Discuss

In Arrow of God, we see the calendar, religion, social mores, customary dress, and other facets of Igbo culture imperiled by the religious, cultural, political, and topographical interventions of the British. Some of the book’s central plot points arise when this new reality interferes with old customs to exacerbate preexisting tensions, such as when Oduche attacks the sacred python at the behest of his Christian teachers, and when Winterbottom and Clarke’s detention of Ezeulu causes him to miss the public heralding of two new moons and the eating of the sacred yams. Achebe also hints at the more pedestrian and impersonal ways that colonialism interrupts Igbo society, such as the English goods that flood local markets, or the roads that newly connect different villages. Yet Achebe also defies simplistic colonial stereotypes that see an unchanging indigenous culture transformed by an exogenous colonial force. Arrow of God depicts significant instances of change and dynamism within Ibgo society itself.