The English Literature Journal
Vol. 1, No. 1 (2014): 21-37
Research Article
Open Access
ISSN: 2348-3288
Downfall of Traditionalism in Things Fall Apart and
Arrow of God
S. Syed Fagrutheen *
Deparment of English, VSA Group of Institutions, Salem, Tamilnadu
*Corresponding author: S. Syed Fagrutheen
Received: 12 November 2013
Accepted: 14 December 2013
Online: 20 January 2014
ABSTRACT
Widely known as "the father of the African novel in English," Achebe is one of the most significant writers to emerge
from Africa with a literary vision that has profoundly influenced the form and content of modern African literature.
In his novels, he has chronicled the colonization of Nigeria by the Great Britain and the political turmoil following its
independence. A major theme of Achebe's writings is the social and psychological impact of European imperialism
on indigenous African societies, particularly with respect to a distinctly African consciousness in the twentieth
century. As a story about the culture on the verge of change, Things Fall Apart (1958) deals with how the reality of
change affects various characters. The tension about whether change should be dominant over tradition often
involves questions of personal status. InArrow of God(1964),Ezeulu the chief priest of Ulu watches his authority
slowly erode both from within and without. While the British through Christianity and road building try to solidify
their rule over the Igbo the people themselves through helping them as when Ezeulu's efforts to maintain peace with
the Okperi are overridden by the militant and powerful Nwafo and the British come in and settle the dispute in
favour of the Okperi. Rather than face another famine the village converts to Christianity. Both these novels talk
much about the impact made by colonial government on indigenous culture and it is being discussed in this paper as
downfall of traditionalism Thing Fall Apart and Arrow of God.
Keywords: Arrow of God, Traditionalism, Things fall apart
INTRODUCTION
Traditionalism in religious contexts can refer to
traditional orthodox principles when these values fall
we can call it as downfall of traditionalism. Both the
select novels of Achebe talk much about the downfall of
traditionalism. Oxford advanced learners’ dictionary
gives meaning for “downfall” as a sudden loss of wealth,
rank and reputation or happiness and especially a
heavy or unexpected one. It will be better to know the
life and influence of traditionalism in the life of the
author, Chinua Achebe. Albert Chinualumogu Achebe
popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian
novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is best known for
his first novel and magnum opus Things Fall Apart
which is the most widely read book in modern African
literature. Brought up by Christian parents, he became
fascinated with the world of religions and traditional
African cultures and began writing stories as a
university student. After graduation he worked for the
Nigerian Broadcasting Service and moved to the
metropolis of Lagos. He gained worldwide attention for
his Things Fall Apart in the late 1950s his later novels
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include No Longer at Ease (1960) Arrow of God (1964)
A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah
(1987). Achebe wrote his novels in English and had
defended the use of English; a language of colonizers in
African literature. He enrolled as a student at the
Central School where his older brother John was a
teacher In Nekede Achebe gained an appreciation for
Mbari a traditional art form which seeks to invoke the
Gods’ protection through symbolic sacrifices in the
form of sculpture and collage. When the time came to
change to secondary school in 1944 Achebe sat
entrance examinations for and was accepted at both the
prestigious Dennis Memorial Grammar School in
Onitsha and the even more prestigious Government
College in Umuahia .In 1950 Achebe wrote a piece for
the University Herald entitled Polar Undergraduate and
it was his debut as an author. It used irony and humor
to celebrate the intellectual vigor The NBS a radio
network started in 1933 by the Colonial government
assigned Achebe to the Talks Department preparing
scripts for oral delivery. This helped him master the
subtle nuances between written and spoken language a
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Syed Fagrutheen / The Eng Lit J. 2014, 1(1): 21-37
skill that helped him later to write realistic dialogue. He
as a son of Nigerian soil wrote vastly defending his own
culture and won many laurels after showing real image
of his own soil to the world he passed away on March
21, 2013 in The United States.
THE DOWNFALL OF TRADITIONALISM IN THINGS
FALLS APART
Things Fall Apart is a 1958 English language novel by
Chinua Achebe. It is a staple book in schools throughout
Africa and widely read and studied in English speaking
countries around the world. It is seen as the archetypal
modern African novel in English and one of the first
African novels written in English to receive global
critical acclaim. The title of the novel comes from
William Butler Yeats’s poem The Second Coming.
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot
hear the
falconer; Things Fall Apart; the center cannot hold;Mere
anarchy is
Loosed upon the world.”
-W.B. Yeats, “The second Coming”
In 2009 Newsweek ranked Things Fall Apart number
fourteen on its list of Top hundred Books. The novel
depicts the life of Okonkwo a leader and local wrestling
champion in Umuofia one of a fictional group of nine
villages in Nigeria inhabited by the Igbo ethnic group.
In addition it focuses on his three wives, his children
and the influences of British colonialism and Christian
missionaries on his traditional Igbo community during
the late nineteenth century. Okonkwo’s father was a
lazy drunk and a deadbeat man who received no titles
in his village and died with huge debts Okonkwo was a
great man in his home of Umuofia a group of nine
villages in Nigeria. Okonkwo despises his father and
does everything he can to be nothing like him. Unoka,
the grownup, was a failure. He was poor and his wife
and children had barely enough to eat. People laughed
at him because he was loafer, and they swore never to
lend him any more money because he never paid back.
As a young man Okonkwo began building his social
status by defeating a great wrestler propelling him into
society’s eye. He is hard working and shows no weak
emotions or otherwise to anyone. Although brusque
with his family and neighbors he is wealthy,
courageous and powerful among the people of his
village. He is a leader of his village and his place in that
society is what he has striven for his entire life. Because
of his great esteem in the village Okonkwo is selected
by the elders to be the guardian of Ikemefuna a boy
taken prisoner by the village as a peace settlement
between two villages after his father killed an Umuofian
woman. Ikemefuna is to stay with Okonkwo until the
Oracle instructs the elders on what to do with the boy.
For three years the boy lives with Okonkwo’s family
and he grows fond of him he even considers Okonkwo
his father. Then the elders decide that the boy must be
killed and the oldest man in the village warns Okonkwo
to have nothing to do with the murder because it would
be like killing his own child.
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Umuofia has decided to kill him. The Oracle of the Hills
and the Caves has pronounced it. They will take him
outside Umuofia as is the custom, and kill him there.
Rather than seem weak and feminine to the other men
of the village Okonkwo helps to kill the boy despite the
warning from the old man. In fact Okonkwo himself
strikes the killing blow as Ikemefuna begs him for
protection. Shortly after Ikemefuna’s death things begin
to go wrong for Okonkwo. When he accidentally kills
someone at a ritual funeral ceremony when his gun
explodes he and his family are sent into exile for seven
years to appease the gods he has offended with the
murder.
While Okonkwo is away in exile white men begin
coming to Umuofia and they peacefully introduce their
religion. As the number of converts’ increase the
foothold of the white people grows beyond their
religion and a new government is introduced. Okonkwo
returns to his village after his exile to find it a changed
place because of the presence of the white man. He and
other tribal leaders try to reclaim their hold on their
native land by destroying a local Christian church that
has insulted their gods and religion. In return the
leader of the white government takes them prisoner
and holds them for ransom for a short while further
humiliating and insulting the native leaders. As a result
the people of Umuofia finally gather for what could be a
great uprising. Okonkwo adamant over following
Umuofian custom and tradition despises any form of
cowardice and advocates for war against the white
men. When messengers of the white government try to
stop the meeting, Okonkwo kills one of them. He
realizes with despair that the people of Umuofia are not
going to fight to protect themselves because they let the
other messengers escape and so all is lost for the
village. When the local leader of the white government
comes to Okonkwo’s house to take him to court, he
finds that Okonkwo has hanged himself ruining his
great reputation as it is strictly against the custom of
the Igbo to kill oneself.
“It is an abomination for a man who commits it will not be
buried by his clansmen. His body is evil, and only strangers
may touch it. That is why we ask your people to bring him
down”
Achebe depicts the Ibo as a people with great social
institutions in accordance with their particular society.
Their culture is heavy in traditions and laws that focus
on justice and fairness. The people are ruled not by a
king or chief but by a kind of democracy where the
males meet and make decisions by consensus and in
accordance to an Oracle that should be written down. It
is the Europeans who often talk of bringing democratic
institutions to the rest of the world who upset this
system. Achebe emphasizes that high rank is attainable
for all freeborn Igbo men he attained his through
fighting as opposed to reading or to plough the land
and growing herbal remedies, vegetation, rearing
cattle, fowl. He also depicts the injustices of Ibo society.
No more or less than Victorian England of the same era
the Ibo are a patriarchal society. They also fear twins
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who are to be abandoned immediately after birth and
left to die of exposure. The novel attempts to repair
some of the damage done by earlier European
depictions of Africans. Since early childhood konkwo’s
embarrassment about his lazy, squandering and
effeminate father Unoka has driven him to succeed.
konkwo’s hard work and prowess in war have earned
him a position of high status in his clan and he attains
wealth sufficient to support three wives and their eight
children. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw is that he is terrified of
being weak or womanly like his father. As a result he
behaves rashly bringing a great deal of trouble and
sorrow upon himself and his family. He is a tragic
character who not only brings suffering to himself but
also to those around him. Towards the end of the novel
one can view Okonkwo as a tragic hero because like
other tragic heroes he has one major flaw. His main
flaw stems from the fear of being like his father who is a
lazy, social, drunkard debtor. Achebe depicts this
character as,
“When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was
heavily in debt. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was
ashamed of him?”
He as well cannot display his emotions because he
doesn’t want to look weak or effeminate and when he
does show any emotion it is an uncontrollable rage. As
a result of his flaws he has suffered countless tragedies
which ultimately lead to his tragic death. Nwoye
Okonkwo’s oldest son who Okonkwo believes is weak
and lazy. Okonkwo continually beats Nwoye hoping to
correct what he sees as flaws in his personality.
Influenced by Ikemefuna Nwoye begins to exhibit more
masculine behavior which pleases Okonkwo. owever he
maintains doubts about some of the laws and rules of
his village and eventually converts to Christianity an act
that Okonkwo criticizes as effeminate and beats him for
after which he leaves.
“When did you become a shivering old woman, Okonkwo
asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for
your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in
battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their
number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.”
Okonkwo believes that Nwoye is afflicted with the same
weaknesses that his father Unoka possessed in
abundance. As the only one of Ekwefi’s ten children to
survive past infancy Ezinma is the center of her
mother’s world. Their relationship is atypical Ezinma
calls Ekwefi by her name and is treated by her as an
equal. Ezinma is also Okonkwo’s favorite child for she
understands him better than any of his other children.
She reminds him of Ekwefi who was the village beauty.
Okonkwo rarely demonstrates his affection however
because he fears that doing so would make him look
weak. Furthermore he wishes that Ezinma were a boy
because she would have been the perfect son.
Ikemefuna lives in the hut of Okonkwo’s first wife and
quickly becomes popular with Okonkwo’s children. The
missionaries’ arrival begins the downfall of traditional
Igbo society. This downfall destroys the Igbo way of life
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leading to the death of Okonkwo who was once a hero
of the village. Things Fall Apart has been called a
Modern Greek tragedy. It has the same plot elements as
a Greek tragedy including the use of a tragic hero the
following of the string model etc. He is a classic tragic
hero even though the story is set in more modern
times. He shows multiple traits and these character
traits do lead to his end or reversal of fortune and his
downfall at the end of the novel. He is distressed by
social changes brought by white men because he has
worked so hard to move up in the traditional society.
This position is at risk due to the arrival of a new values
system. Those who commit suicide lose their place in
the ancestor worshipping traditional society to the
extent that they may not even be touched to give a
proper burial. The irony is that Okonkwo completely
loses his standing in both value systems. He truly has
good intentions but his need to feel in control and his
fear that other men will sense weakness in him drive
him to make decisions whether consciously or
subconsciously that he regrets as he progresses
through his life. Achebe writes his novels in English
because written Standard Ibo was created by mixing
the various languages creating a stilted written form.
In an interview for The Paris Review by James Brooks in
1994 Achebe says the novel form seems to go with the
English language. There is a problem with the Igbo
language. It suffers from a very serious inheritance
which it received at the beginning of this century from
the Anglican mission. They sent out a missionary by the
name of Den. He had this notion that the Igbo language
which had very many different dialects should
somehow manufacture a uniform dialect that would be
used in writing to avoid all these different dialects.
Because the missionaries were powerful what they
wanted to do, they did this became the law. But the
standard version cannot sing. There is nothing you can
do with it to make it sing. It’s heavy. It’s wooden. It
doesn’t go anywhere. Gender differentiation is seen in
Igbo classification of crimes. The narrator of Things Fall
Apart states that the crime was of two kinds male and
female. Okonkwo had committed the female because it
was an accident. He would be allowed to return to the
clan after seven years. He fled to the land of his mother
Mbanta because a man finds refuge with his mother.
Uchendu explains this to Okonkwo
“It is true that a child belongs to his father. But when the
father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother’s hut. A
man belongs to his fatherland when. Things are good and life
is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness, he finds
refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you.
She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is
supreme.”
Women are understated throughout Things Fall Apart.
A crucial element of the story is that the elements
within represent the cultural aspects of the igbo
society, its culture and traditions. As such it can be
argued that the infrequent mentions of wives in the
story of Things Fall Apart can be taken as a statement of
the limited value of women. The mentioning of wives
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purely as the bearers of children can then be taken as a
statement that women are actually nothing more than
tools of reproduction. The fact that the number of wives
you have affects social status further depicts women as
possessions of the men. The fact that the men are free
to beat their wives also adds to this idea. Okonkwo
wishing that his favorite child Enzima was a boy further
reveals in the inequality between the genders in Nigeria
at the time. The events of the novel unfold around the
1890s. The majority of the story takes place in the
village of Umuofia located west of the actual Onitsha on
the east bank of the Niger River in Nigeria. The culture
depicted is similar to that of Achebe’s birthplace of
Ogidi where Igbo speaking people lived together in
groups of independent villages ruled by titled elders.
The customs described in the novel mirror those of the
actual Onitsha people who lived near Ogidi and with
whom Achebe was familiar. Within forty years of the
British arrival by the time Achebe was born in 1930 the
missionaries were well established. Achebe’s father
was among the first to be converted in Ogidi around the
turn of the century. Achebe himself was an orphan so it
can safely be said the character of Nwoye who joins the
church because of a conflict with his father is not meant
to represent the author. Achebe was raised by his
grandfather. His grandfather far from opposing
Achebe’s conversion to Christianity allowed Achebe’s
Christian marriage to be celebrated in his compound.
Prior to British colonization the Igbo people as featured
in Things Fall Apart lived in a patriarchal collective
political system. Decisions were not made by a chief or
by any individual but were rather decided by a council
of male elders. Religious leaders were also called upon
to settle debates reflecting the cultural focus of the Igbo
people. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to
explore Nigeria. Though the Portuguese are not
mentioned by Achebe the remaining influence of the
Portuguese can be seen in many Nigerian surnames.
The British entered Nigeria first through trade and then
established The Royal Niger Colony in 1886. The
success of the colony led to Nigeria becoming a British
protectorate in 1901. The arrival of the British slowly
began to deteriorate the traditional society.
The British government would intervene in tribal
disputes rather than allowing the Igbo to settle issues
in a traditional manner. The frustration caused by these
shifts in power is illustrated by the struggle of the
protagonist in the second half of the novel Things Fall
Apart.
Things Fall Apart is set in the 1890s and portrays the
clash between Nigeria’s white colonial government and
the traditional culture of the indigenous Igbo people.
Achebe’s novel shatters the stereotypical European
portraits of native Africans. He is careful to portray the
complex, advanced social institutions and artistic
traditions of Igbo culture prior to its contact with
Europeans. Yet he is just as careful not to stereotype
the Europeans, he offers varying depictions of the white
men such as the mostly benevolent Mr. Brown, the
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zealous Reverend Smith and the ruthlessly calculating
District Commissioner.
Achebe’s education in English and exposure to
European customs has allowed him to capture both the
European and the African perspectives on colonial
expansion, religion, race, and culture. His decision to
write Things Fall Apart in English is an important one.
Achebe wanted this novel to respond to earlier colonial
accounts of Africa; his choice of language was thus
political. Unlike some later African authors who chose
to revitalize native languages as a form of resistance to
colonial culture Achebe wanted to achieve cultural
revitalization within and through English. Nevertheless
he manages to capture the rhythm of the Igbo language
and he integrates Igbo vocabulary into the narrative.
Achebe has become renowned throughout the world as
a father of modern African literature, essayist, and
professor of English literature at Bard College in New
York. But Achebe’s achievements are most concretely
reflected by his prominence in Nigeria’s academic
culture and in its literary and political institutions. He
worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Company for
over a decade and later became an English professor at
the University of Nigeria. He has also been quite
influential in the publication of new Nigerian writers. In
1967 he co-founded a publishing company with a
Nigerian poet named Christopher Okigbo and in 1971
he began editing Okike a respected journal of Nigerian
writing. In 1984 he founded Uwa ndi Igbo a bilingual
magazine containing a great deal of information about
Igbo culture. He has been active in Nigerian politics
since the 1960s and many of his novels address the
post-colonial social and political problems that Nigeria
still faces. Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior
of the Umuofia clan a lower Nigerian tribe that is part of
a consortium of nine connected villages. He is haunted
by the actions of Unoka his cowardly and spendthrift
father who died in disrepute leaving many village debts
unsettled. In response Okonkwo became a clansman,
warrior, farmer, family provider and extraordinaire. He
has a twelve-year old son named Nwoye whom he finds
lazy; Okonkwo worries that Nwoye will end up a failure
like Unoka. In a settlement with a neighboring tribe
Umuofia wins a virgin and a fifteen year old boy.
Okonkwo takes charge of the boy Ikemefuna and finds
an ideal son in him. Nwoye likewise forms a strong
attachment to the newcomer. Despite his fondness for
Ikemefuna and despite the fact that the boy begins to
call him father Okonkwo does not let himself show any
affection for him. During the Week of Peace Okonkwo
accuses his youngest wife Ojiugo of negligence. He
severely beats her breaking the peace of the sacred
week. He makes some sacrifices to show his repentance
but he has shocked his community irreparably.
Ikemefuna stays with Okonkwo’s family for three years.
Nwoye looks up to him as an older brother and much to
Okonkwo’s pleasure develops a more masculine
attitude. One day the locusts come to Umuofia they will
come every year for seven years before disappearing
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for another generation. The village excitedly collects
them because they are good to eat when cooked
.Ogbuefi Ezeudu a respected village elder informs
Okonkwo in private that the Oracle has said that
Ikemefuna must be killed. He tells Okonkwo that
because Ikemefuna calls him father he should not take
part in the boy’s death. He lies to Ikemefuna telling him
that they must return him to his home village. As he
walks with the men of Umuofia thinks about seeing his
mother. After several hours of walking some of
Okonkwo’s clansmen attack the boy with machetes. The
boy runs to Okonkwo for help. But Okonkwo who
doesn’t wish to look weak in front of his fellow
tribesmen cuts the boy down despite the Oracle’s
admonishment. When Okonkwo returns home Nwoye
deduces that his friend is dead. Okonkwo sinks into a
depression neither able to sleep nor eat. He visits his
friend Obierika and begins to feel revived a bit.
Okonkwo’s daughter Ezinma falls ill but she recovers
after Okonkwo gathers leaves for her medicine. The
death of Ogbuefi Ezeudu is announced to the
surrounding villages by means of the ekwe a musical
instrument. Okonkwo feels guilty because the last time
Ezeudu visited him was to warn him against taking part
in Ikemefuna’s death. At Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s large and
elaborate funeral the men beat drums and fire their
guns. Tragedy compounds upon itself when Okonkwo’s
gun explodes and kills Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s sixteen-yearold son. Because killing a clansman is a crime against
the earth goddess Okonkwo must take his family into
exile for seven years in order to atone. He gathers his
most valuable belongings and takes his family to his
mother’s natal village Mbanta. The men from Ogbuefi
Ezeudu’s quarter burn Okonkwo’s buildings and kill his
animals to cleanse the village of his sin. Okonkwo’s
kinsmen especially his uncle Uchendu receive him
warmly. Things Fall Apart is about the tragic fall of the
protagonist, Okonkwo, and the Igbo culture. Okonkwo
is a respected and influential leader within the Igbo
community of Umuofia in eastern Nigeria. He first earns
personal fame and distinction and brings honor to his
village, when he defeats Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling
contest. Okonkwo determines to gain titles for himself
and become a powerful and wealthy man in spite of his
father’s weaknesses. Okonkwo’s father Unoka was a
lazy and wasteful man. He often borrowed money and
then squandered it on palm-wine and merrymaking
with friends. Consequently his wife and children often
went hungry. Within the community Unoka was
considered a failure and a laughingstock. He was
referred to as agbala one who resembles the weakness
of a woman and has no property. Unoka died a
shameful death and left numerous debts. Okonkwo
despises and resents his father’s gentle and idle ways.
He resolves to overcome the shame that he feels as a
result of his father’s weaknesses by being what he
considers being manly therefore, he dominates his
wives and children by being insensitive and controlling.
Because Okonkwo is a leader of his community he is
asked to care for a young boy named Ikemefuna who is
given to the village as a peace offering by neighboring
Mbaino to avoid war with Umuofia. Ikemefuna
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befriends Okonkwo’s son Nwoye and Okonkwo
becomes inwardly fond of the boy.Over the years
Okonkwo becomes an extremely volatile man he is apt
to explode at the slightest provocation. He violates the
Week of Peace when he beats his youngest wife Ojiugo
because she went to braid her hair at a friend’s house
and forgot to prepare the afternoon meal and feed her
children. Later he severely beats and shoots a gun at his
second wife Ekwefi because she took leaves from his
banana plant to wrap food for the Feast of the New
Yam. After the coming of the locusts Ogbuefi Ezeuder
the oldest man in the village relays to Okonkwo a
message from the Oracle. The Oracle says that
Ikemefuna must be killed as part of the retribution for
the Umuofian woman killed three years earlier in
Mbaino. He tells Okonkwo not to partake in the murder
but Okonkwo doesn’t listen. He feels that not
participating would be a sign of weakness.
Consequently Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna with his
machete. Nwoye realizes that his father has murdered
Ikemefuna and begins to distance himself from his
father and the clansmen.
Okonkwo becomes depressed after killing Ikemefuna so
he visits his best friend Obierika who disapproves of his
role in Ikemefuna’s killing. Obierika says that
Okonkwo’s act will upset the Earth and the earth
goddess will seek revenge. After discussing Ikemefuna’s
death with Obierika Okonkwo is finally able to sleep
restfully but he is awakened by his wife Ekwefi. Their
daughter Ezinma whom Okonkwo is fond of is dying.
Okonkwo gathers grasses, barks, and leaves to prepare
medicine for Ezinma. A public trial is held on the village
commons. Nine clan leaders including Okonkwo
represent the spirits of their ancestors. The nine clan
leaders or egwugwu also represent the nine villages of
Umuofia. Okonkwo does not sit among the other eight
leaders or elders while they listen to a dispute between
an estranged husband and wife. The wife Mgbafo had
been severely beaten by her husband. Her brother took
her back to their family’s village but her husband
wanted her back home. The egwugwu tell the husband
to take wine to his in-laws and beg his wife to come
home. One elder wonders why such a trivial dispute
would come before the egwugwu. In her role as
priestess Chielo tells Ekwefi that Agbala needs to see
Ezinma. Although Okonkwo and Ekwefi protest Chielo
takes a terrified Ezinma on her back and forbids anyone
to follow. Chielo carries Ezinma to all nine villages and
then enters the Oracle’s cave. Ekwefi follows secretly in
spite of Chielo’s admonitions and waits at the entrance
of the Oracle. Okonkwo surprises Ekwefi by arriving at
the cave and he also waits with her. The next morning
Chielo takes Ezinma to Ekwefi’s hut and puts her to
bed. When Ogbuefi Ezeudu dies Okonkwo worries
because the last time that Ezeudu visited him was when
he warned Okonkwo against participating in the killing
of Ikemefuna. Ezeudu was an important leader in the
village and achieved three titles of the clan’s four a rare
accomplishment. During the large funeral Okonkwo’s
gun goes off and Ezeudu’s sixteen-year-old son is killed
accidentally.Because the accidental killing of a
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clansman is a crime against the earth goddess Okonkwo
and his family must be exiled from Umuofia for seven
years. The family moves to Okonkwo’s mother’s native
village Mbanta. After they depart Umuofia a group of
village men destroy Okonkwo’s compound and kill his
animals to cleanse the village of Okonkwo’s sin.
Obierika stores Okonkwo’s yams in his barn and
wonders about the old traditions of the Igbo culture.
Okonkwo is welcomed to Mbanta by his maternal uncle
Uchendu a village elder. He gives Okonkwo a plot of
land on which to farm and build a compound for his
family. But Okonkwo is depressed and he blames his chi
for his failure to achieve lasting greatness.
During Okonkwo’s second year in exile he receives a
visit from his best friend Obierika who recounts sad
news about the village of Abame after a white man rode
into the village on a bicycle the elders of Abame
consulted their Oracle which told them that the white
man would destroy their clan and other clans.
Consequently the villagers killed the white man. But
weeks later a large group of men slaughtered the
villagers in retribution. The village of Abame is now
deserted. Okonkwo and Uchendu agree that the
villagers were foolish to kill a man whom they knew
nothing about. Later Obierika gives Okonkwo money
that he received from selling Okonkwo’s yams and
seed-yams and he promises to do so until Okonkwo
returns to Umuofia.Six missionaries including one
white man arrive in Mbanta. The white man speaks to
the people about Christianity. Okonkwo believes that
the man speaks nonsense but his son Nwoye is
captivated and becomes a convert of Christianity. The
Christian missionaries build a church on land given to
them by the village leaders. However the land is a part
of the Evil Forest and according to tradition the
villagers believe that the missionaries will die because
they built their church on cursed land. But when
nothing happens to the missionaries the people of
Mbanta conclude that the missionaries possess
extraordinary power and magic. The first recruits of the
missionaries are efulefu the weak and worthless men of
the village. Other villagers including a woman soon
convert to Christianity. The missionaries then go to
Umuofia and start a school. Nwoye leaves his father’s
hut and moves to Umuofia so he can attend the school.
Okonkwo’s exile is over so his family arranges to return
to Umuofia. Before leaving Mbanta they prepare a huge
feast for Okonkwo’s mother’s kinsmen in appreciation
of their gratitude during Okonkwo’s seven years of
exile. When Okonkwo returns to Umuofia he discovers
that the village has changed during his absence. Many
men have renounced their titles and have converted to
Christianity. The white men have built a prison they
have established a government court of law where
people are tried for breaking the white man’s laws and
they also employ natives of Umuofia. Okonkwo
wonders why the Umuofians have not incited violence
to rid the village of the white man’s church and
oppressive government. Some members of the Igbo
clan like the changes in Umuofia. Mr. Brown the white
missionary respects the Igbo traditions. He makes an
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effort to learn about the Igbo culture and becomes
friendly with some of the clan leaders. He also
encourages Igbo people of all ages to get an education.
Mr. Brown tells Okonkwo that Nwoye who has taken
the name Isaac is attending a teaching college.
Nevertheless Okonkwo is unhappy about the changes in
Umuofia.
After Mr. Brown becomes ill and is forced to return to
his homeland Reverend James Smith becomes the new
head of the Christian church. But Reverend Smith is
nothing like Mr. Brown he is intolerant of clan customs
and is very strict. Violence arises after Enoch an
overzealous convert to Christianity unmasks an
egwugwu. In retaliation the egwugwu burn Enoch’s
compound and then destroy the Christian church
because the missionaries have caused the Igbo people
many problems. When the District Commissioner
returns to Umuofia he learns about the destruction of
the church and asks six leaders of the village including
Okonkwo to meet with him. The men are jailed until
they pay a fine of two hundred and fifty bags of cowries.
The people of Umuofia collect the money and pay the
fine and the men are set free.The next day at a meeting
for clansmen five court messengers who intend to stop
the gathering approach the group. Suddenly Okonkwo
jumps forward and beheads the man in charge of the
messengers with his machete. When none of the other
clansmen attempt to stop the messengers who escape
Okonkwo realizes that they will never go to war and
that Umuofia will surrender. Everything has fallen
apart for Okonkwo he commits suicide by hanging
himself.
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is probably the most
authentic narrative ever written about life in Nigeria at
the turn of the twentieth century. Although the novel
was first published in 1958 two years before Nigeria
achieved its independence thousands of copies are still
sold every year in the United States alone. Millions of
copies have been sold around the world in its many
translations. The novel has been adapted for
productions on the stage, on the radio and on
television. Teachers in high schools, colleges and
graduate schools use the novel as a textbook in many
types of classes from history and social studies to
comparative literature and anthropology. The novel
takes its title from a verse in the poem The Second
Coming by W. B. Yeats an Irish poet, essayist and
dramatist.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon
cannot hear the falconer Things fall apart the center
cannot hold Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. In
this poem ironically a product of European thought
Yeats describes an apocalyptic vision in which the
world collapses into anarchy because of an internal
flaw in humanity. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe
illustrates this vision by showing us what happened in
the Igbo society of Nigeria at the time of its colonization
by the British. Because of internal weaknesses within
the native structure and the divided nature of Igbo
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society the community of Umuofia in this novel is
unable to withstand the tidal wave of foreign religion,
commerce, technology and government. In The Second
Coming Yeats evokes the anti-Christ leading an anarchic
world to destruction. This ominous tone gradually
emerges in Things Fall Apart as an intrusive religious
presence and an insensitive government together
causes the traditional Umuofian world to fall apart.
When Things Fall Apart was first published Achebe
announced that one of his purposes was to present a
complex dynamic society to a Western audience who
perceived African society as primitive, simple and
backward. Unless Africans could tell their side of their
story Achebe believed that the African experience
would forever be untold even by such well-meaning
authors as Joyce Cary in Mister Johnson. Cary worked in
Nigeria as a colonial administrator and was
sympathetic to the Nigerian people. Yet Achebe feels
that Cary, along with other Western writers such as
Joseph Conrad, misunderstood Africa. Many European
writers have presented the continent as a dark place
inhabited by people with impenetrable, primitive
minds; Achebe considers this reductionist portrayal of
Africa racist. He points to Conrad, who wrote against
imperialism but reduced Africans to mysterious,
animalistic, and exotic others. In an interview
published in 1994, Achebe explains that his anger
about the inaccurate portrayal of African culture by
white colonial writers does not imply that students
should not read works by Conrad or Cary. On the
contrary, Achebe urges students to read such works in
order to better understand the racism of the colonial
era.Achebe also kept in mind his own Nigerian people
as an audience. In 1964, he stated his goal to help my
society regain belief in itself and put away the
complexes of the years of denigration and selfabasement. I would be quite satisfied if my novels did
no more than teach my readers that their past with all
its imperfections was not one long night of savagery
from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf
delivered them.
a religion, a government, a system of money and an
artistic tradition as well as a judicial system. While
technologically unsophisticated the Igbo culture is
revealed to the reader as remarkably complex.
Furthermore Things Fall Apart ironically reverses the
style of novels by such writers as Conrad and Cary who
created flat and stereotypical African characters.
Instead Achebe stereotypes the white colonialists as
rigid most with imperialistic intentions whereas the
Igbo are highly individual many of them open to new
ideas. But readers should note that Achebe is not
presenting Igbo culture as faultless and idyllic. Indeed
Achebe would contest such a romantic portrayal of his
native people. In fact many Western writers who wrote
about colonialism were opposed to imperialism but
were romantic in their portrayal of noble savages
primitive and animalistic yet uncorrupted and
innocent. Achebe regards this notion as an
unacceptable argument as well as a myth. The Igbo
were not noble savages and although the Igbo world
was eventually destroyed the indigenous culture was
never an idyllic haven even before the arrival of the
white colonialists. In Things Fall Apart Achebe depicts
negative as well as positive elements of Igbo culture
and he is sometimes as critical of his own people as he
is of the colonizers.
In Things Fall Apart, the Europeans’ understanding of
Africa is particularly exemplified in two characters, the
Reverend James Smith and the unnamed District
Commissioner. Mr. Smith sees no need to compromise
on unquestionable religious doctrine or practices even
during their introduction to a society very different
from his own. He simply does not recognize any benefit
for allowing the Nigerians to retain lements of their
heritage. The District Commissioner on the other hand
prides himself on being a student of primitive customs
and sees himself as a benevolent leader who has only
the best intentions for pacifying the primitive tribes
and bringing them into the modern era. Both men
would express surprise if anyone suggested to them
that their European values may not be entirely
appropriate for these societies. The Commissioner’s
plan for briefly treating the story of Okonkwo
illustrates
the
inclination
toward
Western
simplification of African culture.To counter this
inclination Achebe brings to life an African culture with
The history of Nigeria is bound up with its geography.
About one-third larger than the state of Texas Nigeria is
located above the inner curve of the elbow on the west
coast of Africa just north of the equator and south of the
Sahara Desert. More than two hundred ethnic groups
each with its own language, beliefs and culture live in
present-day Nigeria. The largest ethnic groups are the
mostly Protestant Yoruba in the west the Catholic Igbo
in the east and the predominantly Muslim Hausa-Fulani
in the north. This diversity of peoples is the result of
thousands of years of history as traders, nomads and
refugees from invaders and climatic changes came to
settle with the indigenous population and as foreign
nations became aware of the area’s resources. The
events in Things Fall Apart take place at the end of the
nineteenth century and in the early part of the
twentieth century. Although the British did not occupy
most of Nigeria until 1904 they had a strong presence
in West Africa since the early nineteenth century. The
British were a major buyer of African slaves in the
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Achebe has been a major force in the worldwide
literary movement to define and describe this African
experience. Other postcolonial writers in this
movement include Leopold Senghor, Wole Soyinka,
Aime Cesaire, Derek Walcott, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and
Birago Diop. These writers not only confront a
multiethnic perspective of history and truth but they
also challenge readers to reexamine themselves in this
complex and evolving world.As African novel written in
English and departing significantly from more familiar
colonial writing, Things Fall Apart was a ground
breaking work. Achebe’s role in making modern African
literature a part of world literature cannot be
understated.
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seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1807 however
the British outlawed slave trade within their empire. At
the time they did not yet control Nigeria and internal
wars continually increased the available supply of
captured slaves. In 1861 frustrated with the expanding
slave trade the British decided to occupy Lagos a major
slave trading post and the capital of present day
Nigeria. Slowly and hesitantly the British occupied the
rest of Nigeria.
Ultimately the British were prompted to occupy Nigeria
for more than the slave trade. The British were in
competition with other Europeans for control of the
natural wealth of West Africa. At the Berlin Conference
of 1884-85 a meeting arranged to settle rivalries among
European powers the British proclaimed Nigeria to be
their territory. They bought palm oil, peanuts, rubber,
cotton and other agricultural products from the
Nigerians. Indeed trade in these products made some
Nigerian traders very wealthy. In the early twentieth
century the British defined the collection of diverse
ethnic groups as one country Nigeria and declared it a
colony of the British Empire.The British moved into
Nigeria with a combination of government control
religious mission and economic incentive. In the north
the British ruled indirectly with the support of the local
Muslim leaders who collected taxes and administered a
government on behalf of the British.
For example a real life tragedy at the community of
Ahiara serves as the historical model for the massacre
of the village of Abame in Chapter 15 of Things Fall
Apart. On November 16, 1905 a white man rode his
bicycle into Ahiara and was killed by the natives. A
month later an expedition of British forces searched the
villages in the area and killed many natives in
reprisal.The Ahiara incident led to the Bende-Onitsha
Hinterland Expedition a force created to eliminate Igbo
opposition. The British destroyed the powerful Awka
Oracle and killed all opposing Igbo groups. In 1912 the
British instituted the Collective Punishment Ordinance
which stipulated punishment against an entire village
or community for crimes committed by one or more
persons against the white colonialists.
The British operated an efficient administrative system
and introduced a form of British culture to Nigeria.
They also sent many capable young Nigerians to
England for education. The experience of Nigerians
who lived overseas in the years during World War II
gave rise to a class of young educated nationalists who
agitated for independence from Great Britain. The
British agreed to the Nigerians’ demands and in 1947
instituted a ten-year economic plan toward
independence. Nigeria became an independent country
on October 1, 1960 and became a republic in 1963.With
the British long gone from Nigeria corruption and a
lack of leadership continued to hamper Nigeria’s quest
for true democracy. A series of military coups and
dictatorships in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s
replaced the fragile democracy that Nigeria enjoyed in
the early 1960s. In 1993 Nigeria held a democratic
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presidential election which was followed by yet
another bloodless coup. And so continues the political
pattern for the troubled violent most populous country
in Africa. The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
was an eye opening account of the life and eventual
extinction of an African tribe called the Ibo. It focuses
on one character Okonkwo who at a very early age set
out on a quest of self-perfection. Coming from a family
ruled by a man who was lazy and inconsistent with
everything he did Okonkwo vowed to never accept the
fate of his father. Okonkwo and his family suffered
through many hard times in their lives but usually
managed to come out on top. Through terrible crop
seasons and bad judgement calls Okonkwo usually
prevailed until the day came when he was faced with a
situation that could not be resolved by his strength and
character alone.
This novel also provided a very detailed and seemingly
accurate account of the lives of the Ibo. The Ibo were an
extremely spiritual people who answered to their gods
daily. Their yam crops were the backbone of the
community and he who possessed the largest crops
were usually respected by all in the community. The
Ibo were a much gendered people. The men normally
made all the rules and the woman were taught to
respect their husbands’ decisions. In particular
Okonkwo ruled his household with an iron fist. He often
beat his wives for small reasons and felt little to no
remorse for doing so. While it was not uncommon for
the men of the Ibo tribe to beat their wives if they
disobeyed orders Okonkwo was a character that
oftentimes took it too far. In one point in the novel he
badly beat one of his wives Ojiugo during the sacred
week. During this time no one in the tribe is to commit
such acts as it is a time for peace. By beating his wife he
defied the gods and was forced to offer up animal
sacrifices and payment to them. This one of Okonkwo’s
major character flaws he is stubborn and self-righteous
and wishes to answer to nobody but himself. This even
leads to eventual fate when he refuses to join the
Christians when most everyone else of the tribe gave in
to their ideas. Okonkwo in the end decided to hang him
rather than give up his freedom to the white man. Even
in his death he defied the gods of his tribe knowing that
he would receive no burial and his body be cast into the
evil forest. Rather than accepting defeat and working
together with his tribe to bring about change he chose
death and eternity roaming the earth as a lost evil soul.
He had lost his chance to regain back his authority and
respect in the community after he was cast out of the
clan for accidentally killing a member of the
community. Upon his return to Umuofia he expected to
pick up where he left off his crops to blossom his
daughters to marry and his past deeds be forgotten. But
it turned out to be a harder struggle then he imagined.
The novel itself was a great story full of colorful
characters and a supernatural outlook. The style was
very simple and oftentimes I found it read like a
children’s book. This being said it wasn’t a challenging
read. Aside from the complex names of the
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communities and its people the language was very clear
and simple.
Critics have viewed the work as Achebe’s answer to the
limited and often inaccurate presentation of Nigerian
life and customs found in literature written by powers
of the colonial era. Achebe does not paint an idyllic
picture of pre-colonial Africa but instead shows Igbo
society with all its flaws as well as virtues. The novel’s
title is taken from W. B. Yeats’s poem The Second
Coming.
Things Fall Apart traces life in the Igbo village of
Umuofia just before and after its initial contact with
European colonists and their Christian religion. The
novel focuses on Okonkwo an ambitious and inflexible
clan member trying to overcome the legacy of his weak
father. The clan does not judge men on their father’s
faults and Okonkwo’s status is based on his own
achievements. He is a great wrestler a brave warrior
and a respected member of the clan who endeavors to
uphold its traditions and customs. He lives for the
veneration of his ancestors and their ways. Okonkwo’s
impetuousness and rigidness however often pit him
against the laws of the clan as when he beats his wife
during the Week of Peace. The first part of the novel
traces Okonkwo’s successes and failures within the
clan. In the second part he is finally exiled when he
shoots at his wife and accidentally hits a clansman.
According to clan law his property is destroyed and he
must leave his father’s land for seven years. He flees to
his mother’s homeland which is just beginning to
experience contact with Christian missionaries.
Okonkwo is anxious to return to Umuofia but finds
upon his return the third part of the novel that life has
also begun to change there as well. The Christian
missionaries have made inroads into the culture of the
clan through its disenfranchised members. Shortly after
his return Okonkwo’s own son leaves for the mission
school disgusted by his father’s participation in the
death of a boy that his family had taken in and treated
as their own. Okonkwo eventually stands up to the
missionaries in an attempt to protect his culture but
when he kills a British messenger Okonkwo realizes
that he stands alone and kills himself. Ironically suicide
is considered the ultimate disgrace by the clan and his
people are unable to bury.
The main theme of Things Fall Apart focuses on the
clash between traditional Igbo society and the culture
and religion of the colonists. Achebe wrote the novel in
English but incorporated into the prose a rhythm that
conveyed a sense of African oral storytelling. He also
used traditional African images including palm oil as
well as Igbo proverbs. In an effort to show the clash
between the two cultures Achebe presented traditional
Christian symbols and then described the clan’s
contrasting reactions to them. For instance, in
Christianity, locusts are a symbol of destruction and
ruin but the Umuofians rejoice at their coming because
they are a source of food. The arrival of the locusts
comes directly before the arrival of the missionaries in
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the novel. Transition is another major theme of the
novel and is expressed through the changing nature of
Igbo society. Several references are made throughout
the narrative to faded traditions in the clan
emphasizing the changing nature of its laws and
customs. Colonization is a time of great transition in
Umuofia and the novel focuses on Okonkwo’s rigidity in
the face of this change. Other themes include duality
the nature of religious belief and individualism versus
community. Reviewers have praised Achebe’s neutral
narration and have described Things Fall Apart as a
realistic novel. Much of the critical discussion about
Things Fall Apart concentrates on the socio-political
aspects of the novel including the friction between the
members of Igbo society as they are confronted with
the intrusive and overpowering presence of Western
government and beliefs. Ernest N. Emenyonu
commented that Things Fall Apart is indeed a classic
study of cross-cultural misunderstanding and the
consequences to the rest of humanity when a
belligerent culture or civilization out of sheer
arrogance and ethnocentrism takes it upon itself to
invade another culture another civilization. One of the
issues that critics have continued to discuss is whether
Okonkwo serves as an embodiment of the values of
Umuofia or stands in conflict with them. This
discussion often centers on the question of Okonkwo’s
culpability in the killing of the boy Ikemefuna. Many
critics have argued that Okonkwo was wrong and went
against the clan when he became involved in killing the
boy. Other reviewers have asserted that he was merely
fulfilling the command of the Oracle of the Hills and
Caves. It is hard to imagine being invaded and forced to
change virtually all of our ways by a foreign nation.
Unfortunately for the Ibo society imperialism was
forced upon them. All they could do was sit back and
watch as the English changed all aspects of their life.
Everything from religion to family life was changed by
imperialism. The title Things Fall Apart suits the book
very well because that is essentially what happened to
the Umuofia village. The cultural traditions of Umuofia
eventually fell apart. The main points of focus in Things
Fall Apart are life inside the Ibo tribe the struggle of
one man’s desire to succeed and imperialism.During
part one of the stories Achebe takes the reader through
the daily lives of the Ibo people. The reader is exposed
to different aspects of Ibo culture like the role of
women in society and the process of growing food. The
role of women in the Ibo tribe was very specific and
minimal. When a man wanted to marry a woman he
had to pay the bride price to her relatives only if they
accepted him. Women were given virtually no rights
and their only purpose was to give birth, cook and
clean. Women had no say in tribe meetings and never
allowed to talk back to their husbands. The agriculture
of the Ibo society was also a main focus in Things Fall
Apart. Yams were the main nourishment through every
meal and they called these yams the king of crops.
Furthermore people used the yams for every
traditional celebration and used kola nuts to offer their
chi or personal god. These foods as Achebe had
described were sometimes related to or involved with
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the religion or ancestral spirits of the Ibo tribe. Things
Fall Apart does a very good job of showing what life
was like in Africa during imperialism. In a very short
time major changes to the Ibo way of life took place.
The new religion that was forced upon the natives
made the claim that all men are created equal yet the
missionaries viewed them as uncivilized and subhuman. The European desire for social and economic
dominance is displayed in Things Fall Apart. Traditional
family and religious values were lost when the
missionaries came. Achebe shows the reader what
effects these had through the character Okonkwo. He
would rather kill himself than be killed by his selfproclaimed enemy which is exactly what he did. Things
Fall Apart is a tale of tragedy and the despair of a fallen
hero there was a man who dreamed as a child of being
well known and respected throughout his village and
neighboring villages. This man Okonkwo worked hard
at his goal and he achieved it. Okonkwo a man with
great strength and personality had achieved his goal to
become rich and famous a privilege that was unseen
before in his family. Although Okonkwo reached his
goal at an early age his life began to Fall Apart when
tragic episodes took place. One can see that Okonkwo’s
life first began to fall apart when Ikemefuna a
captivewho stayed at Okonkwo’s home was killed.
Okonkwo had thought of Ikemefuna as one of his own
sons. He was deeply saddened when he was killed. One
can see the effects on Okonkwo from that event. First
Okonkwo was unable to sleep for the following three
days. He also kept on getting drunk and that was a sign
that he was depressed. This incident also had a long
term effect on Okonkwo. From then on his family would
look at him as if it were his fault that Ikemefuna is dead.
This episode can be seen as an event where Okonkwo
loses some faith from his family. This corresponds to
Okonkwo losing faith in his father. Another important
occurrence where one can see that Okonkwo’s life falls
apart was when he was thrown out of the clan for a few
years. From this episode one can see that Okonkwo’s
dreams Okonkwo had no longer had his farm or
animals. Also Okonkwo lost faith with most of his
friends. Finally he hangs himself to protect his own
image and things fell apart.
DOWNFALL OF TRADITIONALISM IN ARROW OF
GOD
Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe a political and cultural
novel is set in Nigeria in the early twentieth century
when colonization by British government officials and
Christian missionaries was well underway. In this novel
two cultures confront their differences. Achebe
portrays the disrupting effect an externally imposed
power system has on an internally imposed power
system. Conflicts within the Igbo society coupled with
repercussions from external invasion result in disaster
for the Igbo society which disintegrates from within
and reorients itself to Christianity. This reorientation
will lead not only to the assimilation of Western values
and beliefs but also to the eventual loss of the Igbo
cultural identity.Arrow of God Achebe’s third novel is an
intricate and complex narrative. Ezeulu the main
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character is the chief priest of Ulu a God created by the
people almost a century before when the six villages of
Umuaro united to withstand the Abam slave raiders.
Chief priest Ezeulu is responsible for safeguarding the
traditions and rituals of the people for example Ezeulu
watches each month for the new moon. He eats a
sacred yam and beats the ogene to mark the beginning
of each new month. Only the chief priest can name the
day for the feast of the Pumpkin Leaves or for the New
Yam Feast which is the yam harvest. Ezeulu considers
himself merely a watchman for Ulu .Achebe is
interested in investigating this power and how a priest
determines the Gods’ decrees. Structurally Arrow of
God begins in medias res with a flashback to explain a
disagreement between Ezeulu and Nwaka five years
before. Nwaka is a prosperous man and a supporter of
Ezidemili the chief priest of the God Idemili. The initial
conflict between the two men is over a land dispute
between Umuaro and the nearby village of Okperi.
Nwaka leads a group of villagers who want to go to war
against Okperi. Ezeulu opposes them all six villages of
Umuaro side with Nwaka and override Ezeulu. Akukalia
an emissary from Umuaro is sent to Okperi to announce
the war. Feeling as if he was not properly received
Akukalia in a fit of anger breaks one of the villager’s
personal Gods which prompts the people of Okperi to
kill the messenger from Umuaro igniting open conflict.
The war ends abruptly when the British get involved.
Captain T.K.Winterbottom the District Officer stops the
war and breaks all the guns in Okperi and Umuaro.
Ezeulu later testifies on Government Hill that the
people of Umuaro had no claim to Okperi land thus
impressing Captain Winterbottom with his lack of bias.
Ezeulu on his part was also impressed with Captain
interbottom. All of this told in flashback and
foreshadows the future conflict between Ezeulu and his
people which will fracture the community.Ezeulu has
four sons Edogo, Obika, Oduche, and Nwafo. Ezeulu
sends Oduche to study Christianity with the white
missionaries led by Mr. Goodcountry. Ezeulu initial
motive is so that Oduche might learn the wisdom of the
white men. Later he realizes that if the white men take
over the country as it seems obvious they will it would
be prudent to have one of his own sons in the inside
circle.
“I have sent you to be my eyes there, he says.
Ezeulu’s old friend Akuebue discourages Ezeulu’s decision to
send Oduche to the white men. When you spoke against the
war with Okperi you were not alone. But if you send your son
to join strangers in desecrating the land you will be alone”
Nevertheless he sends his son. Oduche is instructed by
Mr. Goodcountry to kill the sacred python. Oduche
places a python in a footlocker but the snake is
discovered and is released unharmed. Even though
everyone in Umuaro knows that Oduche is responsible
for this desecration of a sacred symbol Ezeulu does not
punish his son. The incident further fuels the divide
between Ezeulu and his enemies. Shortly after this
Ezeulu is summoned to Okperi to Government Hill for a
meeting with Winterbottom who wants to make Ezeulu
a puppet chief. The British attempted to instigate a
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policy advanced by Lord Lugard Governor General of
Nigeria from 1912 to1919. The idea of indirect rule
allows the colonizers to rule the colonized people
through appointed native chiefs. Before Ezeulu leaves
for Okperi Ezeulu’s enemy Nwaka draws attention to
Ezeulu’s friendship with the white men who are taking
the Igbo land. Ezeulu angers Winterbottom by delaying
his departure for Okperi. When Ezeulu arrives on
Government Hill he is imprisoned. Winter bottom has
become ill and is in the hospital. Assistant District
Officer Tony Clarke makes the offer to Ezeulu that the
British would like to make him a ruler. Ezeulu declines
to be a white man’s chief. Ezeulu angers the British
administration which detains him for two more
months. During his imprisonment Ezeulu cannot eat the
sacred yams or announce the new moons. Angry with
his people for letting the British detain him Ezeulu
refuses to eat the yams. When he is released he
stubbornly moves the New Yam Festival forward two
months. By refusing to announce the feast the yams
cannot be harvested and they rot in the fields causing
famine. Ezeulu says
“You all know our custom; I only call a new festival when
there is only one yam left from the last. Today I have three
yams and so I know that the time has not come.”
Aware that he is punishing and hurting his people
Ezeulu likens himself to the arrow in the bow of Ulu.
The people become divided between their loyalty to
Ulu and their loyalty to the survival of the community.
They begin to question the chief priest and ask that the
custom be altered. While the people argue and starve
Ezeulu’s son Obika dies suddenly while performing as
Ogbazulobodo the night spirit in a ritual for a funeral.
The people take Obika’s death as a sign that Ulu had
either chastised or abandoned his priest and that no
man however great was greater than his people that no
one ever won judgment against his clan.
Ezeulu is a tragic hero who imperiled his community to
make a point. Because Ulu failed them the people of
Umuaro turned to Christianity harvesting the yams and
taking a sacrificial offering to Mr. Goodcountry who
received them with open arms. Of the ending John
Updike says that the events of the conclusion proved
unexpected and as I think about them beautifully
resonant, tragic and theological. That Ezeulu whom we
had seen stand up so invincibly to both Nwaka and
Clarke should be so suddenly vanquished by his own
God Ulu and by something harsh and vengeful within
himself and his defeat in a page or two be the fulcrum
of a Christian lever upon his people is an ending few
Western novelists would have contrived. Achebe’s
achievement then in this novel is to portray his obvious
love and respect for the Igbo people balanced with an
honest representation of their lives, conflicts, and
culture. The novel explores how Igbo spirituality and
religious life dies an ignominious death when
confronted by Christianity. Christianity is backed by the
white man’s military and political power. As a result
Christianity is also identified with the source of their
power. When the people of Umuaro are faced with
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famine because the chief priest of Ulu refuses to break
tradition, the catechist at the church offers protection
so the people can harvest their yams. When Ezeulu’s
son Obika dies the people interpret that as a sign that
Ulu was punishing his priest. With Ezeulu’s power
broken Umuaro turns to the Christian god for help
Traditions dictate the lives of the people of Umuaro.
Seasons are punctuated by rituals and festivals are
managed by the priests of the various deities associated
with each village. The overall deity Ulu provides the
important purification rites as well as feast associated
with the rhythms of agriculture. In Arrow of God we see
that these traditions are undermined by the coming of
Christianity the power of the British colonial office and
most importantly by Ezeulu’s inflexibility and
insistence on adhering to tradition. Ezeulu insists on
waiting a full month to eat each sacred yam even
though that means he can’t call the Feast of the New
Yam for another three months. Meanwhile the people’s
crops are rotting in the field and people are starving to
death. The elders of Umuaro offer to take the
punishment on themselves but Ezeulu refuses. While
Ezeulu is stubbornly following tradition and punishing
his people the people of Umuaro slowly begin to starve
because they are unable to harvest the crops. Lust for
power motivates many of the characters in Arrow of
God. As the British administration’s power rises the
men in Umuaro discover that their power is
diminishing. All the men discover that their power is
limited when the British administration steps in and
stops the war with Okperi. Meanwhile Nwaka and
Ezidemili accuse Ezeulu of desiring power in order to
mask their own attempts to unseat him and usurp his
place. Ezeulu punishes the people of Umuaro because
they didn’t respect him and his deity Ulu proper
respect. The power struggle between Ezeulu and the
people of Umuaro gives the Christian catechist Mr.
Goodcountry the opportunity to win converts. The book
concludes with Ezeulu’s power receding as Christianity
takes precedence. After Umuaro provokes a war with
Okperi the British colonial administration steps in to
stop the fighting they rule in favor of Okperi based in
part because of testimony of Ezeulu the Chief Priest of
Ulu and a resident of Umuaro.
Umuaro is angry with Ezeulu for siding with Okperi.
They accuse him of bringing the white man into
Umuaro despite the fact that Ezeulu had originally
opposed the war with Okperi. Nwaka challenges Ulu
suggesting that he’s an impotent God and he might be
replaced him with a new god. Nwaka spreads stories
about Ezeulu suggesting he has power hungry and is
wants to be the king of Umuaro. Nwaka aided by
Ezidemili the priest of the lesser deity Idemili who
owns the sacred python. Over the course of several
years the enmity between Ezeulu and Nwaka grows
until it infects both of their villages.
A few years after the war, Ezeulu sends his son to learn
the ways of Christianity. Oduche takes to the new
religion learning theology and admiring the catechist.
He wants to be accepted into this community. So when
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the new catechist suggests that he must prove his faith
by confronting old religious beliefs and killing the
sacred python Oduche decides to do just that. He
chickens out at the last minute and puts the sacred
python in his box hoping it will die but he won’t be
responsible for killing it. When Ezidemili the priest of
Idemili hears of it he sends Ezeulu a message. Ezidemili
wants to know what Ezeulu intends to purify his house.
Ezeulu ups the ante responding that Ezidemili can take
a hike and the animosity between the two villages
continues to grow. Winterbottom is forced to comply
with British colonial rule and must appoint a warrant
chief for Umuaro. He decides that Ezeulu is just the man
the one honest man he knows in Umuaro. But Ezeulu is
reluctant to leave Umuaro when Winterbottom’s
messengers call and Winterbottom gets ill while Ezeulu
thinks about what he should do. Ezeulu asks his village
elders for advice and they all say he should go to
Winterbottom emphasizing that he’s at fault for the
white man’s presence in their midst. When Ezeulu
arrives Clarke detains him deciding to teach Ezeulu a
lesson. Then Ezeulu refuses the warrant chief position
and Clarke detains him until he has learned to be more
cooperative. Finally with no real reason to detain him
longer and with orders from above to forget the
warrant chief business Clarke lets Ezeulu go
home.Ezeulu is angry that the people of Umuaro have
treated him the chief priest of Ulu with so little respect
allowing him to be detained by the white man and
blaming him for the British presence. Ezeulu decides
that he is Ulu’s arrow of punishment. Ulu’s revenge
begins soon after Ezeulu returns to Umuaro. When
Ezeulu’s assistants come to ask him why he hasn’t
called the Festival of the New Yam Ezeulu says that the
time hasn’t yet arrived. The elders call on him. Nobody
can harvest the yams until Ezeulu calls the Feast.
Ezeulu explains that because he was imprisoned in
Okperi for so long and because nobody visited with Ulu
during his absence there are still three sacred yams left.
It will take three months before he can call the Feast of
the New Yam. Though the men plead with him that they
will take the punishment on their own heads Ezeulu
refuses. It is his duty to keep the tradition exactly as it
is and he can’t eat more than one sacred yam in any
given month. The village of Umuaro grows desperate as
they hear that Ezeulu plans to stubbornly wait the
three months out knowing that they will begin to starve
and their crops will be ruined if they can’t harvest.
After a couple of months of famine the people of
Umuaro are suffering. The catechist at the Christian
church John Goodcountry offers to accept the people’s
sacrifice of new yams so that they can harvest their
crops. He says that the Christian God will protect them
from Ulu’s wrath. When Ezeulu’s son Obika dies
suddenly after performing a funeral rite the people
decide that it is Ulu’s punishment on his headstrong
and stubborn priest. When the people of Umuaro
realize that Ulu has punished its priest Ezeulu they turn
their sights to another God. They ask the Christian God
for protection from Ulu’s wrath. They plant that year’s
crops in the name of Christianity. Examining the
influence traditional canonical texts had on Achebe
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leads to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness hen
studying the venerated Canonical text Achebe realized
that the African characters are stereotypes and that
Conrad is giving the typical colonial view of the natives.
In contrast to Conrad’s half-naked, silent, spear rattling
savages Achebe creates complex and complicated
human beings existing within an equally complex and
complicated society. As if pointedly playing with
Conrad Achebe presents his European characters
Winterbottom, Clark and Wright as one dimensional
stereotype. So successful is he that one critic misses the
apparent irony and takes Achebe to task saying Once
again the white characters are not much more than
parodies though perfectly fair ones.
Another traditional text that influenced Achebe is Joyce
Cary’s Mister Johnson. This novel also set in Nigeria
struck Achebe as a most superficial picture of not only
of the country but even of the Nigerian characters and
so common view is if this was famous then perhaps
someone ought to try and look at this from the inside
Conducting a dialogue with Achebe’s other novels
shows that Achebe’s entire texts look at Nigeria from
the inside. Arrow of God is the third of four novels
Achebe wrote between1955-1965 which are about
Nigeria from the beginning of British colonization in the
1890’s through the military coup in the 1960’s.
Achebe’s first novel Things Fall Apart is set in both the
Nigerian capital of Lagos and in Umuofia a Nigerian
village. The main character is an energetic Nigerian
man who attempts to negotiate a past and present
Nigerian society in the 1950’s a time of great political
change. A Man of the People investigates the impact of
politics on native culture the action is set in
contemporary Nigeria after achieving independence
from British rule. “Anthills of the Savannah” raises
questions about power and military rule in Nigeria
after independence from Britain.
Comparing Achebe’s Arrow of God to Rigoberta
Menchu’s Rigoberta Menchu one of the best known
Latin American post-colonial texts there are similarities
and differences. One obvious difference is genre. Arrow
of God is a novel while Menchu’s text is a testimonial.
While both texts deal with a colonized situation chebe’s
novel does not idealize the indigenous African people
as Menchu’s text idealizes the Guatemalans. Achebe’s
characters have both good and bad traits which are
equally exposed and explored in the novel. Achebe’s
point is that the Igbo people were in some way
susceptible to assimilation by Western culture because
they could not reconcile the internal discord within
their own culture. Perhaps the same dissension within
led to the subjugation of Menchu’s Mayan culture by the
Spanish but it is not a theme she explores as readily as
Achebe. Menchu admits that the Indians are separated
by ethnic barrier linguistic barriers that there is no
dialogue between them and that the government uses
these divisions within the culture to exploit the people
but she does not draw any conclusions from the
implications. Instead she places the blame on the
government saying this is what the white man did it’s
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the fault of the white man. Achebe on the other hand
never blames the colonizers directly. Contemplating
these books and the way they convey their cultures
generally remind of a question Achebe raises in an
essay entitled The Role of the Writer in a New Nation.
The question is how a writer recreates the past. Quite
clearly there is a strong temptation to idealize it to
extol its good points and pretend that the bad never
existed. This is where the writer’s integrity comes in.
Will he be strong enough to overcome the temptation
to select only those facts which flatter him? If he
succumbs he will have branded himself as an
untrustworthy witness. But it is not only his personal
integrity as an artist which is involved. The credibility
of the world he is attempting to recreate will be called
into question and he will defeat his own purpose if he is
suspected of glossing over inconvenient facts. We
cannot pretend that our past was great one. We have to
admit that like other people past ours had its good as
well as its bad sides. Menchu of course is not an artist in
the sense Achebe means nor was she writing a novel.
However by her failure to be more balanced or at least
slightly detached Menchu opens the door for detractors
who feel her testimony at times borders on
propaganda. It is well for the reader of Menchu to keep
in mind that Menchu is on a crusade and that her anger
is a sort of righteous anger that fuels the emotion of her
story but may not give a completely balanced view of
reality.
Achebe unlike Menchu is more intent on unearthing the
reasons why the Igbo culture put up so little resistance
to Western ways. He speculates that the society itself
was already heading toward destruction but Europe
has a lot of blame. There were internal problems that
made it possible for the European to come in.
Somebody showed them the way. A conflict between
two brothers enables a stranger to reap their harvest.
This conflict between two brothers is one Menchu does
not elaborate on. When the villagers capture the
government soldier she says that for the pregnant girls
raped by the soldiers the baby was like a monster
something unbearable implying that the bloodlines
could not mix yet she later says the soldier was also an
Indian not from a different race at all. Why brother is
fighting against brother why Igbo betrays Igbo is a
cultural psychological question one Menchu sidesteps
but Achebe tackles head on.Another interesting textual
dialogue is to compare Achebe’s text with other counter
narratives. Arrow of God like the Latin American text of
Miquel Angel Asturias’ Men of Maize is a counter
narrative. Both Achebe and Asturias investigate the
colonization of indigenous people by Europeans. Both
texts present counter narratives and counter histories
to the official European narrative. Neither Achebe nor
Asturias demonizes the colonizers instead both authors
show the faults within the indigenous culture they
represent.
Arrow of God can be taught in many ways. Some
teachers prefer to confront the primary text and allow
it to explicate its own background information some
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prefer to ground students with background reading and
supplemental texts before reading the primary text.
This section will examine both techniques as well as the
strategy of approaching the book as a counter
narrative. In teaching any cultural text the teacher is
confronted at the outset with the reality that the
student will need background information. Without
understanding the culture represented in the text a
reader may fail to comprehend or appreciate its
significance. Assigning reports on Nigeria the Ibos
British colonization in Africa from a pre-colonial,
colonial and post-colonial perspective examining the
role of the family and women in Ibo society or how the
British invasion upset the natural checks and balances
within the Ibo culture would be one way to help
students begin learning more about the time period
and the conflicting cultures Achebe portrays. However
since the text itself is a place of cultural interaction
some instructors might opt to forego background
information and immerse the students directly in the
text. If so it would be helpful to raise questions at the
beginning that the student can keep in mind as he
reads. Such questions might be who is the arrow of
God? Could Ezeulu disobey Ulu? Did you sympathize
with Ezeulu or the starving people? Why did Ezeulu not
eat the sacred yams? What will be the result of
Umuaro’s conversion to Christianity? After the students
have read the text in depth analysis can be assigned
examining narrative techniques, rhetorical techniques,
historical cultural contrasts and comparisons, character
analysis, theme, point of view, the interrelationship
between literature and politics. The students could
analyze Ezeulu’s character and compare it with his
sons’ characters; compare and contrast the protagonist
Ezeulu and the antagonist Nwaka identify other
protagonist and antagonist conflicts in the text identify
the central conflict. Another focus might be to examine
Achebe’s use of language. One could study African
folktales, songs, and proverbs. Achebe uses proverbs as
a way to communicate the African oral tradition within
the frame of the western novel. In Things Fall Apart
Achebe writes among the Ibo the art of conversations is
regarded very highly and proverbs are the palm oil
with which words are eaten. An examination of how
proverbs work in the novel would be a way to discuss
theme, clarify the character and explain the culture.
Achebe says when he uses these forms in his novels
they both serve a utilitarian purpose which is to
reenact the life of the people that he is describing and
also delight through elegance and aptness of imagery.
This is what proverbs are supposed to do.
Arrow of God is not so much concerned with the society
as with Ezeulu himself. He is established in a closely
knit society and it is in his relationship with this
community and also with other elements or factors in
this setting that we are able to comprehend the
problem that he is faced with. Ezeulu and his culture
are one there exists a genuine struggle between Ezeulu
and his rivals in his own tribe the British
administrators and Christian missionaries. But the
struggle does not get down to the root of the matter.
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Arrow of God is not so much concerned with inter-tribal
conflict but with the chief priest of Ulu who is in conflict
with himself. Whatever external forces are brought to
bear upon his life are there only as objectifications of
what actually goes on inside him.The story is set in an
Igbo village in Nigeria during a time when colonial
influence British colonial rule and the inroads of
missionary activity are beginning to be felt. This is the
milieu in which we find the main character Ezeulu the
chief priest of Ulu the most powerful God of his Umuaro
people and therefore he is designated a special status in
the society. He is part and parcel of this society and it is
difficult to study him apart from it. With such a rich and
complex story it is easy for the non-African reader to
get lost in the forest of cultural verbiage and miss the
focus of the story thus interpreting it as a story whose
main focus is village life as suggested by the Times
Literary Supplement. True there does seem to be a
preponderance of village life but this is the setting in
which the central figure expresses his character it is in
this role that of interpreting to Umuaro the will of the
God and performing the two most significant rituals in
the life of the people the festivals of the Pumpkin
Leaves and the New Yam. Ezeulu the intermediary is
half black and half white thus bridging the spirit and
the human world.
The novel opens with Ezeulu brooding over his
eyesight and that someday he would have to rely on
someone else’s eyes as his grandfather had done when
his sight failed. Such a feeling is not unnatural many
people think about future incapacitations but this scene
establishes the tone for the novel and unveils Ezeulu’s
internal conflict. The allusion here is that this
impending blindness is a threat for it will interfere with
his ordering of religious festivals and will even mean
that his tribal influence will cease to be felt among his
people if he fails to observe the progression of the
moon. If his religious responsibility will be challenged
his political responsibility will be in danger. He
endeavors to console himself by imagining that he is as
fit as any young man or better because young men were
no longer what they used to be. This gesture is
indicative of his desire to maintain a perpetual
authority over his tribe he realizes that old age is
beginning to tell him but this he repudiates. In spite of
all the tremendous power in his hands he knows he
depends on the supernatural forces whose ways
nobody can understand this perception renders him
somewhat helpless. Even the choice of his successor is
in the power of Ulu therefore his dependence on the
deity is a threat to his authority.
Ezeulu’s authority can be asserted only when cooperation with the supernatural power is established.
Any thought which seeks to undermine his authority
has grave psychological implications. Throughout the
novel we see him in anguish over his authority haunted
by fear that his power is in danger of being challenged.
It is no wonder since he wields immense power over
the year the crops and over the people but he named
the day and did not choose it except for the feast of the
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pumpkin Leaves and for the New Yam feast. He regards
himself merely as a watchman
In his dilemma Ezeulu sends his son Oduche to the
white man’s region on the assumption that the white
man has come with great power and conquest it was
necessary that some people should learn the ways of
his own deity. He also wanted to learn the white man’s
wisdom. Ezeulu has an ulterior motive for sending his
son to the mission school it is really for personal gain
not for the good of the society of which he is a part.
What motivates him is the deep seated fear of what he
lacks power. He indirectly exercises his shrewdness in
this particular instance. He is at this point not aware of
or does not even foresee any repercussion in making a
decision contrary to the sanction of his people. In this
way he puts one foot in the new culture.
His people are of course vehemently opposed to this
deliberate step because he is operating outside the
collective solidarity of people who share common
customs and beliefs and world view. This act brings
him into conflict with his friend and confidant Akuebue
but Ezeulu puts self-interest before the traditional
group and its interests thus Akuebue’s warning
“But if you send your son to join strangers in desecrating the
land you will be alone. You may go and mark it on the wall to
remind you that I said so”
Ezeulu’s mouth was shaped with haughty indifference.
As for being alone, do you think that it should be as
familiar to me now as are dead bodies to the earth? My
friend, don’t make me laugh.Cook notes that Ezeulu’s
isolation whether we see it ordained or self-appointed
is particular to him and sets him apart. His
stubbornness sets him apart as an individualist in a
communal structure. Ezeulu encourages his son to
attend the church school even though he himself is
apprehensive about it. He is indeed a person who is
perceptive about what is going on around him
therefore he tells Oduche that the world is changing a
phenomenon that intensifies his conflict thus the
purpose for sending his son to join the missionaries to
be his eye there. If there is nothing in it Oduche will
return if on the other hand there is something Oduche
will bring home his share. At the back of Ezeulu’s mind
is the thought that not befriending the white man may
bring regret in the future instead of paying dividends.
Achebe obviously has created a character who is
struggling to have it both ways he has the perceptions
and heart of an intelligent risk taker in ideas. Oduche’s
mother’s displeasure at her husband’s sacrificing of her
son to the white man’s religion meets with utter
defiance on his part however persistently she
endeavors to reason with him. He has the last word
believing that his decision is right.
Achebe is indicating here that Ezeulu has become
marginal in propounding ideas completely at variance
with his culture’s norms necessitated by the
predicament in which he finds himself. As people
belonging to a traditional society Oduce’s mother and
other members of his family no doubt have a clear
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understanding of what societal expectations are for
different members of the clan. Ezeulu’s family does not
share the secrets of his worship or when he is in
consultation with his God but they know what should
constitute the behavior expected of people in high
places particularly that of a chief priest a religious
leader who is the official mediator between the people
and the deity. Ezeulu’s family is both concerned and
embarrassed but they are powerless to deter the
almost demented head of the family from turning a deaf
ear to them and to society. His recalcitrance inevitably
alienates him from the closest to him his family. A
complication in the plot develops when Ezeulu’s plan
backfires this is when Oduche in the eyes of the
community commits sacrilege the imprisoning of the
sacred python. Oduche at this point has become a
zealous convert to the new religion. His father is
intensely disturbed as this confirms the potency of the
white man’s religion since it enters the boy’s head and
heart. The vehement struggle of the sacred python in
the box prison could be interpreted as symbolizing the
internal turmoil that Ezeulu is experiencing. Ezeulu’s
desire is to maintain his authority and to assert it an
attempt to escape reality. What Achebe has
accomplished here is the delineation of a character
whose apparent craftiness has relegated him to a
situation where he is living an inauthentic life in
alienation with himself and therefore estranged to the
community to which he belongs and even to the god
whose will he pretends to know. He is living in a
constant state of anxiety over his waning control but he
does not fully realize the extent of his condition. The
odds are against him so that he is impotent to direct the
conduct of the people of Umuaro. The apex of his
conflict is reached when he refuses to eat the holy yams
thus bringing his vengeance upon all his people even
the innocent those who are helpless have to suffer. The
cultural clash the domestic contention and other
problems and forces serve to externalize the conflict
which is gnawing at the chief priest’s innermost being.
His household is divided his sons no longer show the
traditional respect due to a father and his wives are at
loggerheads with one another. Oduche has become the
source of division as well as Nwafu the favorite son
whom Ezeulu assumes will be Ulu’s choice successor to
the priesthood. Ezeulu’s impotence at restoring order
to his own household suggests an inability at unifying
the people of Umuaro and Okperi. He fails at unification
but refuses to admit defeat. At the meeting of the elders
concerning the Umuaro and Okperi land dispute what
he says is futile. He has lost all support the people side
with Nwaka whose harangue of Ezeulu’s speech meets
with their approval. Nwaka inevitably becomes the
voice of the tribe since the chief priest’s words no
longer carry any weight.
The long uproar that followed was largely of
appropriation. Nwaka had totally destroyed Ezeulu’s
speech. Speaker after speaker rose and spoke to the
assembly until it was clear that all six villages stood
behind Nwaka. Nwaka is a rival of Ezeulu’s and of
course a personal enemy a man of high standing in the
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community and a friend of Ezidmili the chief priest of
Edemili the oldest deity whose conflict with Ulu is
chronic. This aspect of the story includes an aspect of
the conflict in the story which involves the deities.
According to Palmer the religious conflict intensifies
the conflict within the traditional society itself .The
conflict is really a struggle for authority within the clan
starting as a struggle for supremacy between the chief
priests of two deities Ezidmili the chief priest of
Edemili and Ezeulu the chief priest of Ulu the main clan
deity. Since Ezidemili dares not openly he hides behind
Nwaka the most powerful and wealthiest layman one of
the three surviving members who have taken all the
titles of the clan. Nwaka comes from the largest village
Umunneora and therefore naturally thinks that the
leadership of the clan ought to be his. Hence a struggle
occurred for political battle with Nwaka and Ezeulu as
protagonists. Ulu cannot stand a chance in the face of
such circumstances. But it is Ezeulu himself who defies
Ulu by his unscrupulous actions. His suspected dealings
with the white man add to Ezidemili’s fury when
Oduche the son of the sellout imprisons the sacred
python. It is in connection with the clash between
Okperi and Umuaro that Nwaka makes his voice heard.
The chief priest of Ulu was himself embroiled in this
acute affair and sided with the white man in favor of
Okperi. All these cultural collisions are brought to light
in the conflict between Ezeulu and Nwaka they
accumulate with such momentum that Ezeulu resorts
to self-isolation refusing any advice or assistance. We
have seen how he has refused to heed his friend
Akuebue’s advice. Later on village elders make
representations to Ezeulu in a bid to persuade him to
put the interests of the clan first. Some elders endeavor
to remind him of his responsibility to Ezeulu said
Anichebe Udeozo.We know that such a thing has never
been done before but never before has the white man
taken the Chief Priest away. These are not the times we
used to know and we must meet them as they come or
he rolled in the dust.
“I want you to look round this room and tell me what you see.
Do you think there is another Umuaro outside this hut now?”
Ezeulu is requested by the elders to go back to Ulu to
ask him how they might appease him. The chief priest
consults the deity but actually does not hear what the
God is saying. Instead he is so consumed by
introspection that he is distracted by the ringing of the
bell of Oduche’s mission school. This is serious indeed
whatever Ezeulu feels or does affect the clan. The
confusion he is in is not only personal but social as well.
His refusal to eat the yams because he believes he is the
only one enlightened by the deity and the only one who
is in power to make decisions on behalf of the people is
partly a pretext to wreak vengeance on the people. The
reader is aware of the fact that on account of the white
man’s interference in traditional African affairs
disorder has set in the imprisonment of Ezeulu means
that he is not able to execute his traditional
responsibilities according to schedule. The tragedy of
Umuaro is hence reflected in the tragedy of Ezeulu.
What he experiences is also Umuaro’s experience his
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personal sufferings and so on as the representative of
the wider community for which he is responsible.
When we see him as a demented high priest at the end
of the novel it is clear that the society itself is in
confusion the former traditional solidarity has been
broken. Obiechina makes some salient comments
relevant to the functioning of the traditional set
up.Social and political institutions of the traditional
society have perfected the art of exacting conformity
from the individual and discouraging deviations and
subversion of the common will. In all their workings
these institutions emphasize the primacy of the group
over the individuals who compose it. The careers of
important characters like Okwonkwo. Ezeulu illustrate
his primacy of the society over the individual. All of
them are shown to be powerful in their communities
the primacy of the latter is soon established. In the case
of Ezeulu it is shown that the individual cannot find
fulfillment outside the protective wing of his
community. Ostracism is the dreaded because it is the
most effective of all penal sanctions of the traditional
society. It is at the most critical period that the
missionaries the chief priest’s religious rivals step in to
exploit the situation. To them the disastrous condition
of Umuaro is the work of Yahweh and consequently
they take every advantage of a situation which has
already deteriorated. Ezeulu’s pride has precipitated
destruction not only to himself and the people but also
to their religion and culture. The song of extermination
which he referred to earlier in the novel has been
fulfilled. According to Palmer the theme of madness
pervades the novel thus reinforcing the idea that the
insanity which becomes more intense as a result of
Obika’s death is the climax of a progression. Without
this realization on the part of the reader Ezeulu’s
inflexibility in his decision to free his people from the
bondage of starvation would seem strange.Perhaps
Akuebue was the only man in Umuaro who knew that
Ezeulu was not deliberately punishing the six villages
as some people thought. He knew that the Chief Priest
was helpless that a thing greater than anything had
been caught in trap. During Akuebue’s earlier
encounter with Ezeulu we are informed that what
Ezeulu said made him afraid and uneasy like one who
encounters a madman laughing on a solitary path.
Akuebue suspects Ezeulu’s madness. Interestingly
enough his mother was mad Obika, Ezeulu’s pampered
son is alluded to as mad and Moses Unachukwa refers
to madness in the family. Moreover Nwaka maintains
that Ezeulu’s madness is inherited from his mother.
Palmer notes that Achebe must have strewn so many
references to madness in the text because he wanted us
to believe that this is at least partly the cause of
Ezeulu’s otherwise inexplicable course of conduct.
Clearly during his imprisonment which occurred
sometime prior to his divining the thought of Ulu
Ezeulu made up his mind never to look for the new
moon when he does hear Ulu’s voice his plan of revenge
a purely personal one caused largely by private pique is
already formed. Ezeulu is so bound up by his own
thoughts that he does not hear what Ulu is saying. What
he says he hears is from his own cloudy mind. No
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wonder he assumes that he is merely an arrow in the
bow of his God. The proverb above is used to
emphasize the need for people to adjust to change and
make the best of its chance. The proverb is also used to
indicate the dramatic breakdown of the traditional
system and the new reality that is new religion and
government in the traditional setting of the people of
Umuaro. The narrator states this directly in the
concluding chapter of the novel. After indicating that
the people saw Obika’s death as a judgment against
Ulu’s priest the narrator tells us Ulu had chosen a
dangerous time to uphold that truth for in destroying
his priest he had also brought disaster on himself .For a
deity who chose a moment such as this to chastise his
priest or abandon him before his enemies was inciting
people to take liberties. Arrow of god depicts the life of
indigenous people, their customs and the down fall it
due to the coming of white men.
CONCLUSION
Chinua Achebe’s first three novels are sometimes called
the African Trilogy. They are Things Fall Apart, No
Longer at Ease and Arrow of God. Most of Achebe’s
writing deals with the impact of the British colonization
of the Igbo lands of northern Nigeria on traditional
culture there and particularly with the loss of authority
of African priests under pressure both political and
religious. Both Things Fall Apart and Arrow of
God present tragic protagonists who embody this
authority and in both books the human weaknesses and
character failings of these men are presented as
important elements contributing to societal collapse.
This discussion of African weaknesses in confronting
colonization always in microcosm is important one to
Achebe’s success in illuminating the catastrophic 20th
century history of the region it is intellectually fruitful
provocative and gives Achebe moral authority both in
Nigeria and in the outside world. Arrow of God is denser
with detail than Things Fall Apart with a good deal
more technical discussion of the rituals and concepts
underlying Igbo religious customs and with a larger
and more fleshed out cast of characters. Ezeulu priest
of Ulu the titular deity of a small and remote group of
villages nobly resists cooperation by the heavy handed
and not particularly competent British authorities. He
is secure in his own identity and standing a believer in
his own authority and function. This gives him the
instincts needed to resist usurpation but also clouds his
ability to recognize that his tradition is under genuine
threat. He commits two errors first by sending one of
his sons Oduche to become a Christian and second by
refusing to perform the ceremony needed to authorize
the yam harvest while he is detained by the British two
overreaches that have disastrous consequences.
Achebe, who never patronizes his own culture shows
how rival priests function as political agents and have
shallower roots than their rhetoric implies. A cultural
system like an ecosystem is deceptively fragile. Thus
Achebe wields a double edged sword Britain is called to
account for its immensely destructive imperial policies
but Africans are confronted with their own guilt for
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Syed Fagrutheen / The Eng Lit J. 2014, 1(1): 21-37
failing to criticize themselves and adapt to modern
challenges. One way of understanding Okonkwo’s
suicide is as the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy
regarding his fear of failure. The District Commissioner
is a pompous little man who thinks that he understands
indigenous African cultures. Achebe uses the
commissioner who seems a character straight out
of Heart of Darkness to demonstrate the inaccuracy of
accounts of Africa such as Joseph Conrad’s. The
commissioner’s misinterpretations and the degree to
which they are based upon his own shortcomings are
evident. He comments for example on the villagers’ love
of superfluous words attempting to ridicule their
beautiful and expressive language. His rumination that
Okonkwo’s story could make for a good paragraph
illustrates his shallowness. Whereas Achebe has
written an entire book about Okonkwo he suggests that
a European account of Okonkwo would likely portray
him as a grunting cultureless savage who inexplicably
and senselessly kills a messenger. Achebe also
highlights one of the reasons that early ethnographic
reports were often offensively inaccurate when
Obierika asks the commissioner to help him with
Okonkwo’s body the narrator tells us that the resolute
administrator in gave way to the student of primitive
customs. Achebe’s novel seeks at least in part to
provide an answer to such inaccurate stereotypes.
Okonkwo is by no means perfect. One can argue that his
tragedy is of his own making. One can also argue that
his chi is to blame. But as a societal tragedy Things Fall
Apart obviously places no blame on the Igbo people for
the colonialism to which they were subjected. We can
also see that the narrator intends the reader to
understand that Ulu’s humiliation of Ezeulu will result
in his own death by the placement of this novel in
the Things Fall Apart trilogy. Though its chronological
time period is earlier than that of the second novel in
the trilogy this novel is the third and final one. If you
read the trilogy in order you will already have observed
in No Longer at Ease that by the 1950s Christianity has
triumphed over the traditional system of gods. Though
some traditions run deep Nigeria has become
Christianized
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