The Second Coming Vs. Things Fall Apart

A detailed Summary of The Second Coming Vs. Things Fall Apart

The book Things Fall Apart , by Chinua Achebe , is very similar to the poem , "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats. A comparison of "The Second Coming" to Things Fall Apart will show many corresponding aspects between both of these literary masterpieces.

Seeing the line "Things fall apart" in the poem , Achebe makes an outstanding association. At this point in time he says to himself, "I should name my book Things Fall Apart , It will show the main idea of the book." One of the many coinciding concepts between the two is the daunted apprehension of both the poem and the book. In Things Fall Apart it seems like whenever the main character, Okonkwo, gains hope things happen to fall apart . The contents of "The Second Coming" told of a chaotic world and a base that could not hold because of it's own inner conflicts. In Addition to the synonymous feeling both the book and the poem give, they both expose a great shift from and old era to a new era. "The Second Coming" reveals an apocolypse. Yeats shows this change by describing the conversions our world, as a global community, made throughout history . Key lines that refer to these changes in time are "Turning and Turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the

falconer". These lines refer to the constant adjustments we have to make and also the fact that we cannot go back in time . Chinua Achebe also reveals a major shift by describing Umuofa as it was in the beginning. In describing Umuofa as it was originally he makes it easier to catch sight of the major changes throughout the story .

A fourth coinciding idea in "The Second Coming" and Things Fall Apart is the loss of control of a higher power over a lower power . In Things Fall Apart Okonkwo tries to teach Nwoye the old ways of their people . He also tries to make his son unlike Okonkwo's father . Nwoye wanted to be his own man . He didn't want to have to live up to the expectations of his father , Okonkwo . Nwoye takes on the ways of Christianity in hope of a better life . Okonkwo feels dishonored by Nwoye's turn towards Christianity. Okonkwo now looks his son as he did his father . Nwoye's move to Christianity shows the loss of Okonkwo's power over his life . In "The Second Coming" the loss of control is symbolized by the line "the falcon does not hear the falconer " . Where the falcon is the symbol of the lesser power and the falconer the symbol of the higher power . The line says that after time passes and changes take place powers change . The last reflective idea between the poem and the book is the respe

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Approximate Word count = 890
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English