Traditional Oppression versus Modern Freedom
The central theme of the novel is that of the constant battle between the oppression of women caused by societal tradition and the modern freedoms that women are beginning to demand. The main example of this within the novel's characters is Esi. She is well-educated and confident and has a great deal of ambition. She prioritizes her career over her family life, as many men have done for years. She finds it difficult to conform to the archaic traditional roles that her culture has defined as "suitable" for a woman. She also refuses to allow her husband to rape her and call it marital rights. The fact that there is no such thing as rape within a marriage in Ghana also demonstrates the way in which women are seen as property of their husbands and not equal people within the marriage.
It's surprising that Esi allows herself to enter into a polygamous marriage, but she does so partly because she is used to this kind of relationship within her culture and partly because she sees it as more convenient for the way in which she wants to live her life. As she is not going to be Ali's stay-home wife all the time, there is more freedom for her within that union to pursue her own goals.
All of the men in the novel are classic examples of traditional men in one form or another. Ali is a player, a user of women, and has no intention of ever changing. His first wife gave up everything because he demanded it, subsuming her own self just to be his wife. Since he is a terrible husband she realizes that her sacrifice was not worth it. He is a cheat and a serial philanderer. Women somehow excuse this because he is intelligent and a smooth talker. Esi's first husband, Oko, is not a cheat or a philanderer, and is actually a rather good husband, but he resents her success, and wants her to conform to the more traditional picture that he has of what his wife should be - home, looking after him, and having more children.
Education
The novel clearly shows the difference that education makes by presenting us with characters who are well-educated, and others who are not. We also see that education is one of the few ways in which a woman can attain greater freedom. Education can elevate a person in society but it also gives them an intangible status, like a mark of respect. Esi and Ali are both highly educated. Esi has a master's degree; Ali has been educated all over the world and has a cosmopolitan outlook. Esi's education has earned her a well-paying job, enabled her to travel widely and secured her independence. It is also something that separates her from her own family; neither her mother or her grandmother can understand why she is so passionate about her education and her career, and not focused on her marriage.
Fusena also wanted to finish college and earn her degree but when she married Ali he forbade this and forced her to give up her studies and any dreams she had of school. This contributes to her feelings of bitterness on learning that Ali's second wife Esi has a degree, rubbing salt into the wound rather too much. She has much less freedom than Esi because with a lack of education comes a lack of options, and so the novel makes it clear that education is the gateway to opportunity and freedom for women in countries where they traditionally have very little of either.
Changes
The novel is entitled changes, and its narrative shows that every life goes through a great many changes even in a short space of time. Esi is a prime example of this as in the short period of time in her life that is covered in the book, she goes from her first husband to her second, becomes estranged from her daughter, is raped by her first husband, is almost raped by her best friend's husband, and the second marriage she enters runs its course and she is divorced a second time in all but name. This is a lot of change for one person.
Ghana, where the novel is set, is also going through many changes. Prior to the start of the book Ghana has become independent, reflecting the independence of women such as Esi as well. Esi has undergone many changes that enable her to be a free, financially independent woman, and her path mirrors the path of women in Africa as a whole, many of whom had greater access to education and therefore more options in their life, affording them more freedom because they no longer have to rely on men to be the breadwinners. The novel also shows that as the politics of a country change, so does the society within the country, and this has a trickle down effect to the individual citizen, for whom positive change is then possible.
