“The Second Coming” vs “Things Fall Apart”

Chinua Achebe uses the poem of the “The Second Coming” to find a of his book, Things Fall Apart. Achebe utilizes the tone and mode of this poem extremely well by setting the tone of the novel quite accurately (Achebe, 1958). The persona of the poem brings out the chaos as well as the disruption of the world. Also, there are diminishing of lives and changes in ways, which cannot be controlled. In the novel, Achebe shows how the people had immense joy and celebrations in village celebrations. However, during the fighting seasons, many people lost their lives and inhibitions. All these losses and tragedies led to things to fall apart. This paper discusses how the message of the poem and the themes in the Achebe’s novel are related.

First, the poet says, “Things fall apart,” indicates the chaos and disruption that occurred in the world. Many lives were lost as well as a lot of anarchy. All these events were not controllable; therefore, things that seemed to be good had fallen apart. In the same line, Achebe focuses on major themes in the novel to bring out the message vividly. That the colonisation and the conversion to Christianity of tribal people by the British, which has destroyed a traditional way of life of the Africans (Achebe, 1958). The administrative structure, which the British used on the cultures of the Africans, was perceived to be just in nature and civilizing. However, this system had the opposite impacts of being naturally cruel as well as inhuman. Moreover, the western missionaries decided to move native persons far from the traditional practices, which were perceived as primitive. Therefore, the Africans were converted to the Christianity.

Disaster is the first and foremost image presented in the poem; a falcon cannot hear the call of safety’, it begins to twist wider and wider and beyond the control. The poet addresses the issue of culture, which is out of control. . “Mere anarchy” mean a couple of things; maybe nothing other than confusion, or confusion once held back in civilization, but now it is free, or it could mean, binding together. When some people commit chaos, others are faced by consequences because of the actions of the anarchist and they are not free to be anarchic.

The rest images are seas drowning and full of blood. The ones considered as “the best” in the society, they are apathetic, and the “the worst” the society is in the face with passionate intensity. The Poet sees this society turned upside down and headed to chaos and self destruction.

In conclusion, Chinua Achebe uses the title Things Fall Apart well, which he borrowed from the poem of the title “The Second Coming”. The person in the poem brings out the message of mass killing of people and other various inhuman activities in the world as the result of war. In the novel, Achebe shows how the people had immense joy and celebrations in village celebrations (Achebe, 1958). However, during the fighting seasons, many people lost their lives and inhibitions. All these losses and tragedies led to things to fall apart. The message of the poem and themes of the novel is related as seen in the discussion.

Work Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Knopf. (1958). Print