Here are some potential points of comparison between Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" and Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart:1. Both works deal with the breakdown of traditional structures and values as modernity encroaches. In the poem, this is represented by the falcon losing control of its master; in the novel it is the clash between European colonialism and traditional Igbo culture. 2. Religion plays a central role in both works, though in different ways. In the poem, the speaker questions whether a messianic figure will emerge from the chaos; in the novel, the Christian missionaries directly challenge Igbo religious beliefs and practices. 3. Both works can be seen as commenting on the cycl
Here are three key points of comparison between Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" and Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart:
1. Both works deal with the breakdown of traditional societies and cultures due to external forces. In the poem, Western civilization is predicted to fall into chaos, while the novel depicts the collapse of traditional Igbo culture through British colonialism.
2. Religion plays an important role in both works. In the poem, references are made to the spiritus mundi and Bethlehem, while the novel focuses on the traditional Igbo religious system. Both explore the clash between traditional and introduced faiths.
3. Both invoke a sense of impending doom and chaos. The poem's ominous imagery like the
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Here are some potential points of comparison between Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" and Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart:1. Both works deal with the breakdown of traditional structures and values as modernity encroaches. In the poem, this is represented by the falcon losing control of its master; in the novel it is the clash between European colonialism and traditional Igbo culture. 2. Religion plays a central role in both works, though in different ways. In the poem, the speaker questions whether a messianic figure will emerge from the chaos; in the novel, the Christian missionaries directly challenge Igbo religious beliefs and practices. 3. Both works can be seen as commenting on the cycl
3. WHAT HAPPENNED TO AFRICA?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNdjcFOo
Vi8
An interview with Chinua Achebe, professor
at Bard College
4. “THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw12KGSj
53k&feature=related
What motivated European enslavement of
Africans?
Link that lists African Natural resources:
http://www.afribiz.info/content/natural-resources-
of-africa
List 8 valuable natural resources found in Africa.
5. QUESTIONS FOLLOWING THE INTERVIEW
What is the common impression of Africa‟s
history shared by most Westerners today?
What were the Europeans impressions in the
1600‟s
What enabled the Europeans to take over
Africans?
“I sell you or you sell me” explain.
6. PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA
Achebe was the first
African novelist to tell
the story of Africa
before European
colonization
Things Fall Apart
depicts the clash of
European culture with
traditional African
culture
And the results are
tragic
7. THE IBO TRIBE MAP OF NIGERIA
This is the culture depicted
by Achebe in the novel
An Agricultural society
Highly organized social
structure
Lots of story telling
Strictly defined gender roles
Strong adherence to tradition
Respect for elders
Ruthless violence is a fact of
life
8. IGBO RELIGION
Centered around the
belief that humans must
live in harmony with the
supernatural forces
around them
Gods and energies
(unseen) are an ever-
present reality
Many laws were
intended to cultivate a
peaceful relationship
with the gods
Happy gods=fertile
crops
9. KEY CHARACTERS –
OKONKWO
Successful, driven,
hardworking
Emotionally distant
Hates father
Reveres laws and
traditions of clan
A tragic figure
10. ACHEBE‟S USE OF THE “TRAGIC HERO”
TRAGIC HERO CLASSICAL DEFINITION
A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or
potentially heroic qualities.
This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural
force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering.
But the hero struggles mightily against this fate and this
cosmic conflict wins our admiration. (Is this true for us and
Okonkwo?)
Because the tragic hero simply cannot accept a diminished
view of the self and because of some personality flaw, the
hero fails in this epic struggle against fate. (What is it that
Okonkwo cannot accept about himself?)
This tragic drama involves choices (free will) and results in a
paradox --- Is it Fate or Free Will which is primarily responsible
for the suffering in the hero's life (and in our lives in light of our
own personal tragedies)?.
11. MORE ON THE TRAGIC HERO
Tragic doom is both public (the State) and private (a
family tragedy as well)
We are energized by witnessing this eternal drama
for it encompasses the fate and "stuff" of all humans
from kings and queens to paupers.
As for paupers, in his famous editorial for the NY
Times, Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller
argues that the common person is also capable of
tragic stature in so far as each one of us seeks a true
identity and a personal dignity.
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/santorar/engl190v/trag.he
ro.htm
12. OTHER KEY CHARACTERS
Unoka Ikemefuna
Okonkwo‟s father (that child from native
he hates) tribe, given as
Obierika punishment to
Okonko‟s best friend, Okonwo‟s clan
advisor and helper Ekwefe
Nwoye Okonkwo‟s second wife
Okonkows oldest son, Enzima
joins missionaries in Okonkwo‟s eldest and
end favorite daughter
14. TERMS AND VOCABULARY IN POEM
Gyre
Falcon and falconer
Anarchy
Ceremony of innocence
Spiritus mundi
Sphinx
Rough beast
Bethlehem
“THE SECOND COMING”
16. MORE ON YEATS‟ „GYRES
Technically, it stands for the alternation
between two historical cycles: one
characterized by order and growth, the other
by chaos and decay. It‟s comparable to the
Chinese concepts of Yin and Yang.
http://www.shmoop.com/second-
coming/gyre-symbol.html
For Yeats these were forces at work in the
universe shaping the cyclic fate of the world
17. NOTICE HOW THE SPIRAL OF A FLACON IN
FALCON AND FALCONER FLIGHT PARALLELS THE GYRE IMAGES
KEY IMAGES IN SECOND COMING
19. SPIRITUS MUNDI SIGNIFICANCE OF SPIRITUS MUNDI
Translation from Latin Yeats believed the poet
Spirit of the world or Soul of was a visionary who could
the world tap into the „database‟ of
The „collective memory of the spiritus mundi
the human race‟ Who plays this role in
The fertile ground from Things Fall Apart ? (Ch 11
which springs forth Chielo)
powerful and universal Draw a picture of this
images usually connected concept.
to religion
KEY IMAGES IN “SECOND COMING”
20. Matthew 2:1--2:
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was
born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men
from the East came to
Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child
who has been born king of the Jews? For
we observed his star at its rising, and
have come to pay him homage.“
Matthew 2:16:
When Herod saw that he had been tricked
by the wise men, he was infuriated, and
he sent and killed all the children in and
around Bethlehem who were two years
old or under, according to the time that he
had learned from the wise men
BETHLEHEM
21. • Written in 1920 after WWI
• War that took lives of millions
• Poem predicts the breakdown of
Western Civilization
• Yeats poem foretells of violence
to come
• Introduces the idea that history
occurs in cycles
• Chaos takes over and makes
way for the emergence of a new
era
• Yeats won Nobel Prize in 1923
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
22. ACHEBE‟S USE OF TITLE
Given what you now know about Yeat‟s
poem, spend some time thinking about why
Achebe chose the title “Things Fall Apart”
See if you can find three points of
comparison—three themes that occur in both
works.
Discuss the role of religion in both the poem
and the novel.