The title of the novel is taken from W. B. Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming,” which describes history as a succession of spirals. Achebe alludes to the third line of the poem which reads, "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold" This is what occurred in Africa in the nineteenth century as "the center", traditional world of the Igbo people, collided with the colonial forces of the twentieth century. Okonkwo, once a leader in the Ibo culture, is banned from his clan for seven years. When he returns, his culture is being attacked by the influence of the missionaries and English bureaucrats. Okonkwo cannot adapt to the changes and kills himself. Ironically, this is what brings his tribe back to honor custom. Achebe uses Okonkwo to show how things fall apart when tradition clashes with change.
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