Paper 2: Things Fall Apart Analytical Response

3- Discuss the significance of social status in Things Fall Apart, and comment on its contribution to characterization.

In the Igbo culture, the amount of respect that one deserves really depends on one's success. The culture detrmine's ones success by the amount of wives and barns that a man has.  Achebe writes, "Okonkwo was not a failure like Unoka. He has a large barn full of yams and three wives." (page 6). This allows us to emphasize the ideas of titles and social status. Titles are something that are defined throughout a man' lifetime based on his success in the culture. The privilege of having a relevant title is the gained respect from other members of the tribe. Okonkwo had an unsuccessful father. "among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father" (page 8). Unoka lacked responsibility. During his life, he never possessed a relevant title and, therefore, never gained status or respect from the villagers. Unoka's behavior was contrary to typical Igbo tradition, so he was not taken seriously and was treated un-respectfully by the Igbo clansmen and, later, by Okonkwo, his son. In contrary, Okonkwo still had a relatively successful life, despite what his father did. From this we could see that in Igbo culture, a man’s social status is based on merit rather than inheritance. A man can gain respect by his bravery in war, his athletic skill as a wrestler, and the productivity of his yam fields; as Oknonkwo did. Thus, if a man has a “title” then he has earned an increased societal position. Achebe keeps the reader up to speed on which male characters in the book have titles. Okonkwo has two titles, so that proves he is both extremely hard working and physically capable. Okonkwo’s father, on the other hand, never earned any titles – this shows that he was both lazy and generally incompetent. the story, we see Okonkwo attempt to gain the recognition of possessing a dominant title and become the polar opposite of his father. This shows us how much he values social status at a personal level. Thus, we see that Okonkwo's attempt to gain a masculine and dominant title is the main basis for his characterization in the novel.