“Things Fall Apart” is actually a story about something devastating. Things Fall Apart is regarded as a milestone in African literature. It has come to be seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English and is read in Nigeria and throughout Africa. It is studied widely in Europe, India, and North America, where it has spawned numerous secondary and tertiary analytical works. We can hardly imagine any other meaning of this title. In simple words, the meaning of the title is a splinter of something and what is it? We can understand by reading the description of the novel. However, why has Chinua Achebe been selected for this title? Let’s spread some light on it.
Maybe Chinua Achebe has chosen this title, by minutely observing the theme of this novel as we can ensure that the main idea of the novel is flattering of Igbo culture.
The Title- A Literary Allusion:
The phrase "things fall apart" is taken from the poem, “The Second Coming” by W.B Yeats, which Achebe quotes more extensively in the epigraph. Achebe’s literary allusion to Yeats’ poem might deepen or extend—by comparison and/or contrast—the meaning(s) of Achebe’s title and his novel. The beginning four lines of the poem are referred to as a preface of the novel.
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,”
"Things fall apart" can be said when something we believed would last forever, comes to an end. The title Things Fall Apart refers to the fact that without proper balance, things do fall apart. The notion of balance in the novel is an important theme throughout the book. Beginning with the excerpt from Yeats' poem, the concept of balance is stressed as important; for without balance, order is lost. In the novel, there is a system of balance, which the Igbo culture seems but at the end of the novel the society people can not listen to the leader, so a chaotic situation is created.
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