JakeThiessen Period1.

3 ThingsFallApartEssay AcceleratedEnglish10 TheRelationofaRevelation What if our president is no longer our leader and an outside force takes over? New customs are forced on us along with a new religion. The new tyranny rules over us along with fellow friends, family, and outcasts of our society. Their message hinders us insteadofhelping. Well, things would fall apart. And that is exactly whathappens totheIgbopeople,atribelocated in a place calledUmuofiainNiger,Africa.InChinuaAchebes book Things FallApart,whitemen come, take over the Igbo tribe, enforce new rules, and bring their religion. The British government become the leaders. Outcasts, poor, and thelesserinsociety cometojointhenew religion that brings pain to others. This relates to Yeats poem The Second Coming which depicts similar proceedings in the end times. Achebes book and Yeats poem share similar eventslikethelossofcontrol,achangeinpower,andamessageofamonster. The first event that takes place is a loss of control. In Yeats poem The Second Coming, which talk about events pertaining to the end of the world and the Biblical allusion of Christ coming back, there is symbolism shown towards students no longer following their teachers or children to their parents with this line: The falcon cannot hear the falconer (Yeats 2). The tamed animal, which might have been trained for many years, is now away from its master and no longer is one with its master. This symbolizes a loss of control between the people in the end times and their leaders. The leaders wont have a grasp on thepeopleorcan control them if a higherpoweris atwork.Inthepoem,thefalconis nolongercontrolledanymore and can fly free now. Accordingly, in Achebes book, when white mencometothetribeofIgbo, there are mixed reactions some take to the new religion while the rest are at a loss. The new

Christians dont abide by their old teachings or teachers. In Things Fall Apart, this is shown when Obierika is talking to Nwoye about why he is with themissionaries.Howis yourfather? Obierika asked, not knowing what else to say. I dont know. He is not my father, said Nwoye unhappily (Achebe 124). Nwoye has joined the Christians andhas beenseparatedfromhis old family. Christians believe that other Christians are their brothers and sisters and God is their father. Nwoyeturnedfromhis oldteachings andteacher,his dad,andturnedtoanewfatherand a new family. Apart from Okonkwo, Nwoyes father, Nwoye literally cannot hear the falconer likeitsaysinYeatspoem.OkonkwoisthefalconerandNwoyeisthefalcon. The next event that occurs is a change in power. In Yeats poem, it refers to leaders losing faith with whatthey aresayingandtheirbeliefs whilethelowerinsociety haveconfidence in their beliefs and act on them. Yeats talks about that with this line: The best lack all conviction, while the worst / are full of passionate intensity (Yeats 7/8). In the end, the leaders wont know what todo,havingeverythingtodoifsomethinggoes wrongandhavethepossibility of losing everything. The lower havenothingholdingthemback oranythingthey areresponsible for so they put everything all their faith and work into what they believe. Similarly, in the book Things Fall Apart, we see converts totheChristianfaithtakingastandintheircommunity.Now, Enoch, one of theoutcasts ofUmuofia,boasts thattheegwugwu,maskedspiritpeople,wouldnt touch a Christian while the Christian women try to go out to get water when the egwugwu are out. This is forbidden of women to do. Whereupon [the egwugwu] all came back and one of them gave Enoch a good stroke of thecaneEnochfellonhimandtoreoffhis mask(Achebe 159160). In Igbo cultural, to unmask an egwugwu was to kill the spirit that that egwugwu presented. The Christians are fearless and do Gods will, more or less. They believe God will protect them and that the tribes spirits have no effect on them. The Igbo Christians rise up against their old leaders who they once feared, knowing God is their only leader. While the leaders arent sure of what to do. At a meeting held to discuss the invading Christians,

Okonkwo, who is in great opposition to this newreligionandhowitis splittingtheclan,chooses to fight and kills one of the Christians who barges in on the gathering. The other Christians escape while all the Umuofians just stand and watch, wondering why Okonkwo killed the Christians,andnooneis onOkonkwos side(Achebe176).Theleaders arentsosureaboutthe actions taken by Okonkwo. Okonkwo, though, stands up and fights for his beliefs. Theleaders of the clan dont know how to react, so they dont do anything. They are not so sure of their beliefs once they see family and friends leaving to become a part of it. Theyre influenced from both sides sothey dontknowwhichis rightorwhichis wrong.Theleaders waverintheirbeliefs justlikeinthepoem,whilethenewChristiansarefullofpassionandfaith. Finally, the last eventis themissionaries bringingamonstertothetribeinsteadofJesus. In the poem by Yeats, when talking about the second coming, it describes not a savior but a savage. And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? (Yeats 2122). These lines are referring to the Biblical Allusion of the second coming of Christ predicted in the Bible. Although, in Yeats piece, instead of Jesus, it is a monster. To some, Jesus is viewed as a savior of all people, dying to atone for the sins of the world. To others, Jesus can be viewed as a monster, starting a new religion that tears apart families and communities. Jesus takes away their close ones so Jesus is not viewed as a savior. For the people living in Umuofia, Jesus also can be viewed as a beast, an antithesis of His biblical character. When the missionaries come,they try tospreadtheirreligiontothenatives andmake their lives better, but themissionaries actualruinsome.Obierika,whohadbeengazingsteadily at [Okonkwos] dangling body, turned suddenly to the District Commissioner andsaidfuriously: That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself (Achebe 178179). The story of Jesus is a happy one, but it drove Okonkwotokillhimself.Notbecause of the story, but because of what the story has lead to. His oldest son leaves him to join Christianity, friends have become members of the new faith, a new Christian government is

taking over, and society is falling apart. It seems nobody is on his side. The Igbo people arent willing to stand up and fight against it so he feels all alone. A little back story, Okonkwo had a father who was a failure. Okonkwo never wanted to be a failure, like his father, so he always worked hard and never acted lazy. When Okonkwo stands alone, he becomes a failure in his own eyes because he doesnt have the support he thinks he would have. This loneliness and thought of becoming a failure drives him over the edge. So Okonkwo kills himself, which is a cowards way out, unheard of in the Igbo cultural (Achebe 178). So Okonkwo would rather die and become what he fears, then live in a tribe that wasnt on his side and put up with the abominablereligion.Okonkwodiesfromthesecondcomingofthebeast,notthebaby. The occurrences that Achebes book andYeatspoemsharedepictstudents notabiding to teachings, altering of power, and abeastforetoldinsteadofababy.Okonkwosymbolizes the falconer and Nwoye is the falcon in the poem, the latter not hearing the former anymore. The new Christians are full of passion for their faith while the leaders waver in theirs. Finally, the message brought by the missionaries portrays Jesus as abeastinsteadofasavior.Thesetwo pieces of literature really portray well the predicted end time, one for everyone and one for a nation. It can seem like the end times duetoalotofdifferentevents inhistory:genocides,wars, hate. We just need to be careful of what we preach. We can say words that hurt people. Although, the way we say our words and present them can change that fact. Dont force your words, beliefs, or ideas on others. Walk the walk, and people will notice. If they like what they see, theyll want to be like you without being forced. In all, let your words not make things fall apart,letyourwordsmakethingsfallintoplace.