The Second Coming vs. Things Fall Apart

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


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 apocalypse. 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 wideni


e respect towards a superior force. The superior force is not always an object that one can feel or hold in his or her hand but it could be as simple as an idea. The superior force in "The Second Coming" was not the apocalypse but it was time. Time cannot be paused or turned back so whatever is done may never be changed. Time does not allow the world to prepare for "The Second Coming", so all hope is lost. The superior force in Things Fall Apart is the spread of Christianity. Christianity creates chaos in Umuofia. It makes all the people that were loyal to their ancestors forget about where they were from. The culture of the people in Umuofia was slowly put to extinction by the spread of Christianity.

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 h

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Approximate Word count = 837
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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