Arrow of God

Arrow of God, published in 1964, is the third novel by Chinua Achebe. Along with "Things Fall Apart" and "No Longer at Ease", it is considered part of "The African Trilogy", sharing similar settings and themes. The novel centers on Ezeulu, the chief priest of several Igbo villages in colonial Nigeria, who confronts colonial powers and Christian missionaries in the 1920s. The novel was published as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series.
The phrase "Arrow of God" is drawn from an Igbo proverb in which a person, or sometimes an event, is said to represent the will of God.
"Arrow of God" won the first ever Jock Campbell/"New Statesman" Prize for African writing.
Arrow of God is drawn from an igbo proverb in which a person or sometimes an event is said to represent the will of God. However, Ezeulu is the chief priest of the god Ulu, worshipped by the six villages of Umuaro. Ezeulu being so powerful and calling himself half-man, half-spirit responded negatively to colonial change. Therefore this assignment is critically analysing Ezeulu’s response to change.
Ezeulu is the chief priest of the god 'Ulu", worshipped by the six villages of Umuaro.Ezeulu and Umuaro where fighting against a nearby village, Okperi. The conflict is abruptly resolved when T. K. Winterbottom, the British colonial overseer, intervenes.
After the conflict, a Christian missionary, John Goodcountry, arrives in Umuaro. Goodcountry begins to tell the villages tales of Nigerians in the Niger Delta who abandoned (and battled) their Odinani tradition "bad customs" in favour of Christianity in Nigerian Christianity
Ezeulu is called away from his village by Winterbottom and is invited to become a part of the colonial administration, a policy known as [indirect rule]. Ezeulu refuses to be a "white man's chief" and is thrown in prison. 
In Umuaro, the people cannot harvest the Yam or vegetable yams until Ezeulu has called the New Yam Feast to give thanks to Ulu. When Ezeulu returns from prison, he refuses to call the feast despite being implored by other important men in the village to compromise. Ezeulu reasons to the people and to himself that it is not his will but Ulu's; Ezeulu believes himself to be half spirit and half man. 
However the yams begin to rot in the field, and a famine ensues for which the village blames Ezeulu. Seeing this as an opportunity, John Goodcountry proposes that the village offer thanks to the God in Christianity. Christian God instead and they may harvest what remains of their crops with "immunity".
Many of the villagers have already lost their faith in Ezeulu. One of Ezeulu's sons, Obika, dies during a traditional ceremony, and the villagers interpret this as a sign that Ulu has taken sides with them against his priest. For this apparent judgement against Ezeulu and the promised immunity by the Christian God, at the Christian Harvest, taking place a few days after Obika's death, many men embrace Christianity by sending their sons there with yams but ezeulu paid no attention to it even after loosing his son because
He refers his image of himself as an arrow in the bow of his god.
Themes.
Ulu, the villages of Umuaro and Okperi, and the colonial officials are all fictional. However, the depiction of Colonial Nigeria is accurate in depicting the conflict between the tradition beliefs and religions of the Nigerians and the foreign values introduced by the Europeans, including Christianity. In addition, indirect rule was favoured by the colonial authorities in West Africa as a way to reduce the cost of colonial administration. The novel is considered a work of African literary realism.
Achebe's first novel, "Things Fall Apart", tells the tale of Okonkwo, a leader in his community who comes into dispute with the colonial authorities. "Arrow of God" similarly describes the downfall of a traditional leader at the hands of the colonial authorities. The central conflicts of the novel revolve around the struggle between continuity and change, such as Ezeulu refusing to serve Winterbottom, or between the traditional villagers and Ezeulu's son who studies Christianity.