Things Fall Apart

Exam 1 Essay Question- Things Fall Apart In Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, one of the main themes is progress and masculinity. As the story get’s deeper, and deeper into its context, these themes and other subthemes start to tie and play in. In William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming”, the imagery he gives is very strong and violent. Some of the main themes in his poem revolve around self-destruction, change, and chaos. Confusing from the character being displayed is somewhat similar to the main character, Okonkwo, from Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”.

Yeats’ poem illustrates a lot of horrific images that tie in to the theme of self-destruction, chaos, and change. The first image we see is of disaster. It says, “ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;” meaning it cannot hear warning signs and starts to get out of control. Then it mentions, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;” meaning that the centre of the spiraling of the falcon is an example of a society out of control. This relates to Okonkwo and his clan to where he is bringing his clan up and also due to his ignorance is bringing it down without knowing, no signs. Other images that are portrayed through his writing are seas and oceans of blood where the best are apathetic and the worst are the ones that are with “passionate intensity”. This image and idea can be referred to by Yeats as a society heading towards self-destruction and chaos, turning its society upside-down. This is similar to the situation where Okonkwo comes back after exile but realizes that things have changed. As the poem goes along, Yeats reminds us that it is in one’s nature to seek change when needed. This is when he brings in the Christian concept of “the second coming,” referred as “Spiritus Mundi” in this poem. Yeats feels that change is needed and even if it is a good change, it is an uncomfortable change. This is related to “Things Fall Apart” when the Christians try to bring religion in to their clans and change their beliefs from Muslim to Christian. The image he then brings in of the lion with the head of a man with “a gaze blank and pitiless as the sun” in a way symbolizes the death of old ideas and man’s destiny is now headed towards another direction. Nothing can stop this change now what’s “slouching towards Bethlehem to be born.” This is similar to when the commissioner, his followers, and Reverend come into Okonkwo’s old village and try to change and convert everyone there into Christians. Then, later when Okonkwo returns to his village he asks why did they not stop them from coming in since the beginning, the response is because of fear, it was too late for another change. The “stony sleep” is represented as the old ways, while the “nightmare by a rocking cradle” is the newness that will vex the old ways. This is related to when Okonkwo decides to end his life because he cannot bear with the changes that are being made; they are against his masculine beliefs and make him feel less of a man. It makes him feel like a coward but since he is determined to be nothing like his father, he decides to end his life before he ended up like his father. This is ironic because at the end he was viewed as a coward and with shame for causing suicide, which was considered a great sin in his clan.

Some of the events that illustrate changes to Okonkwo’s personal belief system can be the image he has from his father, his ignorance and flaw that led to his fail, and his period of exile. Okonkwo’s father’s, Unoka, actions haunt him because he was seen as a coward and spendthrift father. Unoka besides leaving the village with great debt, he has no job, he cannot maintain and support his wife and kids, he cannot fight in battle because he hated the sight of blood. Okonkwo’s determination of not being like his father along with his flaws are what led to his epic fail. After his exile, he returned to his clan and realized the change that was made had such an impact on him that it lead for him to kill his self, committing a great sin in his clan by committing suicide.

In the end, progress through out the novel was based on bringing new religion and beliefs into the clans for westward expansion. The commissioners used their land and villages to transport goods and do trades more easily. Progress can also be seen as less violence in which they do not follow Okonkwo to war like before he left for his exile period. Okonkwo decides to commit suicide once he see’s his own clan has turned their back against him by not following out with the rebellion war, and the impact the religion had in his clan. His only way out to keep his determined idea of not being like his father is by ending his life. He brought great disappointment to his clan by his act of suicide. Only a real man would of carried on and accepted change, even if it was uncomfortable.