Artrow of God
By: Wendy • Essay • 504 Words • December 23, 2009 • 1,031 Views
Essay title: Artrow of God
Colonialism is seen as a difficult arrangement that prevents even the best people from acting for the common good. Chapters in which the British officials discuss with one another reveal that while they are not the worst of their type, racism and ignorant condescension more or less come with the territory. On page 174 is a great example “The white man watched Ezuelu with something like amusement on his face. When the interpreter finished he tightened up his face and began again. He rebuked Ezeulu for showing disrespect for the order of the government and warned him that if he showed such disrespect again he would be severely punished.”
The British master plan for governing the Igbo, a plan with which Winterbottom, a seasoned colonial ruler, strongly opposes because it invites exploitation and corruption. The plan is to set up certain African leaders as British spectators. This novel is intercultural because it’s dealing with two different civilizations of society. The two components that exist are modern versus tradition. Achebe is concerned with the toll taken on Igbo people by the replacing of their old beliefs. A lesser son of Ezeulu, Oduchi, is chosen to go a Christian school more or less as a mole to keep his father informed. In a literal and misguided interpretation of scripture, he decides he must crush the head of one of the pythons that are sacred creatures to the Igbo.
Achebe is very depictive when writing themes of descriptions of most marriages between characters. He displays this genuine love that exists between the husband and the favored wife, as in the tenderly drawn marriage between Obika and Okuata. On the other hand, the wealthy, greedy Nwaka who opposes Ezeulu at the outset of the book has acquired five wives by the book's end. The position of women within Igbo society is perceived to compromise