{"id":108,"date":"2019-05-13T07:23:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T07:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engp06.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=108"},"modified":"2019-05-13T07:31:13","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T07:31:13","slug":"ngugi-wa-thiongo-petals-of-blood","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/chapter\/ngugi-wa-thiongo-petals-of-blood\/","title":{"rendered":"Ngugi wa Thiongo: Petals of Blood"},"content":{"raw":"<div><span style=\"float: right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/HHBvkfO_WV4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"epgp books\" width=\"55\" height=\"55\" \/><\/a>\r\n<\/span><\/div>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Ngugi wa Thiong\u2019o <em>Petals of Blood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\r\n \t<li>Basic details about Ngugi and his works<\/li>\r\n \t<li>About the context of <em>Petals of Blood<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Plot of <em>Petals of Blood<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>Petals of Blood <\/em>and Ngugi\u2019s earlier work<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Characters<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Themes<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Ngugi wa Thiong\u2019o (1938- )<\/strong>\r\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\r\n \t<li>Kenyan writer<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Novels<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\r\n \t<li><em>Weep Not, Child <\/em>(1964)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>The River Between <\/em>(1965)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>A Grain of Wheat <\/em>(1967)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>Petals of Blood <\/em>(1977)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>Devil on the Cross <\/em>(1980)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>Matigari <\/em>(1986)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Wizard of the Crow <\/em>(2006)<\/strong>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Essays<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><em>Homecoming: Essays on African and Caribbean Literature, Culture, and Politics<\/em>, (1972)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature <\/em>(1986)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedom <\/em>(1993)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary <\/em>(1981)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>\u201cOn the Abolition of the English Department\u201d (1968 \/ 1972)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>\u201cThe Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literatures\u201d (2000)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Plays<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><em>The Black Hermit <\/em>(1963)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>The Trial of Dedan Kimathi <\/em>(1976)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><em>I Will Marry When I Want <\/em>(1977)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong><em>Petals of Blood <\/em><\/strong><strong>(1977)<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Title comes from Derek Walcott\u2019s poem \u201cThe Swamp\u201d.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Originally titled \u201cBallad of a Barmaid\u201d. No explanation for change\u2014perhaps not to highlight individual\u2014Wanja.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Deals with the social and economic situation in Kenya after independence.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The urgent need to create a socialist society in which the peasants and workers are no longer exploited by foreign and indigenous capitalists.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The Mau Mau Rebellion of the 1950s.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong><em>Petals of <\/em><\/strong><strong>Blood: The Context<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Ngugi\u2019s fourth and last novel in English.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Released by a Kenyan minister in July 1977, who spoke in defence of intellectual freedom, democratic spirit, free flow of ideas.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Ngugi arrested five months later for indulging in anti-nationalist activities. Spent one year without trial in the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Immediate provocation\u2014his Gikuyu play \u201cI Will Marry When I Want\u201d.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Plot<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Three directors of foreign owned Thang\u2019eta brewery burnt to death.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Whodunit plot.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Arrest of four prominent people of New Ilmorog \u2013 Munira, Karega, Wanja, and Abdulla\u2014each of whom has a strong reason.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Transformation of a sleepy village into New Ilmorog town, vulnerable to outside exploitation.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Development arrives in form of a new Trans-Africa road through the village<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Brings an increase in trade but also results in the farmers being deprived of their lands; lured into taking loans they can\u2019t really afford and all the other familiar features of a capitalist economy.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Characters<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Muniara\u2014a school teacher who<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Wanja\u2014the Granddaughter of Nyakinyua, the most respected village elder. She is the connecting link among the remaining characters\u2014falls in love with Karega, coveted by Munira, carries the child of Abdulla. An experienced barmaid who flees her past in the city. She falls in love with Karega, although she is still coveted by Munira. She also sleeps with Abdulla because of her reverence for his actions in the Mau Mau rebellion. An industrious barmaid, she helps Abdulla's shop to become successful, and also sells Theng'eta. She later becomes a prostitute and runs her own brothel before being injured in Munira's arson attack.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Abdulla: A shopkeeper who lost his leg in the Mau Mau rebellion.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Karega: the representative of Ngugi. Young man who works as a teaching assistant at Munira's school before becoming disillusioned and heading for the city. After the trip to Nairobi, he becomes enamoured with socialism, and starts to educate himself on its principles and on the law. However, he later becomes disillusioned with the effects of education, and how apt it is in the struggle for liberation. As a youth, he dated Munira's sister who subsequently committed suicide; this was unknown to Munira until Karega reveals it to him and to others after having drunk Theng'eta.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong><em>Petals <\/em><\/strong><strong>and Ngugi\u2019s earlier Works<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Recurrent themes in Ngugi: Christianity and Guilt<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Continuities in themes departure in technique<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Christianity: No ambivalence towards it in <em>Petals<\/em>\u2014it is another weapon in the service of the imperialist forces.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Guilt: No longer an individual burden; product of a system where the culprit goes scot-free and the victim is made to feel guilty; public confessions not only purge the individuals of personal guilt but serve a public purpose as eye-openers to the community.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Themes<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Neo-colonialism<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Capitalism<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Corruption and Betrayal of peoples\u2019 hopes<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>you can view video on Ngugi wa Thiongo: Petals of Blood<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/HHBvkfO_WV4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-120\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"36\" height=\"36\" \/><\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>","rendered":"<div><span style=\"float: right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/HHBvkfO_WV4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"epgp books\" width=\"55\" height=\"55\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Ngugi wa Thiong\u2019o <em>Petals of Blood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<li>Basic details about Ngugi and his works<\/li>\n<li>About the context of <em>Petals of Blood<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Plot of <em>Petals of Blood<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Petals of Blood <\/em>and Ngugi\u2019s earlier work<\/li>\n<li>Characters<\/li>\n<li>Themes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Ngugi wa Thiong\u2019o (1938- )<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<li>Kenyan writer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Novels<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<li><em>Weep Not, Child <\/em>(1964)<\/li>\n<li><em>The River Between <\/em>(1965)<\/li>\n<li><em>A Grain of Wheat <\/em>(1967)<\/li>\n<li><em>Petals of Blood <\/em>(1977)<\/li>\n<li><em>Devil on the Cross <\/em>(1980)<\/li>\n<li><em>Matigari <\/em>(1986)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p><strong><em>Wizard of the Crow <\/em>(2006)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Essays<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Homecoming: Essays on African and Caribbean Literature, Culture, and Politics<\/em>, (1972)<\/li>\n<li><em>Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature <\/em>(1986)<\/li>\n<li><em>Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedom <\/em>(1993)<\/li>\n<li><em>Detained: A Writer&#8217;s Prison Diary <\/em>(1981)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cOn the Abolition of the English Department\u201d (1968 \/ 1972)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Asmara Declaration on African Languages and Literatures\u201d (2000)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Plays<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Black Hermit <\/em>(1963)<\/li>\n<li><em>The Trial of Dedan Kimathi <\/em>(1976)<\/li>\n<li><em>I Will Marry When I Want <\/em>(1977)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Petals of Blood <\/em><\/strong><strong>(1977)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Title comes from Derek Walcott\u2019s poem \u201cThe Swamp\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Originally titled \u201cBallad of a Barmaid\u201d. No explanation for change\u2014perhaps not to highlight individual\u2014Wanja.<\/li>\n<li>Deals with the social and economic situation in Kenya after independence.<\/li>\n<li>The urgent need to create a socialist society in which the peasants and workers are no longer exploited by foreign and indigenous capitalists.<\/li>\n<li>The Mau Mau Rebellion of the 1950s.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Petals of <\/em><\/strong><strong>Blood: The Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ngugi\u2019s fourth and last novel in English.<\/li>\n<li>Released by a Kenyan minister in July 1977, who spoke in defence of intellectual freedom, democratic spirit, free flow of ideas.<\/li>\n<li>Ngugi arrested five months later for indulging in anti-nationalist activities. Spent one year without trial in the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.<\/li>\n<li>Immediate provocation\u2014his Gikuyu play \u201cI Will Marry When I Want\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Plot<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Three directors of foreign owned Thang\u2019eta brewery burnt to death.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Whodunit plot.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Arrest of four prominent people of New Ilmorog \u2013 Munira, Karega, Wanja, and Abdulla\u2014each of whom has a strong reason.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Transformation of a sleepy village into New Ilmorog town, vulnerable to outside exploitation.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Development arrives in form of a new Trans-Africa road through the village<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Brings an increase in trade but also results in the farmers being deprived of their lands; lured into taking loans they can\u2019t really afford and all the other familiar features of a capitalist economy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Characters<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Muniara\u2014a school teacher who<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Wanja\u2014the Granddaughter of Nyakinyua, the most respected village elder. She is the connecting link among the remaining characters\u2014falls in love with Karega, coveted by Munira, carries the child of Abdulla. An experienced barmaid who flees her past in the city. She falls in love with Karega, although she is still coveted by Munira. She also sleeps with Abdulla because of her reverence for his actions in the Mau Mau rebellion. An industrious barmaid, she helps Abdulla&#8217;s shop to become successful, and also sells Theng&#8217;eta. She later becomes a prostitute and runs her own brothel before being injured in Munira&#8217;s arson attack.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Abdulla: A shopkeeper who lost his leg in the Mau Mau rebellion.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Karega: the representative of Ngugi. Young man who works as a teaching assistant at Munira&#8217;s school before becoming disillusioned and heading for the city. After the trip to Nairobi, he becomes enamoured with socialism, and starts to educate himself on its principles and on the law. However, he later becomes disillusioned with the effects of education, and how apt it is in the struggle for liberation. As a youth, he dated Munira&#8217;s sister who subsequently committed suicide; this was unknown to Munira until Karega reveals it to him and to others after having drunk Theng&#8217;eta.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong><em>Petals <\/em><\/strong><strong>and Ngugi\u2019s earlier Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Recurrent themes in Ngugi: Christianity and Guilt<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Continuities in themes departure in technique<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Christianity: No ambivalence towards it in <em>Petals<\/em>\u2014it is another weapon in the service of the imperialist forces.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Guilt: No longer an individual burden; product of a system where the culprit goes scot-free and the victim is made to feel guilty; public confessions not only purge the individuals of personal guilt but serve a public purpose as eye-openers to the community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Themes<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Neo-colonialism<\/li>\n<li>Capitalism<\/li>\n<li>Corruption and Betrayal of peoples\u2019 hopes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>you can view video on Ngugi wa Thiongo: Petals of Blood<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/HHBvkfO_WV4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-120\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"36\" height=\"36\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"menu_order":12,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["prof-t-vijay-kumar"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[59],"license":[],"class_list":["post-108","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-prof-t-vijay-kumar"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":332,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/108\/revisions\/332"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/108\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp06\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}