Revisiting History in NgugiWaThiong’o’s fiction A Grain of Wheat.

Abstract

The historical process of colonization has always been the subject of Postcolonial writings. The writers of Africa are deeply concerned with the past and present history of their country and this concern is reflected in their works. The Kenyan national movement, its history, the violent phases have been the subject of many literary works of Kenyan writers writing in English. As such in Kenya’s history of struggle for independence, the Mau Mau movement occupies an important setting. Nguwi Wa Thiong’o’s engagement with history in A Grain of Wheat has been dealt extensively. It provides his vision of Kenyan history from the 1920s to the time of its independence. The novel weaves together several stories set during the state of emergency in Kenya’s struggle for independence. It is set in Kenya on the eve of independence dealing mainly with the events leading up to independence. Through the employment of devices like several narrative passages, interior monologues, dialogues, recollections Ngugi, reveals the state of mind of the characters their pain, struggle, hope and fears. The fragility of human life is revealed through the state of mind of the characters that are the product of violence of the independence of struggle. The novel is set in the contemporary Kenyan society, though the characters are all fictitious Ngugi however eludes prominent historical figures like Jomo Kenyatta, Henry Tukhu and Waiyaki who are unavoidably part of the history of Kenya. Descriptions of pain and sufferings, situation and problems mentioned in the novel are all part of history.