"Things fall apart" by Chinua Achebe.

Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" deals with societal changes and how they affect individuals. Resistance to change and the harm such resistance does to people collectively serve as the novel's theme. To support this theme, Achebe relies heavily on characterization, constantly focusing on how Okonkwo's stubbornness slowly destroys him. The author also concentrates on two separate conflicts: that between Okonkwo and the changes occurring around him and that between the Umuofia clan and the Christian …

…of his novels because he uses them not merely to add touches of local color but to sound and reiterate themes, to sharpen characterization, to clarify conflict, and to focus on the values of the society he is portraying." Uchendu"'"s proverb accomplishes all these things, and it does so with admirable conciseness. In speaking it, Uchendu sheds light not only on numerous aspects of the novel but on fundamental human concepts as well.