Certainly she does this in effort to protect the youngest wife, knowing full well what she faced. Another one of his wives tries to cover for her when she is questioned as to whether or not the youngest wife has fed the children before she left. Okonkwo beats his youngest wife one-day because she was visiting with a friend and did not get home in time to prepare a meal for him. In keeping with the Ibo view of female nature, the tribe allows wife beating. She tries to put him at ease and can almost instinctively feel how much he misses his own mother. She mothers him as if he is one of her own children. Later in the story we see this woman try to comfort Ikemefuna. When did you become one of the ndichie meaning elders of Umuofia? pg. He snaps at her in a very degrading manner, Do what you are told woman. She in turn asks him if he will be staying with them for a long period of time. Okonkwo tells his senior wife that Ikemefuna belongs to the tribe and that she is expected to look after him. We clearly see this early in the story, when Okonkwo brings Ikemefuna into his home. They are never to question what they are instructed to do they are expected to be obedient. In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo has several wives. These women are nurturers above all and they are anything but weak. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, women of the Ibo tribe are terribly mistreated, and viewed as weak and receive little or no respect outside of their role as a mother.
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