Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-6% $15.96$15.96
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: shinystars
$13.68$13.68
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Tactic Products
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Arrow of God Paperback – January 1, 1989
Purchase options and add-ons
“A magical writer—one of the greatest of the twentieth century.” —Margaret Atwood
“African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison
The second novel in Chinua Achebe’s masterful African trilogy, following Things Fall Apart and preceding No Longer at Ease
When Things Fall Apart ends, colonial rule has been introduced to Umuofia, and the character of the nation, its values, freedoms, religious and socio-political foundations have substantially and irrevocably been altered. Arrow of God, the second novel in Chinua Achebe’s The African Trilogy, moves the historical narrative forward. This time, the action revolves around Ezeulu, the headstrong chief priest of the god Ulu, which is worshipped by the six villages of Umuaro. 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. Arrow of God is an unforgettable portrayal of the loss of faith, and the downfall of a man in a society forever altered by colonialism.
- Print length230 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Books
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 1989
- Dimensions5.23 x 0.64 x 7.88 inches
- ISBN-100385014805
- ISBN-13978-0385014809
- Lexile measure880L
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Editorial Reviews
Review
“A magical writer—one of the greatest of the twentieth century.” —Margaret Atwood
“African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison
“Chinua Achebe is gloriously gifted with the magic of an ebullient, generous, great talent.” —Nadine Gordimer
“Achebe’s influence should go on and on . . . teaching and reminding that all humankind is one.” —The Nation
“The father of African literature in the English language and undoubtedly one of the most important writers of the second half of the twentieth century.” —Caryl Phillips, The Observer
“We are indebted to Achebe for reminding us that art has social and moral dimension—a truth often obscured.” —Chicago Tribune
“He is one of the few writers of our time who has touched us with a code of values that will never be ironic.” —Michael Ondaatje
“For so many readers around the world, it is Chinua Achebe who opened up the magic casements of African fiction.” —Kwame Anthony Appiah
“[Achebe] is one of world literature’s great humane voices.” —Times Literary Supplement
“Achebe is one of the most distinguished artists to emerge from the West African cultural renaissance of the post-war world.” —The Sunday Times (London)
“[Achebe is] a powerful voice for cultural decolonization.” —The Village Voice
“Chinua Achebe has shown that a mind that observes clearly but feels deeply enough to afford laughter may be more wise than all the politicians and journalists.” —Time
“The power and majesty of Chinua Achebe’s work has, literally, opened the world to generations of readers. He is an ambassador of art, and a profound recorder of the human condition.” —Michael Dorris
From the Publisher
From the Inside Flap
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Penguin Books; Reissue edition (January 1, 1989)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 230 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0385014805
- ISBN-13 : 978-0385014809
- Lexile measure : 880L
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.23 x 0.64 x 7.88 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #138,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #22 in African Literature (Books)
- #1,279 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #9,045 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Chinua Achebe (/ˈtʃɪnwɑː əˈtʃɛbɛ/, born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. His first novel Things Fall Apart (1958) was considered his magnum opus, and is the most widely read book in modern African literature.
Raised by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in South-Eastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures, and began writing stories as a university student. After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) and soon moved to the metropolis of Lagos. He gained worldwide attention for Things Fall Apart in the late 1950s; his later novels 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 defended the use of English, a "language of colonisers", in African literature. In 1975, his lecture An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" featured a famous criticism of Joseph Conrad as "a thoroughgoing racist"; it was later published in The Massachusetts Review amid some controversy.
When the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe became a supporter of Biafran independence and acted as ambassador for the people of the new nation. The war ravaged the populace, and as starvation and violence took its toll, he appealed to the people of Europe and the Americas for aid. When the Nigerian government retook the region in 1970, he involved himself in political parties but soon resigned due to frustration over the corruption and elitism he witnessed. He lived in the United States for several years in the 1970s, and returned to the U.S. in 1990 after a car accident left him partially disabled.
A titled Igbo chieftain himself, Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of Western and traditional African values during and after the colonial era. His style relies heavily on the Igbo oral tradition, and combines straightforward narration with representations of folk stories, proverbs, and oratory. He also published a number of short stories, children's books, and essay collections. From 2009 until his death, he served as David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Stuart C. Shapiro [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
I thought this work illustrated well the role of religion in society. For the Igbo there was no separation of religion from society--they were one and the same. It's perhaps fitting that while the administration doesn't quite get this (Clarke doesn't even understand that a Chief Priest is not the same as a medicine man) , the missionaries do, ultimately manipulating the villages to connect Christianity to their harvest.
Achebe does a superb job humanizing Ezeulu in the story, so that the reader forgets that he is truly half-spirit. This makes Ulu's command to stay the course of revenge near the conclusion all the more shocking. There is no option for Ezeulu to do anything else. At the other end of the spectrum, the reader witnesses the death of the Umuaro society in their necessary drive to survive by finding a way to harvest. Similarly, it would have meant the death of Ezeulu (at least culturally) had he accepted the Chief position since his society isn't structured to be ruled (with the exception of the quasi-king that first had to pay everyone debts). Instead Ezeulu chooses the path of self-destruction.
From the British colonial perspective, Achebe shows the tension of indirect rule and their priorities. Clarke and Captain Winterbottom discuss all the money spent on native courts (that they natives won't use) and the void of funding for infrastructure like roads. This is important because one could argue that it is these roads that enable the homogenization of the Igbo people and subjugate a shared identity onto them.
FOLLOWING ARE MY NOTES FOR THE GRAD SCHOOL COURSE IN WHICH WE READ THIS NOVEL. More notes are available on my blog For Unofficial Use Only.
Arrow of God Notes:
-Humor that the English think they understand the people, but they still don't despite prolonged presence...parallels to our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan
- Advantages of living near the infrastructure
- In direct rule seeks lighter hand by default...goal is more to maintain a status quo of peace
- Comments on missionary role by Capt W?
- Influence of infrastructure on Igbo...shifting from a language group to an identity
- with regards to religion, subtleties in the region...a priest chief is not necessarily a medicine man. Religion is the same as the society...there's no delineation as in Western culture.
Ezeulu- Chief Priest of Ulu
Matefi- Ezeulu's senior wife
Ugoye- Ezeulu's younger wife
Okuata- Ezeulu's wife that is dead
Edogo- Eldest son of Ezeulu, and Okuata
Obika- son of Ezeulu (drunk and troublesome and handsome) and Ugoye
Nwafo- youngest son of Ezeulu (his favorite) and Ugoye
Obiageli- daughter of Ezeulu (sister of Nwafo) and Ugoye
Ojiugo- daughter of Ezeulu and Matefi
Akueke- daughter of Ezeulu and Okuata
Oduche- Ezeulu's son
CHAPTER 1
Ezeulu (Chief Priest of Ulu) introduction as he looks to the sky for the new moon (which he must announce). Ezeulu's announcements control the harvest seasons, most importantly the New Yam Feast. Edogo carves ancestral masks. Ezeulu is bitter about division among the six villages because he spoke the truth to the white man and testified against his people about land dispute with Okperi. Obika beats up and humiliates Akueke husband who had been beating her. Oduche is training with the whites per Ezeulu's instructions.
CHAPTER 2
6 Villages come together and call for war against the Okperi (led by Nwaka). Akukalia is killed when Umuaro messengers lose their temper. War ensues with retaliatory killings. Then the whiteman intervenes and judges the land to belong to Okperi. He also breaks all their guns.
CHAPTER 3
Captain Winterbottom is introduced and Tony Clark as his assistant. He recounts their version of the Umuaro-Okperi wars which are different from reality. Captain Winterbottom believe in the value of native institutions but is forced to enforce indirect rule. Ibos never developed a system of central authority.
CHAPTER 4
Enmity of Nwaka and Ezeulu is revealed. Oduche was given to learn the ways of the whiteman's church. Oduche put a python in a box, which Ezeulu finds and frees; scandal ensues. Ezidemelli (Nwaka's friend and python priest) asks what he will do to purify his home.
CHAPTER 5
Winterbottom doesn't believe indirect rule is effective but most obey his superiors. "Great tragedy of British colonial administration was that the man on the spot (who knew his African) and knew what he was talking about found himself being constantly overruled by starry-eyed fellows at headquarters. Ibos detest kings, but Ikedi makes himself one as a puppet of the administration--he's very corrupt.
CHAPTER 6
Akueke's inlaws come for her and promise not to let husband beat her--Ezeulu agrees to this.
CHAPTER 7
Purification day for the six villages. Ugoye has the most ivory of Ezeulu's wives. Nwaka's wives has most ivory. Ezeulu does the purification dance. Women gossip.
CHAPTER 8
Mr. Wright needs unpaid labor to finish his road and gets it from the Umuaro. Obika is late (because he was drunk) to the road work party and gets whipped. In the ensuing controversy Moses acts as an intermediary. Ezeulu tries to get to the bottom of what happens and his sons show no remorse. The death that will kill a man begins as an appetite.
CHAPTER 9
Akuebe visits Ezeulu to talk about Obika and the lack of respect of the youth in general.
Pride of Umuaro that they never see one party as right and the other as wrong.
CHAPTER 10
Background on Capt W (including his soldiering in Cameroon) and how his wife ran off with someone else. Capt W expresses disgruntlement at the bureaucracy and their flawed administrative appointments. Capt W and Clarke dine. Clarke and Wright are friends and no one ever investigates whipping. Capt W intends to make Ezeulu paramount chief. Idea of institutions vs. Infrastructures is addressed with administration spending all the money on native courts but not enough on roads. Most Africans aren't using the courts either (or at least willingly).
CHAPTER 11
Ezeulu visits Akuebe where a man is sick. Ezeulu asks him what the man did to deserve the sickness. Obika and Okuata wed. The medicine man keeps the chicken from the ceremony (which he isn't supposed to do). Ezeulu hopes Obika is a changed man.
CHAPTER 12
Edogo talks to Akuebe and feigns disinterest in being chosen to succeed his father. Oduche gets in fight with Obija about the python. Ezeulu says that Oduche is a sacrifice from the people to Akuebe. Capt W sends messengers to tell Ezeulu to come see him. Ezeulu says no, I will send my son Edogo. No one however great can win judgment against a clan.
CHAPTER 13
Ezeulu calls all the village leaders to talk about being summoned. Nwaka jabs at him over his `friendship' with the whiteman. Ezeulu is unaffected (at least outwardly) by it. Capt W sends for Ezeulu to be arrested and falls ill. Guards come to arrest Ezeulu but they miss him because he already left to come in. The eat, take a bribe and leave. Ezeulu arrives at headquarters and everyone things he cast a spell to make Capt W sick. He likes this.
CHAPTER 14
Obika returns home and Ezeulu has a vision in prison. He starts to plot his revenge. Ezeulu's family comes to visit him. He's offered the position of Chief and refuses it. The advantages of getting in with the whiteman early are discussed. Clarkes calls him a `witch doctor" highlighting the levels of misunderstanding culturally.
CHAPTER 15
Ezeulu is in prison 32 days and his reputation soars as he still refuses the offer. He's then released. Capt W and Clarke get a message from the administration stating that they reserved the adverse report on indirect rule but any change in policy will have to come from the governor. They are directed to maintain the status quo but not appoint any new chiefs.
CHAPTER 16
Ezeulu returns home, enjoying the suffering and plotting his revenge. He reconsiders his revenge due to all the nice people coming to visit him. Ezeulu is told by Ulu that he can't reconsider, he's an arrow of god against Idemelli and the python god. Ezeulu remarks that he is half man and half spirit. He wonders if his boy is also an arrow.
CHAPTER 17
Life returns to normal in the village. A new ancestral mask is introduced. Obika slaughters the ram in the ceremony and Edogo carvest he mask.
CHAPTER 18
Feast of New Yam approaches and Ezeulu plots his revenge. He's questioned by lots of people for delaying the announcement. He rebukes them. The elders come and ask him to ask Ulu how they can appease him so that they can have their yam harvest. Ulu says no. Ezeulu is despised by his people Goodcountry says if they give church a yam they can harvest their fields and he will protect them from Ulu. The best way to deal with whiteman is to know him (so they send their kids to his school).
CHAPTER 19
People are starving. Ezeulu is shunned and lonely. Obika has a fever but goes to dance in a burial ceremony and dies. Ezeulu is ruined. People go to Goodcountry so they can harvest.
Chinua Achebe's book has touched on the culture, customs, beliefs of native Nigerian people and how their stories were intertwined with the arrival of "white men" in early 20th century. On hindsight, some of the customs would appear as utter foolishness in the times that we live in. But I found most of the wisdom exercised in the village communities still holding today. For example: "A toad doesn't run in the day unless something is after it".
Chinua's storytelling was also great on two fronts. He offered two different perspectives as he was telling his story, that of the native people and of the white men. There's always a danger in telling a single story, and he seemed to manage it well. Secondly, his story telling consisted of a long period of dull moments and ending with a bang! I find this always leaves a better memory.
My favorite takeaway quotes: "When suffering knocks at your door and you say there's no seat left for him, he tells you not to worry because he brought his own stool". "As daylight chases away darkness so will the white man drive away all our customs." "When brothers fight to death a stranger inherits their father's estate"
Top reviews from other countries
Happy with the purchase..