CHINUA ACHEBE’s Arrow of God: The Malaise of Colonial Modernity

This episode will be focusing on Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God and what it tells us of the malaise of colonial modernity. Unlike Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God is set among the Igbo of Eastern Nigeria set in the early twentieth century when the colonial bureaucracy has been fully established and is not simply incipient, as in the earlier novel. We are introduced to Ezeulu, the Chief Priest of Ulu among the people of Umuaro. But unlike what we saw in Things Fall Apart, the traditional culture here is full of disagreements and quarrels about everything, even the foundational narratives of the clan. In the midst of this is placed Ezeulu, who as a Chief Priest is also afflicted by doubts about his sphere of social action in the context of the historical changes that his clan is exposed to. I will be arguing that Ezeulu’s crisis is part of the malaise that comes with colonial modernity. For colonial modernity is not simply the historical phase of new infrastructure, colonial bureaucracy, and alternative modes of self-fashioning brought on by Christianity, but that it also ambiguates traditional attitudes regarding their collective pasts. It is this ambiguation that leads to a sense of confusion and malaise, and that in the novel is depicted vividly through the mind of Ezeulu.
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Suggested Reading
Ato Quayson, “Conscripts of Colonial Modernity in Chinua Achebe’s Rural Novels,” in Tragedy and Postcolonial Literature, (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press in January 2021).
Charles, Taylor, “Modern Social Imaginaries,” Public Culture 14.1 2002: 91-124.
Simon Gikandi, Reading Chinua Achebe: Language and Ideology in Fiction. London: James Currey, 1991.
Scott, David. Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005
Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics, trans. J.A.K. Thomson. London: Penguin, 2004.
Isichei, Elizabeth. A History of the Igbo People. London: Macmillan, 1976.
Nwokeji, G. Ugo. Slave Trade and Culture in the Bight of Biafra: And African Society in the Atlantic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

[@justiceessuman3275]

Building a good background before introducing the lesson is a great skill I've learnt from you,Prof.

[@akwasiaidoo1078]

Again, another enlightening analysis that dives very deep beyond the text to context & texture to offer us memorable hindsights, refreshing insights & inspiring foresights. Amillion thanks, Prof!

[@CriticReadingWriting]

Thanks again, Akwasi!

[@kwabenaopoku-agyemang1558]

Will use this for a class soon. Fantastic stuff Prof!

[@CriticReadingWriting]

Glad you liked it, Kwabena. It's a great novel.

[@emmanueloryema8851]

Great One prof. Ato.

[@marybodomo2453]

Wow, very deep analysisheere, prof, am differently showing this with my lit students...👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@CriticReadingWriting]

Thanks, Mary.

[@jeromemasamaka8938]

Great insight, Prof. I’ve always rated Arrow of God above Things Fall Apart. I still think Things Fall Apart fails to execute its self proclaimed mandate of re-enacting the dynamics of precolonial African civilization. The Umuofia experience is hardly a sufficient microcosm of a continent that produced numerous ancient civilizations. (Armagh’s Two Thousand Seasons and Ethiopia Unbound etc. have done a better job.) However, I recall someone, probably Bernth Lindfors, saying at an ALA conference that Arrow of God was actually the first manuscript. Then he followed up with Things Fall Apart and got it published first. Prof., any insight on that little gossip?

[@CriticReadingWriting]

HI Jerome, no, unfortunately I have no insight on that little gossip about which one he wrote first. But I think you judge Things Fall Apart too harshly. What he was attempting to do there is quite different from what he did in Arrow of God. Plus, there are few people who would agree to putting Two Thousand Seans and Ethiopia Unbound above TFA. They just don't match up for narrative sophistication. But Arrow of God is a cut above TFA, even though most people don't seem to know it.

[@jeromemasamaka8938]

@@CriticReadingWriting Thanks for clarifying this for me. I’m happy you rated Arrow of God very highly. But I’ll reevaluate my bias against TFA. Thanks for these deep analyses. We are enjoying it. 🤓👍🏽

[@ChukwumaOnyeijeMD]

So, while "Arrow of God" can be viewed through an existential lens in some respects, it might be more accurate to consider these elements as part of its rich thematic structure rather than classifying the entire novel strictly as existentialist.

[@Tubeyoruba]

Does the association of Lunar and Lunacy not give hint to what Achebe was linking here about the moon? (25.02 to 25.02)

[@CriticReadingWriting]

You have a point there, Kole.

[@ralphellectual6975]

Interesting question on urban vs rural setting viz. alienation. I suppose rural life can be / has been disrupted by urban civilization, but how much individualist critical thinking and reflexivity can survive in rural areas, anywhere in the world? I suppose colonialism is also different, as radically alien cultural heritages, social arrangements, religions, etc. are imposed on rural areas.

[@CriticReadingWriting]

Hi Ralph, this is where you underestimate the rural mind. The point is how they process the disruptions to their rural lifestyle, and whether these disruptions are of a permanent or just temporary basis.