Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, titled his book using a line from “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats: “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.”

After reading “The Second Coming” and the full text of Things Fall Apart, write an essay about the influence of outside forces and changing events on the life of the protagonist in the novel. Use the following questions to formulate your essay:

1. What was life like for the protagonist before the changes in his village?

2. How did things fall apart in his world?

3. Was the outcome predictable?

4. How did you feel about the outcome?

5. Include a brief commentary on the connection and interpretation of the poem “The Second Coming” by Yeats.

Criteria for This Assignment Length and Formatting Requirements Five to six pages, double spaced Time New Roman, 12-point font Works Cited page In-text citations Content Requirements Analyze all five questions above in your essay. Analyze and describe how outside forces influence the events in Things Fall Apart.(Book titles are italicized.) Be sure to provide analysis and not only the synopsis of the plot.