Welcome readers! This blog is written in response to the thinking activity assigned by Megha Ma'am from Department of English, MKBU. This blog deals with the Paper of Africa literature and particularly dealing abou Ngugi wa Thiong'o novel Petals of blood. We are assigned several questions related to the novel and among them, Here I will discuss two questions from the novel.
Petals of Blood
Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Before delving into question answers first let us have a brief Introduction about the writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o and about the novel itself.
□ About the Writer - Ngugi wa Thiong'o
The birth Name of Ngugi wa Thiong'o - James Ngugi , born on 5th January 1938 is a kenyan author and academic, who has been described as "East Africa’s leading Novelist." He began writing in English, swithching to write primarily in Gikuyu. 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 Mũtĩiri. His short story The Upright Revolution : Or why Humans walk Upright has been translated into 100 languages.
He pens plays, novels, short stories, critical essays and children’s books. Generally Ngugi wa Thiong’o writings deal with the cultural and political legacy of colonialism in contemporary Africa. In the year 1970s, Ngũgĩ became involved in the struggle for democracy in Kenya and was imprisoned for his political activism. After his release, he went into exile in the United States, where he taught at universities and continued to write and publish. During his time in prison, he decided to cease writing his plays and other works in English language and began writing all his creative works in his native tongue, Gikuyu.
His books include the novels ' Petals of Blood' , for which he was imprisoned by the kenyan government in 1977. Along with that, other novels include ' A Grain of Wheat' and ' Wizard of the Crow'. He has written three volumes of the memoirs, Dreams in a time of War, In the House of the Interpreter, and Birth of a Dream Weaver. He wrote several essays including ' Decolonizing the Mind', something new, Torn and Globalectics.
His Major Works :-
In English
- Weep Not, Child (1964) is the first novel in English to be published by a writer from East Africa.
- The River Between (1965)
- The Grain of Wheat (1967)
- Petals of Blood (1977) his last novel in English
Written in Gikuyu and translated into English
- Devils on the Cross (1980)
- Matigari (1986)
- Wizard of the Crow (2006)
His essays
- Homecoming (1972)
- Decolonizing the mind (1986)
- Moving the Centre (1993)
- Detained (1981)
Plays
- The Black hermit (1963)
- The Trial Of Dedan Kimathi (1976)
- I will Marry When I Want (1977)
Ngugi wa Thiongo's Plays published before the novel. These three are the most important plays. He Reciepient of many honours, among them ten honorary doctorates, he is currently Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the university of California. He was shortlisted for 'The Man Booker International Prize' 2009 for his body of work and was longlisted for 'The International Booker Prize' in 2021 for The Perfect Nine.
Petals of Blood :-
Set in Kenya just after independence, the story follows four characters – Munira, Abdulla, Wanja, and Karega – whose lives are intertwined due to the Mau Mau Rebellion. In order to escape city life, each retreats to the small, pastoral village of Ilmorog. As the novel progresses, the characters deal with the repercussions of the Mau Mau rebellion as well as with a new, rapidly westernizing Kenya.
Title of the novel derives from a line in Derek Walcott's poem, 'The Swamp'. The story centres on four characters whose lives are drastically changed as a result of the rebellion, as they learn how to adapt and survive in a rapidly Westernizing environment. This novel was well received by critics, especially for its strong political themes, that including capitalism, Westernization, neocolonialism and education.
Characters are living in a small village Illmorg, Kenya. They are struggling with the new developing or westernizing Kenya. Change in Kenya after getting independence from Colonial rule. This novel portrays the challenges of capitalism, politics and the effects of Westernization. The Characters are connected with the reference of the past.
The novel has a Mau Mau rebellion as well as Political backgrounds also. Watch these video to understand the Mau Mau rebellion in the history of African literature.
Characters :-
1. Munira :- School teacher goes Illmorg to teach.
2. Karega :- Works as a teaching assistant connects to socialism after Nairobi trip- Joins the struggle of libetration.
3. Wanja :- Granddaughter of Nyakuniya, Worked as Barmaid and Prostitute and love relations with Munira, Karega and Abdulla.
4. Abdulla :- A shopkeeper , lost his leg in Mau Mau rebellion. Another character Joseph whom Abdulla keeps as brother or son.
5. Nyakuniya :- Old lady of the village.
6. Kimeria :- Bussinessman and raped wanja.
7. Chui - Schoolboy, headmaster and educationalist.
8. Mzigo :- A corrupt and incompetent administrator.
9. Inspector Godfrey :- One who investigating the death of three directors.
10. Nderi wa Riera :- Local Politician of Illmorg village.
Question 1 :- Write a detailed note on “Re-historicizing the conflicted figure of Woman" in Petals of Blood.
Answer :- The novel Petals of Blood marks Ngugi wa Thiong'o's growing interest in strong women characters like Wanja. Wanja Succeeds in areas where women literary figures traditionally do not. In her relationship to the land, her strength as a mother as well as nurture figure for the entire village. Her ability to forge her own destiny, wanja is a female figure rife with agency and power. she steadfastly resolves to accompany others in their return to the city despite the unpleasant memories it holds for her, and she continues to trek even after she is raped by kimeria. she improves Abdulla's business with her knowledge of advertising and markrting and eventually makes a significant profit for them both through her appropriation of the theng'eta drink. Her final turn to prostitution, though certainly a tragic and cynical decision on her part, is also a reasoned and logical solution to the problem she faces.
As the only primary woman figure, Wanja's character at first glance carries auspicious - hopes for African women and for their depiction in the works of a growing body of the African canon and post- colonial literature more generally. we find wanja's character a refreshing change from traditional, passive, melodramatic, male - dependent, luckluster heroines. As a result of this, Ngugi - wa - Thiongo has a long list of feminist supporters. For example,
Deirdre Lapin writes that ; '' Wanja is an admirable, indeed heroic character.''
Eustace Palmer confirms that, ' Wanja is brave, resilient, resourceful and determined.'
Judith Cochrane argues that ; ' it is the Gikuyu women ' rather than their menfolk who seem better able to reconcile those needs with traditional values and customs.'
Wanja is one of four main characters depicted by Ngugi to dramatize the theories of Marxist philosopher Frantz Fanon. Fanon's theories like, Ngugi's Petals of Blood chronicle the process of colonization to decolonization and the subsequent neocolonization of Africa. Fanon concludes that the violence done by colonization cannot be entirely eradicated until a people's revolution demands a socialist government, through violence as necessary. Specifically, both fanon and Ngugi blames the new native middle class for effectively perpetuating the colonial regime, especially through their encouragement of tourist industries. They idealize the revolution of the agriculture working masses as the people of the nation, they see the people's resulting kinship to the soil as instrumental in its successful provision for all the needs of the population.
The novel ' Petals of Blood' provides numerous examples of this environmental connection for all the villagers, in fact for anyone closer to the land rather than associated with the city. This special link between Wanja and land, the earth is revealed in the scene when wanja brings life back to the every soils of Ilmorg. she organizes a women's collective work force to till the earth, and she is among the first to reap its bounty when, after a long dry spell, it finally yields a harvest.
As Palmer argues that, '' Wanja's dynamism and vitality are suggested by her association with the fields and the plains.'' But, Wanja's treatment as the story progresses, becomes even more organic, and it is clear that as she works the soil, together with a group labor force of her own creation, she becomes all the more empowered.
Along with all these things, Wanja's desire to be a mother can also be read as both a generalization of the situation in Africa and as a specific allusion to woman's history. She abandoned her first child. Wanja's second pregnancy and her epiphany after karega's rejection signal new hope for new Kenya, a second chance to right old wrongs. Wanja murdered kimeria and that shows that her anger is now directed in an appropriate direction. It demonstrates that, unlike any metaphysical mother of mercy, she will remain as unforgiving as she is unforgiven. In other words, despite her numerous strengths, Wanja is quite human, and subject to human pride and error, anger and passion. And though she certainly functions as allegory, she is not merely the archetypal mother.
Wanja reveals in her powers of representation a new birth, and the potential for a new future of hope and strength in a manner, that finally is consistent with Ngugi wa Thiongo's Marxist ideal. In this sense, Wanja is not only a historically specific representative of the female perspective of nation, but she also becomes instrumental, in Ngugi's ideal new Kenya, in the creation and re-visioning of that new Kenya, through her newfound artistic power- one that rivals Ngugi's own. In fact, her image of Abdulla closely reflects Ngugi's own perception of art and its relation to history. As Ngugi Wa Thiongo contends;
'' From my writing one can see that the past, present and future are bound and interrelated. My interest in the past is because of the present and there is no way to discuss the future or present separate from the past.''
Like, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Wanja has the potential, through her art, to become a force in the creation of a new nation, as well as a representative of it. Another important point is that, In Wanja's final and self - acknowledged turn to prostitution at the sunshine Lodge, Wanja may well have enough money to allow her limited access into the world of Mzigo, Chui and Kimeria to enable her revenge.
Conclusion :- To Conclude, Ngugi Wa Thiongo leaves Wanja a contradictory, paradoxical character consistent only in that she defies all critical attempts to entrap her within a facile and rather doctrinaire Western Classification. And he sees Wanja, Woman, as a critical figure of this nation not only in the past, as his historical specificity suggests, but integral to defining and creating the Kenyan future.
Question 2 :- Write a note on Fanonism and Constructive Violence in Petals Of Blood.
Answer :- The 1977 novel Petals of Blood by Ngugi Wa Tiong'o deals with the independent Kenya where the
neocolonialism was taking place of the colonial rulers and the struggle even rise in the remote obscure village,
Ilmorog. The novel at first demonstrates the disillusionment; about the loss of the ideal of independence and the destruction of hope; about
betrayal and hypocrisy and about the triumph of corruption over humanity. Ngugi believes that imperialism, the power of dead capital, in its
neocolonial clothes will not be able to destroy the fighting culture of the African peasantry and working class. This article will attempt to
present Ngugi's suggested way of redemption through violence as a constructive force to correct the neocolonialist society echoing the view of
Fanon, who considers there is no other way than violence for the decolonization and this is rather a cleansing force for colonized people which redeem their inferiority complex.
Fanonism :- In Wretched of the Earth, Fanon presents the vision of violence as a
constructive force. He says, National liberation, national
renaissance, the restoration of nationhood to the people, common
wealth: whatever may be the headings used or the new formulas
introduced, decolonization is always a violent phenomenon and The naked truth of decolonization evokes for us the searing bullets
and bloodstained knives which emanate from it. The development of violence among the colonized people will
be proportionate to the violence exercised by the threatened colonial
regime. but the native's violence unifies the people. It frees the
natives from inferiority complex from his despair and inaction. It
works like a “cleansing force” for an individual.
Ngugi and Constructive Violence :- This point provides the point of view of Ngugi towards violence as a constructive
force and his attitude is quite positive alike Fanon. He also believes
that, “Imperialism, the power of dead capital, in its neo-colonial
clothes will not be able to destroy the fighting culture of African
peasantry and working class for the simple reason that this culture is
a product and a reflection of real life struggles going on in Africa today.
Kenyan History of Violence :- The coast of Kenya has been exposed to outside influences for
centuries, intruders' treasure hunting started in the early eleventh
century and the conflict with the natives was the seed of further
violence. Ngugi was very much influenced by Mau
Mau. It was a war that touched the popular imagination and was
forever to change the fate of Kenya and many other countries under
British rule. For the first time the peasants, the wretched of the earth,
were taking the war to a highly sophisticated country with a long
military history, This situation continued up to 1963 when
Kenya was finally independent.
Constructive Violence in Petals of Blood :- In this
novel, the Kenya Ngugi writes about, the Kenya that nobody can take
away from him, is the 'Kenya of working class of all nationalities and
their heroic struggle against domination by nature and other
humans over the centuries. Here we see the face of Kenya whose face is reflected in Ilmorog, the
center of action for the novel. Ngugi chooses a barren, drought
stricken part of Kenya where neo-colonialism put the interests of
foreigners and abandons the people who had suffered and died for
the land. Thus capitalism was burying Ilmorog and putting a new
Ilmorog in its place. The people reached to a point of no return and
raised the protagonists to resist the destruction.
The Protagonists Concerning Violence :- Petals of Blood is so bloody deep and detailed that by the time it ends
nobody cares for the fate of the three petty preys, Krupps, Rockfellers
and Delameres, or whether it was Wanja, Karega, Munira or Abdullah
who has killed them.
1. Wanja :- Wanja, the extra ordinary struggling female character, like Kenya
itself, has to fight to stay alive and for whom destruction is never too
far away. Being humiliated by the society and the hostility of the
world, she allows herself to turn cruel like the surroundings. She
described the reality of neocolonial situation in a plain formula- “You
eat somebody or you are eaten. You sit on somebody or somebody sits
on you”. She questioned, has Kimeria sinned less than her, why is she
the only sufferer. She stroked his head with the punga before the
arson. According to Fanon this is individual freedom and it will calm
and clean her burning heart
2. Abdullah :- Abdullah, the introvert Mau Mau fighter, was totally betrayed by the
country he fought for. The independent Kenya failed to rehabilitate
the one legged fighter who sacrificed his family and land for the
country. The unsung hero had the ability to rehabilitate himself, but
the same person Kimeria, who betrayed his friend during Mau Mau,
involved with the spoil of his business, his earning. By killing Kimeria
he wanted to avenge the death of his friend, Ndinguri and save Wanja
from his claws. He reserved his manhood by this act of violence.
3. Karega :- Karega, the man of many wanderings, devotes himself to the unity of
workers and helps the trade union. He opposed Wanja's philosophy
and kept searching for a lost innocence, hope and faith. He believed
one could not prevent violence by being one of the violators. He was
sure that there must be other way to a 'new world'.
4. Munira :- Munira the 'man of God' was also haunted by the need to breakout
from the situation, the passive “spectator of life” he wanted a
connection that prompt him do something. Even taking personal
revenge by dismissing Karega, was a step to prove the activity to
himself. Finally inspired by a divine feeling, he too desired to establish
a 'secular new world'. He wanted to save Karega from the fatal
embrace of Wanja. He decided to burn the 'Sunshine Lodge', the place
of prostitution. It was also a common place for Kimeria, Chui, Mzigo,
the neocolonial agents. The act was a repetition of his early life,
throwing the sin, the corruption into the fire.
Conclusion :- To Conclude, Wanja's pregnancy, Joseph's school rebellion, Karega's fate in
renewed strikes and protests in Ilmorog, the future generation with
the spirit of purification and courage from the parents involved in
freedom fighting and social revolution, will be born to restore the
serenity. Constructive violence, like arson will burn down the
corrupted, rotten society and there is a hope and promise for the
rebirth of a new Kenya.
References :-
Amin, Tasnim. “World Wide Journals.” IJSR - International Journal of Scientific Research, 1 Apr. 2017, www.worldwidejournals.com/international-journal-of-scientific-research-%28IJSR%29/article/fanonism-and-constructive-violence-in-petals-of-blood/MTA3NDM=/?is=1. Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.
“Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o: The Booker Prizes.” Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o | The Booker Prizes, thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/authors/ngugi-wa-thiongo. Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.
“Petals of Blood.” Wikiwand, www.wikiwand.com/en/Petals_of_Blood. Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.
Roos, Bonnie. Re-Historicizing the Conflicted Figure of Woman in Ngugi’s ’petals Of www.jstor.org/stable/3820979. Accessed 02 Feb. 2024.
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