'A Grain of Wheat' as an Anti- colonial struggle

Name:  jumani pooja k

Paper: 402 African Literature

Topic:  'A Grain of Wheat' as an Anti- colonial struggle 

Roll no:   16

M.A    part 2

Sem   4

Year   2012-13

Submitted to

Dr Dilip Barad

Department of English

M.K.  Bhavnagar University

A Grain of wheat as an Anti- colonial struggle

 A wheat written by Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong and its third novel. This novel his great work to him and marks 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.

Ngugi Wa Thiang’o arises the concepts such as negritude nation and nationalism. Fanon defined anti-colonial nationalism. He might recap following points in the novel A Grain of Wheat. He asserts the rights of colonized peoples to make their own self-definitions, rather than he defined by the colonizers. He offers the means to identify alternative histories, cultural traditions and knowledge which conflict with the representations of colonial discourses. He presents the cultural inheritance of the colonized people in defiance of colonial discourses, etc.

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 rase is a central point of chapter 14. Each runner has his own experience, and running seems to free the runner’s minds to wander over their pasts, their goals and hopes. And their disappointments. The rase seems to be almost a replay of the past, at this moment of moving into the future. Gikonyo and karanja go back to a pivotal time in their lives, the day when Gikonyo and mumbi first express their love for each other. Karanja s disappointment and bitterness begins at this moment, when he realizes that Gikonyo and mumbi are off together. Gikonyo s bitterness and disappointment also begin at this moment, though it is a moment of joy for him. Gaining mumbi as a lover means that Gikonyo is risking his heart. By racing against each other. Both Gikonyo and karanja hope to recover heir pride and mumbi. Neither can win this race.

Mugo, mean while, has struggled with his guilt. He also has looked toward the past at this moment of moving into the future. He finds that he cannot live with the guilt that he feels. Like Dr. Lynd, like mumbi, like Gikonyo, mumbi feels the need to tell his story and connect with the human beings around him. He must confess.

European colonialism

A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o is a novel depicting the people of Kenya and their various struggles with European colonialism. As is typical of this type of fiction writing, this work contains seemingly factual evidence about colonialism; yet it also includes a sub-plot about the relationship between main characters, Mugo and Kihika, as well as quite a bit of figurative language, such as symbolism and metaphors, that allow the reader to interpret underlying meanings for some sections of the book.

Lastly, the structure of the chapters within the novel is telling of the colonial experience. The beginning chapters of the novel can only be identified by number. Towards the end of the book, however, the chapters' titles become names, such as "Mugo" and "Karanja." This chapter titling sequence is indicative and symbolic of the Kenyans; once nameless and lost in European culture; the Kenyans are now shown gaining order, taking power from European colonials and growing back into their own cultural identities.

This novel is certainly an artful representation of colonialism in Kenya.