Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Crime: Is It Male or Female
Crime. For this village, crimes are either male or female based on the severity of said crime. Okonkwo's equivalent of modern-day's involuntary manslaughter is considered a "female" crime since he did not mean to kill the young sixteen year old boy. The division of male/female gives great insight into the culture of the Ibo. Manly acts are forceful, brute, and aggressive, while womanly acts are weak, accidental, and childish. The penalty for Okonkwo's crime is all of his homes are destroyed, along with his livestock and crops. He also has to leave the village and not return for seven years. A harsh penalty for for womanly crime, eh? Notices this fleeing is similar to the old Jewish Mosaic Law where if a person killed another person by accident, he had to flee to a safe village where similar persons lived. That is an interesting parallel.
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2 comments:
Agreed that the organization of crimes into 'male' and 'female' is quite strange. The culture as a whole is clearly quite incapable of showing any respect towards women in general, which is not to say that it's a bad thing. The beliefs that the village follows are obviously long traditions that've been with the tribe for as long as anyone can remember. So to us it may seem weird, but in the future it may seem strange to people that we persecute for things like false advertising and neglect.
Yes, it is, and I agree with Iron Jack that the village itself has no respect towards women. In fact, Okonkwo even states that a in order for a man to be considered a man, he must be abel to control his women. This just shows that there is no respect towards women, and to classify crime as male or female is just plain wrong, as it gives the impression of weakness, childishness, etc. towards women, and only serves to create a steorotype.
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