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A review by kivt
Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe
4.0
I'm really frustrated with a lot of reviews of this book.
A lot of summaries tend to assert that the book is about Oduche converting to Christianity and betraying his people, or about Ezeul struggling and failing to adapt to change. That's asinine. The central story of the book is how Ezeulu, in his office as Chief Priest of Ulu, struggles to get his group of villages to negotiate some kind of relationship with the colonial Brits & missionaries. Specifically, he's trying for a relationship that will allow the villages to adapt to change, and maybe even get ahead of other village groups with lucrative trade access, while not losing anything significant of their own culture.
Ezeulu uses each of his sons very pointedly as tools in this process. He sends Oduche to school and to church to learn English, and to be a spy/sacrifice. He tries to keep Obika from self-destructing long enough to emerge as a village leader instead of an obnoxious hothead. He raises his youngest son, Nwafo, to be his successor as Chief Priest. He writes off his eldest son, Edogo, because Edogo befriended Ezeulu's younger brother, who Ezeulu hates. Each of Ezeulu's sons fails the task Ezeulu sets for them--except Edogo, who does his best to keep Ezeulu from also self-destructing. This is because Ezeulu is an absolutely pig-headed vengeful shithead and this is clear from page 1. Ezeulu's failure to get the village on board with ideas like "let's not go to war over land that isn't ours" and "it's important to make nice but keep distance from the Brits" also comes about because he refuses to listen to anyone.
One of Ezeulu's jobs is to decide when the festival that kicks off yam harvest can begin. At the climax of the novel he decides to put the harvest off for two months, which means the yams are going to bake into the ground and/or rot and there will be a significant famine that could fuck things up for generations. Ezeulu makes the decision by consulting with Ulu, which happens conspicuously off-page. Previously, readers get to witness a couple masquerades and Ulu speaking to Ezeulu, so we're bought into spirits existing and Ezeulu's dedication to Ulu. But Ezeulu's consistent refusal to listen to each son and his early rejection of Edogo build a case for the reader that this is absolutely about vengeance. We've seen him fuck up this way repeatedly. The climax isn't about colonialism or progress, it's about Ezeulu's character and whether he'll yield to his responsibilities or to his stubbornness. the big crisis for the reader is trying to decide whether they think Ezeulu ends up starving his villages out of pique, or if he genuinely believes he's doing his god's bidding. I don't think there's even a strong metaphor to be drawn about colonialism or progress here. Achebe said the novel started with Ezeulu's character, and that comes across very clearly throughout the book.
One of the things Achebe does really really well is show how different kinds of people adapt to colonialism differently, and with motivations that are totally obscured by British narratives of the same events. In the end the villages convert to Christianity because the missionaries tell the villagers that they can harvest their yams. The Christian god will protect the villages from Ulu's wrath if the villages sacrifice to the Christian god instead of Ulu. Some of the Igbo characters are real converts, some are stereotypical corrupt government employees, but most are just trying to muddle through life making decisions that seem like a good idea at the time. The book is only a little about British colonialism, even though you do get to know western characters and they're very well handled. It's more an explanation of how colonization happens that doesn't flatten the narrative for the Igbo characters, and doesn't justify colonialism either.
So it's really good and I recommend it! But I didn't much enjoy the book because I don't like Ezeulu at all. He's a great character if you like Great Man Masculinity Struggles in a non-Western setting. I don't particularly. The dude sucked.
Spoiler
A lot of summaries tend to assert that the book is about Oduche converting to Christianity and betraying his people, or about Ezeul struggling and failing to adapt to change. That's asinine. The central story of the book is how Ezeulu, in his office as Chief Priest of Ulu, struggles to get his group of villages to negotiate some kind of relationship with the colonial Brits & missionaries. Specifically, he's trying for a relationship that will allow the villages to adapt to change, and maybe even get ahead of other village groups with lucrative trade access, while not losing anything significant of their own culture.
Ezeulu uses each of his sons very pointedly as tools in this process. He sends Oduche to school and to church to learn English, and to be a spy/sacrifice. He tries to keep Obika from self-destructing long enough to emerge as a village leader instead of an obnoxious hothead. He raises his youngest son, Nwafo, to be his successor as Chief Priest. He writes off his eldest son, Edogo, because Edogo befriended Ezeulu's younger brother, who Ezeulu hates. Each of Ezeulu's sons fails the task Ezeulu sets for them--except Edogo, who does his best to keep Ezeulu from also self-destructing. This is because Ezeulu is an absolutely pig-headed vengeful shithead and this is clear from page 1. Ezeulu's failure to get the village on board with ideas like "let's not go to war over land that isn't ours" and "it's important to make nice but keep distance from the Brits" also comes about because he refuses to listen to anyone.
One of Ezeulu's jobs is to decide when the festival that kicks off yam harvest can begin. At the climax of the novel he decides to put the harvest off for two months, which means the yams are going to bake into the ground and/or rot and there will be a significant famine that could fuck things up for generations. Ezeulu makes the decision by consulting with Ulu, which happens conspicuously off-page. Previously, readers get to witness a couple masquerades and Ulu speaking to Ezeulu, so we're bought into spirits existing and Ezeulu's dedication to Ulu. But Ezeulu's consistent refusal to listen to each son and his early rejection of Edogo build a case for the reader that this is absolutely about vengeance. We've seen him fuck up this way repeatedly. The climax isn't about colonialism or progress, it's about Ezeulu's character and whether he'll yield to his responsibilities or to his stubbornness. the big crisis for the reader is trying to decide whether they think Ezeulu ends up starving his villages out of pique, or if he genuinely believes he's doing his god's bidding. I don't think there's even a strong metaphor to be drawn about colonialism or progress here. Achebe said the novel started with Ezeulu's character, and that comes across very clearly throughout the book.
One of the things Achebe does really really well is show how different kinds of people adapt to colonialism differently, and with motivations that are totally obscured by British narratives of the same events. In the end the villages convert to Christianity because the missionaries tell the villagers that they can harvest their yams. The Christian god will protect the villages from Ulu's wrath if the villages sacrifice to the Christian god instead of Ulu. Some of the Igbo characters are real converts, some are stereotypical corrupt government employees, but most are just trying to muddle through life making decisions that seem like a good idea at the time. The book is only a little about British colonialism, even though you do get to know western characters and they're very well handled. It's more an explanation of how colonization happens that doesn't flatten the narrative for the Igbo characters, and doesn't justify colonialism either.
So it's really good and I recommend it! But I didn't much enjoy the book because I don't like Ezeulu at all. He's a great character if you like Great Man Masculinity Struggles in a non-Western setting. I don't particularly. The dude sucked.