Status
Checked out
Due 4 Apr 2022
Series
Description
Ezeulu, headstrong chief priest of the god Ulu, is worshipped by the six villages of Umuaro. But he is beginning to find his authority increasingly under threat - from his rivals in the tribe, from those in the white government and even from his own family. Yet he still feels he must be untouchable - surely he is an arrow in the bow of his God?
User reviews
LibraryThing member ffortsa
My uptown book circle met Monday to discuss Arrow of God, and the opinions were quite mixed, some of us not able to care much about the characters, some of us more interested. I found the differences between the formal speech of the tribal society and the informal, practical bluntness of the
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British colonial society interesting, as was the story of a man caught in his determination to believe in the god of his community even when the rules of his religion would fail his believers. Show Less
LibraryThing member MsNikki
A good book. Set in an African village in the height of the English Colonial period. Achebe clearly illustrates the traditional culture of the not clearly defined West African country (unless I missed that part) and that of the White English administrators.
My only complaint is that I had trouble
But really well written, I could almost taste the food described. I had visions of foo foo dancing in my head while I read. I knew the people he described, surely you've meet an Obika.
The ending is sad, I mean you know what happens. If this is meant as a warning for developing countries, the lesson is a bitter one. How do you protect your clearly defined culture from a hegemonic pressure? What lessons does this story hold for new states, fragile democracies?
My only complaint is that I had trouble
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keeping up with the African names. Kinda bad considering I have two African names. But really well written, I could almost taste the food described. I had visions of foo foo dancing in my head while I read. I knew the people he described, surely you've meet an Obika.
The ending is sad, I mean you know what happens. If this is meant as a warning for developing countries, the lesson is a bitter one. How do you protect your clearly defined culture from a hegemonic pressure? What lessons does this story hold for new states, fragile democracies?
Show Less
LibraryThing member charlie68
A good book competently written and very even handed in dealing with the subject matter. There is a tendancy with writers to have the white guys wearing black hats and the black guys the white. But Achebe rightly sees the flaws in both our cultures and the inconsistencies. I assume that Achebe is a
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black writer born in Nigeria so it gives him a unique perspective on the events in his country. Show Less
LibraryThing member Wilhelm_Weber
Insightful book about old African ways and the changes that colonialism brought about. The discourse of senior and junior administrators, fathers and sons/daughters, husbands and wives, tribes and villages are intricate and very delicately phrased. Good reading, although it is always with a
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laughing and a crying eye. Show Less
LibraryThing member brakketh
This novel focused more on the conflict between the new religion and organisation and the Chief Priest of the tribe. Wonderfully written and thoroughly enjoyable though tragic.
LibraryThing member snash
This book presents the conflict of African tribal society with that of the white man and Christianity. It does so from the African point of view concentrating on the efforts of a priest's attempts to deal with the changes.
LibraryThing member sparemethecensor
Just finished [Arrow of God] which follows [Things Fall Apart] by [[Chinua Achebe]]. The former, of course, is his masterwork, a true classic. [Arrow of God] doesn't quite reach the same level but I think it's a great novel nonetheless. It presents the encroachment of British colonialism on two
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small Igbo villages. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kristelh
Reason read: Reading 1001, July botm. ANC - read Chinua Achebe, Nigerian author.
This is the second book of the chronology. Yes, the last written but set in time between the first and last. The main character is Ezeulu, the chief priest of several Igbo villages in colonial Nigeria, who confronts
I enjoyed this and found it not hard to read. Change occurs whether we like it and who is say if the forces that bring change aren't the "arrow of God".
This is the second book of the chronology. Yes, the last written but set in time between the first and last. The main character is Ezeulu, the chief priest of several Igbo villages in colonial Nigeria, who confronts
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colonial powers and Christian missionaries in the 1920s. The title is fitting as this is a book about a person/event that shows the will of God. The main theme; the conflict between the traditional beliefs and religions of the Nigerians and the foreign values introduced by the Europeans, including Christianity. And the conflicts of the novel revolve around the struggle between continuity and change. I enjoyed this and found it not hard to read. Change occurs whether we like it and who is say if the forces that bring change aren't the "arrow of God".
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LibraryThing member Gypsy_Boy
One of his “African” trilogy (the second book of the three) and certainly the most “African” of the three (by which, I think I should say, I mean rural/tribally oriented. Not about city life, "modernity" in any way, or even colonialism, except tangentially). A great story, beautifully told.
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Rather than rely upon my dwindling intellectual resources, I’ll cheat and use another summary (that I think is particularly well done): “The novel is a meditation on the nature, uses, and responsibility of power and leadership. Ezeulu finds that his authority is increasingly under threat from rivals within his nation and functionaries of the newly established British colonial government. Yet he sees himself as untouchable. He is forced, with tragic consequences, to reconcile conflicting impulses in his own nature—a need to serve the protecting deity of his Umuaro people; a desire to retain control over their religious observances; and a need to gain increased personal power by pushing his authority to the limits. He ultimately fails as he leads his people to their own destruction, and consequently, his personal tragedy arises.” Show Less
LibraryThing member JBarringer
This story continues to follow Ezeulu, the priest of a small village in Nigeria, under British colonial power. His son has returned home after being made a Christian, and his lack of understanding of local customs, along with his intolerance of non-Christian traditions and beliefs that he developed
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while he was away, lead him to stuff a python in a box, insulting the villagers and bringing scandal on his family. Meanwhile, Ezeulu's 'friend' Mr. Winterbottom has been instructed to assign a local administrator for Ezeulu's area, and he decides to assign Ezeulu to this position. The misunderstandings and posturing that follow these two events lead Ezeulu to take drastic action, and his stubbornness drives his people away from their traditional beliefs, into the waiting arms of the lurking Christian church. Show Less