CHAPTER THREE

THE YEARS OF STRUGGLE

I

A Grain of Wheat, Ngugi wa Thiong'o's third novel published in 1967,

represents a major watershed in Ngugi's creative career and more significantly

in the ideology that informs and underpins his narrative discourse.1 His

earlier novels The River Between and Weep Not, Child delineated the political

sympathies; or at any rate the confusions of a colonial, Christian-mission

educated youth caught in a violent national movement. This novel reflects a

more developed historical consciousness based on a deeply considered political

philosophy.

In the two earlier novels we saw the selection and depiction of

protagonists who are being educated in missionary schools, who by implication

belong to the emerging African elite intellegentia. The preoccupation with

the theme of education with its attendant ambiguity towards political

involvement reflects the author's own educational conditioning at that given

time. Discussing his early childhood and schooling, Ngugi states: "I was living

in a colonial situation but I did not know it. Not even when I went to school

... We were being groomed to become a buffer state between the propertied

white rulers and the harsh realities under which the African peasants and

workers lived." 2 The earlier works reflect this schooling.

The apolitical thrust of this education and the conversion to Christianity

generated a perspective that distanced him from his cultural and social roots,

the Kenyan people, and the local languages. But Ngugi's imagination was fired

by the tribal myths of Gikuyu and Mumbi; by the stories of early political

resistance in Kenya and also by the legend of the contemporary hero Jomo

Kenyatta. The tragic yet dignified figure of Waiyaki, tried and condemned by

the Kiama (the precussor of Mau Mau) for his attempts to reconcile the two

value systems, the bewilderment of Njoroge at the Mau Mau fiat to close the

schools are presented with understanding and sympathy. The sense of

despair and pain caused by Kenyans killing one another, the reductive nature

of .violence which turns Boro from a human being fighting for freedom to a

86

mere avenger are given textual legitimacy in the two early novels.

In an essay written in 1962, Ngugi claimed that, "It is a credit to the

African that he has always sought for constitutional and 'legitimate' means of

righting the position .... The Mau Mau war was and will remain a bitter lesson

for Kenya." 3 The last sentence, especially the phrase 'a bitter lesson'

indicates the ambivalence of his position towards the Mau Mau at that time,

which was evident in his first two novels. African socialism and Christian

humanism formed the basis of his ideology during this period. As argu.ed

earlier, it does not necessarily follow that Ngugi was completely indoctrinated

by colonial education and the ideological construct it attempted to impose. In

1963, Ngugi while reviewing Fred Majadalany's book The State of Emergency

( 1962), (which later appeared as an essay titled, 'Mau Mau, Violence and

Culture' in Homecoming), refuted Majadalany's views by stating that the book

"is clouded with the popular image of the Mau Mau as some thing purely and

simply evil, atavistic and completely unrelated to the mainstream of African

nationalism or any decent political sentiments. To most Africans, Mau Mau, in

fact was a heroic and glorious aspect of that mainstream." In this review he

is forthright in his views on violence and its political context. He states that,

"Violence in order to change an intolerable, unjust social order is not

savageryi it purifies man. Violence to protect and preserve an unjust and

oppressive social order is criminal and diminishes man. "4 But these assertions

do not always find complete confirmation and support in his creative writing.

A young school boy in Weep Not, Child states that he likes K.A.U (which was

aiming for independence in democratic manner) but fears the Mau Mau. Boro

in the same novel is clearly diminished by the violence inflicted upon him and

the violence he in turn perpetuates.

Ngugi was sympathetic towards the causes behind the Mau Mau uprising

and he saw it as an integral part of Kenyan resistance to colonialism. At the

same time there is an unease that ensues from his education which distanced

him from the peasants, and his Christian beliefs that held violence to be

wrong and sinful. Not only a Christian, but any humane person instinctively

recoils from violencei dreading the pain and sense of loss it would bring to

the family and the community. Ngugi probably had to struggle hard to

87

overcome his aversion to cruelty. The combat must well have been with

external forces as well as inner sensibilities. David Maugham-Brown uses

Ngugi's own statements about his schooling, and the early journalistic pieces

that Ngugi wrote for various East African papers to substantiate his argument

that Ngugi's early writings are determined by the ideology of the rulers. For

him, "It comes as no surprise, then, to find Ngugi in his early journalistic

pieces condemning the Land and Freedom Army, endorsing Western Christianity

as 'the best challenge to Communism'." 5

Maugham-Brown is one of the few critics who sees a radical and

significant change in Ngugi's ideology from The River Between and Weep Not,

Child to Petals of Blood and Devil on the Cross. It is interesting that his

twenty five page long article makes not a single mention of A Grain of Wheat.

He seems to have classified the early writings as conditioned by the dominant

ideology; and Petals of Blood and Devil on the Cross as radical proletarian

literature. What makes A Grain of Wheat a favourite amongst Ngugi's readers

is the complexity and richness that defy such convenient slotting. '!'he

tendency among critics like C.B.Robson and G.D.Killam is to fmd no major

ideological break from the early novels to A Gr~n of Wheat and Petals of

Blood. It would be a misreading of thP early novels if the commitment and

politics explicit in the latter worY.cl are seen to be present implicitly in the

former. Killam claim:=; that, "As with Weep Not, Child in A Grain of Wheat we

are T!idde to understand the consequences, both physical and psychological of

the emergency. .. . The novel [A Grain of Wheat] depicts and dramatizes the

emergency in more detail and on a broader canvas than Weep Not, Child even

though the subject-matter is the same. "6

The assumption that the subject-matter of Weep Not, Child and A Grain

()f Wheat is the same stems from reading merely the surface text, without a

study of the sub-text as it were, of the world-view, the political

understanding and economic considerations out of which the narratives

emerge. It is the contention of this thesis that the Ngugi of 1964 at Makerere

University who wrote The River Between and Weep Not, Child was vastly and

significantly different from the Ngugi at the University of Leeds in 1966 who

wrote lL_Orain oL___W_heat. Most critics have seen this as a growth or a

88

development of beliefs that were latent in his work prior to 1966. I would

like to argue that this was an epistemic break, a transformation from one

viewpoint to a completely different ideological position that becomes

progressively explicit and firmly polemical in the later writing. From The

River_ Between and Weep Not, Child to A Grain of Wheat there is a radical

change and rethinking. From A Grain of Wheat to Matiqari there is growth,

leading to a rigid stand.

The factors influencing this transformation can be gleaned from his

essays and interviews. An understandinq of the historical forces operatinq

at that time, and the influence of various contemporary thinkers, activists and

idealogues is essential in comprehending this radical change in the author's

perspectives. In a speech delivered in 1969, Ngugi stated that "the same

writer will produce different types of work, sometimes contradictory in mood,

sentiment, degree of optimism and even world view. For the writer himself

lives in and is shaped by history .... I too must have changed since I started

writing in 1960." 7 Such a statement corning barely two years after the

publication of A Grain of Wheat indicates the author's own awareness of his

change.

Though published in 1964 and 1965, Weep Not, Child and The River

Between were actually written in 1961 and 1962. This was the time of Kenyan

independence, when the call was for national unity, forgiving and forgetting

differences of class, tribe, fighter and homeguard. The figure of 'Mzee'

Kenyatta stood like a colossus, asking the people to forget Mau Mau as a thing

ot the past. The only literature available on Mau Mau were the racist, colonial

versions of Corfield, Michael Blundell, Fred Majadalany and Ian Henderson.

Ngugi was still at the university, imbibing Western education and its implicit

assumptions.

By 1966, the picture had changed quite drastically. The intervening

years revealed the growing disillusionment of the people and the intellegentia

with the politicians of independent Kenya. This phenomenon was not uniquely

Kenyan. All over the African continent there was a growing realisation that

a new black comprador class had taken over and was reaping the benefits of

89

independence, leaving the masses poor and wretched. Independence had been

won, but the nature and state of independence was being critically examined

by writers from many other African countries -- Chinua Achebe from Nigeria,

Ayi kwei Armah from Ghana, Sembene Ousmane from Senegal. It was in this

context that Achebe wrote: "Most of Africa is today politically free; there are

thirty-six independent African States managing their own affairs -- sometimes

very badly. A new situation has thus arisen. One of the writer's main

functions had always been to expose and attack injustice. Should we keep at

the old theme of racial injustices (sore as it is still) when new injustices have

sprouted all around us? I think not." 8 The situation described by Achebe

was equally true of Kenya.

The socio-economic realities of post-independent Kenya, the negation of

Mau Mau and all that they fought for, the elite bourgeoisie, and the emerging

middle class, the landless poverty stricken peasant masses, and the

detribalized 'lumpen proletariat' of the cities -- all had to be examined within

the framework of self-rule. The adult Ngugi was beginning to objectively and

dispassionately view his own childhood and schooling. The snares laid for his

generation by the colonial authorities also began to be obvious. Distance gave

a poignancy to his reassessment of self and the national situation when he

went to Leeds University in 1964. It was at Leeds that Ngugi was introduced

to the writings of Karl Marx and Frantz Fanon. Their political philosophy and

understanding of history and economics influenced and structured his own

ideas on class struggle, socialism, the psyche of the colonised and the role of

violence.

Ngugi's acceptance of the materialist interpretation of history and his

understanding of the class struggle stem from Marxist Thought. But Ngugi

is not a pure, orthodox Marxist. His understanding of Marxist ideology is

tempered and modified by the writings of the Algerian psychologist Frantz

Fanon. It was Fanon who, to a great degree, placed Marxism within the

African context and related it to the colonial and post-colonial situations of

many African countries. Fanon's thesis also extended to include varying

aspects of the colonial structure. Certain fundamental differences between

Marx and Fanon are seminal in the African context -- especially Kenya. For

90

Marx, it was the skilled worker, the proletariat in the city and industrial

towns, contributing directly to the advancement and wealth of capitalist

society without reaping the benefits, who would be the vanguard of the

revolution. Fanon's views are diametrically opposed. He believes that "in the

colonial territories the proletariat is the nucleus of the colonized population

which has been most pampered by the colonial regime. The embryonic

proletariat of the towns is in a comparatively privileged position.'' 9 In the

colonial milieu the working-class becomes the rear-guard of the establishment.

Revolution during the colonial regime comes from the peasantry.

Poverty-stricken and landless, they have nothing to lose and everything to

gain and therefore can stake all. Fanon's analysis based primarily on a study

of Algeria was in perfect synchrony with the circumstances and history of

Kenya. Fanon's thesis that in the colonial countries the peasants alone are

revolutionary must have been strengthened not only by his personal

experience in Algeria but also by his knowledge of the Mau Mau in Kenya.

The movement did have active supporters and sympathisers in the urban areas

and among the trade unions. But it was primarily formed and led by the

rural, landless peasants. Almost all the fighters who went to live in the

mountains and engaged in guerilla warfare were from this section of the

society. Fanon's premise also includes the notion that even in the urban

areas, it is the 'lumpen-proletariat' who, with their 'unlawful' acts, would

hasten social change, rather than the skilled worker.

The influence of Fanon's ideas on Ngugi can be assessed from an essay

'Satire in Nigeria' and a review of Achebe's A Man of the People, both written

in 1966. 10 In these articles, lines from The Wretched of the Earth are

constantly cited and used for critical analysis. The extensive references

reveal a close reading, especially of the chapter 'Concerning Violence' wherein

Fanon analyses the social, political and psychological nuances of violence. The

chapter, 'The Pitfalls of National Consciousness' which is a detalled examination

of the concepts of nationalism, the relationship between the elite, the emerging

middle-class and the poor in a neo-colonial state is also minutely examined.

Much of the underlying ideology that informs the narrative of A Grain of

\i_heat is a creative recapitulation of the major premises outlined by Fanon in

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The Wretche_g. Ngugi who in 1964 said that "the terrible thing about the Mau

Mau war was the destruction of family life, the destruction of personal

relationships. You found ... the terrible fear under which these people

lived", 11 by 1966, in A Grain of Wheat, is able to see the violence of the

colonised not only as an inevitable reaction to the political and psychological

violence of the coloniser, but also as a necessary and cleansing force. Yet,

A Grain of Wheat only represents the middle passage of Ngugi's creative graph

where there is still some space for an exploration of the psychology of the

individual.

The Mau Mau war had been a highly controversial subject in colonial

and post-independent Kenya, though the nature of the controversy has

differed. The present discussion will focus on the issues relating to the first

period - 1e from 1952 when a state of Emergency was declared to 1963 when

independence was achieved, for these years are directly relevant to the

present study. An analysis of the second period -- from 1963 till date -- and

related issues would be taken up in a later chapter. While discussing Matigari

Ngugi's latest novel, published in 1987, once again the entire ideology and role

of Mau Mau in nation building and social reconstruction becomes central.

A brief look at the conflicting perceptions of the nature and role of Mau

Mau in the history of Kenya is essential for a comprehensive understanding

of A Grain of Wheat and the view-points endorsed in it. This is not an

adoption of a reductive method where a literary text is used for gleaning

empirical evidence of past history. Milan Kundera believes that, "fidelity to

historical reality is a secondary matter as regards the value of the novel.

The novelist is neither historian nor prophet; he is an explorer of existence." 12

When the study of a 'historical novel' is reduced to mere identification of the

presence or absence of historical sign-posts, events and personalities, the

complexity of the text tends to be overlooked. My purpose here in outlining

the background and ethos of the period is not to show history as the mere

backdrop against which events unfold but to see history itself unfolding, an

existentialist situation that acts upon and is acted upon by human beings who

inhabit in the 'real' and 'imaginative' world. An examination of the historical

discourse about Mau Mau would reveal the· dominant colonial ideology informing . 92

these narratives. The historical construction of the 'Mau Mau' as perceived

by the colonial historians was accepted by most onlookers and the Kenyans

themselves. The early nationalist, revolutionary discourses that questioned

the validity of these monolithic perceptions were from those who had been

actively involved in the Mau Mau. The nature of their repudiation and the

alternative 'authentic' historiography they reconstruct were major influences

on Ngugi. Colonial narratives and revolutionary narratives are studied to

understand the ideological framework that informs the creative text. The

extent to which A Grain of Wheat is a fictional dismantling of the colonial

discourse, reinforcing and validating the alternative narrative is of importance

in understanding the ideological grid of the novel.

Most studies of A Grain of Wheat have focussed on the historicity of the

narrative. "There is authenticity in the journalistic use of fiction in the

history and history in the fiction" 1~ "contemporary events of the novel are

set in a depth of historical awareness" 1~ "a creative interpretation of national

history in a favourable light" 1 ~ are some of the standard comments about the

novel. Lewis Nkosi goes on to argue that "history itself; as it unfolded in the

Kenyan struggle for freedom and independence, becomes the true 'hero' of the

novel." 16 On the flip side, W.J.Howard objects to the "excessive amount of

historical fact ... Ngugi has included far too much of it for no purpose ... the

longer historical passages might well have been edited for the sake of his

art." 17 The above statements from different literary critics foreground the

part history plays in this novel making it necessary for us to understand the

conflicting strands of history and ideological perceptions that underpin the

fictional narrative in A Grain of Wheat.

The movement in Kenya which later came to be called Mau Mau -- the

reasons for whose emergence remain as controversial and varied as the

responses to it -- began in the early 1950s. Around 1950, rumors of oathing

93

ceremonies, secret meetings and the presage of revolt reached the colonial

authorities. Attempts were made to locate the leaders and the members of the

secret society. In October 1952, Governor Baring had assessed the situation

to warrant the declaration of a state of Emergency and the arrest of Jomo

Kenyatta and seven other prominent Kenyans who were assumed to be the

leaders of the movement. Until the declaration of Emergency, petty crimes,

missing cattle and absenteeism from work were the recurrent incidents of

'revolt'. The only violent crime was the murder of chief Nderi, who was an

employee of the colonial autho!'ities. There had been no threats or acts of

violence against the person or property of white settlers. The imposition of

Emergency and the arrest of the leaders was by nature preventive. Kenyatta

had -- at the order of the authorities -- repeatedly at various meetings

declared his ignorance of Mau Mau and denied his involvement in any of their

acts. His disavowal was seen as a clever play on words and he was arrested

nevertheless. Subsequent events revealed that it was a complete

miscalculation by the colonial rulers.

The primary reaction of most Europeans then present in Kenya

baring a few officials lower down the scale who were in constant contact with

the people -- was one of total surprise and incredulity at the revolt. It was

as if a favoured child had suddenly turned upon its parents. Margery

Perham claims that "the outbreak was utterly unexpected. It almost broke

down ordered government and its suppression cost some 60 million pounds." 18

The same sentiment is echoed by Sir Michael Blundell a prominent Kenyan

politician and member of the Legislative Council, who later wrote a book on

Mau Mau. Blundell states: "All of us were unaware of the intensity of political

feeling among many Africans and had little conception of the stirrings of

nationalism which were all around us." 19 The District official in Weep Not,

Child who is stunned by the events of the emergency is a fictional depiction

of such a reaction. Ngugi clearly believes that the causes for the movement

were present from the beginning of colonial history in Kenya and it was wilful

blindness that stopped the colonial authorities and the white settlers from

accepting the ground realities. This is how he presents it in the interior

dialogue of a 'disillusioned government official' in Weep Not, Child:

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'Why do you stand there amazed?' I did not know that this would come to be. 'But you saw the signs?' No. I didn't. 'You did.' I didn't ... I tell you I didn't. (WNC,p.62.)

While the colonial rulers and the settler community pretended surprised

outrage, more perceptive analysts had been cautioning for a long time about

the possible outbreak of a popular revolt. In 1924, nearly 25 years before

Mau Mau, Norman Leys wrote: "Ordinary opinion in Kenya is best described ·as

being very bewildered and considerably aggrieved, without having formulated

any remedial plan .... They have no constitutional ways of representing their

grievance, far less any means of redressing them", and urged relief measures

to avert a movement of protest. 20 He becomes more emphatic and vehement in

1931. In his book A Last Chance in Kenya, he sounded a note of warning:

"The privileges with which Europeans have unwisely been endowed, and the

subsidies they unjustly enjoy, have already in 1931 fructified in poverty so

profound and exasperation so intense that ... if a dangerous situation is to be

avoided, there must be some shifting of the burden of taxation .... Even now

it may be too late. "21 His final words of caution to the rulers in Kenya and

nation or race or caste has ever won its

or any other country, without either the

the government in Britain were: "No

liberty whether in Ireland or Poland

use or the threat of violence." 22 Norman Lays is presenting a liberal

discourse contained within the framework of colonial ideology. His books are

meant to warn the colonial government and the white settlers in Kenya that

unless they take stock, become more democratic, less stringent, the entire

structure would come crumbling down. While it indirectly argues for a

strengthening of colonialism, there is at least a willingness here to discuss the

weaknesses of its present form of functioning.

The colonial authorities and settlers refused to acknowledge the warning

signals. The propagation of the view· that they were completely 'taken by

surprise' fitted in with the British rulers' self-deluded sense of complacency

and efficacy. The image of the 'ungrateful Kenyan' could be propounded. By

shutting their eyes to the socio-political and economic reality of Kenya, they

95

could condemn the Mau Mau as barbaric and savage in origin, as an

expression of the desire to retreat into an atavistic past by minds incapable

of coping with modern society. For John Gunther, "Mau Mau was the name of

an African terrorist society" who were "like gangsters in Chicago". 23 For Fred

Majadalany, Mau Mau was "a calculated distortion of their own primitive beliefs

designed to drive them back to barbarism." 24 Father Tervor Huddleston wrote

in December 1952 that "Mau Mau is a movement which in its origins and in its

development is wholly evil. It is the worst enemy of African progress in

Kenya. It has about it all the horror of .'the power of darkness', of spiritual

wickedness in high places. "25 Colonial Secretary Oliver Lyttelton averred that

"Mau Mau feeds not on economic discontent but on perverted nationalism and

a sort of nostalgia for barbarism. "26 Blundell constantly uses phrases like,

'campaign of lawlessness and thuggery', 'bestial anti-christlan', 'thoroughly

inhuman and evil', in referring to the Mau Mau movement, and calls the

fighters "chauvinlstic debased creatures of the forest" .27 This distorted and

biased view has been challenged by many who could foresee the revolt and

lucidly outline the economic, political and social reasons for its origin and

development.

Fenner Brockway and Leslie Hale, Labour MP's who visited Kenya at the

height of the Mau Mau revolt, went on record to say: "We disagree profoundly

with Mr. Oliver Lyttelton when he says that social and economic grievance are

not the cause of Mau Mau. Mau Mau is an ugly and brutal form of extreme

nationalism. It is based on frustration. These frustrations arise from among

other things the humiliation of the colour-bar, the destruction of the old

tribal system; land hunger, wages which do not in thousands of cases satisfy

physical hunger; appalling housing conditions and the fantastic rise in the

price of posho (maize flour) the staple food. "28 This is another instance of

liberal discourse -- acknowledging the legitimate grievances that gave rise to

Mau Mau, but still seeing it as 'ugly and brutal'. Historians Endre Sik and

Kenneth Ingham are more radical in their assertions, reiterating the varied

factors that left the Kenyan Africans with no option but a violent revolt

against their oppressors. According to Ingham, "Fundamentally, Mau Mau was

a Kikuyu movement of resistance against alien forces which appeared to treat

men as being less than human beings and which deprived them of their land

96

and made them labourers on other men's farms. "29

The nature of injustice that Kenyans, especially the Gikuyu -- whose

land and life were affected the longest and in the most intense way by

colonialism -- suffered at the hand of the colonial authorities and European

settlers has been partially discussed in the earlier chapter. The grievances

over the alienated, lost lands and its recovery was central to the ideology and

motivation of the Mau Mau -- hence the title 'Land and Freedom Army' for the

fighters in the forest. Anti-colonial historiographies were quick to point out

the justification of Mau Mau. Tabitha Kanogo, in discussing the roots of Mau

Mau, says, "Demands for the return of their stolen lands had been

smouldering for years, as nsmg population and diminishing land holdings

fuelled the flames of discontent." 30 David Barnett adds support to this central

issue when he writes "It is not only the brute fact of landlessness, land

hunger and insecurity of tenure which conditioned Kikuyu involvement in the

nationalist movement and peasant revolt; it is also the fact that for a people

who attach such sacred meaning to the land, the areas alienated remained

within their field of experience; unattainable yet in a considerable measure

unused by its owners ... Jl Ngotho in Weep Not, Child is a ·symbolic

representation of this generation -- those who once owned the lands; but are

now reduced to working on it as squatters, at the mercy of the European

settler.

Taxation was another major irritant for the Africans -- the imposition

of which was both direct and indirect. Just and balanced governments

directly tax the wealthy, giving relief to the poor, and implement taxation

proportionate to income and wealth. In Kenya the richest Europeans with vast

land holdings and wealth had to pay only 30 shillings as a poll-tax. The

Africans on the other hand were levied a hut-tax and a poll-tax

disproportionate to their meagre income. One analyst claims that more than

40% of an average Kenyan's income went into paying the direct taxes.

Indirect tax was also levied primarily on goods and articles that were used by

the African population. Those used by the Europeans were levied a meagre,

nominal amount. For example, "the dress of the poorest in Kenya is a cotton

blanket costing about 2 Shillings & 6 dimes, with a value per pound much the

97

same as coffee beans. . .. The railway carries the planters coffee at a rate less

than a fifth of what it charges for the African's blankets." 32

These excessive tax measures were part of a ploy, a deliberate strategy

to increase the cost of living of Africans, thereby compelling them to work on

European farm holdings. Sir Percy Girouard wrote in the East African

Standard in 1913, that, "Taxation is the only possible method of compelling the

native to leave his reserve for the purpose of seeking work. Only in this

way can the cost of living be increased for the native. . .. To raise the rate

of wages would not increase but would diminish the supply of labour. "33

Enforced labour was another major source of disaffection among the Africans.

Though the colonial authorities were strident in their claim that no force was

used and there was no compulsory labour, this was, in practice not the case.

Every possible method of persuasion and pressure was used to compel the

Africans to work on European farms. The Native Registration Ordinance of

1920 demanded that every African male over the age of 16 leaving the

reserved areas carry with him a registration certificate the K.ipande -­

placed in a small tin and hung around his neck. This was used to record the

number of days they worked on European farms and to facilitate the checking

and arrest of deserters from work.

The attitude of racial superiority, the arrogant refusal of the white

settlers to accept Africans as human beings with rights, added to the growing

resentment. Support from the people for the Mau Mau when it broke out was

widespread. According to Norman Leys, "If an African employee in Kenya

loses an eye or a limb or even his life by accident while at work, his master

need pay nothing, and usually does pay nothing. But if that employee kills

and eats a sheep, he must pay ten times its value. Thus do the values of

sheep and men compare in Kenya." 34 J.W.Kariuki in his book Mau Mau Detainee

outlines the indignities heaped on the African population by the Europeans:

"Quick to anger, inhospitable, aloof, boorish and insensitive, they [Europeans]

often behaved as if God had created Kenya and us for their use. They

accepted the dignity of man as long as his skin was white." Not just the

rural population but even the urban, unemployed 'lumpen proletariat' were

united in their resentment. Economic deprivation combined with social

98

humiliation and psychological degradation. Kariuki goes on to state: "Old men

were addressed as boys and monkeys; Africans were barred from hotels and

clubs; Africans with land near European farms were not allowed to plant

coffee. There was a wholesale disregard for human dignity and little respect

for anyone with a black skin. "35 Thus, the seminal issues leading to the Mau

Mau revolt were land, freedom, education, economic conditions and colour-bar.

In The River Between and Weep Not, Child Ngugi shows his full support

of the African causes in the fight against the injustices of European

occupation. The reader is left in no doubt about the legitimacy of Ngotho's

right to the land over Howlands, who is the usurper. These are texts where

the competing claims of Christian philosophy as propagated by colonial

education and the smouldering demands for human justice and African rights

are seen in tandem. The early novels highlight the role of education and

emphasize the theme of reconciliation. Ngugi understands the reasons for the

African's discontent and accepts the need for protest, but at this point has

a hesitancy in endorsing the violent ideology of Mau Mau. Also his

educational background prepared him to accept Jomo Kenyatta as the leader,

but not to recognise Mau Mau as a spontaneous movement of the people.

The adverse propaganda about the Mau Mau centred around the

motivated perceptions of it as savage, anti-christian and tribal. Colonial

authorities did not merely deny the socio-political and economic causes behind

the uprising, they also chose to denigrate it by seeing it as retrogressive.

The Corfield Report, Majadalany's State of Emergency: The Full Story of Mau

Mau, So Rough a Wind by Michael Blundell, John Gunther's Inside Africa and

Ian Henderson's The Hunt for Dedan Kimathi are instances of purposive

historiography that uniformly persist in this fabrication. Blundell claims that

the Mau Mau "was terrorizing the men and women working on their farms with

oaths and all the mumbo-jumbo of tribal witchcraft. Violent assaults, even

serious physical harm and death were the concomitants of robbery and a

general disregard for the law." Playing psychologist, he further states that

"Mau Mau, apart from the lust for power of a few men and the rudimentary

tribal nationalism behind it was also a collapse of the African mind in face of

the pressures to which the modern world and its technology was subjecting

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it ... 36 Majadalany's theories of 'pseudo-nationalism' and 'mass neurosis' of the

Mau Mau lead him to comment: "The comparison with the Prussian element in

Germany in recent European history is difficult to resist -- though Adolf

Hitler might not have cared for the comparison ... Ji

Oathing ceremonies which allegedly contained certain sexual, and bestial

rites and were used to force the reluctant and unwilling into participation

gave further credence to the 'savagery' and 'animality' of the figh~ers. But

as Oginga Odinga observes, "Much of the government information about oath­

taking was obtained through forced confessions in the detention camps and

was unreliable. But there were perversions and abuses of the unity and

fighting oaths ... JS Oginga's acknowledgement of the perversions of the oaths

is followed by an explanation of the rational behind their incorporation.

Tabitha Kanogo too validates the use of oaths by stating: "Since the aim of

the oath was secretly to unite, discipline and foster political consciousness

among the Kikuyus, with the ultimate aim of obtaining land and freedom, it is

hardly surprising that violence and intimidation were used to bring

recalcitrant persons into line. "39 The introduction of sexual and bestial rites

which are normally taboo in daily life was to enhance the power of the oath

and the fear of retribution should it be broken. There was a necessity "both

for the dual threat of divine or human punishment should an initiate violate

his vows and for the inherent practical necessity of killing any person who

ultimately refused to take the 'Oath of Unity'. "40

George Padmore writes: "In trying to elevate the Mau Mau into a

'religion' and ascribing obscene practices to them, the whites hope to shift all

responsibility for what has happened upon the Africans and explain it all as

a sudden reversion to savagery, which demanded their continued presence in

Kenya to bring the Africans back on the path of civilization ... 4! The notion

that the movement was only among the Gikuyus and therefore localised tribal

uprising that had to be suppressed in the interest of the 'nation', was given

currency. That 'Mau Mau' was opposed by other 'Christian and lawful Gikuyu'

and hence a civil war, was the further justification of their presence to save

innocent, Christian, peace-loving people. Imperialist accounts carried the

message that Mau Mau did not have the willing support of most people, and

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they were actually coerced into participation by 'evil' and 'deranged' minds.

Beginning with articles in newspapers in 1952, to books and official

reports till 1962, the only literature available on this topic was written by

British rulers and settlers. In Kenya, vernacular newspapers were banned

and no material supporting Mau Mau ideology was allowed public circulation.

Oginga Odinga is among the voices that articulate the protest against this

dominant view: "This struggle has been distorted as the savage activities of

primitive murdering gangs ... The sensational anti-Mau Mau propaganda of the

period is a gross insult to the leadership of Dedan Kimathi and the brave men

he led .... Only one side in this battle was able to present its case and its

account of events. Our political leaders were locked away in the camps and

prison or fighting for survival in the forests." 42 The colonial government

ensured that 'the other' never had an opportunity to present their version.

The authoritarian structure was employed to silence the voices of rebellion

and subversion from being heard. The obsession of J.W.Kariuki for writing

letters from the prison camp to various international figures, or Kimathi's

order that detailed accounts of the fighter's activities be kept (described by

Njama in Mau Mau from Within) are examples of the desperate need felt by

them to record their viewpoint. The gradual emergence of revolutionary

literature begins to question, and also expose the bias of a book like

Majadalany's, which was sub-titled, 'the full story of Mau Mau'.

The only kind of literature available on Mau Mau in the years before

and immediately after independence, was the coloniser's damning discourse.

The younger generation of educated African youths were brought up on these.

As Mai Palmberg says, "the hysterical and untruthful versions put out by the

European settlers and the British colonial powers were accepted without

question", not only by the western world and European community but also

by the younger generation of Kenyans -- especially the educated Christian

youth. 43 It has to be said in Ngugi's credit that this pervasive indoctrination

did not fully convince him. His curiosity and confusion led him on to explore

further. His first two novels are tentative attempts to reconcile the official

version provided by the dominant ideology with his own emergent uneasiness

and anger.

101

Apart from the historical and personal factors that were instrumental in

changing Ngugi's perception of history and political ideology, his

understanding of the Mau Mau movement was transformed largely by a

significant book published in 1963, J.W.Kariuki's Mau Mau Detainee: Account By

a Kenyan African of His Experiences in Detention Camps - 1953-1960. This was

the first account of the movement from within -- from an activist who was in

detention for nearly seven years. Written by a man from the urban milieu,

about the experiences of a political detainee in prison camps, the book also

presents the ideology of the movement, and the motivations of those who

swore their life to the cause. The description of the hardships, abuse and

violence faced by all those involved and suspected of involvement, in and out

of camps are based on personal experience and information from fellow

detainees. Towards the end Kariuki states: "The future historian of these

times may well find it difficult to get our side of the story. Many documents

vital to his task will be burnt before independence. But in my narrative

he may perhaps see some glimpses of truth and justice of the movements of

unity and he may begin to understand why we do not regard the soldiers of

the forest as 'hard-core', 'terrorists' or 'murderers', but as the noblest of our

fighters for freedom. May this book and our new state be a small part of

their memorial."H Ngugi's close and through reading of the book can be

discerned from the many parallels between Kariuki's descriptions and the

recollections of two characters in A Grain of Wheat; Mugo and Gikonyo of their

life and experiences in such detention camps.

Mau Mau Detainee was followed by other discourses which sought to

present the Mau Mau revolt from the Kenyan's perspective. Notable among

them is Mau Mau From Within by David Barnett and Karari Njama. Njama, one

of the few educated men who joined the fighters in the forest, presents a

detailed account of the revolt, the life in the forest, the ideology and motives

of the freedom fighters and an introduction to the leaders of the movement

Dedan Kimathi, Stanley Mathenge, and General China. The strength and

weaknesses of the movement and the varying reasons that motivated the

peasants and landless poor to join the fighters while the educated kept away

from active involvement are also discussed. The autobiographical narrative is

interspersed with comments and observations by Barnett.

102

The controversy about the Mau Mau has continued with the same

intensity and passion in post-colonial independent Kenya. The debates now

centre around issues of the tribal versus the nationalist, and the relative

contribution of the homeguards and those who opposed the movement in the

achievement of independence. The nature and ideology of Mau Mau and its

role in the granting of independence to Kenya in December 1963 are being

subjected to diverse opinions. Mau Mau historian Maina wa Kinyatti perceives

three schools of thought on the movement. 45 The differing attitudes continue

to be a major area of discussion and disagreement among the intellectuals and

academicians.

m

A Grain of Wheat gains in complexity because of the diverse perceptions

of history that underlie its narrative structure. The interplay of private and

public lives and the interaction between different political attitudes·enrich the

text. In the preface to the book, Ngugi had written that "the situation and

the problems are real -- sometimes too painfully real for the peasants who

fought the British, yet who now see all that they fought for being put on one

side." From a focus on the emergency and what was fought for, the narrative

moves to what has been won and lost, who has gained, suffered, betrayed and

emerged victorious. Unlike Meja Mawangi's Carcass for Hounds ( 1974) or

Wachira's Ordeal in the Forest ( 1968} this novel does not focus primarily on

the freedom fighters, their life in the forest or on the activities of the Mau

Mau. In A Grain of Wheat Ngugi's concern is with the life, hopes, despair,

upheavals and tensions of the common people. The peasants, craftsmen,

elders, youth and women of the village of Thabai during and after the Mau

Mau revolt are all integral to the historical and social fabric of the novel.

In an interview Ngugi had said, "The Kenya emergency or the Mau Mau

war in Kenya is a very important factor in the creation of the present

individuals in Kenya. It was a very formative factor in nation building." 46

103

A Grain of Wheat is a creative rendering of two events, which are inter­

related -- the Mau Mau revolt, and the seven year long Emergency; inde­

pendence and its impact on the community of Thabai. Thabai itself is centric

spatially and symbolically to the unfolding of history and the sequence of

events in the novel. Indicated here is a historical perspective that does not

fully privilege the lives of individuals over the community, but sees them as

inter-related and of equal value. The creation of New Thabai is a consequence

of the Emergency. The Gikuyu did not have traditional villages but scattered

homesteads and clusters of huts on the various ridges, slopes and valleys.

During the Emergency, the colonial government, to facilitate patrolling and

control of the people issued orders to destroy the scattered homesteads and

to build rows of huts within a given parameter. Karari Njama writes that the

'villagization program' started in early 1954 was "an attempt to break down

the traditional dispersed-homestead settlement pattern of the Kikuyu and place

the Kikuyu peasantry in easily guarded, prison-like villages, located handily

near the roads and grouped around Homeguard and police posts. "47 Inclusion

of such details in the fictional narrative underscore the impact of the

emergency not only on the inhabitants, but on the very space that is

inhabited.

Ngugi's evocation of space and the recurrence of significant episodes

at the same location -- the fields where Mugo works before and after the

emergency, the trenches which were dug by forced communal labour, the

woods and the forest near Mumbi's house, the station where the young people

used to meet -- show the interlocking of past and present through space and

integrates the life of the community with the land they live on and fight for.

The symbolic significance and associations given to the locale in effect make

the village of Thabai a nodal point for the operation of the socio-historical

forces of the time. Thabai has to be seen not as an unique case, but as a

representative of other such villages all over the ridges of the Gikuyu land.

The valorization of community over the individual is highlighted by the third

person narrative which shifts to a communal voice at important junctures.

The communal voice presents the narrator as one among the many members of

the village, subject to the same forces that has affected their lives. It invites

the reader to share the same experience, reminiscences, often assuming that

104

he/she is part of the community. The use of the first person plurals, 'us'

'we' 'our', constantly close the gap between narrator, reader and character.

Describing the Uhuru festivities, the narrator says:

In our village and despite the drizzling rain, men and women and children ... sang and danced in the mud .... We hoped that Mugo would come and join us ... Soon after this we all dispersed to our various huts. (p.203-204)

The reader is introduced to various characters from this community; men

and women whose lives have been transformed by colonial occupation, by the

Mau Mau war, the seven years of emergency and who in turn have contributed

to and moulded this history. The five major protagonists while clearly

delineated as individuals whose complex psychological interaction constitutes

the theme of novel, can also be seen as representatives of different attitudes

found among the people at the time. The lives, motivations and actions of

Kihika, Mugo, Gikonyo, Murnbi and Karanja are in some sense paradigmatic of

the lives of the various categories of people in the ridges of Kenya. To these

central characters, Nqugi adds a significant cross-section of minor figures,

who are caught in the process of a violent transformation of life and face it

according to their strengths, weaknesses, limitations and notions of morality.

The thematic strands reveal Nqugi's interest in "the social circumstances of

his characters and especially in the background of the Mau Mau resistance

aqainst which these figures live their lives and as they are altered by it. "48

Though physically absent from the 'present' of the narrative, Kihika the

freedom fiqhter who sacrifices his life for the movement is in a way the

central figure. Seminal to the novel's thematic and political concerns, he is

concretized through the memories of others. A childhood episode is recalled

where Kihika questioned the dogmatic assertions of the Christian teacher on

the issue of female circumcision, prefiguring his future as a rebel. This

controversy about female circumcision was a historical fact which resulted in

the Independent Churches and Schools movement in Kenya. Like Waiyaki and

Njoroge of the earlier novels Kihika is also the inheritor of a dual tradition

in education. From Warui the village elder, he learns the history of the land

and the people, the corning of colonialism and the early rebellions. He also

105

attends the missionary school where he learns another version of history. But

unlike Waiyaki and Njoroge, Kihika sets no store by his western education and

renounces it to work on the fields. As the political clouds gather, we see the

hardening of Kihika's attitude towards the Christians and the white men. The

realisation of the deprivation of his people fills him with the desire for

struggle. When Wambaku complains that he can never forget politics even

while with her, Kihika passionately replies:

'It is not politics, Wambaku ', he said , 'it is life. who lets another take away his land and freedom? life?'

Is he a man Has a slave

(p.97)

Though Kihika's 'on staQe' appearance is confined to three major

episodes, references to him, his action, life and martyrdom dominate the

narrative. The openinQ chapter depicts General R and Lieutenant Koina eager

to discover Kihika's betrayer and avenge his death. The entire village is

united in its efforts to make the Uhuru celebrations a memorial for Kihika and

other martyrs. The absent Kihika gains in stature as the novel progresses,

and the mystery around him is deepened by this . simultaneous vacancy and

tenancy at the centre of the narrative. Parallels between Kihika and Dedan

Kimathi are unavoidable. Kihika is at one level the prototype of any of the

leaders of the movement. The specific parallels between Kihika and Kimathi

are also worth considering. The disregard for colonial education, the non­

compromising attitude towards the colonials and the African collaborators, their

sense of mission and commitment, their inspiration of fellow fighters are some

of the areas of similitude. But many of the leaders in the forest -- Stanley

Mathenge, General China -- shared similar attitudes. Ngugi was evidently

fascinated enough by Dedan Kimathi to write an entire play on him. There are

however differences between Ngugi's depiction of Kimathi in The Trial of

Dedan Kimathi ( 1976) and Kihika in A Grain of Wheat. It would, ultimately, be

more profitable to see Kihika as an 'individual' in his own right, rather than

a fictional recreation of the historical figure -- Dedan Kimathi.

In a novel where the psychological sub-text is concerned with notions

of guilt, betrayal, inadequacy and human failings, it is significant that Kihika

106

alone stands untarnished and pure, free of guilt. In the last meetino between

him and Mugo, Kihika says:

'We only hit back .... Your back to the wall you must strike back . ... We must kill. Put to sleep the enemies of black man's freedom . ... A few shall die that the many shall live .... Else we deserve to be slaves, cursed to carry water and hew wood for the Whiteman for ever and ever.' {p.191}

There is no room for doubt in Kihika's mind about their methods of

protest, and Ngugi here endorses the need and justification of violence

against an unjust social order. The only error of judgement that Kihika

makes, which costs him his life is his trust in Mugo. Kihika is a man of

commitment and passionate belief who assumes that other men must be

similarly motivated. He is aware that some men have betrayed them to become

collaborators. He tells Mugo 'how many took the oath and are now licking the

toes of the whiteman?' Since Mugo has not joined them Kihika takes for

granted his allegiance to the people's cause. What people like Kihika cannot

dream of, much less comprehend is an individual's desire for isolation or

indifference, when the whole land is going through a political, social and

psychological upheaval.

This is Mugo's tragic flaw -- the overwhelming need to be left alone, to

keep the outside world at bay by shutting the door. Paradoxically Mugo's

desire to be left alone stems from the need to be loved, to have close human

relationships -- the absence of which drives him further within himself.

Mugo's wretched childhood -- orphaned at a young age, unwanted by his

aunt who brings him up out of sense of duty than love -- goes a long way

in conditioning his responses as an adult. Mugo's identification is primarily

with the land, his shamba that he wants to cultivate in peace. He wants to

prosper in life, thereby achieving some social recognition. When Kihika talks

of the sacrifices the people would have to make, of brother giving up brother

for Kenya,

Mugo felt a constriction in his throat. ... What right had such a boy, probably younger than Muqo, to talk like that? What arrogance? Kihika had spoken of blood as easily as if he was

107

talking of drawing water in a river ... Something surged for release in Mugo's heart ... an intense vibration of terror and hatred. (p.15)

Mugo's terror arises from the images Kihika draws, which threaten him

and his fragile illusions, leading inevitably to hatred. The reader is

constantly made aware of Mugo's hermit like nature, the aloofness and the

desire to be untouched by the happenings around him. The negative thrust

of such traits is clear from their tragic consequences. The communal voice

in the novel precludes individualism and independent aspirations not in

accordance with the goals of the community. Mugo's "falling is an obsessive

unwillingness to participate in the affairs of his community, a refusal to be

involved in his social environment. "49 When Kihika comes for refuge to Mugo's

hut, Mugo is terrified to the point of hysteria. He keeps wondering:

To be caught harbouring a terrorist meant death. Why should Kihika drag me into a struggle and problems I have not created? Why? ... I have not done harm to anybody. I only looked after my little shamba and crops. And now I must spend my life in prison because of the folly of one man! (p.194)

Mugo holds Kihika responsible for shattering his illusions, invading his

cocoon and dragging him into the turmoil from which he has chosen to

disassociate himself. Haunted by terror, Mugo betrays Kihika to the colonial

officer, resulting in Kihika's capture. While Mugo's betrayal of Kihika is

beyond forgiveness and warrants no sympathy, he still emerges as a tragic

figure rather than as a contemptible creature as Karanja does. Following his

life in detention and return to the village in the years preceding Uhuru, Mugo

"comes to realize that he cannot expiate his guilt by isolation and his attempts

to resolve his conflicts corresponds with his redemption. "50 The brutality of

Mugo's reception and treatment at the police post reveals the horrifying

nature of his act that 'he did not want to know what he had done'. Forced

to face the consequences of his act, Mugo attempts to unconsciously redress

the wrong he has perpetuated. His attempt to save Wambaku -- Kihika's

girlfriend -- from the merciless beating of the homeguards at the cost of

greater hardship to himself shows his inability to any longer isolate himself

from his community.

108

After his detention Mugo's return to the life of a recluse in the days

before Uhuru ensue from a deep sense of guilt. It is not a continuation of

his earlier attitude to life. Guilt and the fear of being discovered as a traitor

battle with his need for human companionship. We see this in his response

to all those who visit him -- especially Gikonyo and Mumbi. In the final scene

Mugo's public acceptance of his guilt and acknowledgement of his act of

betrayal reinforce his stature as a tragic figure. He is to be sympathised

with, rather than despised. This act also gains value given the earlier self

delusions of Mugo as a leader and saviour of the people. Mugo's betrayal "is

a logical outcome of his personal development and a form of revenge of Kihika

for shattering the fragile illusions be had built up ... Sl Mugo who was

scheduled to be honoured by the community on the day of independence

repudiates the honour by making a confession. Apart from his own guilt,

Mumbi's compassion and the need to redeem himself in her eyes motivate him

to perform this act of courage. Mugo's betrayal of Kihika had grown out of

his desire to be disassociated from his community. His confession at the end

stems from the need to be integrated with the community. Mugo emerges as

an individual with intrinsically worthy qualities while possessing a tragic flaw.

Mugo's confession leads Gikonyo to the following reflection:

'He was a brave man, inside,' he said. 'He stood before much honour, praises were heaped on him. Tell me another person who would have exposed his soul for all the eyes to peck at.'

(p.233-234)

By being instrumental in the change in Gikonyo's attitudes, Mugo's

death can be seen as containing a grain from which something positive shall

spring forth. When General R tells Mugo that his deeds alone would be used

to judge him, the reader is moved to acknowledge Mugo's positive actions as

well. Though the act of betrayal can never be forgiven, Mugo's death is

ennobling for him and his community.

The other betrayer in the novel, Karanja, whose 'acts' of treachery are

in a sense less damaging, is perceived by the reader as more despicable than

Mugo. Ngugi maintains a clear distinction between the two, the 'lesser'

betrayer seen as the more vicious. Karanja is the epitome of the servile

109

African, who waits at the master's table for the crumbs thrown his way.

Unlike Mugo, Karanja does not have the excuse of a wretched childhood.

Though a friend of Kihika and Gikonyo, the difference in his personality is

indicated early in the novel, in the incident at the station, where having lost

the race for Mumbi to Gikonyo, he has a vision:

Everybody was runninq away ... men trampled on women, mothers forqot their childreni the lame and the weak were abandoned ... Each man was alone ... Karanja braced himself for the struggle, the fight to live .... I must run, be thought, it cannot be helped, why should I fear to trample on the children, the lame and the weak when others are doing it? (p.94)

This desire for self-preservation at the cost of others runs through

Karanja's life. When the emergency is declared Karanja becomes a home­

guard, spying on, controlling and ill-treating his people at the orders of the

white masters. Karanja's attempt to invest his action with a more positive

motive -- his love for Mumbi and the need to be near her ,....,.. is self-delusive.

His actions are based on the conviction that the white man cannot be defeated

and the way to self-preservation is to join the winning side. When Mumbi

accuses him of being a coward he attempts to justify his actions:

'The Whiteman is strong .... I know because I have tasted his power .... bombs are going to be dropped into the forest as the British did in Japan and Malaya. And those in detention will never, never see this land again. No, Mumbi. The coward lived to see his mother while the brave was left dead on the battle field.' (p.148)

Mugo's act of betrayal traumatises him with guilt, and leads to his

eventual confession. Karanja relishes the power and authority his position as

homeguard brings and revels in humiliating his old friends. He does not know

any regret. Gikonyo, released from detention has to report to the local chief

-- who turns out to be Karanja. Karanja is cold and hostile to his old friend,

even threatening to shoot Gikonyo or send him back to detention. Karanja's

actions stem from the assumption that not only is the white man powerful but

he will also always rule in Kenya. It is therefore expedient to stay loyal to

him. When the emergency is over and Kenya is granted independence, Karanja

110

is lost and afraid. He cannot face the prospect of being deserted by his

masters whom he had served so faithfully. He fervently hopes that Uhuru

would not mean the end of white power. Thompson's departure from Kenya,

indicating the end of white domination leaves Karanja shattered and lonely.

At the Uhuru meeting

He had a momentary picture of all those hands tearing at his flesh. Was this not what he had feared would happen when Thompson departed from the land? He was scared of black power: he feared those men who had ousted the Thompsons and had threatened him. (p.229)

At the end of the novel, Karanja is reduced to a pathetic being, who

has no identity, importance or future. He does not belong to his land or his

community. Compelled by his fear and alienation, he leaves the village, to lose

himself in the anonymity of the city. Travelling by a bus named 'Narrow

Escape' to Githima, he remembers his first job, when he was recruited by the

colonial authorities. 'Rehabilitated' Mau Maus and 'loyalist' homeguards

covered themselves with a long white hood and identified those who had taken

the oath. The hoods were meant to protect their identity and save them from

reprisal from the Mau Mau activists. According to Eustace Palmer, "the image

of the hood recurs, reminding him not only that he betrayed and destroyed

his own people, but also that, with the coming of Uhuru, he is not really free

in his own land and he must go into exile ... sz The final verdict of the novelist

on Karega is not death but something more terrible. He is a nobody, a mere

shadow without substance or essence, one who has no part to play and no

place in independent Kenya.

In the novel, the hope of new life in independent Kenya is worked out

through Gikonyo and Murnb1. They are also archetypal representations of the

traditional Gikuyu man and woman -- their names are the same as the first

man and woman in the Gikuyu creation myth. Gikonyo is the Lukacian hero

occupying the medial space between other extremes. Not a freedom fighter

active in war or a collaborator or disassociated observer; he is one whose

loyalties are clearly defined but is still buffeted by the various forces.

Gikonyo is also an artisan, the cultural hero with whom the hope of revival

111

rests. His strong kinship with the land is expressed through his love and

expertise in carpentry. The ease with which he identifies the different kinds

of wood, and relates it to the landscape and history is indicative of a

symbiotic oneness with his natural/physical environment. Examining a piece

of wood, he tells his customer:

'It's camphor. ... Grows mostly in the high ground in the Aberdares and around Mount Kenya. Very good timber. Why else do you think the white people appropriated the land t:o themselves?' (p. 74)

Gikonyo's historical consciousness though 'low-key', pervades his

professional life. In Gikonyo, the public and the private are inextricably

linked together -- his relationship with Mumbi impinges upon ·most of his

actions and decisions. When Gikonyo is taken away to the detention camp

along with other Mau Mau suspects, he assumes that his detention would be

for only a short time and that they would all be soon released. In detention,

Gikonyo and other prisoners come to know that Kenyatta has lost the trial and

has been sentenced for involvement with the Mau Mau. From this point,

Gikonyo enters into a state of depression, anxiety and restlessness. During

his years in detention he gains sustenance from his vision of Mumbi as the

only unchanging, steadfast pure being who will give him succour. As Cook

and Okenimkpe remark, "In expecting to find her [Mumbi] unchanged, Gikonyo

is superimposing his own wishful imaginings upon the realities of the

situation ... Sl Unable to withstand the long confinement,. overcome by his

longing to be united with Mumbi, despairing of the success of the revolt,

Gikonyo is the first man in the camp to confess his oath, thereby beginning

his journey back home through the pipe-line.

Analysing the motives of detainees who had taken the oath but later

confessed it to the authorities, Kariuki writes in his book: "In most cases

thei:r: confessions had been prompted more by homesickness than anything

else.'' 54 Ngugi invites the reader also to see Gikonyo's action in this light -­

not as a betrayal of the cause or an irredeemable act, but as a forgivable

human failing, the limitations of men who loved their wives and family. In

Karari Njama's analysis, "love sympathy was the greatest weakness to the

112

revolutionary loyalties ... In order to become a strong, faithful warrior who

would preserve to the last minute, one had to renounce all worldly wealth,

including his family." 55 The readers' disappointment with Gikonyo arises not

out of his act of confession. We are troubled by his need to see Mumbi as

'pure', and his subsequent anger and sense of betrayal at finding Mumbi

with a child she has borne another man. Gikonyo who is aware of his own

limitations, and may be because of it, refuses to discuss this issue. He

condemns her out of hand, spurning all her attempts at reconciliation. It is

only when Gikonyo hears of Mugo's confession, that he is able to face his own

guilt and reconsider his condemnation of Mumbi, thereby leading to the

beginning of a new relationship with her.

Mumbi embodies all the positive attributes of Gikuyu society. Ngugi's

women characters have a special place in the narrative -- they posses innate

strength and insight and "in the face of betrayal and horror, they are not

embittered but display pity and sympathy towards the weak. "56 Mumbi's

courage and strength are revealed through the years of deprivation, hunger

and hardship. When she reluctantly accepts food from Karanja, it is not for

herself but for Gikonyo's mother, her parents and younger brother. Still it

leaves her with a sense of shame and guilt. Even though she has no hope of

Gikonyo's return, she remains faithful to him and refuses to let Karanja's

words of love move her. She tells Mugo:

'I despised him. He really appeared contemptible in his Khaki uniform, and a big rifle slung on his shoulder and talking of love in the middle of the road .... "Why don't you wear your mother's skirt? ... When others went to fight you remained behind to lick the feet of your white husbands." ' (p.148)

Mumbi's contempt for Karanja and his actions, her belief in Kihika and

support of Gikonyo are symptomatic of the loyalties of the women of the

peasant community. They stood steadfastly with their men in the struggle,

and often joined them in active warfare. Mumbi's sincerity and compassion

compel Mugo to confess, for he cannot face her otherwise. Karanja is reduced

to nothing by Mumbi's rejection. Gikonyo's attitude to life is influenced by

her. Mumbi's decision to marry Gikonyo, a poor carpenter, shows the scale

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of values that posits the artisan, the cultural hero above the moneyed man.

When Gikonyo is happy with Mumbi, money is not a primary consideration; he

finds fulfillment in his life as a carpenter.

For Mumbi's smile, for that look of appreciation, he would go on making chairs, tables, cupboards ... He would never make money, he would remain poor, but he would have her. (p.82)

When Gikonyo returns from detention, Mumbi's 'betrayal' and the

subsequent estrangement embitters him, turning him from being a creative

artisan to becoming a petty businessman. Spurred by ambition and the need

to become wealthy, he hoards goods and sells them at the time of scarcity,

enhancing their value. Critics have held differing views in their analysis of

this aspect of Gikonyo's character and Ngugi's attitude towards Gikonyo.

Adrian Roscoe condemns Gikonyo as "a rather sordid businessman ... the

prototype of the class Ngugi has grown to detest .... That black should exploit

black was not what Uhuru was won for. "51 C.B.Robson's understanding is

that "the extent of Ngugi's investment in Gikonyo and Mumbi as a hope for

the future rules out an ironic presentation of Gikonyo as a neo-European

exploiting his own people. "58

Gikonyo's business enterprise cannot be seen as completely negative

because all the villagers admire his initiative, and hard labour. But Ngugi

does not present this entirely as a healthy or admirable trend. This phase

in Gikonyo's life is seen as a degeneration, the result of his estrangement

from Mumbi. He earns money, but there is an awareness in him that this is

not enough:

'I have a bit of land and money enough to buy me food and drink. But now the money gives me no pleasure, the wealth tastes as bitter water in my mouth.' (p.170)

Gikonyo becomes a figure of hope only when he is reconciled with

Mumbi; and by implication repudiates his career as a merchant. The end of

the book shows him mulling over his earlier desire -- the wish to carve a

stool in the traditional Gikuyu way. Planning the motif, he first decides to

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carve a thin man and woman, with hard lines on their faces and shoulders

bent. Their hands would be linked on the head or shoulders of the third

figure -- a child. Later, Gikonyo decides to modify the woman's figure,

carving her 'big with child'. The unborn child symbolises the grain of hope

of a new beginning. The artisan, cultural hero who might be instrumental in

the regeneration of new life is back.

*** *** ***

The five protagonists of A Grain of Wheat belong to the same aqe group,

come from a similar background, are born in colonial Kenya and are in the

prime of youth at the time of the Mau Mau movement. The minor characters

represent the different generations and various sections of Kenyan society.

Warui and Wambui are the village elders, who symbolise the involvement of the

older generation in the history of resistance and the present revolt. Warui

is also the teacher who educates Kihika and the others in the history of the

land, the creation myth of Gikuyu and Mumbi, and the coming of the white

man. The resistance to colonialism -- beginning with Waiyaki, carried on by

Thuku and now continued by Kimathi, Kenyatta and other leaders is presented

by Warui from the realm of personal experience and as part of the ongoing

process. Warui's involvement in the march to free Thuku in the twenties and

Wambui's participation in the Mau Mau revolt in the fifties represent the

continuation of the history of resistance from one generation to another.

Warul is also a reversal of Ngotho in Weep Not, Child. Ngotho refuses to take

the oath though his son Boro is a Mau Mau. Warui's sons disappoint him by

becoming home-guards or moving away to the city and alienating themselves

from the people's struggle. Wambui foregrounds the importance of the

women's support and participation in the freedom movement. The image of an

older woman imbued with wisdom and courage, inspiring the younger

generation -- especially women -- to heroic acts and providing moral and

emotional support is a recurrent figure even in the later novels. Wambui's

fighting spirit had never died. She believed in the power of

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women to influence events, especially where men had failed to act or seemed indecisive. (p.180)

The involvement of women as an integral part of the struggle enhances

the moral aspect of the fight and highlights the commitment of the family as

a whole in the revolt and demand for freedom.

Lieutenant Koina and General R are freedom fighters who, having spent

many years in the forest with Kihika, fighting under his leadership, are now

spurred with the need to avenge his death. They are still trapped by past

memories, and· have difficulty falling back into normal life after the emergency.

General R's personal life and childhood incidents form a close parallel to the

political situation in Kenya. As a boy, his anger against his father, a colonial

messenger who beat and abused his wife grew into a rage. He finally

retaliated with physical violence:

The son did not see a father, but a perpetrator of unprovoked violence, a petty colonial tyrant ... And his father saw not a son, but a subject who refused to be a subject. But Muhoya [General R] had not reckoned with a slave's treachery. The woman took a stick and fought on her husband's side. (p.212)

The mother who fights by the side of her abuser (the husband who is

a petty tyrant) against the one who defends her (her son) is metaphorically

the homeguards who aligned themselves with the white man against their own

people. Their combined strength surprises the rebel, who is forced into

submission. The questions General R raises in his speech at the Uhuru

ceremony are significant. Freedom fighters like him have fought the white

man, staked their lives and won independence for the land. But who stands

to benefit now? What is the nature of Uhuru that Kenya has achieved? Will

the injustices of the past be rectified or will they continue in the future?

That it is General R, the former fighter who asks these question about the

future is highly suggestive. Ngugi lays the responsibility of ensuring that

Uhuru dovetails with the aspirations for which they were fought with the

fr'eedom fighters themselves -- a theme that becomes central in Matiqari.

Lt.Koina, a cook in the World War II, belittled by the whites, overcomes his

116

sense of inadequacy and inferiority when he joins the fighters. This

involvement with the Mau Mau activities give him a new self; an awareness of

black power. Koina exemplifies the psychological need and catharsis of

violence that the black personality has to undergo before self-discovery.

Fanon's ideas on violence are reflected in the rape of Dr.Lynd by Koina.

Koina's violence towards Dr.Lynd is in retaliation of the physical and

psychological violence that he and his people have faced at the hands of the

whites. It is an attempt to redress the violence inflicted upon one by re­

inflicting it on the oppressor.

Though Ngugi presents the rape of Dr.Lynd as an example of political

and colonial violence, devoid of sexual implications, the gender issue here

cannot be so facilely side tracked. Rape of a white woman -- threatened or

real -- by the black /brown native is a recurrent motif in many novels about

colonial situations. One profitable way would be to see rape as an act of

power and control in the patriarchal world-view. Hence, colonisation is seen

as a 'rape' of the land, where 'men' take control and possess it. The

colonised become 'weak women' -- mere subordinates. In the context of India

there has been some discussion on the ideal of masculinity and its role in

colonial discourse. It has been observed that the aggressive maleness of the

colonisers became in a paradoxical way a model for the militant nationalist

native also. 59 In the context of other colonised countries also, at the time of

national insurgence, in the process of attaining 'manhood', the colonised

operating within the same patriarchal construct, perpetuates rape -- on his

own women, and with greater psychological violence -- on white women.

Koina's rape of Dr. Lynd operates within the framework of this double

compulsion.

Koina is firm in the belief that independence would drive the whites

away. Kenya was after all a black man's country; there would be no room for

former colonial rulers and white oppressors. But Dr. Lynd stays on, merely

acquiring more ferocious dogs for personal security. When Koina sees her, his

earlier fears and inadequacies surface. He wonders:

She stood there as if she was mocking him: See me, I have still

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got the big house, and my property has even multiplied .... Why was she still in Kenya? Why were all these whites still in Kenya despite the ringing of Uhuru bells? Would Uhuru really change things for the likes of him and General R? Doubts stabbed him.

(p.214)

Koina's reflections, along with General R's questions constantly remind

us of their uncertainties about the future. Would Uhuru bring about a real

change in the social, political and economic structure of the country or would

the present injustices and inequalities continue and worsen? Ngugi here

anticipates the main theme of Petals of Blood -- neo-colonialism.

In A Grain of Wheat, Margery Thompson, John Thompson and Dr. Lynd

represent the colonial rulers and white settlers. Ngugi has been criticised for

the gratuitous introduction of a strand in the novel depicting Margery's

sexual life which has no place in the central narrative. While Margery's extra

marital affair with Dr. Van Dyke is peripheral to the narrative, it still

reinforces the theme of betrayal and guilt, pervading all sections of Kenyan

society. Margery's parasitic existence is also a paradigm of the coloniser.

Living off the land and the people, her idleness leads her ~o have liaisons

with other men. It is also indicative of Thompson's failure as a husband.

Thompson comes to Kenya, full of naive idealism and inbred arrogance,

completely captivated by the myth of the white man's burden. The political

conquest which was clothed in the moral and the religious zeal finds a firm

adherent in Thompson. His dream is to write a book, titled 'Prospera in

Africa', about his experiences of civilizing the 'savage'. Thompson is the

prototypical British officer, who sees himself as a saviour of the 'heathens'

and the 'uncivilized' but is essentially lacking in empathy. As a District

Officer, Thompson lacks sensitivity, is devoid of any understanding of the

people he is governing. It is during Thompson's tenure as commandant that

eleven detainees at Rira camp die of police violence. His strategy of the

carrot and the stick to get the detainees to confess the oath does not yield

any results. He therefore concludes, 'these men are sick'. For Cook and

Okenimkpe, "Thompson is a supreme example of those who refuse to admit the

logical links between past action and present outcome. As Africa enters the

118

international arena in its own right, this proponent of reorientation is

appalled, not triumphant." 60 Thompson cannot face staying on in independent

Kenya under black rule and opts to leave the country. His final statement on

this subject to his wife is significant.

'Perhaps this is not the journey's end,' he said ... 'We are not yet beaten,' he asserted hoarsely. 'Africa cannot, cannot do without Europe.' (p.166}

The assertion that they are not beaten yet, is partially carried out by

Dr .Lynd, who in spite of the violent personal experience, refuses to be driven

away. Conversely it strengthens her determination to stay on. When she sees

Koina again she feels insecure, just as Koina feels frightened of her, but her

adamancy in remaining in Kenya cannot be shaken.

The lives of all the characters in the novel are inextricably linked

together. While each one of them is presented as an individual with a unique

predicament, they are, through the cause and effect relationship that their

actions have on each other also perceived as a community. This complex

causality reinforces the notion of them as a community than as individuals.

Kihika's influence on Gikonyo results in Gikonyo's detention. Mugo fears

Kihika and hence betrays him. Karanja becomes a home-guard because of his

love for Mumbi. Mumbi bears him a child, which leads to estrangement

between her and Gikonyo. Mumbi's compassion compels Mugo to confess.

Mugo's confession leads to a mellowing in Gikonyo, paving the way for a new

beginning. It is not a chain reaction but inter-woven, where each individual's

actions, decisions have an impact on more than one other person. The cause

and effect relationship is not among individuals alone, but also between past

action and present consequence. This aspect is highlighted by the narrative

method of A Grain of Wheat, which is markedly different from the chronological

linear accounts found in The River Between and Weep Not, Child. The

author's perception of history is clearly reflected in the narrative strategies

deployed in A Grain of Wheat.

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IV

Beginning barely four days before Uhuru, the major section of this

novel is an exploration of the relationship between the immediate past (the

Mau Mau war and the years of emergency) and the distant past (childhood

memories of the various characters). Evocative words and phrases, familiar

objects and significant locale are all triggers to memory. Transporting the

reader and character into the past, and conversely allowing the past to

intrude violently into the present, these motifs create important resonances

and serve multiple functions. This method has a temporal complexity and it

highlights Ngugi's conception of past, present and by implication the future

being inter-locked in a dialectal relationship, negating a simpli~tic

understanding of the present as unilaterally evolving from the past.

The past of an individual, a community or a nation is not a time apart,

fixed and static, but constantly flows into the present and modifies it, just as

present perceptions continually redefine the past and reinterpret the

significance of past actions and events. The recurrent forays into the past

by all the characters in the novel makes the reader aware that immediate

judgements are inadequate. As C.B.Robson notes, "Many events of the novel

are unfolded in such a way that we are forced to re-adjust and revalue our

approach and impression, since new information and different view-points keep

appearing. "61 The awareness that the past is not fixed but fluid becomes

possible through the multiple views of a given event. For example, Mumbi

bearing another man's child is initially seen from the point of the husband -­

Gikonyo. This perception invests the incident with a certain dimension and the

reader is asked to share it. But later in the narrative, the same incident is

retold from Mumbi's perspective, and the earlier outlook of the reader is

modified by this new slant. The reader and the characters are constantly

reworking their understanding from one position to another, given time,

information and an opportunity to judge from another angle. This then raises

the question whether judgement is possible at all, and whether we can ever

have the 'full story'. Through incidents in personal life to the larger

historical events, the narrative underlines the relativity of reality and the

120

plurality of recoverable past.

The theme of guilt, a major concern in the novel, is linked with this

fluid notion of judgement and perception. Those condemned guilty are later

discovered to be innocent; those presumed to be heroes and martyrs turn out

to be betrayers. Ngugi's subtle statement is that the dismissal of the Mau

Mau movement as barbaric or atavistic reveals only a biased, limited

perception. His own earlier hesitation and uneasiness regarding the movement

was the result of partial exposure. As a young school boy at the time of the

insurgence, Ngugi would have had little direct contact with the movement and

its participants. His initial understanding would have been conditioned by the

colonial historiography which we have looked at earlier. But with maturity,

a qreater access to the people's oral narratives and the revolutionary

narratives of Kariuki and Njama comes a different perception. In the tentative

and muted statements about the human condition that A Grain of Wheat makes,

at least one strand is unambiguous. Ngugi looks at the Mau Mau now as a

·"->--neroic movement of resistance and a glorious struggle for freedom. 1..- ")

~~ A Grain of Wheat represents the Mau Mau revolt as the continuation and

partial culmination of the resistance to colonialism, in the tradition of Waiyaki, -,..__ \~ Thuku, and now "Kihika, Kimathi and Kenyatta. The narrative enforces that

_.........____ Mau Mau was no aberration or sudden atavistic upsurge but a cumulative

violent blossominq of the revolt latent in Gikuyu society and intermittently

expressed. The Mau Maus were not deranged criminals in the forest but

ordinary men and women who could and would no longer bear the burden of

oppression. In A Grain of Wheat it is the violence of the coloniser that is

seen as savage, unprovoked and illogical. The deaf and dumb Gitogo is shot

dead because he could not hear the policeman's command to stop. The white

policeman who shoots him rejoices in having killed another 'Mau Mau'. The

torture and inhuman treatment in the prison camps, the violence of the

homeguards towards the villagers, the whipping of the pregnant Wambaku are

incidents that make retaliatory violence by the colonised almost inevitable.

This is a complex novel in which certain contradictions are never fully

resolved. As stated earlier, my thesis is that A Grain of Wheat represents the

121

middle passage of Ngugi's creative career and ideological maturity. Unlike the

earlier narratives there is a clear endorsement of retaliatory violence. The

novel is also a political testament to not just the freedom fighters but the

people who resisted their oppressors and joined hands with the rebels. But

underlying this is also a poignant rendering of the suffering and pain that

individuals, families and the entire community underwent as a result of the

turbulent forces rocking their lives. A sympathy with human weaknesses and

failings is pervasive through the narrative.

The novel is categorical in its condemnation of servile collaborators like

Karanja. It is equally definite in its idealisation of the freedom fighter -­

Kihika. What is interesting about A Grain of Wheat is its empathy with a

vast range of people who occupy the spectrum of grey between these two

extremities of black and white. Mumbi, Mugo and Gikonyo are looked at with

varying degrees of understanding and while their faults are not totally

condoned, they are treated sympathetically. Even here the narrative does

privilege the lives of Mumbi and Gikonyo who are part of the community over

Mugo the solitary man. Still there is an essential humaneness; a preoccupation

with individual ethics and dilemmas that is markedly absent in the later

narratives. From Petals of Blood onwards, the dividing lines between right

and wrong are far more starkly drawn.

Ngugi's contention that "the British propaganda history consisted of

burying the real tradition of struggle" 62, led him to counter some of the

major premises of the colonisers. Through a direct representation of events,

reinterpretation of the past and through multiple perspectives on crucial

issues, A Grain of Wheat almost becomes a text of alternative history. That

the Mau Mau movement did not have the support of the entire Gikuyu tribe,

leave alone the rest of Kenya was an idea assiduously propagated by t~e

official sources. A Grain of Wheat repudiates that view by showing how the

Mau Mau was a grassroots movement. The existence of a collaborator class did

not turn it into a 'Gikuyu civil war'. At the beginning of the novel, we are

told about a meeting of the movement:

There were ... plenty of speakers from Muranga and Nairobi.

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There was also a Luo speaker from Nyanza showing that the movement had broken barriers between tribes. (p.14)

Although rather obviously put, the message of the description is obvious

Mau Mau was a national movement, spearheaded by the Gikuyus, but

supported by others. The reference is clearly to Oginga Odinga, whose

autobiography Not Yet Uhuru validates Ngugi's perception of the movement

being supported by all the tribes. Whether Mau Mau was a national movement

or merely a Gikuyu uprising continues to be a major debate in post-colonial

Kenya. Those presenting the Mau Mau as a heroic freedom movement have

sometimes been accused of Gikuyu chauvinism.

Rev. Jackson, the revivalist preacher in A Grain of Wheat warns the

people about Mau Mau and exhorts those who have taken the oath to repent.

He is unable to distinguish between the Christian faith and the colonial ruler.

He is reminiscent of Jacobo in The River Between who falls into the same trap.

If according to Ngugi the "acceptance of the Christian church meant the

outright rejection of all African customs" 63 , one can question the purpose of

the extensive Biblical quotations and allusions in A Grain of Wheat. Even the

title of the novel is from the Bible. Kihika the revolutionary freedom fighter

carries the Bible with him constantly, in which many passages are underlined.

Often his political arguments are supported with references from the Bible.

In the light of Ngugi's earlier assertion this may be surprising, but a closer

study reveals that most of the references are from the Old Testament. Njama

in his book says: "The Old Testament which covers the greater part of the

Holy Bible is mostly Israelite or Jewish religion which in all respects agrees

with the Kikuyu religion before the arrival of the Europeans. "64 Apart from

this similarity, the reference to Moses and the liberation of the Jews from

bondage offer a parallel to the African situation, emphasising how Christian

ethics was always on the side of the oppressed and supported them in their

rebellion against tyranny and fight for freedom.

Two things happen in the text -- on the one hand there is a critique

of the way the Christian church and the missionaries operate in Kenya. They

are seen as the co-partners in the colonial process and therefore rejected.

123

On the other hand the Bible, especial! y the Old Testament is used to validate

the people's uprising. It is authenticated even from within the given religious

frame. That Christianity could be used as an ally both by the coloniser and

by the freedom fighters appears to be an interesting historical situation. This

indicates the ability of the colonised to reinterpret even religion to suit their

ends. In recent years another version of this is seen in Latin America, where

'Liberation Theology' becomes an important radical force. In A Grain of Wheat,

the existence of an Africanised church, devoid of colonial and white values,

which could be harmonised with African culture, customs and aspirations was

seen as a possibility. Until then they had been given a choice between

Christian faith and nationalist commitment. That one can either be a rebel or

Christian is an artificial dichotomy which seems to be dismantled by the

narrative. Kihika carrying the Bible, and the extensive allusions from it go

to assert that revolutionary ethics and the religious code are compatible.

The theme of education and educated leadership so seminal in the two

earlier narratives is completely absent here. Kihika disregards colonial

education, Gikonyo is an artisan. The only Kenyan being educated in the

missionary school in A Grain of Wheat is Kariuki, the younger brother of

Mumbi and Kihika. In this novel Kariuki is a marginal figure, playing no role

in the present struggle, and is equally absent from the picture of future

Kenya. The total absence of Kariuki in the later sections and even in the

Uhuru celebrations may be seen as an indication of the lack of active

participation from the educated class in the movement. This negation of

educated leadership is also a rejection of the Kenyatta myth -- of the

educated leader who would guide the masses. The earlier books, particularly

Weep Not, Child refer to Jomo Kenyatta as the black Moses who would lead his

people to freedom. In A Grain of Wheat it is Mugo the traitor, the man whom

everyone believes to be a hero, but who in reality has betrayed K~h.ika, who

has self-delusions and dreams of being Moses, the chosen laader of the people.

The implicit parallel cannot be overlooked. From thiF novel onwards, not only

is the notion of educated leadership negate(l_, even the concept of leadership

undergoes radical change. It is th~ people who are transformed, who act

upon the historical forces and mould the course of events. The genesis of

this idea can be seen 8\ren in the earlier narratives where the people form the

124

Kiama, could organise strikes without 'individualistic' leadership. But there

was always the hope that an individual leader will emerge. From A Grain of

Wheat onwards the focus is on the people's movement. Even if a 'leader' is

delineated he is from the people, and representative of a more politically

mature section of the society than a man with a higher social status or

educational achievement.

*** *** ***

A Grain of Wheat is a committed writer's creative attempt to counter

colonial perceptions about Kenya's past and present. It simultaneously

presents Ngugi's view of history and political ideology. A Grain of Wheat is

a historical novel not by virtue of the historical backdrop or the signposts

but because of the sense of history, conception and understanding that

pervades the narrative. The signposts or events of history do not merely add

authenticity to the fictional tale; they are aids to reinforcing authorial

perception. His use of history involves a process of selection. Some of the

major aspects of the Mau Mau movement were oathing ceremonies; killing of

African collaborators, colonial authorities and settler families; the violence

meted out to the people by the home-guards, life in detention, the freedom

fighters in the forest. Three incidents became famous -- the capture of the

Naivasha police-station, the massacre at Lari supposedly by the Mau Mau and

the death of eleven detainees at Hola Camp. Ngugi makes a careful selection

of those events that fit into his framework, without entering into ambiguous

areas. Interpretation of inclusion and exnomination lead to a clearer

understanding of the ideological constructs underlying the creative discourse.

Fictional representation of history is different from 'real' history. The

fixed parameters of the outcome of a revolt, some of the major events do not

hinder the author's ability to introduce different nuances and perceptions

while incorporating myth, legend, word-of-mouth stories and even beliefs as

history. As Lewis Nkosi remarks, "We are here dealing not with pure

historical facts, if there is ever such a thing, but with fact transformed into

125

myth; out of the raw materials of history the novelists construct for· us

'fictions'. "65 The demands of credibility from a novelist are very different

from the demands made on a historian. The historian's narrative has to be

within the realm of actual occurrence substantiated by verifiable evidence;

fictional narrative is within the realm of possible occurrence with the logic

and verisimilitude contained within the text.

Ngugi's perception of history as a continuum, of the interlocking of the

past and present has already been discussed. The historical sense in A Grain

of Wheat is partially a Marxist understanding: that each individual is created

by history and yet paradoxically is creating history. The events of history

impinge upon the public and the private self, upon the individual and the

community; whose actions, in turn, decide and change the course of history.

In A Grain of Wheat we see the impact of the Mau Mau war and the Emergency

on the personal lives of all the individuals and the community as a whole.

Likewise, the origin and course of the movement, its success and defeat is

decided by every member individually and collectively by the community.

Interspersed within this is the psychological sub-text that delves into the

inner psyche of human beings in order to comprehend the fears, aspirations

and desires that motivate their particular actions.

The transformations of history can be seen through the changes in

people's lives. Violent socio-political upheavals intrude into personal lives

and the people in turn act upon these forces, enhancing or retarding their

thrust. As Emmanuel Ngara states, "the writer focuses our attention not on

the events as abstractions but on their effects on the individual soul and the

individual mind and on person-to-person relationship. "66 The focus is not on

the individual in isolation, but the individual in a community, and therefore

on the society as a whole. It is the history of the people, the protest

movement of the people that is significant for Ngugi -- especially as

harbingers of social revolution. The history of the rulers and the elite is the

history of oppression and collaboration. The history of resistance and revolt

comes from the masses, the common people. Ngugi fulfils Lukacs' criteria that

"If the historical novelist can succeed in creating characters and destinies in

which the important socio-human contents, problems, movements etc. of an

126

epoch appear directly then he can present history 'from below', from the

stand point of popular life. "67 The history and course of the movement is

seen in a dialectical relationship with the problematic of ethics and moral

questions. The narrative gives equal weightage to both even while privileging

a given ideological commitment.

The ending of A Grain of Wheat has evoked diametrically opposed

views. Most critics feel that the novel ends on a note of quiet hope. In spite

of the shattered illusions, fragile expectations, lingering fears, and the

possibility of Uhuru not being the climatic event people waited for, they

perceive a new beginning in the last chapter titled 'Harambee'. A positive

attitude is seen in Gikonyo's motif for the stool he plans to carve -- a woman

big with child -- underlining the possibility of growth that is inherent in the

title of the novel. C.B.Robson sees Gikonyo as the saviour figure, embodying

the spirit of Harambee. 68 But Malcom Page and Adrian Roscoe see the end of

the novel as one of disillusionment and despair. Roscoe sees Gikonyo as a

sordid businessman and this rules out the possibility of his embodying any

message of hope in the fut\lre. 69 Page sees the use of the word 'Harambee'

which in Swahili means 'pulling together' as ironic, since the only other

textual reference to this word is made by the new M.P who cheats Gikonyo

and the other peasants and is absent from even the local Uhuru celebration. 70

The word was made popular by Kenyatta as a rallying slogan at the time of

independence, and Kenyatta is hardly a hero in this novel.

Textually, there is a constant see-saw between the euphoria of

independence and the gloom and sombreness of the past coupled with the

uncertainty of the future. The questions raised by General R, the attitude of

the local M.P and the new black elite, and the fears of Koina are indicative of

despair and betrayal at the national level. Contrarily, Mugo's confession, its

impact on Gikonyo, the impending reconciliation between Gikonyo and Mumbi

-- the archetypal Gikuyu man and woman -- and the motif of the stool

suggest hope.

In 1966 Ngugi is acutely aware of the disillusionment of Uhuru, the

betrayal of the peasants who fought for freedom, of the new black comprador

127

class and neo-colonialism. In 1963 in the joy and euphoria of the achievement

of independence these were hardly thought of. This is an important question

implicit in all historical fiction. To what extent does the author superimpose

his own later hindsight on his characters who are living in their present?

His own views had evolved through time, and distance from the past and his

present socio-historical awareness. Can these perceptions be shared by his

characters who live in the past, who inhabit a different socio-political climate

which would necessarily limit their ability to foresee the changes in the

future? Milan Kundera states that "Man passes through the present with his

eyes blind-folded. He is permitted only to sense and guess at what he is

actually experiencing. Only later, when the cloth is untied can he glance at

the past and find out 'what' he had experienced and what meaning it had. "11

Ngugi is able to glance back, while his characters are still blind-folded.

The disagreements between Robson, Roscoe and Page are indicative of the

tensions between the author's enhanced perception and the characters' limited

view. The hope and joy that existed at the time of Uhuru, in 1963 are

represented, but the author's sense of disappointment and unease informs the

entire narrative and are often superimposed on the characters. This gap

between the author and the characters narrows in the later narratives. In

f_gtal_s of Blood the narrator and the narrative occupy the same 'time' and

'space'. Hence Ngugi is able to fully invest the characters with his own

historical and political consciousness.

128

10

11

12

13

14

tS

16

17

Ngugi wa Thiong'o, A Grain of _Wheat, (London Heinemann, 1967). Revised and reset 1986, 1988. Page reference are to the 1988 edition.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Homecoming, (London: Heinemann, 1972),p.49.

Ngugi, Homecoming, p.23.

Ngugi, Homecoming, p.28.

David Maugham-Brown, "Four Sons of One Father: A Comparison of Ngugi's Earliest Novels with Works by Mwangi, Mangua and Wachira" in ~esearch in African Literatures, (Univ. of Texas, Vol.16,No.2, 1985), p.197.

G.D.Killam, An Introduction to the Writings of Ngugi, (London: Heinemann, 1980), p.SS-56.

Ngugi, Homecoming, p.47.

Chinua Achebe, "The Black Writers Burden" ,Presence Africane , Vol 31, No.59, (Paris 1966) p.138.

Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth trans. Constance Farrington, (1961, Middlesex: Penguin 1967) p.47,98

Both are published in Homecoming.

Ngugi in African Writers Talking, ed. Dennis Duerden and Cosmo Pieterse, ( 1972, London: Heinemann, 1978) p.121.

Milan Kundera, The Art of the Novel, trans. Linda Asher, ( 1986, London: Faber & Faber, 1988), p.44.

Kofi Awoonor, The Breast of the Earth, (New York: New Pubs. International, 1975), p.292.

C.B.Robson, Ngugi wa Thiong'o (London: Heinemann, 1979), p.46.

S.A.Gakwandi, The Novel and Contemporary Experience in Africa (London: Heinemann,1977) p.109.

Lewis Nkosi, Tasks and Masks - Themes and Styles of African Literature (London: Longman, 1981), p.31.

W.J. Howard, Themes and Development in the Novels of Ngugi's in The Critical Evaluation of African Literature ed. Edgar Wright, (London: Heinemann, 1973),p.ll8

129

18

19

20

21

2i.

23

24

25

26

2i

28

29

30

Jl

33

35

3 7

38

Margery Perham, Foreword to J.W. Kariuki's Mau Mau Detainee (London: OUP, 1963) p xii-xiii

Sir Michael Blundell, So Rough a Wind (London: Weidnfield & Nicolkson, 1964) p.83.

Norman Leys, Kenya ( 1924, London: Frank Cars, 1973) p.334.

Norman Leys, A Last Chance in Kenya, (London, 1931), p.41.

Ibid, p.14 7.

John Gunther, Inside Africa (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1955), p.353.

Fred Majadalany, State of Emergency: The Full Story of Mau Mau, (London : Longman, 1962),p.79.

In Johannesburg Star Dec. 12, 1952, cited by Majadalany, p. 80

Cited by Majadalany, p.llO.

Blundell, p.160-166.

Endre Sik, The History of Black Africa, Vol.IV, trans. Sandor Simon, (Budapest: Akademiai, 1974),p.37.

Kenneth Ingham, A History of East Africa, (London: Longman, 1962).p.410.

Tabitha Kanogo, Squatters and the Roots of Mau Mau, 1905-63 ( London: James Currey, 1987) p.106.

David Barnett and Karari Njama, Mau Mau From Within: An Analysis of Kenya's Peasant Revolt (New York: Modern Reader Paperbacks, 1966) p.34.

Norman Leys, A Last Chance in Kenya, p.50.

Sir Percy Girouard, cited in Norman Leys, Kenya, p.202.

Norman Leys, A Last Chance in Kenya, p.87.

J.W.Kariuki, Mau Mau Detainee: Account By a Kenyan African of his Experiences in Detention Camps- 1953-1960) (London: O.U.P, 1963) p.14, p.21.

Blundell, p.88, p.171.

Majadalany, p.30.

Oginga Odinga, Not Yet Uhuru, (London: Heinemann Educational Books; 1967), p.121.

130

39

40

41

42

44

45

46

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

60

61

62

Tabitha Kanogo,p .128.

Barnett and Njama, p.60.

George Padmore, Pan Africanism or Communism; (New York: Doubleday & Co Inc., 1971), p.225.

Oginga Odinga, p.120-121.

Mai Palmberg, The Struggle for Africa, (London: Zed Press, 1982), p.

Kariuki, p.182.

Maina wa Kinyatti, ed. Kenya's Freedom Struggle: The Dedan Kimathi Papers, (London: Zed Books Ltd, 1987).

Ngugi in African Writers Talking, p.125,

Barnett and Njama, p.332.

G.D. Killam, p.53-54

Cook and Okenimkpe, p. 72

Eustace Palmer, Introduction to the African novel, p.36.

C.B. Robson, p.53

Palmer, Introduction to the African Novel, p.43.

Cook and Okenimkpe, p.80.

J.W. Kariuki, p.127.

Barnett and Njama, p.434.

C.B. Robson, p.60.

Adrian Roscoe, Uhuru's Fire: African Literature East to South, (London: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1977), p.186.

C.B. Robson, p.69

See Ashis Nandy, The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism (London: OUP, 1983), p. 7.

Cook and Okenimkpe, ·p. 72.

C.B. Robson, p.SO

Ngugi, Foreword to Kenya's Freedom Struggle ed. Maina wa Kinyatti.

131

63

64

65

66

61

68

69

70

71

Ngugi, Homecoming, p.32.

Barnett and Njama, p.10 1.

Lewis Nkosi, p.31.

Emmanuel Ngara, Stylistic Criticism and the African Novel: A Study of the Language, Art and Content of African Fiction (London: Heinemann, 1982), p.86.

Georg Lukacs, p.85

C.B. Robson, p. 70

Adrian Roscoe, p.186.

Malcolm Page, 'The Conclusion of Ngugi's A Grain of Wheat: Gloom or Affirmation' in The Commonwealth in Canada, ed. Uma Parameswaran (Calcutta: Writer's Workshop, 1983), p.230.

Milan Kundera,Laughable Loves, Trans. Suzanne Rappaport,( 1969, London: Faber & Faber, 1991) p.3.

132