The python is a prominent motif in Arrow of God. It is both an important part of the plot, as the sacred animal the Oduche kills, and an important part of the songs that deliver subplot throughout the novel. Christians challenge converts to kill a python, the animal that is “sacred to Idemili” (48), and important local deity. For them, the python is “nothing but a snake, the snake that deceived our first mother, Eve” (47).

Killing the python causes “outrage” which becomes “a very serious matter” (60) for Ezeulu. People wonder how Ezeulu can be as sacred as he claims if he “could send his son among people who kill and eat the sacred python” (125). Even as Ezeulu regains respect, the python is both a part of singing and a part of the dreams that haunt him.

The motif carries the tension between Christianity and local religion. Ibo people, connected to the land through the spiritual world, value the animal differently from those who see the land’s provisions as providing food and other materials. Although some things, like sacred yams, may be edible, they are not to be considered food when they contain special value.