Things Do Not Entirely Fall Apart

The upcoming CSUN Honors Colloquium deals with the theme of boundaries and how they are both defined and/or undefined.  I have chosen to write a paper that deals with the gender issues present in Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart.  The proposal for this paper is pasted below.

Things Do Not Entirely Fall Apart

            Traditionally, Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, is considered feminist in its seemingly evident critique of gender issues surrounding the African community in both a pre-colonial and colonial context.  While Achebe accurately presents the sexism existent in African tradition, ultimately the novel reproduces sexist discourse in its representation, or lack thereof, of its female characters.  The paper I will present at the CSUN Honors Colloquium challenges the accepted notion that Things Fall Apart functions as a feminist critique and works to counter this claim.

            Admittedly, the novel necessarily brings to light the boundaries placed upon women, particularly evident through the hyper-masculinization of the main character, 
Okonkwo, and his unquestioning adherence to the patriarchal traditions of African ideology in its treatment of women.  While this may seem sufficient enough to consider this text feminist, the novel itself ultimately functions to perpetuate a sexist ideology, perhaps unintentionally, by relegating the identity of “woman” to the margins and by placing the male identity front and center.  Not only do the female characters throughout the novel lack development, but they also problematically function as a tool for the advancement of the main male character.  In accordance, once the women can no longer provide assistance in the development of Okonkwo’s character, Achebe erases their identity from the text.  This reproduces sexist discourse as it defines the identity of “woman” in her relation and relevance to the masculine figure, as well as deemphasizes the importance of her own development.  One such example is explored through Okonkwo’s daughter, Ezinma.  Though Ezinma is a defiant young girl who begins to challenge the traditional roles placed upon her by the patriarchal society in which she exists, her character is left undeveloped and eventually ignored altogether by Achebe unless it is in relation to Okonkwo.   It is through this example and many others that my paper argues against the traditional notion that Things Fall Apart is a feminist work and proves the sexist undertones that the novel, as a whole, reproduces.

Foe - A Bit of Confusion and a Bit of Anonymity

The novel, Foe, by J.M. Coetzee reconstructs the story of Robinson Cruso through the eyes of Susan Barton.  The story revolves around this reconstruction and the retelling of the story itself.  The novel seems to bring to light that the retelling of stories (or rather experiences in someone's life) are always a mixture of truth and fiction.  I believe that Foe functions as a challenge to the notion of "reality" as it presents that no one's reality is the same (and this reality is not necessarily real itself but a combination of actual events and fictitious ones).  If I am confusing, it is only because I too have put down this novel only to be left in a state of confusion.

The last chapter  is, in my eyes, unlike any other in the novel.  Not only is it short (while all the others are extremely long), but is also written surrealistically.  Unlike the last chapter, the bulk of the novel is written in a more realistic fashion, though it strays slightly from time to time as the mind of Susan Barton wanders.  Additionally, the point of view shifts from that of Susan Barton to an anonymous narrator.  It is perhaps up to the reader to decide who this narrator is or perhaps to accept this anonymity as the essence of storytelling itself.  It is no longer about the importance of the speaker/author (as their reality recedes into the unknown and even the unknowable), but rather about this new story, this fictional reality.


In the last chapter, the characters in the story are found to be dead or near death.  Just as the speaker remains anonymous, ultimately, the characters reflect this same anonymity because in death comes silence.  If silence is what makes someone unknowable (as their reality is never outwardly expressed through language), then death is the ultimate form of anonymity.  Because Susan can no longer express her story, though it was to be manipulated by Foe, it is now picked up by someone else who can never express her reality, but only their versions of it.  This is what is so significant about the character Friday whose reality (the mystery of which haunted Susan endlessly) was continually constructed by others because he was a mute.  In the end, this anonymous character opens Friday's mouth and,

From inside him comes a slow stream, without breath, without interruption.  It flows up through his body and out upon me; it passes through the cabin, through the wreck; washing the cliffs and shores of the island, it runs northward and southward to the ends of the earth.  Soft and cold and unending. (Coetzee 157)

 This ending seems to suggest that though Friday could not speak, there still exists within him a story that exists and is "unending".  And just like everyone else's story (which exists in an in-between state), it can never really be known.