Gender and masculinity

Quote

Character

Chapter

“It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself lest he... resemble his father.”

Narrator

2

“The elders, or ndichie, met to hear a report of Okonkwo’s mission. At the end they decided, as everybody knew they would, that the girl should go to Ogbuefi Udo to replace his murdered wife. As for the boy, he belonged to the clan as a whole, and there was no hurry to decide his fate.”

Narrator

2

“I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands."

Okonkwo

4

“But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbours that he was in error. And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. His enemies said that his good fortune had gone to his head.”

Narrator

4

“Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness – the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.”

Narrator

4

“Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one gravest to another was a very great man indeed. Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him.”

Narrator

4

“No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man.”

Okonkwo

7

“When did you become a shivering old woman... you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number?

Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.”

Okonkwo

8