What Women Want
...ted his unrelenting masculinity by issuing an abusive attack on her. Then, soon after, Ekwefi made a derogatory remark towards Okonkwo, and he brought out his gun to shoot her, but fortunately, missed (27). The fact that Okonkwo was so outraged by these minor mistakes shows not only his short temper and impatience, but also his disrespect for women in general. He exhibited no feelings of husbandly love for his wives during the course of the novel, and instead, physically hurt them continuously, which brought the women to live fear. Mental exploitation was focused more on in the English novel Hard Times, possibly because of the conservative views of punishment during the Victorian era. Of course, the abuse may not have seemed as disturbing, but nonetheless, the turmoil caused the minds and emotions of the women to be altered forever. Degrading females and their knowledge was a recurring theme throughout Dickens’ novel. For example, in Chapter nine, Cecilia Jupe is discussing her progress in school with Louisa. In her review, the poor young lady describes her experiences as pathetic and how each one has affected her negatively: “‘You don’t know,’ said Sissy, half-crying, ‘what a stupid girl I am. All through school hours I make mistakes. Mr. And Mrs. M’Choakumchild call me up, over and over again, regularly to make mistakes. I can’t help them. They seem to come natural to me” (Dickens 93). In later chapters, the effects of these early educational encounters become evident as Cecilia’s self-esteem falls at a consistent pace with no future plans or dreams for herself. Louisa was in the same situation in a sense. Her father erased all of her feelings, leaving nothing but the facts; therefore, she, too, had no goals in life. Her constant motto was, “What does it matter!” (Dickens 134). Obviously, the women who were not allowed to feel, think, or learn what they pleased, in addition to being forced to believe they were “stupid,” formed only lifeless existences; in other words, the females served no purpose. Similarly, both Hard Times and Things Fall Apart, the women characters were perceived as weak and not able to handle the hard work in which men were subjected to daily. With Dickens’ novel, women of wealth, such as the Gradgrinds, were not authorized by their husbands or fathers to obtain employment. In fact, the female characters never did much of anything, including household chores, and if they did, the task was neither difficult nor exhausting: that’s what servants were for at the time. However, the females of the tribes in Achebe’s book were a little different. They were often assigned cooking, cleaning, and light farming labor; the men and boys were supposed to do the masculine jobs. For example, the “yam stood for manliness and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed” (Achebe 24). Women were not allowed to fuss with the yams because they lacked the strength and ability to deal with such an important chore. Instead, they “planted maize, melons and beans between the yam mounds,” an activity of less significance (Achebe 24). However, contradicting their beliefs, the men gave their wives the noteworthy responsibility of preparing for festivals, a vital aspect of tribal life. “The festival was now only three days away. Okonkwo’s wives had scrubbed the walls and huts with red earth until they reflected light...” and they were also accountable for supplying the food for the events (Dickens 27). All in all, the men wanted control of women’s actions, including the jobs they performed in and out of the home. Marital and parental issues were not discriminated to the control of the male householder. Women characters in Hard Times or Things Fall Apart rarely had the opportunity to speak their opinions regarding the family’s well-being. In fact, total domination was insanely promoted in Achebe’s book: “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. He was like the man in the song who had ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo” (Achebe 37). T...