Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is a masterful work of fiction, and one that is made even more compelling once the title's literary allusion is taken into consideration. Things Fall Apart is a reference to a line in "The Second Coming," a classic W.B. Yeats poem. Yeats originally published this poem in 1920, a date of extreme historical significance. World War I had recently come to a close, leaving Europe in a state of unimaginable disarray. Even more importantly, Ireland was fighting a war for independence, as the Irish Republican Army was in the midst of an armed conflict with Great Britain that would last until 1921. As such, it is clear that Yeats was responding directly to the chaotic tone of his time in "The Second Coming." For instance, take a look at the third and fourth lines of the poem:
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world..."
When Yeats asserts that "things fall apart," he is responding to the traumatic nature of his era, as it surely must have seemed that his previously orderly society was on the brink of utter destruction. Later on in the poem, when Yeats envisions a "rough beast" approaching "Bethlehem to be born," he essentially describes a perverse Christ figure, and the poem accordingly takes an apocalyptic turn. For Yeats, Europe's constant warfare is a sign of the End of Days and the downfall of society.
Knowing these facts, it is interesting that Achebe should name his book after Yeats' poem. At the beginning of the novel, Okonkwo is a prosperous and powerful figure, one who has plenty of land, plenty of wives, and an abundance of social clout. However, once Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna, his essentially adopted son, things take a turn for the worst. Okonkwo is exiled, loses his possessions, and is forced to watch in humiliation as white settlers arrive and convert his people to Christianity. Then, once Okonkwo retaliates by burning down the newly-built Christian church in his village, he is forced to commit suicide, a humiliating end for a member of Igbo society.
It is clear that, like Yeats, Achebe envisions the arrival of white settlers as an apocalypse of sorts, as it irreversibly changes the nature of Igbo society. At the end of the novel, Okonkwo's native traditions, values, and beliefs are dismantled and replaced by white culture. As such, like Yeats, Achebe chronicles the end of an era, an apocalyptic finale brought on by violent struggle.
As a parting note, it is interesting that Achebe should title his novel after a poem written by a white author. Since the arrival of white settlers triggers the dramatic changes of Igbo society, Achebe's decision to reference European literature could be a comment on the presence of white colonization. Just as white men colonize Igbo society in Things Fall Apart, white literature has colonized Achebe's novel, wrestling the title out of his hands and claiming it for its own.
