son later on as a father. And in the

climax, we see how miserable his life gets, which eventually makes him commit suicide. The

major theme of this paper will be the impact of a patriarchal society on the men and how it

makes them extremely masculine, in most cases, here in the case of Okonkwo and how it makes

their lives and also the society miserable. The research reveals that the male characters have both

cultural and individual masculine idiosyncrasies and that the complexities of male roles confirm

the pluralistic and slippery nature of masculinity.

1. Introduction

The theme of Gender Roles and Masculinity in Achebe‟s Things Fall Apart (1958) is not

new as several scholars have written severally on the topic, what is however new is the treatment

of Masculinity and how it affects or contributes to Culture clash in the text. The research reviews

the discourse of masculinity and culture clash by gendering the two societies in focus western

culture and African Traditional culture to ascertain which is masculine and which is feminine. It

looks at the traits and qualities of these two societies and compares these traits from the lens of

traditional gender roles. Before we begin, it is important to understand what toxic masculinity

actually is, as the word “toxic” is described as the attribute of the masculinity which generally

includes various stereotypical behaviors like trying to dominate the females or the family, being

very harsh or aggressive and feeling of being a superior sex. According to Maya Salam “Toxic
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masculinity is what can come of teaching boys that they can’t express emotion openly; that they

have to be “tough all the time”; that anything other than that makes them “feminine” or weak. So

here, in the story of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is the protagonist or in another aspect the

“tragic hero” who portrays this toxic masculinity. And ultimately analyse how this behaviour

affects his life or how things fall apart.

Research Goal

The goal of this research is to:

• Gender Representation of African culture versus Western culture.

• Okonkwo’s ways: Personal or cultural?

• Challenging senior African masculinity.

2. Literature Review

Guthrie in a study entitled Language and Identity in Postcolonial African Literature: A

Case Study of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, for language attitudes, reveals that, an

author’s linguistic stereotypes can affect his writing and promote cultural bias (Guthrie, 2011).

Nikolas Coupland and Adam Jaworski have noted that ‘our beliefs may be the factor motivating

our behaviors, whatever the objective truth is (267). The combined literary and linguistic

approach challenges readers to think about culture, language, identity, and the importance of

language attitudes on the writing process. Commenting on the construction of male and female

genders in the autobiographical narratives, Ogunyemi et al maintain that gender differences are

created and sustained by society through its traditional machinery, such as its conventions,

norms, institutions and laws (99). The idea about male and female as it has to do with gender

include traditional views that mark ‘women as submissive, illogical, passive, talkative,

emotional, easily given to tears, etc. the view of Elisabeth Horan (2014), we can review the
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masculine/feminine binary to show that the masculine gender typically holds the power in Igbo

society while feminine gender represents the weak. Okonkwo reacts with violence and severe

disapproval if provoked by any femininity shown by his sons by chastising them and beating

them. This correlates with the way the natives are treated by the colonizers but in a reverse

gender dynamic: the colonizers react with violence if the natives show any masculine tendencies

if they fight back, if they resist, or if they taunt the white colonizers: “The court messengers did

not like to be called Ashy-Buttocks, and they beat the men. But the song spread in Umuofia”

(Achebe, 1902). The colonized people are praised for feminine traits such as acting submissive

and not questioning the power of the church or the new nation.

3.Methodology

Methodology clarifies the research inquiry and why the inquiry is imperative. It clarifies

the beginning stage of the research, the bearings of the research and the conceivable ramifications

of the research when it is finished. Methodology clarifies the writing the researcher is utilizing, the

dialect and phrasing, alternate hypotheses and clarifications being utilized, the routines and the

kind of examination that will be utilized to decipher the information and data gathered. In this

research paper I will use Qualitative method. In this paper I need to collect important data to find

out the reason behind the gender roles and masculinity in Things Fall Apart. I also require

particular resources. In order to address this problem of masculine perception of Okwonko

regarded as the sign of his Igbo society destruction, the research uses the analytical approach

which is based on literary criticism upon the masculine perception of the main protagonist,

Okwonko, of the Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Apart from that, this approach has to

collect all information from chapters that depict the Okonkwo’s masculine perception as the sign

of his Igbo society destruction. Okonkwo, who is a traditional and proud Igbo man, has an
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antipathy toward what is considered to be weak and feminine. Okonkwo is therefore struck with

depression when he finds himself in a weak and helpless position, as well as emasculated

emotional state of mind.Without any reservation whatsoever, Okonkwo decided to become the

opposite of his father Unoka whom he considers weak and effeminate.

4.Timetable

To complete this research paper it will take 10 to 15 days. Data on survival,

developmental time, and important data will be collected to finish by the end of February. At that

time I will analyze the data. The initial time for this research paper will be completed by early

March.

5.Conclusion

From the review of this novel, it is obvious that the main character in the text, Okonkwo

represent the Traditional masculinity while the white colonizers represent the Western

effeminate culture. There were several gendered clashes in the cultures of the two societies,

which are majorly social language, religion and total way of life. Things fall apart as both

societies cannot agree on views about the cultural, social and gender views of their people.

Gender bias and gendered role specifications assigns more privilege, honor and wealth to the

masculine gender, while the feminine gender is an appendage to man. In our society, one gender

could be seen as superior to the other and this causes some structural inequality in power and

economic distribution, a reality discovered in this paper.

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References

Achebe, C (1958). Things Fall Apart. Published September 1st 1994 byAnchor Books (first

published 1958)

Chimdi, M(December 2011). Masculinities in Achebe's TFA. International Journal of

Humanities and Social Science Vol. 1 No. 20, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Coupland, N., & Adam, J. (1997). Sociolinguistics: A Reader and Coursebook. New York:

Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25582-5

Guthrie, A. (2011). Language and Identity in Postcolonial African Literature: A Case Study of

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart’ MA Thesis, U of Liberty.

Salam, Maya, Jan. 2, 2019 What Is Toxic Masculinity

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/us/toxic-masculinity.html