Main characters:
Winterbottom ('Winterbota'), represents Europe, colonialism
Clarke
The Africans
Ezeulu, headstrong, arrogant
Akuebue, intellectual, cool-headed, honest, the voice of reason
Nwaka, antagonistic, passionate, loquacious
Akukalia, belligerent
In Arrow of God, Chinua Achebe depicts the contrasts and contradictions between the European world and the African world. He uses language and situations to show African dignity in the characters. The liberal use of idioms and proverbs emphasizes the juxtaposition of the two worlds and intellectual superiority of the African characters.
In addition to providing a way of distinguishing between the characters European and African; educated and ordinary Igbo characters idioms serve as a rhetorical ploy during controversies. Some are so flexible they can fit into any occasion.
Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.
When an adult is in the house, the she-goat is not left to suffer the pains of parturition on its tether.
When we hear a house has fallen do we ask if the ceiling fell with it?
What this new religion will bring to Umuaro wears a hat on its head.
Unless the wind blows we do not see the fowl's rump.
As the daylight chases away his darkness so will the white man drive away all our customs.
A man who brings ant-ridden faggots into his hut should expect the visit of lizards.
Unless the penis dies young it will surely eat bearded meat.
A god who demands the sacrifice of a chick might raise it to a goat if you went to ask a second time.
When two locusts fight, the crow is always the one who feasts.
By using so many idioms Achebe shows the wealth of knowledge of the custom and language of the African society. The idioms are used, also as a weapon against 'Winterbota' the white man, who sees them as incomprehensible puzzles, rambling talk and riddles. In this novel, 'Winterbota' and his aides who represent the European world would not accept that he is being confronted by a richer culture than his own.