THE RIVER BETWEEN
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o (1965)
Ngugi begins with the short version of the story of Gikuyu and Mumbi (male and female who were present at the beginning of Kikuyu history), as well as tales of the various Kikuyu heroes in the time prior to the colonial era.
The story itself begins with a fight between Kinuthia and Kamau (boys who had sworn to be comrades just three days prior). Kamau had insulted Kinuthia because Kinuthia's father had died young. Kinuthia insulted in return by calling Kamau's father (who had converted to Christianity) a slave of the white man. Kamau and Kinuthia are stopped in their fight by Waiyaki, son of Chege (who was a well-respected leader of the community, and something of a mystic), who had joined them in their oath as comrades.
After Waiyaki's second birth ceremony, Chege takes his son Waiyaki on a journey to a place where they can see Kerinyaga (Mt. Kenya), as well as all the lands of Gikuyu and Mumbi, i.e. all the lands of the Kikuyu people. Chege tells Waiyaki that they are descendants of Mugo wa Kibiro, the seer who had foretold the coming of the white man, and that Waiyaki is the last in the family line. Chege tells Waiyaki that he has a task:
p. 20: "Now, listen my son. Listen carefully, for this is the ancient prophecy...I could not do more. When the white man came and fixed himself in Siriana [the same place that Njoroge attended school in Weep Not, Child], I warned all the people. But they laughed at me. Maybe I was hasty. Perhaps I was not the one. Mugo often said you could not cut the butterflies with a panga. You could not spear them until you learnt and knew their ways and movement. Then you could trap, you could fight back. Before he died, he whispered to his son the prophecy, the ancient prophecy: "salvation shall come from the hills. from the blood that flows in me, I say from the same tree, a son shall rise. And his duty shall be to lead and save the people!" He said no more. Few knew the prophecy. Perhaps Kabonyi, who has betrayed the tribe, knows about it. I am old, my time is gone. Remember that you are the last in this line. . . . Arise. Heed the prophecy. Go to the Mission place. Learn all the wisdom and all the secrets of the white man. But do not follow his vices. Be true to your people and the ancient rites."
The sisters, Nyambura and Muthoni are introduced while collecting water at the river Honia. They are the daughters of Joshua, one of the earliest converts to Christianity at Siriana Mission, and now the leading disciple for Siriana Mission in the hills. Muthoni tells Nyambura that she wishes to be circumcised, even though the Church forbids its members from even thinking about such heathen practices. Muthoni does not want Nyambura to tell their parents, who, ironically, are circumcised yet still Christian, having been taken into adulthood by Kikuyu customary practice prior to the advent of colonialism. Nyambura does not know what to tell her sister, who is passionate about being circumcised, about becoming a woman in the full ways of the Kikuyu. When, ten pages later, Muthoni does not return home after a church service, Joshua yells at his wife, Miriamu, to go out and find her. Miriamu is not successful, and Nyambura feels compelled to tell her father that Muthoni is probably with her aunt taking part in initiation rituals. Joshua tells Nyambura to go to the aunt's house, tell Muthoni to return at once or be forever removed from the family. Muthoni refuses to return home, and is banished from the family. She and Waiyaki meet each other at the dancing and singing which begins the initiation ceremony.
Muthoni's words to Waiyaki: p. 44: "I want to be a woman made beautiful in the manner of the tribe."
Muthoni does not get through the circumcision ceremony without injury. She is the only one who falters, not because she cried out, but because her wound would not heal. The wounds only get worse. Waiyaki visits her, then tells Nyambura of her sister's condition. Nyambura visits Muthoni, but still she does not get well, and she is finally taken, by Waiyaki, to Siriana Mission Hospital, where she shortly thereafter dies. Her death becomes the spark that sets Kikuyu against Christians -- Joshua against Chege, the government against the people. Eventually, the missionaries at Siriana prohibit students from having anything to do with Kikuyu custom -- this further alienates a large number of the students, many of whom had straddled a line between tradition and Christianity. Waiyaki is one of those who realizes that a return to school at Siriana is impossible.
Eventually, Waiyaki joins with Kamau and Kinuthia to start a school in their home area (called Marioshoni, the first "people's school" in the country), with all three being teachers and staff. But the fight between traditionalists and Christians goes on, with Kamau's father, Kabonyi (who has turned against his friend and fellow convert Joshua in an effort to revitalize traditional customs) leading the way.
p. 65: "Waiyaki had heard about this Kiama [a traditional body formed with the purpose of preserving the purity of tribal customs and ways of life]. He knew the drive came from Kabonyi. Waiyaki feared they would give him a place in the leadership of this Kiama, which was meant to embrace all the ridges. He did not feel enthusiastic about it. He wanted to concentrate on education. Perhaps the teaching of Livingstone [head missionary at Siriana], that education was of value and his boys should not concern themselves with what the government was doing or politics, had found a place in Waiyaki's heart."
p. 68: "Schools grew up like mushrooms. Often a school was nothing more than a shed hurriedly thatched with grass. And there they stood, symbols of people's thirst for the white man's secret magic and power. Few wanted to live the white man's way, but all wanted this thing, this magic. This work of building together was a tribute to the tribe's way of co-operation. It was a determination to have something of their own making, fired by their own imagination...
"The schools were soon overflowing with children, hungry for this thing. A class held many children crammed together, while their teachers, any who could be grabbed from Siriana, sat in front and the expectant little eyes looked up to them, wanting to drink in this learning. And mothers and fathers waited, expecting their children to come home full of learning and wisdom."
Waiyaki and Nyambura, who had not talked (beyond simple greetings) for many seasons after the death of Muthoni, meet each other at night as they each travel to see a friend. They are unable to meet again at Waiyaki's school as arranged, but manage to cross each other's path near Joshua's church one Sunday, while most everyone else around was in the church.
Kabonyi (Kamau's father, and leader of the exiles from Siriana) begins to fight against Waiyaki. Kabonyi wants to be the leader of the people's fight against Joshua (his former friend), but isn't savvy enough in the face of Waiyaki's charisma. Waiyaki's plans for the communities to build more schools is accepted in the face of Kabonyi's objections, and Kabonyi's public humiliation over this issue incite him even more against Waiyaki.
Waiyaki is spoken of by the people as "Teacher," mwalimu. He resigns from the Kiama, seeing it as too much work with all of his efforts to build schools. But Kabonyi, leader of the Kiama, uses Waiyaki's name, turning it into a symbol, which Waiyaki himself will eventually be unable to live up to.
Waiyaki and Nyambura meet at the river, where they declare their love for each other, though Nyambura declines Waiyaki's offer of marriage, because she feels she must stay with her father. Kamau is hiding in wait for Nyambura, whom he says he loves, and tells others, including his father, Kabonyi, that Waiyaki and Nyambura are to marry. This further splits the community, and Waiyaki's power is waning. Eventually, Waiyaki hears of a threat to Joshua's house (in the form of a threat on Nyambura from Kamau), and tries to alert Joshua, who does not believe him and demands that Waiyaki leave his house. Waiyaki does leave, but not before Nyambura defies her father and leaves with Waiyaki. Kamau meets Waiyaki as he is leaving Joshua's hose (where Kamau had gone to hurt Joshua and Nyambura). Kamau alerts his father about Waiyaki's presence at Joshua's and a showdown is scheduled at the river.
pp. 138-139: "'Look here, Kinuthia,' Waiyaki said after a long silence. 'Do something for me. Tomorrow I must speak to the people just before sunset. Call a meeting at Honia river on the initiation ground. It is flat there. Get some people to help you spread the news. On every hill. I'll fight it out with Kabonyi in the open. For, Kinuthia, I cannot run away. New thoughts are coming into my mind. Things I might have done and said. Oh, there are so many things I did not know. I had not seen that the new awareness wanted expression at a political level. Education for an oppressed people is not all."
But when the meeting gets started, Waiyaki is unable, finally, to heal the breach in the Kikuyu community caused by the anger and hatred that had grown up between Joshua and Kabonyi, to heal the hurt caused by the need for power of these two men. And so, in the end, Waiyaki and Nyambura are taken away, to be dealt with by the Kiama, led still by Kabonyi. The split in the Kikuyu community, spearheaded by the incursion of white missionaries into the Kikuyu highlands, is left to fester.
Waiyaki's attempts to unite the Kikuyu fail.
WEEP NOT, CHILD
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o (1962)
The story opens with Njoroge's mother telling him that she and his father have decided to send him to school. Njoroge was secretly very happy, as attending school was his wish, though he did not know how his mother would know of this. Njoroge tells his brother Kamau of his mother's decision, and Kamau, who is a carpenter's apprentice, is happy for Njoroge, and seems not unhappy for his own carpentering position. When Kamau and Njoroge end their conversation, they are on the subject of John (son of Jacobo), who has finished "all the learning in Kenya," and may soon be off to learn in Britain. They also discuss Mr. Howlands, the big white man in the area, who has come from Britain to Kikuyuland in Kenya. Njoroge and Kamau question why Mr. Howlands has left the place where there is so much to learn so as to come to Kenya, when even Kenyan's who want to learn must go elsewhere.
Ngugi lays out the social dynamics of Kipanga town -- rich European settlers, devious Indian merchants, and then the Kikuyu natives, who had to deal with European snobbery and Indian deviousness. Njoroge goes to his first day of school with Mwihaki, the daughter of the rich, landowning Kikuyu, Jacobo --whose son will be off soon to learn in Britain. Njoroge is hazed by the other boys, and saved by Mwihaki, who tells the boys that Njoroge is her gofer, newcomer (njuka). Mwihaki's father owns the land that Njoroge's father's families live on. Njoroge's family are "Ahoi," or "Muhoi" as the singular form.
Nyokabi, Njoroge's mother: p. 18: "She felt elated when she ordered her son to go and do some reading or some sums. It was to her the greatest reward she would get from her motherhood if she one day found her son writing letters, doing arithmetic and speaking English."
p. 20: Njoroge runs to find his older brother (half-brother, they have different mothers), Kamau, for dinner, but has to change out of his school clothes and into his calico covering so as to maintain his school clothes in as good condition as possible. While out looking for his brother, he spots Mwihaki on the same trail coming toward him. He is now embarrassed about his clothes. She, being rich, can wear "school" clothes whenever she wants, he can not, so he leaves the path.
Njoroge's father, Ngotho, had his family's land taken from them by Mr. Howlands, the rich European for whom Ngotho worked as head "shamba boy," while Ngotho was fighting in the world war. That is why the family must live as "Ahoi" on the land belonging to Jacobo.
p. 43: "'Education is everything,' Ngotho said. Yet he doubted this because he knew deep inside his heart that land was everything. Education was good only because it would lead to the recovery of the lost lands."
Leaders of the nationalist resistance attempt to strike against all European and Indian wage-payers. The strike, to be joined by all African workers, envelops Ngotho, who fights with his wife, Njoroge's mother. On the first day of the strike, the day that Njoroge and Mwihaki find that they have passed their primary level exams and will go on to secondary school, Ngotho incites a crowd during a meeting, and Jacobo (Mwihaki's father), who had gone to the strike meeting to calm people down and get them back to work, is attacked by the crowd led by Ngotho. Jacobo is only slightly hurt, and throws Ngotho and his family off the land. Njoroge's entrance to secondary school is delayed while the family builds a new house on land given to them by Nganga (Kamau's former apprenticeship patron). Kamau has found a job, though, and gives the money to Njoroge to go to school. Mwihaki attends boarding school a long distance away.
As the state of emergency is called, Jacobo becomes a chief, and Howlands becomes District Officer. Ngotho loses stature in his house as his elder sons fight with the MauMau, gaining their own stature outside of his influence. As for Njoroge, he continued in school, even though, "Schools were scarce and very widely spaced. Independent and Kikuyu Karing'a schools, which had been built by the people after a break with the missions, had been closed by the Government" (p. 77)
pp. 92-93: "Through all this, Njoroge was still sustained by his love for and belief in education and his own role when the time came. And the difficulties of home seemed to have sharpened this appetite. Only education could make something out of this wreckage. He became more faithful to his studies. He would one day use all his learning to fight the white man, for he would continue the work that his father had started..."
A letter is left on the door at Njoroge's school, ostensibly from Dedan Kimathi, leader of the MauMau, threatening any student who continued to come to the school with death.
p. 94: "In the evening, Njoroge related the whole incident to his mother.
"'The letter said that the head of the headmaster plus the heads of 40 children would be cut off if the school did not instantly close down. It was signed with Kimathi's name.
"My son, you'll not go to that school any more. Education is not life..."
"...But Kamau told him a different thing.
"'You'll be foolish to leave school. The letter may not be genuine. Besides do you really think you'll be safer at home? I tell you there's no safety anywhere. There's no hiding in this naked land.
"Njoroge did not leave school."
The barber and Nganga (the owner of land on which Ngotho's latest house was built, also Kamau's apprenticeship patron) are killed along with four other men, each of them wealthy, each suspected of being MauMau.
Njoroge passes his secondary school exams (the K.A.P.E.), and is accepted into Siriana High School. Mwihaki passes the exams, but not so well, and is accepted at a teacher training school near her boarding school. During an inter-school football match, Njoroge runs into Stephen, the younger, surviving son of Howlands. They talk about the fear they each felt about talking to each other as children (in fact, this fear prevented them from ever talking as children) and become something like friends.
Page 130: Njoroge is taken, one day, from Siriana School by two policemen, and is beaten and tortured by other policemen who want to know when (not if) he took his MauMau oath, and where his brother Boro (a leader of the forest MauMau) is hiding. They also want to know who has killed, murdered Jacobo. Njoroge is accused because he had once gone with Mwihaki into her father's house, and now the police think Njoroge was spying. The police have detained Ngotho, his two wives, and his son, Kamau, as well, torturing all, and castrating Ngotho. Ngotho is returned home, where his wives and Njoroge look after him, as he comes into and out of delirium and angry outbursts. Boro comes out of hiding to visit his father and ask forgiveness. Ngotho dies as Boro returns to the darkness outside the house to renew his fighting.
The same night that Ngotho dies, Howlands is killed. Boro and Kamau are brought up on murder charges. Njoroge leaves school and takes work in an Indian fabric shop to make money for the family. Njoroge finally meets Mwihaki, and they have a meeting of hearts and a falling out of souls -- they part having stated their love, and having admitted that they could not then be together. Njoroge goes out at night and starts to set up a rope so as to hang himself on a tree near the site of his last meeting with Mwihaki. But his two mothers have come looking for him, and they bring him home -- where he has nothing -- except his family, his two mothers.
