An Analysis Of William Butler Yeats Things Fall Apart

n his poem “The Second Coming,” William Butler Yeats writes that as things fall apart “the center cannot hold.” There are many ways that this line relates to society in both Things Fall Apart and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. Umuofia and Junior have both had to deal with their world falling apart. Junior has had to accommodate to changes when he switched to an all white school, and Umuofia had to do the same when the Christian Missionaries came in. This line of poetry relates to both books in many different ways. In the book Things Fall Apart, Umuofia’s society is held together by religion. When the Christian missionaries came in trying to convert them all to Christianity, things started to fall apart. “Umuofia had indeed

They have converted too many of the Igbos and just as Obierika said, “‘Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one.’” p.176 Obierika is saying how they have succeeded in converting many of the Igbos, and now the clan is no longer in one piece. In “The Second Coming,” when William Butler Yeats writes that as things fall apart “the center cannot hold,” he is talking about the state that society was in after World War l, when the “center” of the people’s beliefs were forgotten in this time of evil. This relates to the other texts in many different ways. For example, religion/way of life is what holds the community together in both of the books, and what causes them to fall apart. This poem relates to Things Fall Apart because the center of their society was their religion, and the Christian missionaries have broken that bond apart. Many of the people have lost the center

During this time, many of the white population were racist, so the Indians hated them. When the reservation heard the news of Junior switching to Reardan (the all white school), they immediately turned on him, including his best friend. “I knew that my best friend had become my worst enemy.” p. 53 Junior doesn’t have anyone supporting him, not even his best friend. He is slowly starting to fall apart, just because nobody on the rez believes in him. At his new school, no one believes in him until he proves himself. Junior is split between two different worlds; on the rez, he is an outcast, and in school he is just Arnold. He is the thing that falls apart in the book, split between two different things. As the book goes on, terrible things keep throwing themselves at Arnold, which makes it hard for him to hold it together. For example, when his sister died, he was laughing! In both of these texts, something has gone wrong, which has caused something to fall apart. The poem “The Second Coming” relates to this book because when Junior is at his new school, he loses touch with his beliefs and customs on the reservation. He is an outcast now, and nobody believes in him. Though, in his other universe, school, he has hope. Junior is living in two different worlds. “Traveling