Roll No: 13
Paper: African
Literature
Subject: Anti-colonial struggle in A grain f
wheat.
Submitted to: MK Bhavnagar University, Department of
English.
Introduction:
A
Grain of Wheat is a novel by Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ
wa Thiong'o first published as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers
Series. It was written while he was studying at Leeds University and first published in 1967 by Heinemann. The title is
taken from the Gospel According to St. John, 12:24. The novel weaves together
several stories set during the state
of emergency in Kenya's struggle for independence (1952–59), focusing
on the quiet Mugo, whose life is ruled by a dark secret. The plot revolves
around his home village's preparations for Kenya's Independence Day
celebration, Uhuru day. This novel is his
great work. And give him a significant turn
in his literary production, as a Marxist and Fanonian militant attitude
replaces the liberal Christianism of his first works.
A Grain of wheat” chronicles the events leading up to Kenyan
independence, or Uruhu, in a Kenyan village
At the beginning
of the novel, as independence approaches, several visitors come to mugo s door.
They ask him to speak at the Uruhu celebration and become a leader, and also
ask if kihika mentioned karanja, a worker for the white government who is
suspected of betraying his friend, before his death. Kihika, a rebel fighter
from the village, was captured and publicly hanged. Mugo denies knowing
anything about kihika s death and says he ll think about making the speech.
The novel “A Grain
of wheat” reveals a number of characters experiences during the lead-up to
Kenyan independence, or Uruhu. Mugo is one of the central characters. He feels
detached from the world around him, and he is fearful of the attention given to
him by the townspeople. Mugo s connection with the woman in the hut is a
central element in the story. They are connected by their common loneliness.
Mugo has no one, and he cannot bring himself to participate in the community.
The old woman has lost her son, and she talks to no one. She lives isolated,
away from the world, sequestered by loss and trauma.
Religion is an
important element in the novel. The white men brought Christianity to Kenya,
and many blacks take up Christian religion. However. The existing religions do
not die. At the Uruhu celebration, the town will sacrifice rams in a
traditional sacrificial rite. At the same time, kihika is a devoutly religious
man, comparing the struggle of the black man in Kenya with the struggle of the
Jews to be freed from the pharaoh. His bible is full of underlined passages,
and one passage that Gikonyo reads becomes important mugo. God is on the side
of the oppressed and will save the impoverished and downtrodden. Mugo, though
not moved by kihika s abstract ideas of freedom and black unity, is moved by
the idea of the poor and the suffering. He empathizes with individual tragedy.
The
novel ends with Uruhu. Kenyan independence is the end era, and beginning of a
new one. No one knows what is coming, good or bad. Political corruption
corruption certainly exists, and the wealthy seem to remain wealthy while the
poor remain poor. Still,
Uruhu means change, and change means hope. The celebration is a coming together
of the people a time for unity in the quest to move forward.
The Representation of the Mau
Mau Movement:-
Mau Mau rebellion has been known in Africa and worldwide as an anti-colonial
movement, it has been recorded in the British memory and history as an
atavistic and fanatic movement which resisted western modernity and
civilization.
“What’s
this thing called Mau Mau?”
A grain of wheat can be called a traditional novel for Ngugi as its thematic
focuses moves toward militant nationalism. Mau Mau has long been a
controversial historical topic not only among the Europeans but the Kenyans
themselves as they argue over whether or not it was a primitive and irrational
movement lead by the religiously fanatic Gikuyu and how it should be remembered
in national history. In a nationalist reading, a grain of Wheat can be said to
be Ngugi’s project to speak for the Mau Mau movement as he tries to contest the
history of the Mau Mau as written by the British. The contestation is
significant in a sense that it aims at reconsolidating the collective identity
of Kenyans in the post-independence era.
The Mau Mau Uprising, also known as
the Mau Mau Rebellion, Mau Mau Revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a military
conflict that took place in British
Kenya between 1952 and 1960. It
involved Kikuyu-dominated groups
summarily called Mau Mau, the
white settlers, and elements of the British
Army, including local Kenya
Regiment, mostly consisting of the British, auxiliaries, and anti-Mau Mau
Kikuyu.
The capture of rebel leader Dedan Kimathi on 21 October 1956 signalled the
defeat of the Mau Mau, and ended the British military campaign. The Mau Mau
failed to capture widespread public support,[8] partly
due to the British policy of divide
and rule, and the movement
remained internally divided, despite attempts to unify its various strands. The
British, meanwhile, could draw upon their ongoing efforts to put down another rebellion in Malaya.
What is Uhuru?
The definition of the actual meaning of Uhuru is an open political and
social question: the new Kenyan bourgeoisie sees it indeed as the possibility
to replace the colonizer without changing the existing social, political and
economical structure. Whereas for Gikuyu peasants Uruhu means a profound break
with the colonial past, a rebirth which has to bring about the restitution of
the white settlers who wants to rule over the others. So Uhuru is a struggle
for the freedom and to get individuals own existence and identity. So Uruhu is
the central question into the novel it also related with the national
conscience.
Conclusion:
By sum up I would like to say that the novel is not only indicates the
nationalism but also it reflects the sign of national epic. The Kenyan writer
offered a romantic view of a nation marching towards freedom. The sacrifice the
natives gave did go in Vain. Mugo confesses and the community is overtaken. The
novel gives us detail about the physical, psychological and political impact of
the revolt on small village people. The novel can be summarized as a
“collective act of recalling and reflecting on the past” that is a narrative of
nation. The narrative is divided between the new national bourgeoisie and the
peasants. And in this way we will say that the novel is an ant colonial
struggle of national epic.
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