This is the story of Okonkwo and his peoples in Africa. Clans of families and families of clans that have lived frozen in time until generational and foreign influences change everything. Life is very straight forward yet mysterious in Okonkwo's world. It can be both magical and frighteningly harsh while at times comforting like a child's verse. One day the clans may be celebrating the harvest and peace is declared across the land in recognition of nature's generosity and the next day a war could be declared in which a severed human may be sported as a true sign of supremacy. In the changing of the times, some see it as a new beginning and the story could go on of course yet for others it's the end of the old ways and everything is being lost. This story has the capacity to reach everyone and relate to your own human experience in change and aging. If ever there were a book to pull at your heartstrings and whisper thoughts of going to Africa and getting lost, this is it. The Book has a very sobering ending and does touch on the mindsets of imperialism and first world ideology versus third.
Achebe's first novel portrays the collision of African and European cultures in people's lives. Okonkwo, a great man in Igbo traditional society, cannot adapt to the profound changes brought about by British colonial rule. Yet, as in classic tragedy, Okonkwo's downfall results from his own character as well as from external forces.