Arrow of God is a classic tragedy which depicts the fall of a tragic hero caused by both his hubris and outside forces beyond his understanding. The title comes from an Igbo proverb in which a person or event is said to represent the Will of God

Ezeulu, the chief priest of the Umuaru clan, wields enormous power over the six federated villages that make up the clan. Part of his role is to store up twelve healthy yams in his barn which he roasts and eats without salt or palm oil immediately he sees a new moon. Until he has eaten the last one, no one can venture to their farm to harvest yams. However, his authority has always been challenged by smaller gods of other villages especially Idemili, who accuses Ezeulu of overstepping his bounds. The greatest threat, however, comes from the arrival of the white missionaries and colonial government. In order to fully understand the source of the white man’s strength and to be aware of his activities, Ezeulu sends one of his sons, Oduche, to the missionary school – further deepening the rift between him and his rivals who see this is an act of betrayal and vaulting ambition. 

The colonial administration decides to designate a local chief to help administer the six villages. By virtue of his legendary honesty, Ezeulu is chosen by Captain Winterbottom, the head of the colonial administration; but he rejects the position. Enraged and humiliated, Winterbottom orders his detention. Consequently, for the two months he is detained, he is unable to perform the yam ritual. When he is eventually released, the elders plead with him to consume the two remaining yams so that people can go and harvest their yams, but he stubbornly refuses. Ezeulu uses this incident as a means of punishing his people for not rising against the white man on his behalf. The people finish their yam reserves and begin to starve yet Ezeulu refuses to compromise. In the meantime, the missionaries preach against the traditional ritual and present Jesus Christ as the only one who can bless their crops. People are encouraged to harvest their crops. As the people harvest their crops, Ezeulu’s favourite son Obika dies unexpectedly. This is too hard for Ezeulu’s already fragile mind. He goes mad, marking the defeat of his god and perhaps the triumph of the Christian God.

Arrow of God dramatizes what happens when people deviate from their traditional ways of life and embrace a foreign culture. It introduces us to the theme of cultural conflict and its aftermath. Besides the conflict between Western and African traditions, the novel brings into the limelight Umuaru religious ritual practices related to the worship of gods and the practice of agriculture. Ezeulu, as the novel indicates, presides over the feast that paves the way to the harvest period. Similar rituals are recorded in many agricultural societies and thus mentioned in various mythologies worldwide.

Aguoru, Doyin, "African Proverbial Sayings: A Paremiologically Reading of Achebe’s Arrow of God", Ife Psychologia (2012): 192–204.

Frank, Kevin, "Censuring the Praise of Alienation: Interstices of Ante-Alienation in Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, and Arrow of God", Baltimore 34.4 (2011): 1088–1101.

Håland, Evy Johanne, “The Ritual Year of Athena: The Agricultural Cycle of the Olive, Girls’ Rites of Passage, and Official Ideology”, Journal of Religious History 36.2 (2012), doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9809.2011.01169.x.

Kortenaar, Neil Ten, "Arrow of God and the Word on Paper", Novel: A Forum on Fiction 42.3 ( 2009): 467–473 (accessed: July 4, 2022).

Mathuray, Mark, “Realising the Sacred: Power and Meaning in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God”, Research in African Literatures 34.3 (2003): 46–65.

Smith, Daniel Jordan, “The Arrow of God: Pentecostalism, inequality, and the Supernatural in South-Eastern Nigeria”, Africa 71.4 (2001): 587–613.

Quayson, Ato, “Self-Writing and Existential Alienation in African Literature: Achebe’s Arrow of God", Research in African Literature 42.2 (2011): 30–45.

Osa, Osaynmwense, “From Spiritual Comfort to Spiritual Combat: Ezeulu in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God and Pranesharcharya in Anantha Murty’s Samskara”, Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics 37 (2014): 33–48.