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Among the younger generation are Gikonyo, a well-known carpenter in the village of Thabai, and Mumbi, his wife and one of the most beautiful women in the area. They listen as one of their peers, Kihika, speaks before a large crowd and encourages guerrilla warfare against the British. Mugo also listens, but, unlike Gikonyo and Mumbi, he hates what Kihika says. Mugo thinks native Kenyans have no chance of successfully opposing the British, and he decides to do his job quietly and succeed in the new order of things. Karanja, who unsuccessfully sought the hand of Mumbi, feels even more strongly that the best policy is to accept the British as invincible.
Before long, Kihika disappears into the forest with many other young men who arm themselves. A year later, their most successful raid is the capture of the Mahee police post; this infuriates the British. They declare a state of emergency and imprison many of the young men of Thabai, including Gikonyo. Even Mugo is arrested for intervening when a woman is being beaten. Despite the efforts by the British to quell the Kenyan resistance, the violence continues, and District Officer Thomas Robson is assassinated.
Mugo is taken to Rira camp, where John Thompson is the warden. Though Mugo respects the British, in these circumstances he feels unjustly accused and refuses to cooperate. He begins to get a reputation among the other detainees as an inspiration to courage. Mugo does nothing to justify their hopes, but he does feel vague and grandiose religious impulses and begins to see himself as a possible messiah for his people. Finally, there is an uprising in which Mugo plays no part, and twenty-one prisoners are killed. This episode places a blot on Thompson’s career, the British believing he overreacted; nevertheless, he is named as Robson’s replacement as district officer.
Before long, Mugo is released. After his return to the village, he receives an unexpected—and unwelcome—visit from Kihika, a hunted man. Kihika reveals that he, disguised as an old man, killed Robson, the district officer. This news terrifies Mugo. Oblivious to Mugo’s cowardice, Kihika encourages him to lead an underground movement in the village and asks him to think about it and to meet him the next evening. Mugo resents the ethical choice that Kihika thrusts upon him. He decides to betray him and secretly tells Thompson where Kihika will be the next night. The soldiers arrest Kihika and murder him.
Gikonyo is moved from one detention camp to another—seven in all—and finally, after six years, has most of his revolutionary zeal drained from him. He thinks only of Mumbi. He signs a confession and is released. There are rumors that freedom is coming to the country. When Gikonyo returns to the village, however, he receives two unwelcome surprises. The first is that Karanja, whom he has never respected, has risen from leader of the homeguards (who report to the British) to village chief. The second is that his wife, Mumbi, gave birth to a son in his absence, and the father is Karanja. Gikonyo becomes embittered and disillusioned.
Kenya regains its independence (uhuru) on December 12, 1963. Thabai, like the other towns, celebrates with a large rally that all villagers attend. Warui, Wambui, General R., and Lieutenant Koina, who worked in the Movement for many years, are planning to use the occasion to unmask Kihika’s betrayer. All their suspicions fall upon Karanja, who is the most notorious collaborator in the village. When independence approaches, Karanja resigns as chief and goes to work in the library. He also serves, however, as a messenger for John Thompson, his mistress, and his wife.
Their plan is to have Mugo, whose reputation as a hero has by now grown by leaps and bounds, present a speech that will climax with the naming of Karanja. Mugo, burdened with guilt, refuses and asks to be left alone. Mumbi tries to change his mind, so he tells her the truth. She warns Karanja not to attend the rally, but he ignores her advice. Then the people dispatch a delegation that drags Mugo into their midst, where they await his triumphant speech. They call him “Kihika-born-again.” Instead, he stands before them all and reveals himself as the traitor.
Mugo’s aged aunt dies, and he is left totally alone in the world. Wambui, General R., and Lieutenant Koina visit him, confirm his guilt, and execute him. Karanja, who placed all his hopes on the British, recognizes how dangerous his situation is when Thompson leaves the country. Karanja flees, but he knows he has nowhere to go. Warui and Wambui, who were with the Movement for such a long time, now feel empty, wondering whether things have improved or whether they have simply exchanged one corrupt government for another. Gikonyo and Mumbi, on the other hand, reconcile and look forward to the future.
Paper no 14 assignment
Name: Kajal Keraliya
Roll no.: 18
Topic: Themes in ‘A Grain of Wheat’
Paper no 14 : The African Literature
M.A: Sem-4
Enrolment no.:2069108420180030
Year: 2017-19
E-mail: Www.kajalk1@gmail.com
Submitted to: Smt. S.B. Gardi Department Of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Themes in ‘ A Grain of Wheat’
About The Writer:
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (born 5 January 1938). Ngugi wa Thiong’o is a writer of Kenyan descent. One of the foremost living African novelists, he has also developed a reputation as a post-colonial theorist, and has taught at universities around the world. . His first Novel for over twenty years was published in Gikuyu in 2004.His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mutiri. Ngugi’s work is often highly political, which has caused much controversy for him in Kenya. Ngugi currently holds a post as Distinguished Professor in Comparative Literature and English at the University of California, Irvine.
Ngugi Wa Thiongo himself remarked that:
“I am a writer some have been called me a religious writer. I write about my people. I am interested in their hidden lives and hates and how the very tension in their hearts affects their daily contact with other men. How in other words, the emotions stream of the man within interacts with the real type” – This book is divided into the three parts. The novel starts in the village Thabai, just a few days before Kenyan independence of the village and has been selected as a day in December, 1963 (Uhuru Day).
About the Novel
When the British colonizers come to Kenya, they strengthen their hold on the territory by building a great railroad. Waiyaki and other warrior leaders took up arms against this imposition, but they were defeated. Most Kenyans gradually learn to make accommodations with the new regime, though the seeds of revolution spread underground in “the Movement,” known to the British as Mau Mau. Among the younger generation are Gikonyo, a well-known carpenter in the village of Thabai, and Mumbi, his wife and one of the most beautiful women in the area. They listen as one of their peers, Kihika, speaks before a large crowd and encourages guerrilla warfare against the British. Mugo also listens, but, unlike Gikonyo and Mumbi, he hates what Kihika says. Mugo thinks native Kenyans have no chance of successfully opposing the British, and he decides to do his job quietly and succeed in the new order of things. Karanja, who unsuccessfully sought the hand of Mumbi, feels even more strongly that the best policy is to accept the British as invincible.
Before long, Kihika disappears into the forest with many other young men who arm themselves. A year later, their most successful raid is the capture of the Mahee police post; this infuriates the British. They declare a state of emergency and imprison many of the young men of Thabai, including Gikonyo. Even Mugo is arrested for intervening when a woman is being beaten. Despite the efforts by the British to quell the Kenyan resistance, the violence continues, and District Officer Thomas Robson is assassinated.
Mugo is taken to Rira camp, where John Thompson is the warden. Though Mugo respects the British, in these circumstances he feels unjustly accused and refuses to cooperate. He begins to get a reputation among the other detainees as an inspiration to courage. Mugo does nothing to justify their hopes, but he does feel vague and grandiose religious impulses and begins to see himself as a possible messiah for his people. Finally, there is an uprising in which Mugo plays no part, and twenty-one prisoners are killed. This episode places a blot on Thompson’s career, the British believing he overreacted; nevertheless, he is named as Robson’s replacement as district officer.
Before long, Mugo is released. After his return to the village, he receives an unexpected—and unwelcome—visit from Kihika, a hunted man. Kihika reveals that he, disguised as an old man, killed Robson, the district officer. This news terrifies Mugo. Oblivious to Mugo’s cowardice, Kihika encourages him to lead an underground movement in the village and asks him to think about it and to meet him the next evening. Mugo resents the ethical choice that Kihika thrusts upon him. He decides to betray him and secretly tells Thompson where Kihika will be the next night. The soldiers arrest Kihika and murder him.
Gikonyo is moved from one detention camp to another—seven in all—and finally, after six years, has most of his revolutionary zeal drained from him. He thinks only of Mumbi. He signs a confession and is released. There are rumors that freedom is coming to the country. When Gikonyo returns to the village, however, he receives two unwelcome surprises. The first is that Karanja, whom he has never respected, has risen from leader of the homeguards (who report to the British) to village chief. The second is that his wife, Mumbi, gave birth to a son in his absence, and the father is Karanja. Gikonyo becomes embittered and disillusioned.
Kenya regains its independence (uhuru) on December 12, 1963. Thabai, like the other towns, celebrates with a large rally that all villagers attend. Warui, Wambui, General R., and Lieutenant Koina, who worked in the Movement for many years, are planning to use the occasion to unmask Kihika’s betrayer. All their suspicions fall upon Karanja, who is the most notorious collaborator in the village. When independence approaches, Karanja resigns as chief and goes to work in the library. He also serves, however, as a messenger for John Thompson, his mistress, and his wife.
Their plan is to have Mugo, whose reputation as a hero has by now grown by leaps and bounds, present a speech that will climax with the naming of Karanja. Mugo, burdened with guilt, refuses and asks to be left alone. Mumbi tries to change his mind, so he tells her the truth. She warns Karanja not to attend the rally, but he ignores her advice. Then the people dispatch a delegation that drags Mugo into their midst, where they await his triumphant speech. They call him “Kihika-born-again.” Instead, he stands before them all and reveals himself as the traitor.
Mugo’s aged aunt dies, and he is left totally alone in the world. Wambui, General R., and Lieutenant Koina visit him, confirm his guilt, and execute him. Karanja, who placed all his hopes on the British, recognizes how dangerous his situation is when Thompson leaves the country. Karanja flees, but he knows he has nowhere to go. Warui and Wambui, who were with the Movement for such a long time, now feel empty, wondering whether things have improved or whether they have simply exchanged one corrupt government for another. Gikonyo and Mumbi, on the other hand, reconcile and look forward to the future.
Themes in Grain of Wheat
Ø Colonialism and its Legacies
Kenya was colonized by the British in 1895 and was not independent until 1963. In the subsequent years the country struggled to negotiate a post-colonial reality in which the divisions caused by political and economic oppression, the Emergency, violence, racism, exploitation of rivalry and competition amongst Kenyans, and psychological trauma endured and deepened. Even though Ngugi does not take his readers into the days after colonialism, he hints at the difficulties the characters will face. Thompson's claim that Africa will always need Europe may not be true in the sense he wishes it to be, but it is prescient in that Europe's involvement in the region can never fully be erased. Finally, on a more personal level, all of the characters' lives are affected by colonialism, whether they are in detention camps or the Movement or losing their homes and land or trying to repair their fractured families or dealing with paternalistic colonial administrators. Colonialism is an inescapable reality, even after it is ostensibly over.
Ø Individuals and the Community
The novel's narrative focuses on the individual, with time given to Mugo, Mumbi, Gikonyo, Karanja, Kihika, and even minor characters like General R and Koina. Individual stories are significant, especially Mumbi's, as they facilitate greater growth for the self and for the community. As for that community, it is also Ngugi's focus, and one that has attracted a large amount of critical writing discussing whether or not he successfully managed to convey the struggles of the masses at the same time as he relayed the individuals' tales. Indeed, some of the individual characters seem as if they are thinly drawn in order to promote the understanding that they are merely part of the Kenyan people as a whole, and when individuals do make choices for themselves those choices reverberate back through the community.
Ø Betrayal, Guilt, and Redemption
Almost every character feels guilty about something in this novel, and those sources of guilt tend to derive from a betrayal of another character or of the Kenyan people. Mumbi has betrayed her husband, Karanja has betrayed his people by becoming a homeguard and Chief, and Mugo has betrayed Kihika. These characters manifest their guilt differently, with both Mumbi and Mugo eventually taking the path toward redemption while Karanja can only choose that of exile. Mumbi and Mugo's redemption comes from open confession of their sin and a willingness to accept the consequences. Mumbi's also comes from being true to herself and regaining control of her life; she will be able to live out those choices, whereas Mugo's fate is death. Nevertheless, Mugo's death offers redemption to the community as a whole.
Ø Violence:
When colonization is main part of the novel then it was next to turn into Decolonization. But Decolonization always comes with violence. Decolonization is a violent event. Decolonization is quite simply the substitution of one "species" of mankind by another. The substitution is unconditional, absolute, total, and seamless. Decolonization, which sets out to change the order of the world, is clearly the agenda for total disorder. It is also known as historical movement.
Ø Love:
We can find example of love marriage of Gikonyo and Mumbi in this novel and even if we think in platonic way then we can realizes that every person of this novel is in love with Uhuru, self-freedom and nativism. They want to fight for their native land and want to see their self-free from British Colonization, so Love is also noticeable theme of ‘A Grain of Wheat’.
Ø Patriotism:
There is no doubt that it is one of most important themes of this novel ‘A Grain of Wheat’. This novel is starts with only ‘Mau Mau Movement’ so it is very well known patriotic movement for self-right and native country and land so it leads us towards patriotic atmosphere and intention.
So, in this way the there are numbers of themes works in the novel. It shows man’s defeat from his desire.
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