Going Down River Road (by Meja Mwangi)

MARCH 27, 2011 BY DIANE NINSIIMA

— 16 COMMENTS

Meja Mwangi is a Kenyan novelist whose contribution to literature has been recognized by his two time
award of the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature. Going Down River Road is his third novel and was first
published in 1963.

Mwangi focuses on the suffering that the poor go through daily. Lack of housing, inadequate food, low
wages and exploitation are some of the issues covered. One would think that this is a rather sad tale,
but Meja’s talent is evident in the way he portrays serious situations in a funny way- the reader can’t
help but laugh through some of the scenarios created. I must admit I was impressed.

We are introduced to Ben, a former army man, who has just been fired from the Pan African Insurance
company. With his last pay, he decides to ‘celebrate’ in style. He visits bars and brothels. That is where
he meets Wini, a beautiful professional prostitute. She is also a student, doing a secretarial course and
mother to a four year old son, Baby. She has a great sense of humor. When they are in his house, they
comment about the cockroaches all over the place. She tells Ben that

“You cannot kill them; I have tried all I can in my house. You find them playing with the insecticide
container, trying to eat the plastic lid!”

Ben thinks he is lucky; he gets a job at a construction site. He moves in with Wini, but he doesn’t mind
much since Wini is meeting all the costs, and she doesn’t mind even when he drinks a whole month’s
pay. That is the life at the construction site- drinking karara and smoking bhang. The wages the laborers
earn can’t afford them a decent meal, so stomach problems are common. At the site Ben is Ocholla’s
buddy- they share cigarettes and drinks at the end of the day. Ben thinks life couldn’t be any better. Wini
has promised to get them decent jobs and Ben is thinking of wedding Wini.

But he gets the shock of his life when Wini abandons him and Baby and runs off with her white boss. He
loses trust in women, and ‘adopts’ Baby, though the mother had left clear instructions that he should be
taken to an orphanage. Ben is protective of Baby and loves him as his own son and pays his school fees.

Meanwhile Ben and Ocholla have sworn to be friends for life- nothing should ever separate them.
Ochollla shares his shanty hut when Ben and Baby have nowhere to go. The plot climaxes when
Ocholla’s family comes into the picture. He has two wives and a big number of children. They are all
staying in that hut. This puts his friendship with Ben to the test- Baby rapes his daughters and he eats
too much. He can’t send away his family so Ben will have to construct his own hut.

“We have been pals for such a long time. Drunk together, lived, eaten together……………….It is bad to
spoil such a friendship.”

And as they go down River road after their drinks, it is obvious that they will come up with a solution like
friends always do.
(AR- ))): *aor and the social space Development "ouseand /ew $den:

-he Development "ouse

uilding site:

The #evelopment 4ouse is the place where %en and +cholla work tirelessly in return for a smallamount
of money everyday. The building, =uickly growing up, was four floors at the beginning of thestory

. The building is finally completed at some point with some twenty floors. !nd at this point,ironically, the
building that carried the name '#evelopment 4ouse' actually offered very little'development' if at all
since the workers who spent long days and months erecting it suddenly foundthemselves jobless and
homeless after its completion. This image is very telling of how, the Kenya andthe third world in general,
urban development is very disconnected and unrelated to the developmentand betterment of the lives
of people hired to make this urban development a reality. ew buildingsand roads are erected and
paved, while the lives of those who built them remain as miserable anddisadvantaged as they have been
before. 5ven death at the building site was not an event worthy of much attention. !fter a man,
+nesmus, died in a work accident, no one seemed to care much about what happened to him, and
everyone remembered just how much of a trouble-maker the man was.5ven the police hardly shed any
effort in investigating the circumstances of his death. The social ties, and even a relation of trust among
the members of this space, namely the workers at the building site, is also very weak. This is especially
elaborated in chapter D where it saysG The police came back days later to continue the investigation,
but gotnegative co-operation from the hands. The hands do not believe in thecoppers. They do not
believe in anybody, anything H not even <ussuf,not death. They understand hunger, exhaustion, the
building. They understood Mr 4ilotoni and are mad that he is no more. +nly now there was no lunch any
more. The workers hotels were no more

$hat is even more worth-noting is how the laborers are referred to as )hands*, because that is what
they really are in the eyes of the contractor, mere 'hands'. 2f one hand goes, he can easily find anew one
to replace it. 4ands as such are thus not humans, which makes it perfectly simple to exploitthem to do
much more exhausting and menial tasks for much less in return. 2t is almost, in a way,similar to the
famous T. &. 5liot line )2 should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the

'<$id, . '.&<$id, 19.

floors of silent seas*.

-he /ew $den

nightclu:

Meja Mwangi's portrayal of the ew 5den nightclub is especially worthy of close attention. &tarting
from the nightclub's name, one cannot help but think of the mindsets of the people who come to
thisplace. 2t is best seen in the context of the general dominant theme of alcoholism, intoxication and
sex.2t seems as if people share some kind of an escapist mentality. They find in karara and bhang
somekind of an escape from the physical and psychological struggle of dealing with the difficulties of
everyday life. These things help them feel numb, and take them away, if at least mentally, from
thedifficult lives they are leading. %ut coming back to the ew 5den nightclub, we find in chapter 8 a
very interesting description of this placeG This is what the ew 5den is all about. &ince !dam fought for
the only woman with a devil and lost, this is how far we have come. The womenare determined to
make a living. The men are out for a =uite evening away from the nagging wife. There are no rules, no
holds barred in5den. <ou use whatever you've got to get whatever you want. !nd theneeds of the
people are few in the joint? a coin, a drink, or a lay

B

.&o here we have an interesting portrayal of this nightclub as something of a garden in heaven.2n this
image, everything works almost flawlessly. There is one main mechanism governing the
socialatmosphere in ew 5den. $omen determined to make a living through selling sex, while men come
tospend the money they made during the day on sex and alcohol. 2n short, it is where there is female
'sexlabor' versus the males' seek of leisure and hedonistic desires.2n the biblical 5den, the relationship
between man and woman is an intimate and spiritual one.2n ew 5den, however, this spiritual
relationship is turned upon its head. 2t is thus completely governed by the rules of supply and demand.
$omen sell, men buy? it is that simple. !nd it is thusfrom this again that we can understand why $ini had
left %en and %aby in the first place. Taking this view in mind, it can been seen that $ini never really
thought of %en as anything more than just anothercustomer. Thus, eventually, $ini found a customer
who pays more than %en and went away with him.6ikewise, $ini's view of %aby was largely that of a
work error which she eventually found a way tosolve, by simply leaving him for %en to take care of.

1;<$id, . 1*=.
0

0onclusion:

Meja Mwangi does a remarkable job in shifting the view from the themes of decoloni3ation and
thestruggle for independence and to focus on discussing what is going to happen afterwards.
2nterestingly enough, Mwangi's works about themes such as the Mau Mau struggle are highly critici3ed.
!ccording to I. >oger Kurt3, the plots in these works )tend to hinge on far-fetched events, and the fast-
paced actionand snappy dialogue, usually a plus, at times becomes so clipped as to strain credulity*



. This is clearly not the case in works such as

Going Down River Road

and

Kill Me Quick

, however, where the pace of thestory is fluctuating but is generally slow with no grand events? and the
storyline of the charactersmeandering between success at a time and utter failure at another, between
grief and relief, and so on.0or this, Mwangi's other works J

Going Down River Road, Cockroach Dance, Kill Me Quick,

etc. seem tomore clearly highlight the direction of Meja Mwangi's literary project. They are thus a shift
towardslooking for what comes after independence and where the social-economic status =uo is going
fromthere.2n conclusion this essay explored Meja Mwangi's much celebrated / novel

Going Down River

from what may be described as a )human-centered* approach. That is, to put the humans, the people,of
the story at the center of analysis and observe how they compare to one another, how they react
andinteract with one another? and how the landscape of the story changes and evolves around them
andhow they are affected by that change. $ith this being said, it would be safe conclude by re-
emphasi3ing the statement that made at the introductionG !ny process of development, be it economic
or socio-political or both, that does not take the human element as its core, is a predeterminedly failed,
unfairand unsustainable process.
Mwangi probably ranks as the most hard-boiled Kenyan writer of his time, though he does at times go
over the top. This novel links Hillbrow,rural Tiragalong and Oxford, and contains the shattered dreams of
youth, sexuality and its unpredictable costs, AIDS, xenophobia, suicide, theomnipotent violence that
cuts short the promise of young people, and the Africanist understanding of the life. Jul 28, Karen
Ashmore rated it it wasok. Going Down The River. They do not even believe in the building anymore.
Trivia About Going Down River We have brothels, but there are nocrying babies in the corner. The
labourers are a tired hungry people. No one shits on the path. Baby should not have drunk coffee. Ben
isvehemently misogynistic, and after Wini abandons him, his misogyny becomes worse than it ever has
been. First published in , this novel was soexplosive that its author was imprisoned without charges by
the Kenyan government. Facing Mount Kenya is not only a formal study of life anddeath, work and play,
sex and the family in one of the greatest tribes of contemporary Africa, but a work of considerable
literary merit. Angelinerated it really liked it Aug 29, In Murambi, The Book of Bones, Boubacar Boris
Diop comes face to face with the chilling horror andoverwhelming sadness of the tragedy. Competing
for survival in Nairobi City and can be found here: There was no question of giving up his job toavoid
Onesmus. Posted by Larry Ndivo at 8: Welcome to the hellish underground of a Nairobi slum. A drunk
old man sits on the first landing andsends a river of beer vomit down the stairs. Ben, clearly, has not
been helped by politicians, and his growth, such as it is, is from leave-me-aloneindividualism to a
recognition of his need for something other than himself, even if everything else -- the government,
Baby, his friends, hisemployers -- seems to be an impediment or a threat. From the cockroach-infested
rooms on Grogan Road where Ben lives with his secretary- prostitute girlfriend Wini and her son Baby,
to the ironically titled under-construction 'Development House' where Ben earns his living as a
'hand',and on to the lowlife-ridden Karara Centre on River Road which Ben and his friend Ocholla
frequent in search of Karara and prostitutes, Mwangimaps the landscape of urban poverty in the third
world. The spectacle is so bleak that at one time Ben engages a fifteen year old prostitute in sexwhilst
her one old month baby is tucked in a carton in the same room. Ocholla tossed gravel at the bucket.
While Mwangi has touched on all of these concerns, we might divide his work into three major
categories. And who would listen to him? In Urban Obsessions, Urban Fears: View all7 comments. To ask
other readers questions about Going Down River Road , please sign up. There are many things Ben
knows that Bhai willnever understand. The novel recounts the story of a Rwandan history teacher,
Cornelius Uvimana, who was living and working in Djibouti at thetime of the massacre. She would get
him a job at her place of work, but until then he had to hang on to his present job. For many Kenyan
writers,the armed resistance to British colonialism in Kenya, which came to be known as the Mau Mau
revolt and reached its height in the s, was a far-reaching experience. Rarely does a book really take me
far, far out of my element to the point that the world around me outside of the book feelsstrange. Going
Down River Road , and The Cockroach Dance is a compelling and innovative set of texts dealing with
what is arguably the most pressing contemporary social problem in Kenya; the rapid urbanization the
country has experienced since independence in and its accompanyingsocial problems. Wildlife Wars is
the odyssey of an extraordinary man in an extraordinary land. Want to Read saving…. The novel ends
with asmall moment of connection, a moment that shatters the profound and futile loneliness the city
instills. It tells the story of Ben, who works at aconstruction job and spends most of the little bit of
money he makes on alcohol and prostitutes, until one day his ex-prostitute girlfriend leaves himwith her
young son known only as Baby and never returns. The hands just do not believe. Jul 28, David Mbiyu
rated it liked it. He released thewoman, turned and reached on the bedside table for a cigarette to
combat the musty smell from the baby's bed. I recall 'seeing' River Road in adifferent perspective after
reading this book. Meja Mwangi, you devil, how did you make me miss that city? I must say that this
book was the bestyard sale find of my life. Prior to meeting Wini, Wachira is seen scouting for a quick lay
and long after Wini abandons him and her bastard child,Baby, Ben deteriorates to engaging with
prostitutes to satiate his sexual desires. So when the beggars withdraw their charitable service, the
piouscity civil servants and businessmen start to panic. He paints very strong characters. Alcohol, that
refuge from the constant struggle for survival. LikeReader s Digest style of literature, engaging and
light.? I would love to get my hands on more books from this author.

A Stylistic Approach to Meja Mwangi's Novel "Going Down River Road"

Angeline rated it really liked it Aug 29, Meja writes so real he captures events like scenes out of a movie.
Article first appeared in People Dailyunder the title: This early novel deals with the pain and dislocation
of the clash of the old and new ways - the educated young man determined to gooverseas, and the
elders of the family believing his duty is to stay and head the family. The novel recounts the story of a
Rwandan history teacher,Cornelius Uvimana, who was living and working in Djibouti at the time of the
massacre. Very highly recommended, especially for lovers of postcolonial fiction. I must say that this
book was the best yard sale find of my life. Reminiscent of an emerging Kenyan nation grappling with
newlyfound independence from colonialism, the text abrogates itself the duty to serve as the watchdog
of the less fortunate in the city. Replaying SocietalIlls on Stage Image courtesy of Google Writing within a
context of a geographical region troubled by social, politi He lit a half-smoked one fromthe ash-tray and
lay smoking in the early morning gloom. She would get him a job at her place of work, but until then he
had to hang on to his present job. The moral fabric of the society described in this novel teeters on the
verge of disrepair. The afternoon turned to evening and all theshops in the city center closed. Aug 17,
Kairo Kimende rated it it was amazing. All their energies, however, are expended on trying to
understandAfrica's problems and once they understand them they realise that the problems are beyond
them. Newer Post Older Post Home. Though thenarrative verges on fetishizing the squalor and reveling
in the misery, it never quite descends to that in my eyes, at least because Ben's intelligencedoes
occasionally prevail, and he recognizes not just the pain he feels himself, but the pain of other people --
including pain he causes. First published in , this novel was so explosive that its author was imprisoned
without charges by the Kenyan government. His way of writing even over a draggy scene blows your
mind. As for the Africans themselves, they could have provided solutions, but since they are lined up in
warringfactions, that is impossible. Bongo rated it really liked it Sep 01, She had her own clockwork
system that first turned her over once or twice before

she opened her eyes to complain about the shortness of the past night. Although healthy human
relationships are hard to build, the genuine bond between Wachira and Ocholla serves to give the text a
sense of hope. There were no cigarettes in the packet. Is it sexist to make all my femalecharacters flat
and muscular? By the author of Houseboy. If you like your fiction raw and gasoline-powerful, Going
Down River Road is the book for you. He did not stir her. What does this quote mean? That is the
questions which Meja Mwangi asks himself and which he asks the readers of Weapon. This is because
the text tackles human conflict that is centred on universal economic inequalities rife in urban settings.
In this book he is aGrisham of sorts minus the suspense. Only the labourers, and only at lunch time when
there is nothing else to do. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Jan 13, Albertine rated it really liked
it. He lay back and closed his eyes. The glory of the book is that the reader is a participant in themovie.
Everything has been meticulously prepared for a long time: At the age of sixteen, Paulina leaves her
small village in western Kenya to joinher new husband, Martin, in the bustling city of Nairobi.

Chapter Summaries for "Going Down River Road" by meja mwangi? | Yahoo Answers

MillerHistories of the Hanged exposes the long-hidden colonial crimes of the British in

Going down river road themes.

Ben, cashiered as alieutenant in the army, now works as a building labourer in Nairobi. He pauses
between retches to talk to the beer bottle and swallow back whatever he has left in his mouth; one
cannot

going down river road themes

to waste

going down river road themes

food. A Kenyan had toldus that the book is a fine example of how to write about a particular place and
time, and that it evoked a lost Nairobi that was nonetheless familiar enough. This isn't highfalutin
literature. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Want to Read Currently
Reading Read.Angeline rated it really liked it Aug 29, Human conflict is yoing of the key ingredients of
literary texts. May 30, Emily Kosnow rated it it wasamazing Recommends it for: She had her own
clockwork system that first turned her over once or twice before she opened her eyes to complainabout
the shortness of the past night. Becoming the caretaker for Baby does not turn

going down river road themes

into some sort of saint -- heonly barely takes care of the boy, though eventually he does pay his school
fees and make sure he goes to school. They fired the lot of us. Not mycup of tea. And he would still have
a certain amount of trouble. Machore can never raise the necessary deposit to register as a candidate.
Althoughhealthy human relationships are hard to build, the genuine bond between Wachira and Ocholla
serves to give the txt a sense of hope. Ben isvehemently misogynistic, and after Wini abandons him, his
misogyny becomes worse than it ever has been. I'm reading the book but some of it is a bit strange, and
I can't seem to find any online summaries. We have homeless people in Canada, but they are not so
naked. Facing Mount Kenyais not only a formal study of life and death, work and play, sex and the family
in one of the greatest tribes of contemporary Africa, but a work of considerable literary raod. A drunk
old tiver sits on the first landing and sends a river rover beer vomit down the stairs. But they would still
not voteif they got up with a terrible hangover or the weather became lousy on polling day or the

going down river road themes

got too long or something. Ben started back to the present, opened his eyes and squinted up at the sky.
I finished this wanting more After hearing so much aboutMeja Mwangi and how he changed the literary
doan in Kenya I embarked on understanding his works hoping they would all be wrong
There are not so many authors that have captured Africa’s contemporary capitalist
reality the way Meja Mwangi does. His is a tale of bravery and survival, of
disillusionment and persistence. It is a very moving narrative of the hard daily realities
that have come to inform life after independence.

Written in 1976, Going Down River Road remains a masterpiece of contemporary fiction
that grapples with dangers that come with urbanisation under the umbrella of
development. It is a story that follows Ben Wachira and his friend Ochola as they
compete for survival with the rest of humanity in Nairobi.

After losing his job at the Panafrican Insurance Company, Ben chances on Wini, a
beautiful office secretary and a part-time night girl, who is ready to house and fund him
as a husband. In turn, as “an honoured guest; a privileged refugee”, Ben is not
expected to complain about Johnny, Wini’s boss who drives by every morning to pick
her up for work.

Ben picks employment at Patel and Chakur Contractors as a casual labourer. They are
building Development House. Ben and friend Ochola often do the underground duties
which he says “included eating half the dust on site.” It is here, through the streets,
the bars and brothels that the entire story comes to life.

It is a narrative that explores the acute levels of exploitation, betrayal and conspiracy,
and self-debasement. The men work with their lives on the line. One truck driver, an
ex-sergeant major Onesumus, who, colleagues in the army had ridiculously nicknamed
One-Arse-Mess, drives a truck which “does not steer properly” and he is running over
everyone else, and through building claiming that the truck does not stop. This is the
scaring level of absurdity that men in lowly positions have to brave so as to put bread
to the table!

But even sadder and more concerning, is the unstoppable reality of slum creation, the
mother and father of all the crimes that the novel so tactfully and powerful deals with.
Poor sanitation, senseless immorality and hopelessness are the norm in these places.
On the first encounter at Ben’s house, the host makes a dull explanation as to why Wini
can’t even wash her face at Ben’s residence. Whining that the bathrooms stink, the
visitor compounds the slum problem in a rhetoric question, “Where don’t they?”
Clearly, this the jugular vein of this novel; not that the horrors that modernity brings
are everywhere, but the grim fact that at some point, the people agree to leave with
them!

There is no respect for self, neither neighbour nor client — if an opportunity to cheat
unveils, it should be exploited as soon as is possible. As women are reduced to objects
of men’s pleasure, men are rated at the level of a cement mixer. “Hands!” Ben whines.
“That is what they are here…if the contractor would make hands, he would never need
labourers!”

As the postcolonial Nairobi made a rush towards urbanisation, the moral and human
fabric broke down in ways that have never been seen before. And Meja Mwangi uses it
as a case study to project the rot that engulfed postcolonial urbanising Africa using the
life of an ex-lieutenant, Ben. Prostitution and drinking tough spirits such as karara and
changaa, becomes the best comfort.

The narrative however is very punchy and make ecstatic reading. The language in the
dialogue is used in a manner that is indicative of both social and emotional violence that
has taken over people’s lives and minds. There’s constant use of words such as
“bastards”, “burgers”, and even the much uglier ones like “fuckers.”