COLONIALISM : ARROW OF GOD

Arrow of God is an African novel, which dwells on the problems of the postcolonial Nigerian
society. The theme of the novel “Arrow of God”, centers around the conflicts not only on the
African culture and the Western culture but also centers on the conflicts between the
Christian ideology and the traditional doctrines and Colonialism has a huge part in both the
African culture and the Western culture. In “Arrow of God”, superiority and triumph against
the other is one of the most important aspects amongst the cultures, and in the beginning of
the novel, a conflict occurs between the two Nigerian neighboring regions of rural Igbo land ,
this region are known as Umuaro and Okperi region. They are on against each other
regarding their borders to show superiority on each other and this conflict was solved with
the interference of the British colonizer, who came from the Europe, and the Okperi thought
the British colonizer as ideal model to be followed.

Colonialism is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to

another. The term colony comes from the Latin word colonus, meaning farmer. This root
reminds us that the practice of colonialism usually involved the transfer of population to a
new territory, where the arrivals lived as permanent settlers while maintaining political
allegiance to their country of origin.

Christianity and colonialism are often closely associated with each other due to the service of
Christianity. To some people , colonialism ,might sound like a power being abused among
the colonized people , but instead, in the novel “Arrow Of God” , the British made the
biggest differences and helped the neighboring regions in such a way that their perspectives
and views of the world are changed effectively.

The people of Umuaro and Okperi need an idol or a model to worship of follow, they
worship and praise different gods and deities which is a crucial way of their tradition, which
started long before the days of the conflict between the Umuaro people and the Okperi
people.

When T.K Winterbottom , an old – school British military, who is a dutiful , patriotic and
obedient person , came to Umuaro , that changes a lot of things. Altough Winterbottom often
disagrees with the orders he get from his superiors , he was a amazed by the culture and
societies he saw and wanted to learn their ways and traditions without interfering with them.
He first need to understand the ways of their cultures and traditions in order to preach and
show them the better ways , although it’s a not an easy task to do, the environment and the
condition of the region alone makes it difficult for the British colonizer to live , it took time
and strength to adapt to the weather and the air , which is very different and opposite
compared to Europe , which is cold and chilly.

The colonialism did not immediately altered the livings of the igbo people, the Britsh
colonizer , T.K Winterbottom and his fellow colonizers first lived with the people although
not intimately but close enough to understand the ways of the people. The people of Umuaro
and Okperi are not easy to manipulate and they are not easy to preach , their beliefs and
rituals are sacred which started way before their generations so it is obviously not easy for
them to ignore. Altough sometimes , it seem impossible for the British colonizer to achieve
their desires and their mission , T.K Winterbottom has a strong motivation on their mission
and hoped to succeed.

Colonialism often acts as an action where the colonizer often use powers and abuse them in
order to gain more and more from the people. Colonialism is popular all around the world
and the country with great power often act as the colonizer in different parts of the world.
Altough in this novel “Arrow of God “ the main objective from the British colonizer , T.K
Winterbottom and his colleague was to change the beliefs and the system of the Umuaro and
Okperi people , an inevitable thing was that the Western culture will change the African
culture not only in their religion and their beliefs , it will also change their whole perspective
and approach towards the world and will be force to live like the western culture.

The motives behind colonialism was God,Gold and Glory. The biggest factor of colonization
in Africa was the exploitation of the continent’s resource materials, “Europe is what it is
because of what Africa is not”. Through the different predicaments that the character
‘Okonkwo’ went through in the novel “Things fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe it can affirm
that resisting colonialism was a highly impossible task. The minority colonizers were more
sophisticated and they manage to overcome the majority natives.
The entire process of how colonisation unfold can be explained by the use of postcolonial
terms such as transculturation or displacement. Transculturation refers to the reciprocal
influence of modes of representation and cultural practices of various kinds in colonies and
metropoles, and is thus a phenomenon of the contact zone.

The process of transculturation began at the contact zone, interaction took place and there
was grappling of cultures for domination between the colonizers and natives. The colonizers
dominated the Africans and as a results Africa is now exposed to bitterness, despair
degradation and mockery, Africans are forced to absorb the foreign cultures in a subtle way
and this impacts their perceptions.

Bill Ashcroft , says that displacement is at the centre of postcolonial study because most of
African writers are writing at a displaced state, and they turn to feel the effect of
displacement. In the poem “Africa” by David Diop he wrote from a displaced state since he
was in France instead of being at his own country which is Senegal. In the poem “Africa”
Diop shows his thirst for Africa because he has never been there yet he is an African.

Colonialism also resulted in cultural displacement, Africans were forced to adopt westerns
traditions and it affected their belief system and they began to see them self in a eurocentric
view and they became pseudo Africans , they did no longer value African tradition or
heritage e.g. in the poem ‘the renegade’ the poet had lost his identity, he has lost his sense of
belonging. Colonial role occurred through the permanent and organized repression and
cultural life of the natives, colonialism took place through the re-education of the natives, this
means erasing previous knowledge that they had possessed and bombarding them with the
projection of negative images of themselves for instance, blacks were associated with
inferiority, darkness and evilness and they were considered to be bestial or primitive.

The poem ‘ Exile ’ by Mbella Sonne Dipoko, depicts slave trade in Africa during
colonialism. Colonial powers had control over Africans and they made them suffer. Africans
were being transported in ships tied up like animals with their heads facing down, Dipoko
explains the agony and how other captives died before they could reach the destination .This
shows how colonialism can go in different ways.

Colonialism has really disrupted social, cultural, political and economical lives of Africans.
Africans are facing culture shock and identity crisis this is because people are living in a
global village were culture and traditions are shared. In any developing country television is
considered as the major culprit in the marketing of alien cultures which have dominated local
knowledge systems . Nendauni in his essay refers that Film and Television are one of the
most powerful and hegemonic tools used by those who are in control of the discourses of
power such as culture. Postcolonial critics and writers attempt to reverse the socio-economic
effects of colonialism through various counter discourse,their literature is concerned with the
destruction of colonized identity, the search to this identity and also the assertion of such
identity for example, the song “ I am that I am” by Peter Tosh, this song challenges an
imposed identity on an african.Post colonial writters also challenges binary oppositions and
the social arrangements which results from human constructs.

In James Matthew ‘s poem titled ‘It is said’, the poet refuses to write about love,beauty and
flowers whereas his people are crying, he says that he cannot write his poems based on the
guidelines of the colonial powers but he writes the real life experiences of his people. just as
Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and Chinua Achebe says that they cannot afford to fiddle while rome is
burning, this shows us that they are committed to writing on behalf of their people.
Postcolonial critics and writers tries by all means to reverse not only the socio-economic
imbalances but also the cultural upshot of colonialism for instance, In “Decolonizing the
mind” Ngugi wa Thiong’o argues that language is a carrier of culture and the only way to
break free from colonial influence is by not adopting foreign language. Ngugi continues to
write his plays in his mother tongue Gikuyi as a way of reversing the impact of colonialism.

Africa is a country known for its traditions and cultures but still it is one of the continent that
suffered extremely at the hands of colonizers and some of the effects of colonialism are still
present but postcolonial writers and critics are trying by all means to reverse the effects.
Colonialism is cultural and economic exploitation. This essay discussed the process of
colonization in Africa and how postcolonial critics and writers attempt to reverse the socio-
economic and cultural effects.

Till today the effects of colonialism is still relevant and noticeable. Ekeh claims there is an
“absence of a strong traditional ethos” African politics and hence believes that “our post
colonial present has been fashioned by our colonial past” Hence he gives the impression that
post colonial Nigeria (and an African country in general) has been born out of the colonial
experience with no link to its traditional past. Colonialism has greatly influenced their
identity. As colonialism thrived, it eroded the important fibres of their identity. Though
Africans survived colonialism, the ushering in of neo-colonialism by post-colonialism made
African identity so complex to deal with. Guyanese historian and activist Walter Rodney
proposes in his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa that Africa was pillaged and
plundered by the West through economic exploitation. Mamdani mentions that in urban
areas, native institutions were not recognised. The natives, who were portrayed as uncivilised
by the Europeans, were excluded from the rights of citizenship. Achille Mbembe reminds the
reader that colonial powers demanded use of African bodies in particularly violent ways for
the purpose of labor as well as the shaping of subservient colonised identities.
ROLAND LALHRUAIZELA

Department Of English

Roll No. – 28

M.A 1st Semester

28th October 2022

Topic : Colonialism in Arrow of God

 Works Cited

Ngugi wa Thiong’o, 1986. Decolonizing the Mind. London: James Currey

Ashcroft, B. Griffiths, G & Tiffin, H, 1989. Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practices in
Post-colonial Literature, London: Routledge.

Nendauni, L. (2016) “Do South African Films and Television Truly Reflect the African
Context?”. Germany: Grin Verlag Open Publishing.

Sonne Dipoko , M. (1968) "Exile" , Ronald Segal, ed., Modern Poetry from Africa. Penguin
Books

Achebe,Chinua. (1964) “Arrow Of God” : Heinemann, London

Ekeh,P. (1975) “Colonialism and Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement”

University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Eegunlusi, T. (2017) Mental Alienation and African Identity: Exploring Historical

Perspectives in Response to the Crises of African Societies. Open Journal of Philosophy

Rodney, Walter (1972). How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. London: Bogle-L'Ouverture

Mamdani, Mahmood (1996). Citizen and subject : contemporary Africa and the legacy of late
colonialism. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

Mbembe, Achille (1992). "Provisional Notes on the Postcolony". Africa: Journal of the
International African Institute.