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Things Fall Apart is set in the 1890s and portrays the clash between Nigeria's white colonial government and the traditional culture of the indigenous Igbo people. Achebe's novel shatters the stereotypical European portraits of native Africans. He is careful to portray the complex, advanced social institutions and artistic traditions of Igbo culture prior to its contact with Europeans. Yet he is just as careful not to stereotype the Europeans; he offers varying depictions of the white man, such as the mostly benevolent Mr. Brown, the zealous Reverend Smith, and the ruthlessly calculating District Commissioner. Achebe's Things Fall Apart derives its title from a line from William Butler Yeats’ poem "The Second Coming," which foretells the end of the world. And Achebe’s novel indeed foreshadows the end of a world: the incursion of the white man into the society of the African Ibo, and the subsequent dissolution of the indigenous culture. The image of things falling apart is an extremely apt one, for we learn that from the author’s point of view, Ibo culture is held together by one string -- its own traditions. This string will not break, but when pulled it will unravel, causing everything it holds together to literally fall a