The Second Coming And Things Fall Apart

“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold”. This quote is used by William Butler Yeats in his poem, “The Second Coming.” In the books Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian and Things Fall Apart, this quote is referred to many times and relates to both books. Umuofia and Junior’s lives both had times when things were “falling apart”. Junior has to learn to adapt to many changes in his life while the people of Umuofia have done the same. The people of Umuofia have to learn how to cope when things are falling apart. All three of the texts show what happens when “as things fall apart, the center cannot hold.”
There are several things that held people together in Things Fall Apart and Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian. In Umuofia,
In Umuofia when the Christian Missionaries came in everything slowly began to fall apart. People were changing their beliefs and breaking Igbo tradition. When things were perfectly normal, everything began to fall apart. “The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta.” (Page 52 ebook). As the village of Umuofia falls apart, “The center cannot hold.” When Junior went to Rearden, (the white school) everyone on his reservation turned on him. His reservation is very friendly to each other and were a close community until he moves schools. His reservation feels betrayed and upset. Arnold does not feel like he fits in and he is split between two different worlds; the reservation and Rearden. Junior's best friend Rowdy was angry and mad that Arnold left him. “ I didn’t want to get him mad. When Rowdy got mad it took him days to get un-mad. But he was my best friend and I wanted him to know the truth. “I’m not trying to get you mad, I’m just telling the truth . I’m leaving the rez, man.” (Page 49) This quote shows how Rowdy is very mad that Arnold is leaving and going to Rearden. Arnold's friends and family slowly begin to start to fall