The Exile of "Destruction"

As I first started reading Things Fall Apart by, Chinua Achebe I was honestly astonished and a bit in shock of the traditional customs and practices of the clan, but as the story and the great fall started to develop, I felt not only sympathetic towards Okonkwo (I didn't really like his character at the beginning), but perhaps as angry and frustrated as he felt. I could not understand how people did not see what Okonkwo pointed out to them, and the fact that they were erasing an entire culture and exiling themselves from what they had known throughout their entire life. Furthermore, I realize that this too was a culture that had rules, norms and hierarchies, and most important a logical system of life. The part that made this point the most obvious to me was:
"You carve a piece of wood[...] and you call it a god. [...] It is indeed a piece of wood. The tree from which it came was made by Chukwu, as indeed all minor gods were. But He made them for His messengers so the we could approach Him through them. (Achebe 179).

One can derive that this book shows a clear aspect of exile, an exile that seems harsh and almost unbelievable, an exile that is human made and is the result of the destruction of a culture. It feels as if the protagonist's end is perhaps his last resource to preserve what he knew (his ideal tribe), before he is destructed or "converted" and gives in to deleting all his traditions, beliefs and memories. Furthermore, the fact that the Great Fall is so realistic and still happening (Iraqi War) makes the Fall a lot more difficult and rough on the reader.