war and violence

One of the central themes of this book is the futility of war and violence. It is essentially set in the period of the Nigerian Civil War and talk about certain local concerns that afflict the people of Nigeria, but it is also a general commentary on the futility and needlessness of war. The novel explores the brutality and violence that is characteristic of any war, and goes on to delineate the idea that nothing is achieved in spite of all of this violence.

Countless people died in the Biafran war, and yet, nothing came out of it. Adichie magnifies this aspect of war by telling stories of the common people and shedding light on the atrocities that ensue needlessly.