3 Review(s)

Nigerian novelist, poet and critic, Chinua Achebe has been called "The Father of Modern African Writing". Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, and the clash of western and traditional African values during and after the colonial era. Arrow of God is the third novel in his African Trilogy, the other two being Things Fall Apart and No Longer At Ease. The novel centres around Ezeulu, the Chief Priest of Ulu in Umuaro, in colonial Nigeria, who confronts colonial powers and Christian missionaries in the 1920s. The present critical study assesses Arrow of God from the viewpoint of the impact of British colonial administration and the introduction of Christianity through missionaries in the context of what has been called "the systematic emasculation of the entire culture". The incisive analysis of the text is accompanied by a number of critical problems with answers to make the novel more accessible to our university students. Shakti Batra has been Vice-Principal, Dyal Singh College (University of Delhi), has also taught at the Kabul University and the University of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek.