One of the themes in the book is the honesty and innocence of childhood and the joys of friendship and family. The author spent the first twelve years of his life in the picturesque village of Aké, and through his memories we discover the beautiful landscapes of Nigeria. At the same time, we familiarize ourselves with the various political and economic issues the country faced before and during World War II. Most notably, we learn how the adults with whom the author grew up with and the conditions in which he lived in influenced his later beliefs and shaped his character.

Another theme would be the importance of spirituality and religion. During the Second World War, many European (mainly British) colonies in Africa wanted to incorporate their religious beliefs into the beliefs of the local population. As a result, Christianity spread throughout the continent and many new religions born from the symbiosis of traditional African spiritualism and Christianity became quite popular. Soyinka explains how, as a child, he couldn’t really understand the separate religions and didn’t distinguish them. He believed that both religions—the paganism of the Yoruba and Christianity—were, in fact, very much similar. He respected both the beliefs of his people and the European colonizers and refused to judge the customs and traditions of both religions separately.