"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe vs. "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats

"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe vs. "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats

When comparing the novel "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe and William butler Yeats poem "The Second Coming", at first there seem to be no similarities except for the phrase "things fall apart" which is used in both. But as one closely examinee the reasons why both authors use this sentence, one realizes that both of them try to show a great change, which, in the poem is related to reality, while in the novel is related to the story.
It is important to mention that the two people who are comparable are not the poet and the writer but are the poet and the main character of the novel, Okonkwo. When the whole village and tribes fall apart because of the arrival of Christianity, Okonkwo comes to have the same feeling as the poet, when he wrote the poem. They both suffer from the unexpected changes which happen during their time.
We can be more specific and see what the poet and writer exactly talk about. It is better to focus on the poem first as it was written before the novel. In his poem William butler Yeats is shocked by the events which were happening during the First World War. "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned…", he tries to picture the dark ages of the war and the nasty events which were happening by using some metaphors and similes such as "a shape with lion body and the head of man" or "shadows of the indignant desert birds" Therefore, he manage to transmit the terrifying atmosphere of his time to the reader. He can not stand this state of fairs so he thinks that it is the end and he hopes that it is time for the second coming of Christ.
Going back to the novel, we see Okonwo, who is extremely shocked by the twists which take place in his tribe as a cultural revolution. He sees their ancient religion giving its place to Christianity, and their father's culture and traditions, which his life was based on, fall apart. To make things even worse, his own son turns his back to him. Okonkwo can not stand this as a result he tries to fight against the people who were the creators of this disaster. But as he fails, he commits suicide, preferring to kill himself, rather than let those strangers kill him.
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that according to the novel we see that in the last chapters, Okonkwo is so exhausted by those events that feels it must be the end of the world as does Yeats when looking forward to the second coming of Christ. "Things fall apart" is a phrase which appeals to people of all times, because as time goes by, changes such as these take place at a greater speed, than before. But is it really the end of time?