g, but only because of his timing. He beats his second wife when she refers to him as one of those "guns that never shot". When a severe case of wife beating comes before the egwugwu, he finds in favor of the wife, but at the end of the trial a man wonders "why such a trifle should come before the egwugwu"(pg.83). The husband considers his wife as a property. He either wants his wife back or his bride price. The omniscient narrator acknowledges a near-invisibility of women in Things Fall Apart. Describing a communal ceremony, he confesses, "It was clear from the way the crowd stood that the ceremony was for men. There were many women, but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders"(pg.77). They are not invited to stay when men are engaged in any discussion; they are not included in council of war; they do not form part of the masquerades representing the judiciary and ancestral spirits. Okonkwo views women to be weak and foolish. He has a different expectation for men and women. This can be seen clearly by the way that he raises his children. He tries his best to train Nwoye to be strong and brave while he feels sorry that Ezinma is a girl. Okonkwo knows that "Ezinma has the right spirit", but he does not try to make her to be brave or strong. He favors her the most out of all of his children, yet "if Ezinma had been a boy [he] would have been happier"(pg.69). This kind of contradiction comes up in the novel repeatedly. Those practical, daily life examples of how Okonkwo views women play an important role in showing Okonkwo's real drive for his behaviors. From those examples, we can see that Okonkwo hates any women's characteristics because they remind him of his father. He is afraid of becoming like his father. He hates the fact that his father is so unsuccessful; therefore, he does not want to be like his father. The underlying theme for those examples is not to show that Okonkwo does not respect women at all. I...
