Two skills are the basis for this final project: reflection and revision – Arrow of God” by Chinua Achebe

English 201
Final Project Prompt
Background and Rationale: Your final project is an opportunity for you to look back over the work you’ve done this semester, in terms of reading, writing, and analysis. I think you’ll be surprised by how very much you’ve read and written this semester, and I hope that brings you some pride, as it’s been a challenging semester for many reasons, and you’re now in the home stretch.
Two skills are the basis for this final project: reflection and revision. In some ways, they are intertwined. Good writers look back at what they have written and reflect upon what they see there. While it may seem as if good writers were sort of just born that way, that is never the case.
I don’t know any writers who simply write, and then send their writing off to be published. Instead, professional writers, and academic writers, which is the kind of writing we are developing your skills for—writing in college and beyond—think, plan, write, reflect, rewrite, revise, and edit. Often, they rely on colleagues, friends, and other writers to read their work and offer feedback. Then, they submit it for publication, where a whole other set of people read and offer feedback and suggestions for revision, and it starts all over again.
So, writing does not proceed in a straight line but more like a series of circles. Write, circle back, rewrite, circle back, revise, circle back, get feedback, circle back, revise again, circle back, edit, and publish.
To help you practice this skill, I will be asking you to do these two tasks with several writing assignments from across the semester.
Directions: Your final project should include the following elements:
1. A reflective introduction that discusses each piece of writing: why did you choose it, how did you use feedback to revise it, and what skill(s) does this project highlight about you as a writer?
2. TWO essays (chosen from among Essay #1, #2, #3, or #4),
3. TWO other written assignments completed for this class (choose from reading
responses, discussion board posts and comments, notes, and proposals or other writing done to prepare for Essays 1,2,3, or 4).
Specifications: Create the final project as ONE Word or PDF file, that includes all the parts, starting with your introduction, and ending with a Works Cited list that covers ALL the sources used in the writing of the final project. Use standard one-inch margins, and 12-point font, page numbers, as well as a cover page with a title for your entire project that tells us something about what we will read.
Example: Let’s say you want to include Essay #2 and Essay #3, and you will include the reading response you did on “Half of a Yellow Sun” as well as a discussion board
post you did on The Piano Lesson. You will copy/paste all the REVISED assignments into one document, and add a cover page, and an introduction at the start of the portfolio.
The introduction will discuss your writing process, and why you chose each piece to include, as well as what you did to revise those pieces (especially what feedback you used to help you revise), and the project itself will end with the Works Cited in MLA style. In this example, you’ll combine all the citations into one document. So, you would include the citation for Arrow of God and all the research sources you used in Essay #2, the sources you used to write Essay #3 (including the nonfiction pieces you referenced in Part II of that essay), the citation for “Half of a Yellow Sun,” and the citation for The Piano Lesson (and any other source you used in writing any of these pieces), in alphabetical order by author’s last name. So, don’t separate by assignment, but make it one seamless document. You can review MLA style citation in Module Two, Weeks 6 and 7.

Date 10/24/2021
Arrow of God” by Chinua Achebe
“Arrow of God” is a 1964 novel by a Nigerian novelist, poet, and literary critic,
Chinua Achebe. Ideally, throughout the novel, gender and sexuality have been
outstanding in the entire novel, considering the destination of the resident as well as
their native behaviors .On the same note, the novel critically portrays the fight
for supremacy and influence between the Native Africans and the white missionaries,
and the Igbo clan in Nigeria. By incorporating literary elements such as metaphors,
symbolism, and figurative language, among others, Chinua Achebe also brings about
the theme of gender and sexuality.Conflicts within the Igbo community are fueled by
their internal gender and sexual identity aspects. The narrative’s two divergent
deployments of identity concerns are evident inside the nature of government and its
qualities to differentiate social habits and their relationships with one another.
Therefore, this essay provides an exclusive and detailed analysis of the theme of gender
and sexuality in Chinua Achebe’s “Arrow of God” as depicted through some of the
novel’s characters.
Achebe’s “Arrow of God” depicts women as having an identity that mirrors
stereotypical gender expressions with an asymmetry of feminine principles. Several
incidents in the story demonstrate the unpleasant side of females. The story’s opening
section depicts Igbo ladies as harsh foster mothers. This is seen when the narrator
says, “The moon he saw that day was as thin as an orphan fed grudgingly by a cruel
foster-mother” (Achebe, p. 2). Women’s identities are exposed in this way through
their position inside a social hierarchy. The Igbo folk’s marriage practice in Umuaro
focuses on the unfairness and unbalance between males and females. Men are permitted
to marry many women, while women are not allowed to choose their partners. For
instance, Akuekbue is married to two women. Nwaka, who is among the village’s
rulers, had five brides. The head priest Ezeulu had three wives, where the youngest of
them was the same age as Ezeulu’s first daughter. The habit of marriages to acquire
additional wives was maintained in colonial-era Nigeria. The bridal price controversy
evokes memories of women being sold by their parents to the husband’s families. The
theme of gender and sexuality is also evident in the book, where women are denied
their parent’s wealth after they get married, a privilege that is meant for men only.
The story reveals the Igbo folk’s male supremacy in treating women socially and
judicially as a component of patriarchal culture. Women also weren’t prioritized in
social gatherings, sharing, and religious rituals. Ezeulu’s homecoming to the Umuaro
tribe is honored by the leaders and males of the village, who exclude women.
According to the speaker, “In the second day, he counted fifty-seven visitors excluding

the women”(Achebe, p. 77). Women in Igbo culture are not accorded any weight in
making decisions or personal well-being. However, it is odd to note that the many
deities are accorded the names belonging to women, and their orders control the
societal aspects. The greatest gods belonging to the masculine gender are Ulu, Eruu,
Esdemili, and Chukeew. The social perception is seen as the position of a mother before
weddings, which exists in saying the ‘son of our daughter.’ Folks from the same
community are referred to as ‘sons of the village.’ Therefore, it is evident that a female
was considered submissive to the males in ancient Igbo culture is a lasting stereotype of
male-female interactions that needs adjustment to reflect Contemporary African reality”
(Achebe, p. 89).
From the above discussion and analysis of Chinua Achebe’s novel, “Arrow of
God,” it is evident that women were mistreated compared to their male counterparts.
This critically portrays the theme of gender and sexuality, where women were excluded
from making societal decisions and were treated as vessels of procreation. This culture
of the traditional Igbo tribe is still evident in contemporary society, where gender
biasness still thrives. On the same note, women ought to be supported, hence proliferate
their chances of gaining power in the communities. Conventions should be put in place
to ensure equity in gender and sexuality and maintain order and fairness in the
community.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Arrow of God. Penguin UK, 2013.

Mathuray, Mark. “Realizing the Sacred: Power and Meaning in Chinua Achebe’s”
Arrow of God.” Research in African literatures 34.3 (2003): 46-65.
Nwoga, D. Ibe. “The Igbo World of Achebe’s” Arrow of God.” Research in African
literatures 12.1 (1981): 14-42.
Osei-Nyame, Kwadwo. “‘Gender and the Narrative of Identity in Chinua Achebe’s”
Arrow of God”‘.” Commonwealth (Dijon) 22.2 (2000): 25.
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