Arrow of God (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Chinua Achebe
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Work: Social chronicle
- Time of Work: The 1920’s
- Setting: Okperi and the six Igbo villages that compose Umuaro in Nigeria
- Principal Characters: Ezeulu, Nwaka, Ezidemili, Oduche, Obika, Captain Winterbottom, Clarke, John Nwodika, John Goodcountry, Moses Unuachukwu
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Culture, History, Africa or Africans, Power, personal or social, Politics, Colonies or colonization, Race, Missions or missionaries, Religion, 1920’s, Christianity, Rulers, Government
- Locales: Nigeria
The Novel
Set in the 1920’s, the period in which the British were making the transition from direct to indirect rule, Achebe’s Arrow of God describes the efforts of Ezeulu, the Chief Priest of Ulu, to assert and to maintain his religious authority. Ulu is a god created by the people of Umuaro in a time of crisis to rule over the individual gods of the six federated villages and thereby to increase the security of the loose federation. Thus, Ezeulu is the chief authority figure in Umuaro, but the traditional independence of Igbo social structure leaves the true...
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See Also:
Chinua Achebe (Cyclopedia of World Authors)Chinua Achebe (Dictionary of World Biography)Chinua Achebe (Short Fiction)
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