Assignment of The African Literature : A Grain of Wheat as Anti colonial Novel

Assignment of The African Literature : A  Grain of Wheat as Anti colonial Novel

To Evaluate My Assignment Click Here

Paper : 14 : The African Literature 
Prepared by : Gohil Jyotiba M.
Roll No : 16
Assignment  Topic :  A  Grain of Wheat as Anti colonial Novel
M.A (English) : Semester  -4
Enrolment No: 2069108420180016
Batch : 2017-19
Email  ID: jyotibagohil96@gmail.com
Submitted to : Smt .S. B Gardi , Department of English, MK Bhavnagar University.

● A Grain of wheat as Anti-Colonial Novel :

● Introduction :

A Grain of Wheat is a novel written  by Kenyan novelist Ngũgĩ wa Thiongo. It is about the  Kenyan people’s fight for independence fromBritish rule. The novel is historically connected in the novel village of Thabai symbolizes as Kenyan society. It is depicted as a community. Their inhabitants are astonished by the discovery of a betrayer of the Mau Mau movement on the eve of independence.  The novel is highly based on the fight against the colonial rule for freedom.

● A Grain of wheat as Anti-Colonial Novel :

The novel can be considered as Anti- colonial novel. Anti colonial means a political struggles of the colonised people against the specific ideology and practice of the colonialism. In this narrating former of opposition became and articulate as a resistance at many ways like political , cultural and economical freedom against colonial power.

   So thus,  In the novel the central narrative is the freedom against colonial power. The beginning of the novel the movement happens against Independence. It highly detected the struggle of the Kenya people from colonial Rule.

“A Grain of wheat” chronicles the events leading up to Kenyan independence, or Uruhu, in a Kenyan village.”

In The novel  focus on the number of characters experiences during the kenyan independence  or Uruhu. Movement . Mugo is one of the central character of the novel. He feels detached from the world around him and he is fearful of the attention given to him by the townspeople. Mugo is  connected  with the woman in the hut is a central element in the story. They both 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 never talks to anyone. She lives isolated life far away from the world. She suffered in sequestered by loss and trauma. Mugo consider as a freedom fighter of Kenya. Everyone wants that Mugo express his point of view about this movement. He is very respected person of the Kenya. Later on Mugo felt guilt and ultimately confesses his crime  that he has  betrayed Kihika. So the whole novel shows the darker image of the African nation that how people and woman were get tortured by someone and how rivalry takes place into the unwanted relationships.  The novel A grain of wheat is the national anti - colonial struggle against British rule.

Mau- Mau movement  has the historical background in the history of Africa. It consider as Anti – colonial resistance movement against British rule.  It also targeted to rebuild the Kenyan identity. But it’s fails in the history of colonisers. Thus , Ngugi wa Thiong ‘o decided to wrote the novel in which she rejects the claim of colonisers that Mau- Mau movement was purely evil moment. It regarded this movement as the National movement. The movement for liberates the colonised Kenya from British rule.

It detected in the novel as a heroic revolution against the colonial oppression. In the novel writer shows the historical connection of Mau -Mau movement. It consider as the commitment of Kenya ‘s people for economically , politically and culturally struggle . There are many central narrator of the story like Gikonyo, Karenja, Mugo, Mumbi and Thompson. It is all about the independence and Uhuru means freedom of Kenya. Uhuru demands the unity among the people.  In the novel Ngugi influenced by the Mau -Mau movement. It shows that it is a legal movement against oppression and subjugation of colonial power. In the novel shows the struggle between colonisers and colonised people.  In the novel Kihika consider as a voice of freedom and white Britisher Thompson is against him.In the novel Mau- Mau fighter are compared with the prometheus Greek God of fire. He stole the fire from the God. He helped humanity and lightened the way of the liberation.

“The Whiteman came to the country, clutching the book of God in both hands, a magic witness that the Whiteman was a messenger from the Lord. His tongue was coated with sugar; his humility was touching. For a time, people ignored the voice of the Gikuyu seer who once said: there shall come a people with clothes like the butterflies. They gave him, the stranger with a scalded skin, a place to erect a temporary shelter. Hut complete, the stranger put up another building yards away. This he called the House of God where people could go for worship and sacrifice.”

These lines shows the reality of Christians and Christianity. It highlights upon the Christian missionaries as unholy religion. The Christian missionaries are like an instrument for establishment and expansion of oppressive colonial rule. Kihika is educated person. He educated in Euro- Christian missionaries though he stands against the Christians. He depicted as the more powerful symbol of the resistance against British oppression . He presents as a thorn in the throat of colonisers. Who stands against Mau-Mau movement.. (Miller)

“I die for you, you die for me, we become a sacrifice for one another. So I can say that you, Karanja, are Christ. I am Christ. Everybody who takes the Oath of Unity to change things in Kenya is Christ.”

Christianity is interwoven throughout the novel..Kihika is Christian and uses the language of that religion here to stress sacrifice and shedding of blood leads to redemption for all. Mugo also thinks in terms of Christianity and  believing himself to be a saviour of the people. The Reverend at Uhuru uses prayer to God as a centerpiece. While the religion offers hope and a useful framework for conceiving of struggle and salvation of Christianity is a European import. It was one of the tools by which Europeans solidified their grasp on African soil. this makes for a complex and occasionally problematic situation. In a way this movement is a rebellious movement of freedom. The freedom fighters are degraded and defamed as criminal and terrorist.Ngugi shows the treatment given by colonisers to Kenyan prisoners. In this novel kihika defend against the terrorist strategy of Mau – Mau movement.

This likes are spoken by Kihika. It interpreted by Ngugi and makes the comparison between two types of violence the first is for control the subaltern group and the other one is for carried out by colonisers on the name of social justice. So all the characters like Kihika, ,  Gikonyo, Karenja, Mugo, Mumbi are suffering from the colonial violence. They all are victim of colonial violence and oppression.  Kihika was standing against the British people. He does all this things in order to justified this movement as a political resistance movement.

At the end of the novel all the people of Kenya young , old , children , men and women participating in the movement of resisitance against British rule. They sing a song which consider as the end of imperial rule and voice of Kenyan people against of colonial exploitation. The song itself becomes the remembrance of fighting time of colonial oppression.

 

  “We shall never rest

Without land

Without freedom true

Kenya is a country of black people”

Uhuru means a profound break with the colonial past and a rebirth which has to bring about the restitution of the lands usurped by the white settlers and the eradication of poverty. People tries to struggle for their own Uhuru and it is the main and central idea of this novel. So it can be taken in consideration as per one of main themes of this novel.Something went wrong...It was not what I had waited for, these many years.

At The end of the novel there is  unsettling and  mixed in its message. That happens because  may be the reconciliation of Gikonyo and Mumbi or  the departure of Thompson. The confession of Mugo that he has done crime. but here Wambui indicates that  there is also something wrong happened apart from this. Things are not turn out as they had hoped. There is something confusing. Something that alludes to a future of uncertainty and conflict and suffering.Ngugi was writing this novel many decades after Uhuru and was making a comment on how post-independence Kenya had many tumultuous political, economical and social issues. It has the legacy of colonialism and the presence of capitalism would not be easy to negotiate. The words are sad for the reader. Since we came know that she is right to feel uneasy and disappointed.

● Conclusion :

Thus,  the novel consider as a Anti-colonial novel. It depicts the struggles of Kenya for getting freedom means Uhuru. It shows the struggle for getting freedom and getting the new identity for Kenya. In the novel shows the freedom movements like Mau-Mau movement. The People of Kenya are fighting for their freedom of land , identity and independence from the British rule.

Works Cited

Miller, Rebecca. "Capitalistic Christians and Educated Eiltes.Fanonian Theory and Neo-Colonialism in Ngugi Wa Thing,o,s A Grain of Wheat."