Realism in Ngugi wa Thiong'o's

Novels
By
LAZ CHINEDU OGENYI

Abstract
In artistic tradition, realism tries to represent life as it really is; it is the style of art
and literature in which everything is shown or described as it really is in life.. This
paper believes that Ngugi is a realistic novelist. It authenticates this belief by
drawing analogies between the contents of biographies, government reports and
history books in Kenya· with the contents of Ngugi's three novels: The River
Between; Weep Not, Child; and A Grain of Wheat.

Introduction conversations also have the style of

All art is selective. A story will achieve real speeches.
an effect on the reader by the selection In the words of Killam (p.S),
of some aspects of the subject. A "Ngugi has felt from the outset of his
remarkable convention of every art is career as a writer that writing should
that the artist chooses those aspects of serve social and political purpose."
the subject he wishes to treat in Ngugi's purposes for writing are
details; he thereafter ignores or almost therefore plairi in his novels: each
ignores every other thing else, and examines the consequences of public,
suits the details of the treatment to the socio-political events as they affect the
chosen matter. There is a wide belief lives of individual members of his
in literature that the realistic selection community. His comment in one of
from life is a great division of fiction. his essays - Homecoming -- lends
Realism attempts to portray things as credence to this point:
they are. It is an attempt at a complete Literature does not grow or
does not develop In a
portrayal of reality. Authors of realistic
vacuum; it is given impetus,
fiction show life as it is, not as they feel shape, direction, and even an
it ought to be. Some writers avoid area of concern by social,
certain aspects of life such as war, political and economic forces
tragic racial problems arid injustices, in a particular society (p. xv)
violently controversial political
problems (Boulton, p. 110). Novels and Ngugi, thus, does not deny that his
other works of art that treat these novels are recreations of reality. He
su bjects are described as "realistic". recognizes that history has a place in
To be realistic, we must have a feeling his works. Killiam (p. 6) quotes
for truth. In a realistic novel, Sander and lan who cited Ngugi as
characters behave as we know real' saying that his novels, stories and
human beings behave; their plays
personalities greatly differ. Their form my creative autobiography
over the last twelve years and
touch on ideas and moods

lnternutional JOI/TI1tI1 of Communication No. 2 Junuury 1005

 REALISM IN NGUGI WA THIONG'O'S NOVELS 114

affecting me over the period. My Echoes of Realism in The River

writing is really an attempt to Between; Weep Not, Child and A
understand myself and my Grain of Wheat
situation in society and in The first obvious reality in Ngugi's The
history.
River Between is its etting. According
to Nwankwo p.ll): "Ngugi's
The three novels under study
Gikuyuland is located on a plateau in
copiously do draw on documented
Kenya's Central Province, an area
historical facts as background. They
dissected by hills, ridges and rivers,
cover the period in Kenya's history
the same landscape that features in
dating from the first arrival of the
The River Between." Killiam (p. 20)
white men and the Indians in the late
records that this novel represents the
nineteenth century to the attainment
first phase of Ngugi's artistic recreation
of independence in 1963. The novel~ -
of the cultural history of his people. In
- The River Between, Weep Not, Child
the novel, Ngugi records the socio-
and A Grain of Wheat -- centre on what
cultural, economic and religious events
constitute the most momentous real
in Kenya from the period before the
events in Kenya. These include the
arrival of the Europeans to Jl1e era of
earliest co-ordinated attempt by the
colonial domination. "In 1903, the first
Gikuyu people to fight European
settlers of European descent
colonialism on religious, political,
established themselves as large-scale
economic and cultural fronts, the
farmers ... taking land from the Kikuyu"
intensification of nationalistic
(Harris and Levely, p. 1468). ~omen~s
consciousness resulting in the Mau
like this provide Ngugi with hIS
Mau war, the victory of independence
narrative tools. He writes: "They are
and the consequent disillusionment.
there, beyond the ridges, putting up
In the following sub-section,
many houses and some taking the
efforts will be made to mirror the real
land" (p.IO). The Kenyans, initially, do
events in Kenya as Ngugi recreates
not take the presence and activities of
them in the novels under study. To do
the Europeans seriously, because,
this we elect to adopt the method of
"The white man cannot speak the
anaiogy: comparing some passages in
language of the hills, and knows not
the novels with those in Kenyan
the ways of the land" (p.7).
history books, reports, and
Consequent on this, the Kenyans
biographies. By so doing, we shall be
receive the Europeans and give them a
authenticating that Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
place to live in. .
is a realistic novelist having used
Prior to the advent of the white
historical incidents in Kenya as the
men Kenya lived peacefully. Browne
raw materials for the actualization of
(p.5l 53) describes the then
his literary vision. Our aim is not to
prevailing situation thus:
make any critical literary judgment on
the success or otherwise of the plots, There was the court which
themes or characterization of the existed to administer native
novels. The purpose of this paper will justice (and which comprised)
be achieved if it succeeds in various Elders' Councils ...
authenticating that realistic incidents known as the Kiama, ... these
in Kenya are the working tools for old men laid down
Ngugi's narrative works. observations of the customs
to be followed by the tribe in
matter of spiritual and
temporal.
-An Interdisciplinury JlHlrtfU/ of Communicotion Studies
 115 LAze OGENYJ
Kenyatta in his book, Facing Mountain
Kenya, also describes the nature of
administration prevalent in Kenya
before the intrusion of the colonialists.
According to him (p. 198), "The Kikuyu
system of government prior to the
advent of the Europeans was based on
true democratic principles." Davidson
toes the same line thus, "Most of the ...
Kenya's people lived in peace
because of self-rule that was often
powerfully democratic" (p.175). This
phenomenon also provides Ngugi with
his narrative tool in The River Between
where he writes, "At home the
Kiama ... (kept) the tribe pure. And
people listened to them because they
did not want the tribe to die" (p.109).
Mugo wa Kibiro is one of the founding
fathers of Gikuyu people. He has
prophesied that there shall come a
people with clothes like butterflies
which "you could not cut ...with
panga ...until you learnt their ways and
movement" (sic) (p.20). Ngugi devotes
the entire chapter five (5) of The River
Between in recreating the tribe's
creation myth (also recorded in
Kenyatta's Facing Mountain Kenya (p.
xxi), the prophecy of Mugo wa Kibiro
and the incursion of the Europeans
into Gikuyuland.
Exploiting realistic events in
Kenya for his narration, Ngugi now
diverts to the description of the
incident that follows the incursion of
the white men into Gikuyuland. The
areas that attract his attention first are
the missionaries and their activities.
Browne (p.37), Murray-Brown (pp. 30-
31), and Marsh and Kingsworth (p.79)
record that the first Europeans to settle
on the mainland of East Africa are the
missionaries -- the Church Missionary
Society, and the Presbyterians. Marsh
and Kingsworth (p. 80) state: "In
1846 ... Rev. J. Rebman ...established a
mission atfhe village of Rabai (and) in
1863 together with Charles New... they
started a school.. .." In his novel -- The
lnternutional Journal of Communication No. 2 January 2005
River Between -- Ngugi utilizes this
historical fact by describing the early
activities of these missionaries. He
discusses how they set up their
Church and hospital at Siriana.
According to him, the "missionaries
had not yet penetrated into the hills,
though they sent a number of disciples
to work there, yet the people remained
conservative, loyal to the ways of the
land" (p.28). Ngugi uses Joshua as a
representative of many Africans whom
the Europeans use in their initial
evangelical work in Kenya. He records
how the missionaries have travelled
through the country, although such
visits have little effect on the natives.
Another realistic incident which
is related to the above one and which
Ngugi uses in writing The River
Between is the conflict between the
traditional religion and Christianity.
Kenyan history books have it that the
efforts of the missionaries "appeared to
undermine the whole society, ...there
was often open hostility to the mission"
(Marsh and Kingsworth pp. 82 - 83).
The greatest opposition is fostered by
the old men, who oppose the .teaching
of the mission; they also incite their
men against non-African authorities
(Venys p. 8). This opposition
notwithstanding, there are some
Kenyans who think that it is foolhardy
to ignore completely the missionaries.
One of them is Chege -- in The River
Between -- who says to his son
Waiyaki:
Arise. Heed the prophecy. Go to
Mission place. Learn all the
wisdom and the secrets of the
white man. But do not follow his
vices. Be true to your people
and the ancient rites (p. 20).
This injunction is not only similar to,
but reminiscent of Achebe's Ezeulu's
counsel to his son, Oduche, in Arrow
of God.
The traditional Kenyans see the
circumcision of boys and girls as the

only ritual through which the initiates
are brought into the fold of adulthood.
On circumcision, a child acquires a
..new status -- an adult. The operation
of circumcision for boys and girls
represents the initiation of the
neophyte into the full body of the tribe.
It is a ceremony of the first importance
in the life of the child. Very much is
bound up with it. Commenting on the
significance of this rite, Murray-Brown
writes:
Initiation marked the
emergence of a Kikuyu boy
from his childhood into the
ranks of the warriors, the first
step up the ladder
eldership... It was a
preparation ...which urged
them forward in their
pilgrimage on earth (p.50).
Ngugi, in The River Between, records
this all-important ceremony in the lives
of young Kenyans. According to him
(p.68) :
Circumcision was an
important ritual to the tribe.
It ... bounds the tribe. It was
at the core of social structure,
and is something that gave
meaning to a man's life. End
the custom and the spiritual
basis of the tribe's cohesion
and integration would be no
more.
He elaborately describes the songs,
dances, ceremonies and the ages of
those that participate in the
ceremonies that take place a few days
before the physical operation. The
Church . at Siriana opposes this
traditional act especially that of the
females. Joshua, according to Ngugi,
abhors it to the extent of rejecting his
daughter, Muthoni, who wants to
become a "real woman". Joshua is a
representative type of many other
Kenyan converts. His action is in
REALISM IN NGUGI WA TH/oNG'0 'S NOVELS 116
compliance with the demand of the
church which,
in March· 1929. (convened) a
conference of all churches in
Kikuyuland (and) passed three
resolutions (one of which is) that
this custom is evil and should
be abandoned by all
Christians; ... all Christians
submitting to it should be
suspended by churches
everywhere (Murray-Brown, p.
136):
Murray-Brown further explains that
the churches' resolutions opened yet
of
another chapter in the history of Kenya
since, "...The Independent Schools
Movement arose directly out of the
female circumcision controversy.
Among these was the school at
Githunguri, later to become Kenyatta's
headquarters in the period before the
Mau Mau emergency" (p.147). In his
novel, The River Between, Ngugi
exploits this historical incident but
uses a fictional character - Waiyaki --
who establishes the Independent
School that is free from Christian
indoctrination. He writes, "The school
was neat ...the outcome of their own
efforts, the symbol of their defiance of
foreign ways" (p. 92). He, the novelist,
draws a parallel between his Waiyaki
and the real Kenyatta. The former, like
the latter, uses his school as a base for
preaching to his people to unite and
fight their common enemy. Both of
them have experienced the rituals of
circumcision and that of the Christian
baptism:
Kenyatta had been at Thogoto
for five years and had
undergone two initiations. His
baptism enabled him to
continue In the life of the
church, while his circumcision
put him right with his own
people. To both... he might
An lnterdisciplinury Jot/f11111 of Communicution Studies
 117 LAZ C OGENYI

also seem a turncoat (Murray- work ...a number of Africans

Brown, p.52). chose to settle on European
estates and work there for an
In the same vein, Waiyaki has been at allocation of land.
the Siriana mission, and has equally
taken part in the tribal initiation into With the passage of time, Kenyans
manhood. began to think seriously about their
Ngugi in writing The River fate in the hands of the Europeans.
Between uses the early activities of the According to the New Columbia
white men on the land of Kenya and Encyclopaedia (1975): "In 1920s, black
the reaction of Kenyans to them. Africans began to protest their inferior
According to Rose (p.46): status." Also, Thuku m his
Autobiography (p.20), says:
Sir Harry Johnstone, on May
10th, 1900, published a notice In Kiambu area more land was
(which says), "In further taken and given to the white
reference to circular No II of 9th settlers. The final thing was
April, 1900,... it is hereby when we heard that the settlers
notified that Her Majesty's were going to reduce African
special commission has wages by one third, many of us
appropriated,... for public .got angry and we called a
purposes, all lands ... n meeting on June 1922 (sic) to
see if we could form a Young
In The River Between, Ngugi talks of Kikuyu Association.
"The white man (who) was slowly
encroaching on people's land" (pp.93 - Ngugi also writes the novel under
94). When Kabonyi -- a character in discussion using the above facts when
the novel under study -- addresses the he states: "We are all children of
people, "He reminded them of the Mumbi and must fight together in one
poverty of the land ... He talked of the political movement, or else we perish
taxes being imposed on the people by and the white man will always be on
the Government Post" (p. 95). Ngugi our back. Can a house divided against
goes further to describe how "the white itself land?" (p.149).
people were now pouring into the
interior in greater number... People From the events m the
wanted to progress; they could not do concluding chapters of The River
so as their lands were taken, as long as Between, the stage is set for an
their children were forced to pay hut- imminent change in Kenyan history.
tax" (pp.11O 113). Marsh and This is because in the words of Marsh
and Kingsworth (p.43):
Kingworth's historical account
authenticates that Ngugi draws this
After the first World
material from history. According to
War, ... Kenyan Colony... came
them (p.116 - 117): under British Administration,
racial problems caused ...
Settlers had been arriving friction In Kenya (and) the
since 1896 (and) were second World War gave a great
cultivating land, they needed impetus to the growth of
labour (and to obtain this) nationalism, and from 1945 the
government imposed hut tax emergence of Modern East
In 1901 and later a poll tax African nations is clearly seen ....
was levied. To pay these
taxes it was necessary to

lnternutional Journal of Communication No. 2 January lOOS

 REALISM
Similarly, Thuku (p.IS) has the
following to say about the Second
World War: "After the war. ..thousands
of East African porters came from very
difficult conditions ...and found that
they would not get any gratuity... In
Kiambu more land was taken and given
to the white settlers." Ngugi
extensively uses this period in Kenya in
writing Weep Not, Child -- his first
published novel. In this novel, he
records the effects of both the First and
Second World Wars on the nation and
individuals. He narrates how Ngotho
returns from the First World War and
finds his land taken by Mr Howlands.
In a similar manner, Boro, Ngotho's
son, comes home, after fighting the
Second World War, dejected as he
cannot find any job nor land on which
to settle. Ngotho and Boro are
representative types of millions of
Africans that suffered the same fate in
Kenya at the time.
Kenyatta (p.317) states that the
Europeans come to the Gikuyu country
and rob the people of their land. Ikeddi
(p. 210) explains the situation
attendant on British intrusion into
Kenya thus:
From the attempt by Joseph
Chamberlain in 1902 to found
'a national home for the
Jewish race' on thousands of
square miles of land in Kenya
and the official appropriation
for British ex-soldiers after the
World War, to the open
seizure ... of land in Kenya
must be one of the most
sordid in colonial history
.... Forced labour, which
include the indiscriminate use
of women and children, went
hand in hand with land, and
so did increase the taxes
extracted from the 'natives'.
IN NGUGI WA THIONG'O'S NOVELS 118
Weep Not, Child explores the above
phenomenon. Ngugi, in this novel,
narrates:
'Then came the war....the first
big war. ..all of us were taken
by force... the war ended ...we
came home worn out but very
ready for whatever the British
might give us as a reward.
But, more than this, we
wanted to go back to the soil
and court it... But Ng'o! The
land was gone. My father and
many others had been moved
from our ancestral lands'
(p.2S).
Ngotho works on the land that was
formerly the ancestral land of his
forefathers, now owned by Howlands;
he also lives on the land which once
was his but now possessed by Jacobo.
In A Grain of What, (p. 30), one women
laments, "Last Saturday, they came
and arrested my man because he has
not paid tax. But how does he pay poll
tax? He has no job."
The above situation elicits
serious grievances from the oppressed
Africans. "In 1950 extremists among
the African leaders were becoming
impatient at. the slow progress of
constitutional change. When, in the
same year, a prominent settler
announced, 'We are here to stay and
other races must accept that fact with
all it implies'" (Alieno et ai, p. 177), the
African nationalists are not prepared
to accept this. Consequently, the
Kikuyu begin to form pressure groups
called associations. Their aim is to
voice their grievances over the
occupation of their land by the·
Europeans, and to protest against the
growing European demand for labour.
Marsh and Kingsworth (p.152) explain
that Harry Thuku lends a hand in
organizing the Young Kikuyu
Association in 1903. Ngugi also makes
use of this event in writing the last two
novels under study here. In Weep Not,
All Interdisciptinury Journal of Communication Studies
119 LAZC. OGENYI

Child, he records how the Africans plan . necessary change. In his text, Ngugi
to embark on a strike so that, "The writes that the main issue leading to
government and the settlers had to be the crisis of Mau Mau is the desire of
shown that the black people were not the Kenyans to get back their lost
cowards"(p.55). In A Grain of Wheat lands.
(pp.l1- 12), he gives the details of the Violence is the hallmark of this
formation of the Young Kikuyu period, and the ones that characterize
Association: the era are disastrous. Venys (p.63)
says that the main targets of the Mau
Nearly everybody was a Mau attacks are "loyal" Africans of the
member of the party; ... Leaders Kikuyu, particularly chiefs. Murray-
came and went, but the party Brown (pp.252 - 253) corroborates
remained, ... its influence Venys's view thus:
stretched from one horizon to
the next. ..Harry asked them to
During the previous three months
join the party and find strength
24 headmen and 36 paten tial
in unity.
witnesses in Mau Mau cases - all
In their historical account on the Africans had been
formation of opposition to the policies murdered ... On 7th October, 1952.
of the Europeans, Alieno et al. (p.179) Waruhiu attended a court hearing
'write: land case, on his way home ...a
man ...shot him dead ... The crime
In October 1944, a number of ex- had taken place in broad daylight
soldiers formed an underground on an open place.
movement ...They made plans for
direct action, using traditional Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, in his novels,
oath practice w ...maintain copiously records the killings of many
secrecy... Many others decided to African (Kenyan) chiefs. In Weep Not,
go along with the Freedom Child, (p.63), he writes:
Fighters, who called themselves
the Kenyan Freedom Army. But
The chief was in a car. Two men
the name by which they became
followed him ...when they reached
best known was Mau Mau.
the countryside, the men drove
ahead and waved the chief to a
Alluding to this event,' Ngugi recreates stop (and) shot him dead and
how Boro, Kiarie and other ex- drove away.
servicemen call a meeting that cuts
across tribal barriers. Continuing in A Jacobo, one of Ngugi's characters, is
Grain of Wheat, he writes how "Kihika another African chief that meets his
disappeared into the forest, later to be demise in the hands of the Mau Mau
followed by a handful of young men ... " rebels. Equally assassinated is the
(p.16). In the forest, they take oath and District Officer Mr Howlands
"everybody who takes the oath of unity because he IS opposed to the
to charge things in Kenya is a Christ" movement. On the violence
(p. 83). In his text, Kenya -The Tension perpetrated by the Mau Mau
of Progress, Wood (p. 95) says: "The champions, Ngugi in Weep Not, Child
main cause of the Mau Mau was a (p.85) states, "Six (men) in all were
growing sense of national frustration ... taken from their houses three nights
which grew... from reactions to the ago. They have been discovered dead
attitude of those in power, ... " Mau Mau in forest ... One was Nganga.'
upheaval, according to Evans (p.4), IS The bloody reprisal embarked
also caused by European resistance to upon by the Mau Mau in 1952 attracts

lnternutinnal Journut ofCommunication /\'0.2 ]I/Ill/l/T'.I· 2005

 REALISM
the concern of the colonial government.
According to The New Columbia
Encyclopaedia (pp. 1724-5):
The settlers retaliated (and)
British troop drove the Mau
Mau into the mountain forest
where they were... (either)
killed or eventually captured.
This led to the declaration of
the State of Emergency ...
(which) led to the
imprisonment of many of the
colony's nationalist leaders,
including Jomo Kenyatta.
Numerous Mau Mau rebels are
detained. Information in the Ministry of
Community Development Annual Report
(p.3) reveals: "At the end of 1956, there
were 20,016 persons detained in 39
camps and 7,825 Mau Mau convicts
were scattered among 21 prisons. In a
related development, according to the
Report on the Colony & Protectorate of
Kenya (p.96), there are 31,523 Mau
Mau detainees in the remaining 41
Emergency Detention Camps. "On
March 3, 1959, eleven detainees died
at the Hola Detention Camp following a
sadistic beating when they resisted
work (Venys, p.85). In A Grain of wheat
(pp.14 - 17), Ngugi portrays a similar
event when he writes: "Young Harry
was sent to a remote part of the
country ... Jomo and other leaders were
arrested in October ... (and) Kihika was
killed in public ... " In the same novel,
he records: "More men were rounded
up and taken to concentration camps -
named detention camps for the world
outside Kenya" (p.90). Still in this
novel, Ngugi writes:
When Mugo was arrested he
was taken to ... Thika Detention
Camp... many of the fighters
came from Embu, Meru and
Nwariga ... After a series of
screening... Mugo and a few
others were chained hands and
feet and taken to Rira .... What
IN NGUGI W4 THIONG'O'S .VOVELS 120
occurred next is known to the
world. The men w« re: rounded
up and locked in th -ir cells. The
new famous oea t 19 went on
day and night. Eleven men died
(pp. 115-117).
We wish to ol.serve that one of
Ngugi's greatest realistic concerns IS
the way he explores and reveals how
individual families come to be dragged
into the many different phenomena
during the Emergency. The aftermath
of the Emergency appears to be a
powerful image of Kenya experiencing
a war of liberation. Perhaps, it is to
ensure some control in his art that
forces him (Ngugi) to focus attention
on one family only; otherwise, he will
be writing history, not a novel.
Commenting on the Mau Mau violence,
culture, economy and politics, Ngugi in
one of' his works - Homecoming -
states:
It is in the light of such post-
emergency happening that I
think that somebody should
write a full history of Mau Mau
as a cultural, political and
economic expression of the
aspirations of the African
peasant masses putting it in its.
revolutionary contexts (p. 30).
From this comment, we are compelled
to believe that it is an attempt to
respond to the spirit of realism that
motivated Ngugi to write the novels
under study.
The third novel - A Grain of
Wheat -- in a wider perspective pulls
together two related realistic episodes
in Kenyan history: the Mau Mau and
the long-awaited independence
(Uhuru). Killam (p. 53) agrees with us
that A Grain of Wheat is a novel about
the Kenyan Mau Mau independence
war. The consequences of the
emergency in Weep Not, Child provide
the material for writing this novel.
Here, Ngugi not only narrates but
All lnterdiscipllnury Juurnul of Communication Studies
 121 LIZ c. UGE.\TI
explains the independence struggle, its
origins and its legitimacy through a
sustained comparison with Christian
teaching, action and theology.
According to Killam (p. 55): "He (Ngugi)
does this in detail, drawing in much of
.the same historical and political
material as he used in Weep Not, Child
and The River Betuieen." The novel
also probes and describes the
disillusionment that accompanies the
Uhuru. After the Emergency, according
to World Events (p.129):
The releasing of Mau Mau
detainees progressed quite
rapidly. By May 1960. only 630
detainees were kept in special
establishment and 300 in
restriction. Among the latter
belonged also Jomo Kenyatta
and his four colleagues.
In keeping with his chronological
approach in recreating the authentic
events in Kenya, Ngugi records the
above momentous events that follow
the end of the Emergency. In this work
(p.53):"Gikonyo was among the first
group of detainees to ... (be) back to the
village ... " He goes further to explain
that after the Emergency'.
The party convened the meeting
to introduce the returning
detainees to the public... The
situation in Kenya was then like
this: The state of Emergency
had officially ended but Jomo
Kenyatta and his ... compatriots
of Kapenguria trial were still
detained in prison(p. 57).
The quick release of the large
army of Mau Mau detainees opens yet
another chapter m the annals of
Kenyan history - concerted efforts by
the ex-detainees and other leading
. Kenyan figures in seeing to it that their
independence is regained.
Political parties spring up;
many. public rallies are held. The
people not only continue, but increase
lnternationul JOI/Tl/1I1 ofComntunicution
their efforts in urging the colonial
government to release Jomo Kenvatta.
"About 1961, the African political
leaders in Kenya intensified their
endeavour to make the colonial
authorities release Jomo Kenyatta
from restriction. And on August 14,
1961, Kenyatta was freed ... " (Kariuku,
p.1S0). Drawing the raw material with
which his novels are written from
historical episodes, and commenting
on the after-effects of the Kenyan
political parties and rallies Ngugi, in A
Grain Wheat, writes:
The party convened the meeting
... many people from Thabai
attended the meeting because ...
we had only been allowed to
hold political meetings. Party
leaders ... were the first to speak.
They said Jomo Keyatta has to
be released to lead Kenya to
Uhuru... They talked of
suffering under the white men ...
In between each speaker, people
would sing: Kenya IS the
country of black people ... what
thing is grea ter than the love for
one's country? The love I have
for Kenya kept me alive and
made me endure
everything ... \p.57).
In the same novel, Ngugi recalls the
release of Jomo Kenyatta when he
states, "Mugo once attended a meeting
of the party held at Rung'ei market
because it was rumoured that
Kenyatta, who has recently come
(back)... would speak" (p.14J. The
struggle for independence continues to.
gain strength and, according to Murray
Brown (p.241): "During a meeting of
the Kenyan Central Union and East
African Indian National Congress,
Kenyatta spoke thus: "We have today
passed a resolution demanding
complete independence ..." As the
pressure continues to mount, the
British government becomes sensitive
to the demands of African leaders in
No.:l January :lOOS
 REALISM IN NGUGI WA TH/oNG'O'S NOVELS 122

Kenya, so, "In January 1960, Britain's

New Colonial Secretary, lain When the lOTg-awaited day
Macdonald, made it plajn that Britain comes, it is received by many with
intended to give Africans majority rule happiness and ~ eat applause.
in Kenya as soon as possible and this Murray-Brown (pp 309 311)
was followed by the formation of two describes the natt: re of the Uhuru
political parties Kenya Africa celebrations thus:
National Union (KANU) and Kenya
African Democratic Union (KADU)" 12 December, 1963, the day of
(Murray-Brown pp.299 - 300). Kenya's independence arrived.
With the approaching date for A huge crowd assembled in a
specially constructed
independence, internal tensions in
independence stadium. The
Kenya intensified. "There were alm.ost
Duke of Edinburgh represented
90,000 ex-detainees and ex-forest the British Queen ...The day
fighters in Kenya who began to ask for began with an impressive.
future privileges" (Venys p.91). Ngugi ceremony in which the Duke
also explores and utilizes this historical handed over Kenya's instrument
fact in writing A Grain of Wheat. of independence. Kenyatta
However, unlike the ordinary historian delivered a ... speech ...AlI stood
he maintains the posture of an artist and cheered ... Macdonald
insisted that representatives of
by wittingly usmg a few fictional
the old animist faith should join
characters Mugo, Gikonyo and other religious leaders in
Mumbi -- to represent thousands of blessing Kenya's future. As they
disillusioned Kenyans who look at each performed the ancient rituals,
other with suspicion, difficult as it is to so Britain finally washed her
know who is who. A few days hands off her civilizing mission
preceding the Uhuru Day equally sees ...At mid-night ... the colonial flag
the Kenyans in active preparations. at last came down and Kenya's
These centre on quests for a leader that new flag hung ... and all the
tensions of half a century and
will speak on the Uhuru Day and the
more disappeared into the dark.
decoration of the country's stadium for
Marching and counter-marching
the celebration. Referring to this followed; there was dancing
moment, Cox (p.53) says: "Only a few African-style in the stadium,
days before the Uhuru celebrations, Western-style at Government
delegates from various forest groups (now State) House; there was
came down to Nairobi to. talk to drinking, .. .laughter ... But no one
Kenyatta ... " It is important to note that knew what really lay in
Ngugi's novel contains this historical Kenyatta's mind nor what the
future held for Kenya.
moment in Kenya. In A Grain of Wheat,
he narrates how a delegate, led by
Ngugi devotes the whole of the last
Gikonyo, is sent to Mugo. At Mugo's
chapter (chapter 14) of A Grain of
hut Gikonyo says:
Wheat describing, narrating, and
recreating the activities that surround
We are only voices sen t to you
.from our party ...We have really the day of independence in Kenya. In·
come to see you about the this direction, he makes frequent use
Uhuru celebrations on of similar words, phrases, and even
Thursday ... December 12 is only sentences as· are contained in actual
four nights away ... (pp. 10, 8 and history books, official. reports,
23). biographies, and autobiographies. The
An lnterdisciptinary JO/IT/IlI/ of Communication Studies
 123 LtZ C OGE:'\iYl
very first paragraph of this
reads:
Kenya regained her Uhuru from
the British on 12 December,
1963. A minute before mid-
night. lights were put out at the
Nariobi stadium ...ln the dark,
the Union Jack was quickly
lowered. When next the lights
caiilb on the Kenya flag was
flying ...The police band played
the new National Anthem and
the crowd cheered continuously
when they saw that the flag was
black, and red and
green...(p.177).
In his text - Autobiography - Thuku (p.
75) tells us that there is a very heavy
rain on the independence day. Ngugi,
in the same vein, recreates what the
weather is actually like on the day of
Uhuru.According to him, "In our
village and despite the drizzling rain,
men . and women and children ...
emptied themselves into the streets
where they sang and danced in the
mud"(p.177). On this page, too, Ngugi
describes the field chosen by the
Party's Uhuru Committee as white-
chalked, and that the athletic tracks
rise in sharp bumps. Having done with
the natural physical environment of the
Uhuru celebration venue,Ngugi now
shifts. his narration to the people that
attend the ceremony and the manner
or types of their dresses:
Other people from Ndeiya,
Lari, Limuru...came in lorries
and buses, and filled out into
Rung'ei market place. There
were school children in their
Khaki uniform...the village
children in tattered
clothes....women...with beads
around their necks...singing
Christian hymns mixed with
traditional Uhuru songs. Men
stood and talked in groups
about the prospects opened
up by Uhuru (p.198).
lnternutiunul Journal ofCommunication No. 2 January 2005
chapter
Another event, according to Murray-
Brown, that takes place on the
independence day is a ritual which is
performed in order to bless the future
of Kenya. Worthy of note is that the
concluding chapters of A Grain of
Wheat recapitulate this symbolic
purification ritual.
We are, similarly, made to
understand by Murray-Brown that
Jomo Kenyatta made a special speech
on the Independence Day. In trying to
keep the records of all the events that
surround Uhuru celebrations, Ngugi
writes, "Next came the speeches. Most
speakers recounted the sufferings of
the party ... " (p. 190). During the days
of electioneering campaigns, Mboya (p.
46) in his address to the members of
the Kenya National Farmers' Union at
. Eldoret, 23 July, 1962, says:
We are all in the same Kenya
boat...we are all involvednow in
the business of building a
nation. Your security fears will
disappear when the people can
see that you are working like
everybody else towards a goal
that everybody wants to reach
for rewards that all can share.
It is apparent, at least based on the
above passage, that numerous
Kenyans look forward to seeing that
their country, after Uhuru, will be
better than that before it.
Consequently, after independence is
attained in Kenya, hopes for
accelerated revival in socio-economic
and political spheres begin to swell in
the minds of all Kenyans.
However, Ngugi in A Grain of
Wheat makes us realize that .a
declaration of Uhuru does not produce
change overnight; although
Independence Day marks the end of
one struggle, it is the beginning of
another. The circumstances leading
to, and the implications of, the Uhuru
 REALISM IN NGUGI WA THIONG'O'S NOVELS
are copiously described in A Grain of
Wheat (pp. 191 -2):
'You ask why we fought, why we
lived in the forest with wild
beasts ...why we killed and spilt
blood. The whiteman (sic) went
in cars. He lived in a big house.
His children went to school.
But who tilled the soil on which
grew coffee, tea ... , and sisal?
Who dug the roads and paid the
taxes? The whiteman lived on
our land. He ate what we grew
and cooked. And even the
crumbs from the table, he threw
to his dogs. That is why we'
went into the forest. He who
was not on our side, was
against us. That is why we
killed our black brothers.
Because, inside, they were
whitemen. And I know even now
this war is not ended. We get
.Uhuru today. Tomorrow we
shall ask: where is the
land ... the food,...the schools?
Let therefore these things be
done now, for we do not want
another war. ..no more blood in
my .. .in these our (sic)
hands ...?'
The socio-economic situation in Kenya
after Uhuru as contained in the
Reporter (14-15) underline the tone of
the above passage: "The people are
desperate ... (there are) thousands of
forgotten people in Kenya who
everyday (sic) go without food, have
insufficient clothes and nowhere to
sleep ..." Ngugi's epigraph to A Grain of
Wheat quoted in Killam (p. 70)
corroborates this Reporter's report:
"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."
Apart from the socio-political
and economic situations in Kenya,
passages from the Bible are equally
used in writing A Grain of Wheat. This
124
view is supported by Killam (p.59) who
writes:
The passages which are
underlined in Kihika's Bible
and which Ngugi uses as
mottos in the book -- from
Revelations 21: 1, I
Corinthians 15:36 and St
John 12:24-all serve to give
legitimacy, authenticity and
support to Kihika's mission.
It is from the passage in
Corinthians that the title of
the novel is derived.
He further explain's that the passages
from the Bible are used because they
have an association with the general
situation in Kenya: sacrifice is called
for, and an assurance of the legitimacy
of the sacrifices made is needed.
Ngugi thus uses the realistic Biblical
teaching as a metaphor for his
narrative.
Summary and Conclusion
As Fafunwa (p.13) puts it :
History IS to people what
memory is to the individual. A
people with no knowledge of
their past would suffer from
collective amnesia, groping
blindly into the future without
sign-post of precedence to shape
their course.
Ngugi, in the three novels under study,
artistically documents a living legacy.
Larson (p.117) describes Ngugi's novel
as "situational". According to him,
The situational novel exists to
present an experience or
situation (which often) is a
group felt experience (and
whose story) may be focused
on only one or (more)
characters (but) the final
result is felt by all the people
involved in the story itself --
An Inrer((isC'ip(inury Journul of Communication Studies
 125 LAZ C OGEN),!

the community, the collective It contains all the actual events that
consciousness of the novel. take place four days before the Uhuru
Day. It equally mirrors the episodes
This study has tried to authenticate that mark the Uhuru celebrations,
Larson's view on Ngugi's novels. The and gives a vision of the future Kenya.
characters in the novels are mirrors or Commenting on this novel. Larson
representative types of their groups. (pp. 145- 6) says:
Some of them are real human beings
that have played significant roles in the A Grain of Wheat intellectually
struggle for and actualization of probes the nature of power,
.Kenya's independence; Jomo Kenyatta materialism and unity ... Ngugi
is an example. is saying that the politics of
Like Achebe in Things Fall the present can only be built
Apart, Ngugi, in The River Between, on an understanding of the
past. ..each man must come to
paints a vivid picture of Kenya in a realization of his past. .. and
contact and confrontation with Western in the process there are
religion, especially during the initial bound to be those who will be
stages of colonial domination. The haunted.
novel explores the clash between
Kenyan culture and Christianity. In Part of this passage agrees with
realistic terms, the coming of the white Fafunwa's point of view at the start of
man witnesses the introduction of this sub-section. We also endorse this
Christianity and a new government view. And consequent on this, we
that is concerned with taxation and would like to observe that Ngugi is,
appropriation of Kenyan land. The significantly, a realistic novelist. This
aftermath, as this study reveals, is that is because this investigation has
Kenya's traditional, social, economic endeavoured to prove, by way of
and political institutions begin to suffer analogy, that factual incidents are the
their initial setbacks. raw materials for Ngugi's narration.
Weep Not, Child has politics as These three novels of Ngugi are
one of its chief concerns. Politics, here, explorations into, and revelations of
is aimed at wresting the lost lands from Kenyan history at three different
l
the white overlords. This novel brings periods; they are realistic novels.
into light the fact that the desire to Ngugi is therefore a conscious recorder
force out the white settlers and retrieve of the actual events in his country; he
the Kenyan lands plunge the country explores the complexity of
into chaos for about eleven years. "The relationships provided by the historical
Mau Mau had been a costly war on all vis-a-vis realistic encounter between
the parties that took part. The overall Europe and Africa over a fifty-year
effect was the acceleration of- the pace period.
of change" (Alieno et al, p.179-1. The
authenticity of this comment has' been
revealed in the last .part of this study.
This section is saying that Ngugi is not
simply recording and fictionalizing;
instead, he IS recreating and re-
interpreting history ..
In A Grain of Wheat, like the
other two novels before it, Ngugi
engages-in the pt tien of reality.
 REALlS/~I IN /VGUGI 1-1<4 THIONC'O'S NOVEl.S 126

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n,Il!TIIII,iwlt// JmITIIII/ ofCommunication No. 2 JIIIIIIIITY 2005