Introduction
Chinua Achebe, the author of the novel Things Fall Apart, titled his text using a line from William Butler Yeats’s "The Second Coming": Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. Achebe's title is borrowed from the third line of the first stanza of William Yeats's poem. Just like Achebe's novel is influenced by an outside source, the protagonist, Okonkwo, is significantly influenced by external forces who demand that he changes his life to cope and survive. Achebe's book can be divided into three sections. In the first section, Okonkwo, the protagonist has a life before world "falls apart" because of outside forces. In the second section, outside forces change Okonkwo's life, and in the third section of the novel, the protagonist responds to the outside forces. This paper will examine these three critical sections in Chinua Achebe's novel and how the book is connected to William Yeats' poem "The Second Coming."
Discussion
Life Before Outside Forces
Before the protagonist's life falls apart due to outside forces, Okonkwo has a thriving life. When the narrative unfolds, the protagonist is a respected warrior and a wealthy man of the Umuofia clan. During his youth, Okonkwo is said to have brought honor to his village by toppling a man from another village in a wrestling match (Achebe 31). As it emerges, Okonkwo had earned his wealth through hard work, a virtue that he tries to pass over to his son who he finds lazy.
The second chapter examines the prominent role that the protagonist plays in the leadership of his village. For example, it is the protagonist who travels to a rival village to deliver the message that Mbaino must hand over a young man and a virgin as dictated by the custom after a man from that village kills the wife of a member of protagonist's community (Achebe 16).
Okonkwo is chosen for this vital mission because he is both a skilled warrior and a leader of the Umuofia village. It is no wonder that the rival village agrees to the peace terms without any conditions, arguably due to the authority of the man chosen to deliver the terms. The village respects Okonkwo so much that they decided to hand over the boy to the protagonist for instructions and safekeeping. These responsibilities and roles are things that highlight the elevated position that the village bestows upon the protagonist. Hence, it is safe to say that before things "fall apart," the protagonist has a thriving political, economic, and social life in his society.
Things "Fall Apart"
However, when the Europeans reach Okonkwo's village, his life comes undone. The Europeans make their way into Okonkwo's village either as Christian missionaries or colonialists. The trials and tribulations that Okonkwo faces are best captured by three lines from William Butler Yeats's poem "The Second Coming." The poem outlines, "The falcon cannot hear the falconer; things fall apart; the center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world" (Tabor 1). As a result, these lines by Yeats best paint a mental picture of how the world of the protagonist breaks apart, and everything becomes anarchic.
Just like the falcon and the falconer become separated in the poem by Yeats, so does Okonkwo become separated from the reality of the new order in his village after the entry of the white man. Unable to adapt and cope in the new religious and political setting, the protagonist's world "falls apart." Hence, anyone who wants to grasp the image of the turmoil that comes down on the protagonist in the advent of the Europeans only needs to read the first stanza of the poem "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats. As a result, the imagery in the poem is essential to the understanding of the conflicts that surround the protagonists.
Things fell apart when the white man set foot in Umuofia village. First, the missionaries start to criticize the way of life that Okonkwo had build his life around. For example, the missionaries criticize idol worship characterized by worshipping of gods made of stone and wood (Achebe 131). Together with other villagers, the protagonist is confused about how the holy trinity is one god or how this god can have a son but not a wife. It hurts Okonkwo to realize that his son Nwoye is embracing the strange new religion. For Okonkwo, the new religion is not only confusing but destructive because it is a break from the old way of worshipping and respecting the spirits.
Moreover, his world further falls apart because he realizes that his fellow villagers are embracing the new religion while he is advocating for violent rejection of the missionaries. In a way, the adoption of Christianity further undermines the cultural values of his accomplishment because some of them are based on traditional religious interpretations. The elders of the village offer the missionaries a plot to set up a church, and the protagonist senses that he is increasingly drifting away (Achebe 137).
It is perhaps the subjugation to the colonialist's judicial system and rules of governance that deeply shatter Okonkwo's life. For example, the district commissioner is harsh and arrogant to the African way of life. For example, the protagonist is devastated by the news that Aneto who is hanged by the colonial government for killing a man during a dispute (Achebe 161). Unsatisfied by the court's ruling, Aneto had cited the failure of the court in observing the village's customs, forcing him to take matters to his own hands.
Throughout his interaction with the district commissioner, Okonkwo senses the condescending tone and terms of the white man that is reinforced by the treatment that the village leaders receive from the commissioner (Achebe 176 ). In jail, the leaders are insulted and physically abused, a humiliating experience that the protagonist hates deeply.
Frustrated and humiliated, Okonkwo commits the offense that he cannot come back from; he kills a messenger of the district commissioner. After being released from jail, the villagers meet to discuss the way forward. However, the protagonist has his mind made up because he is looking for war, as highlighted by his dressing code and weaponry. Confronted by the messengers during the meeting, Okonkwo kills him instantly (Achebe 185). However, rather than elicit a war with the colonialists, the villagers settle down and even criticize his actions. The fact that his clan will not go to war is the final stroke that tears his world apart because it thoroughly convinces him that he is all alone in trying to fight against the white man. Unable to do anything else, Okonkwo hangs himself (Achebe 187).
The outcome of this story is very much predictable. On the one hand, the protagonist has remained static throughout the novel, refusing to evolve in the face of a changing world around him. As a result, there is little likelihood that he would adapt to the new social order imposed by the entry of the missionaries and the colonial administration. To some extent, it can be argued that the protagonist had bullied his way into success when faced by an opposition. However, the opposition posed by the entry of the European simply felt too strong and too influential for Okonkwo to fight back. Not adequately endowed with other tools, there was always the feeling that his luck would run out eventually. I felt that a tragic outcome was inevitable in this case because such rigidity on his part would only result in a direct collision with the force much more substantial than him. On the other hand, the outcome is predictable because of the foreshadowing offered by the poem. The poem paints a vivid picture of an anarchic system, whose climax is best satisfied by such an ending.
Conclusion
The paper sought to examine how outside forces influence the events in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. As revealed, the protagonist has a thriving life before fundamental changes take place in his village. However, the entry of the European in his village destroys the old order that gave him power and influence in his community. Unable to cope with the humiliation and powerlessness that comes about, he kills himself by hanging. As it has emerged, that tragic ending is predictable considering that the protagonist is a static character who persistently refuses to change. Besides, the tragic ending is foreshadowed by the poem "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats, from which the novel borrows its heading.
