Yeatsian and Western Influences on Things Fall Apart Igbo culture is flexible and continuous; its laws are made by men and are not solid and permanent. Change is implicit in oral culture. The Igbo have been able to maintain their core beliefs and systems of behavior for 5,000 years due to the flexibility and adaptability of their culture. Yeats says that things collapse from within before being overwhelmed by those without. Umuofia's collapse is her loss of faith, and this is also her strength, her refusal to fight. But this self-destruction, this bending of social codes is what prevents culture from being annihilated. A fundamental question that arises while trying to understand how Yeats fits into the understanding of this book is whether or not things really fall apart. From Okonkwo's point of view certainly yes, but Okonkwo's point of view is not the only point of view in the book. Do things fall apart for the rest of the Umuofia tribes and the Ibo people, or is their center still in existence and simply a center they never shared with Okonkwo? It is important to look at the construction of the novel and how it connects with Yeatsian theory about the rise and fall of civilizations and personal tragedy. The Yeatsian vision of Western history is that of a world of "alternate civilizations, each giving to one another through its inability to contain all human impulses within the closed scheme of values ​​and to be replaced by all that that is overlooked and undervalued” (Wright 80). A fundamental tenet of Yeats's vision is that things must "collapse from within before they are overwhelmed from without" (Wright 79). The falcon must lose connection with the falconer before the center begins to l...... middle of paper ......run awayÉ He wiped his machete on the ground and left" (205). One aspect enduring of The center of the Igbo people is the ability of that center to change and adapt In an unchanging time, Okonkwo's unyielding will has ensured his success as a member of the Igbo clan, a culture notable for its flexibility, but when the culture had to change to thrive. , Okonkwo lost his center and became a truly tragic figure. Works Cited Kartennar, Neil ten. “How the Center is Made to Hold in Things Fall Apart,” Downsview University of Toronto Press “Worldviews in the Works of Chinua Achebe", Frankfurt am Main: New York, 1995. Wright, Derek. "Things That Stay Together: A Retrospective on Things That Fall Apart", Oxford 1990. Chinua Achebe: A Celebration. Holst, Peterson.