Women: Slaves sent to earth to bare children and obey men.
Women: Extraordinary beings with great powers, respected equally with men.
The first meaning of women is suggested in the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. Where women are foul creatures to beat and take advantage of. But if you look at the second one suggested in the short story "Mother was a Great Man", by Catherine Obianuju Achulonu, It shows a completely different aspect of women. In this essay I will be showing you the many roles of women in theses stories so you can choose a definition of a woman.
An easy comparison in both of theses stories is that the women in these two tribes are expected to birth many children. Male children were essential to a woman because then she felt that her part in the tribe was fulfilled, because she now had someone to carry on the family name and honor.
In contrast to the male children in these stories is the in " Mother was a Great Man", female children in high families were crucial for her father to get his chieftancy title.
" Your father was rich he had a large yam barn, a hard working wife, four able bodied sons and above all, royal blood of his ancestors flowed through his veins. But the ancestors were adamant. They would not hear of a chieftain without a daughter. " That is the custom of Ikeduru," they insisted, " and nobody will change it."".
In Things Fall Apart, female children didn't have many uses they cooked and cleaned and when wed gave their fathers a bit more "spending money".
Another comparison of a woman's role in these tribes the women are "slaves" to their husbands and have to do things for them, such as cook them meals, take care of the children and, clean their huts. That is what women of society do today also but at least they get some help from their husbands and if they don't do one of the things they don't get beat nearly to death.