ARROW OF GOD SUMMARY

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The Inspirational Summaries of Arrow of God

Part 1

As Revised by Ahimbisibwe David

The setting of Arrow of God was in Igboland, Southeastern Nigeria in the second decade of the twentieth century; during the 1920s. The narrative takes place primarily in six federated Igbo villages called Umuaro (Achebe’s invention) and Okperi.

Arrow of God gives an intimate portrayal of a traditional culture facing the challenges of colonial presence and shifting times.

Plot Overview

The novel begins with a war between two neighboring regions of rural Igboland: Umuaro. Though we don’t know the boundaries of Okperi, we do know that Umuaro is made up of six villages. These six villages are linked by their worship of a common god, Ulu.

The Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba, the Igbos, or Ibos, are one of the main ethnic groups of Nigeria (though Igbo as a strong ethnic identity only emerged in the wake of colonialism, with Igbo-speaking people historically decentralized). In the book, every village in Igboland had a marketplace, distinctive gods, and its own shrines. Every male and female was given a personal god, or chi, at birth. The supreme Igbo god was called Chukwu.

This implies that back in the day, common gods were so much believed before the colonial rule came in. Besides the Igbo most Africans profoundly believed in small gods as their mighty oracle performers as it is not today. Furthermore, the colonial rule drowned the massive worship of ‘gods’ (Lubale) as called by the Baganda in Uganda.

In the novel still, we see the people of Umuaro start a war with Okperi over land they wanted to claim; they are encouraged to start the war by a wealthy man named Nwaka, who challenges Ulu (a god). This war is launched against the advice of Ulu’s chief priest, Ezeulu. The colonial administration steps in to stop the war and rules in favor of Okperi after discussing the matter with Ezeulu, the one man in Umuaro who tells the truth. Captain Winterbottom, a British colonial official who commands the local station, breaks and burns all the guns in Umuaro, becoming a legend. Meanwhile, the people of Umuaro become angry with Ezeulu because he didn’t take their side.

Revisit for part two

Arrow of God, Chinua Achebe