The South African Igbo tribe of Umuofia, as depicted in Chinua Achebe's “Things Fall Apart” (1958), comprises layer upon complex layer of social order. From birth to death, every aspect of Umuofian culture is defined by an intricate balance of rituals, passed down through oral tradition. The protagonist Okonkwo appears to uphold the customs of his ancestors and represent the elite of his culture. It would appear that the invasion of the colonialist empire is responsible for the disfigurement of Okonkwo's life. Upon closer examination, however, one discovers that it is Okonkwo's polarized concepts of masculinity and femininity that are disfigured and that he never at all represented the balanced wisdom of his ancestors. Thus, as Achebe's juxtaposition between Okonkwo's rigid perspective and Umuofia's adaptive reality expands, the reader follows Okonkwo and the descent into the chaos of his falsely gendered world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay "Okonkwo was well known in all nine villages and beyond" (2860). The first sentence of the novel brings Okonkwo's narrative directly into an internal perspective. This helps establish a fair and broadly emic view of Umuofian culture. In this way readers can not only observe an inclusive pattern of music and dance, law and justice, and religious rituals, but also understand the practicality behind values ​​such as tribal unity, fraternal hospitality, and ancestor veneration. Each of these values ​​represents an aspect of Igbo culture that is critical to preserving the order of their world. Without any of them, the Igbo people would tend to collapse into 'mere anarchy'. A significant emic account in chapter one describes the highly developed and elevated art of oration as only an insider can: through the proverb. “Among the Igbo the art of conversation is held in high esteem, and proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten” (2862). Throughout the novel it is shown that ancestral wisdom is transmitted through proverbs, fables and stories. For Igbo oral tradition, the power of story becomes the medium through which culture is transmitted, just as palm oil is necessary for the sustenance of an Igbo person. It can therefore be said that in the story of “Things Fall Apart”, stories not only represent order, but are necessary to maintain it. What is the wisdom that moves his 'Chi' to do what he does? Okonkwo's gruff appearance should not be confused with his true feelings. On the contrary, the reader's privileged position reveals many paradoxical internal emotions. Achebe repeatedly frames Okonkwo's thoughts with the condition "inwardly." His "slight stammer" reveals much more of his Chi than his father's skillful oration ever could. All this contradiction pushes the reader to investigate Okonkwo's truth. To understand a man's Chi, you need to understand where his story begins. Just as Okonkwo's downfall is framed in the context of Umuofia, so is the story of his father, Unoka, framed in Okonkwo's chronicle. The reader first learns objectively that Okonkwo's father was a creative and loving man, with great potential for happiness. In the context of Igbo culture, however, it floundered; it was considered a failure. And so Unoka retained his passion for beauty and joy, but became familiar with sadness and pain. Through it all, the man never let the contempt of others control his behavior: Unoka literally takes his flute to his ignominious grave. Okonkwo's prideit makes him vulnerable where his father was not. He vividly remembers a playmate calling his father a name, casting shame on Okonkwo. This passage alludes not only to the psychological origin, but to the cultural relevance behind Okonkwo's Chi. Okonkwo's pride makes him susceptible to succumbing to his great fear of rejection and contempt. And so, he turns his fear into a motivation: to become everything his father is not and reject his most precious values. There is another story, however, that is spectacularly ignored by Okonkwo, and often overlooked by the reader as well. Only once, in the ninth chapter, is his mother removed from the background of the story. A few nights after the abominable killing of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo is swatting mosquitoes near his ear as he tries to sleep, and he remembers a fairy tale his mother used to tell. “Mosquito, she said, had asked Ear to marry him, after which she fell to the floor laughing uncontrollably. "How much longer do you think you'll live?" He asked. «You're already a skeleton. Mosquito left humiliated and every time he passed by her he told Ear that he was still alive” (2892). Okonkwo's suppression of his mother's story does not diminish its significance. The ear, a symbol of creative power, femininity and listening, causes Mosquito shame with its refusal. By underscoring his mortality, Ear cuts to the heart of Mosquito's fear. The ear will live and will always be included as long as there are stories to tell and listen to. The story blends listening and life force in a female representation while impressing on the reader Mosquito's loneliness and mortality. Even as the mosquito lives on, it buzzes away in shame, all too aware of its fragility and loneliness. Okonkwo believes that his escape from Mosquito's fate can be addressed by forcefully manipulating the Igbo relationship between achievement, age and respect. “As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands, so he ate with kings and elders” (2863). Okonkwo's need to wash his hands of the shame of his father is tremendous. In his desperation Okonkwo sees beyond the narrative power and wisdom of the elders. He assumes true authority to rest in those who succeed: kings. So, while the proverb is true in itself, Okonkwo takes it a step further by internalizing it with the idea that “among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father” (2863). An outsider's delivery of this phrase objectifies the truth of its content, but it also does not reflect the wisdom of Igbo elders. Clearly, to be included in Igbo life, one must be familiar with the customs, traditions and culture, all passed down in the oral tradition of storytelling. Despite the enormous significance of this fact for Okonkwo, he is already driven by fear of his father's story, and therefore rejects his mother's tradition. “But it was as stupid as all women's stories,” she thinks (2863). Dramatic irony is painful. His son Nwoye also recognizes the value of storytelling. Okonkwo distances himself from his mother and continually shows the world his manhood with all his accomplishments. Yet, “He felt like a drunken giant walking with the limbs of a mosquito” (2887). Its buzzing reminds the ear that it is still alive. The Umuofian culture uses several parameters to evaluate the value of a man: fighting, agriculture and battle. Each task is an integral part of the community in its own way. Agriculture guarantees the security of the livelihood of families. Wrestling brings the community together in competitive entertainment. The battle protects what matters most: the womb of the community. In each area, men are offered equalsopportunity to improve the community and be rewarded with wealth and honor. Both skill and will play a central role in all three tasks. A man's worth, therefore, is based on his physical prowess, predilection for violence, hard work and determination in Igbo culture. Okonkwo strives for all these characteristics as if his life depends on it - and the reader finds him accumulating many wives, expensive titles, a large amount of land, and a full barn in his early years of life. Such a successful man has no time to listen to senseless stories: he makes his fortune and his wisdom. “Okonkwo detests the memory of his father and represses the tradition of his mother” (188). It is quite simple for Okonkwo to model his behavior around what his father is not, and be rewarded for this behavior by his culture. However, without specific personal examples with which to form a framework of male and female, Okonkwo must resort to cultural context to develop his identity: washing his hands to dine with kings. “In this process he distorts both the masculine and the feminine by keeping them rigidly separate and with the ferocity of his war on the 'feminine'. (188)1 In Okonkwo's determined hatred of his father's ways, he abolishes those traits that would have afforded him an understanding of the feminine. Okonkwo's concept of woman in general is challenged several times by impressions of individual female characteristics, such as his willful daughter, Ekwezi. “'It should have been a boy,' she thought as she looked at her ten-year-old daughter” (2893). The contradictions can be so obvious that even he must recognize the irony. If Umuofian culture despises Unoka and simultaneously prizes Okonkwo, while providing him with the structure for his distorted perspective, then Igbo culture itself must have inherently patriarchal elements. Culturally tolerated wife beating and inequalities of opportunity for the sexes are just two examples. Achebe brings criticism with the novel written to open minds and cancel stereotypes. In addition to shedding light on the patriarchal characteristics of the Igbo, it focuses on those customs that are based on fear and insecurity. In the Evil Forest, ominous twins, people infested with "evil" diseases and the unknown magic of deceased sorcerers go to die: they are all offered to the "heart of darkness" which is the Evil Forest. The undeniable presence of these customs, however, does not exclude all other aspects of Igbo culture. To simplify an entire culture into black-and-white moral terms is to fall into Okonkwo's trap. As mentioned above, however, Igbo cultures rest on a subtle balance. Many examples of feminine aspects in culture are overlooked by Okonkwo but not by the discerning reader. During Okonkwo's lingering shame over his father, he tells the story of the powerful priestess known as Agbala. “She was filled with the power of her god and was greatly feared” (2866). Women can achieve such a high status and are indeed an integral part of the functioning of society. Chapter five tells us that women are the main domestic architects. Okonkwo once again ignores female power in the concept of bride price, illustrated in chapter eight and again in chapter fourteen. A young man must pay for the privilege of marrying a young woman, and virgins are considered especially valuable. Okonkwo neither understands nor accepts the importance of women or their contributions to Igbo society. He avoids all the "feminine" feelings of love, hope, joy and empathy from being communicated to the outside, but he also cannot understand what he believes to be silly feminine wisdom. Therefore, Okonkwo only listens to part of the, 2003. 95–122.