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The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o: | blogger.com: Books
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o The River Between Pdf > DOWNLOAD 3b9dc4 The River Between - WikipediaBibliography.. Amoko, Apollo O.. "The resemblance of colonial mimicry: A revisionary reading of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's The River Between". the Kenyan Ngugi wa Thiongo, one of the leading figures in African literature. Ngugi's works are remarkable for their attempt to challenge the dubious civilizing claim of the colonizers. Ngugi's novel The River Between (), the subject of this study, is a perfect illustration of. BUY THE BOOK Paperback: pages First published in The River Between Christian missionaries attempt to outlaw the female circumcision ritual and in the process create a terrible rift between the two Kikuyu communities on either side of the river. REVIEWS "It has rare qualities of restraint, intelligence and sensitivity." —The Times.
The river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download
To browse Academia. Skip to main content. Log In Sign Up, the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download. The River Between: A literary analysis. Omar S Abdul-Hafiz. Abdul-Hafiz Note: Thanks to Prof. Benedict Anderson had addressed this topic in great detail in his book Imagined Communities. Nationalism, as Anderson argues, is both imagined and sovereign. He brings up several aspects about this notion such as it being imagined as limited and as a community and so on, but this study shall only focus on the aspect of imagination itself.
This view, although slightly different from the case portrayed in The River Between, still stands true to a considerable extent with regard to how the members of the tribe relate to each other. We can see in the story that the members of the tribe, regardless of how strongly they know one another, have a specific set of values and procedures to determine who belongs in it and who does not. A major one of these values is going through circumcision.
The only way for someone to be considered a fully grown-up man or woman is that he or she has to be circumcised as soon he or she had reached puberty. Those who are not circumcised are not allowed to work or marry and are basically banished from the tribe and looked down upon. This special ritual thus plays a crucial role in preserving the social bond that keeps the tribe together.
Furthermore, this ritual, as with any other cultural element that holds a symbolic significance among a certain group the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download people, is considered completely unquestionable.
Any attempt to criticize it or even question its origin is considered something like an act of heresy. Whoever is found guilty of doing it may also be punished.
This essay discusses three main aspects in The River Between. The first of these is what this essay describes as the clash of three ideologies: The ideology of the tribe and their native rituals and beliefs, most notably circumcision which was held strongly by the people of Kameno, versus the ideology of the Christian faith to which the people of Makuyu converted, the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download, and finally Waiyiaki's revolutionary ideological project to reconcile these two ideologies together.
Finally, this essay examines in more detail the issue of female circumcision in specific. Toward to the end of the story, suggests clearly that the only effective way to stop circumcision of women was through patience and education. A conflict of ideologies The conflict in The River Between is between the different members in a society as they encounter a new foreign ideology being introduced among them. This foreign ideology, as it finds its way into the intellectual fabric of the society, immediately tampers with its predominant ideological paradigm thus disrupting its composure.
In the story, even though we may not read it explicitly in the text, we can still imagine how the tribes and the villages were living in a state of social harmony and stability since everyone unconditionally accepted one specific set of beliefs and rituals and abode by it. At this point, a clash occurs among the members of the society as some of them choose to embrace the new ideology. On the one hand, we have the village of Kameno, which holds on to the ancient beliefs of the Gikuyu and to the practice of circumcision more details about the significance of circumcision shortlyand these are lead by Chege at first, and then by Kabonyi.
On the other hand, there is the village of Makuyu, now home to those who accepted the Christian faith. These are lead by Joshua, who embraced Christianity and became a strictly devoted Christian preacher.
What is most worthy of attention here is how the clash escalates to shape a widening rift between the two villages as they continue to antagonize one another on ideological terms. This was most clearly seen when Muthoni, one of Joshua's two daughters, eventually decides that she, while still accepting the Christian faith, also feels she still needs to stay connected to the traditions of her tribe, especially the practice of circumcision.
Thus when Muthoni dies as a result of an infection she obtained during the circumcision process, Joshua had almost regret for denouncing her as his daughter, and instead considered her death to be God's purification of his family from the sin she committed.
More details on Muthoni and her circumcision shortly, but what is worth-noting at this point is how this clash of ideologies so detrimental to the social fabric that even parents would denounce their children when it came to matters of ritual and belief.
Joshua thus was a staunch believer who did not accept any kind of reconciliation or even interaction with the people of Kameno or their non-Christian and 'sinful' ways. On the opposite side, however, there is Chege.
He knew the all the ways of the tribe, and he knew the secrets and prophecies of the ancestors. Being as a seer, he was the first to predict and prophecy the arrival of the 'white man'. But when nobody listened to his warning of the 'white man' and the call to arms against him, he took up a different strategy.
The new strategy was to acquaint oneself with the ways and secrets of the white man in order to know how to fend him off. 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. Let me then move on to another character that comes somewhere between Chege and Joshua.
He then adopts a very strict policy towards Makuyu and the Christian faith, declaring them as traitors who have rejected the traditions of the tribe and thus deserve punishment. One plausible analyis here is that Kabonyi, in his clearly chameleon-like behavior, represents the opportunistic type of character.
At first he finds Joshua's rising Christian movement to be an opportunity for him to gain a higher social and political position, the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download he decides to the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download. Then, after realizing that he was not gaining any authoritative the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download in the new movement, decides to go back to his old authoritative position as one of the elders of Kameno.
In other words, his behavior appears to be largely Machiavellian, because his almost instant and complete switch from one side onto the other and back again reflects a lack of true belief in the justice of neither sides.
Instead, he adopts the side that he sees will grant him a higher authoritative and thus social and, to some extent, political position. And as Waiyaki slowly achieves a growing success and captures the support of the people of Kameno, Kabonyi eventually realizes the threat that Waiyaki's revolutionary movement poses towards his narrow personal interests.
He therefore decides that he must stop Waiyaki and his plans at any cost. He does that in several ways. One way was to 'expose' Waiyaki's love to Nyambura as being a kind of betrayal of the oath he took in front of the Kiama, the governing body of the tribe.
The oath was to always remain loyal to the ways of the tribe, and accept punishment should he betray it. Let us then in detail talk about Waiyaki himself.
Waiyaki, son the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download Chege, is the hero of the story. Raised by his father in a unique way that balances between loyalty to the ways of the tribe and the openness to learn and benefit from the ways of the white man, Waiyaki eventually emerges with a new vision of his own. A new and revolutionary ideological project that aims to bridge the rift between the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download ways of the two tribes.
He thus attempts to carry out this project through education. Acting upon his father's words to learn the ways of the white man, Waiyaki was keen to gain and benefit from the knowledge he learned at Siriana. Moreover, he later on allowed himself to go the Makuyu to attend the Christian ceremonies and listen directly to Joshua's preachings.
It is a message of listening to the other and recognizing their right to freedom of belief. Also, it is a message of focusing on what different ideologies have in common than on the differences. In more philosophical terms, Waiyaki is trying to establish a new, more encompassing national narrative.
One that includes and integrates both spectra of the society, those who follow the ways of the tribe together with the those who embraced Christianity. Waiyaki's love to Nyambura thus even further symbolizes this integration. But this project faces serious challenges, the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download.
On the one hand, Joshua shall not compromise his Christian values and beliefs in any way. He considers Waiyaki to be a sinner, especially that he is circumcised, and thus will not tolerate his presence. His contempt to Waiyaki then reaches its height when he finds out that he fell in love with his other daughter, Nyambura, the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download. On the other hand, there is Kabonyi and his son Kamau. Kabonyi is especially determined to foil Waiyaki's project.
Let me here spend some time discussing in more detail the nature of the character Kabonyi and his son, Kamau. Kabonyi was first introduced in the story as a convert to Christianity, the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download, and thus was part of Joshua's group. He therefore was more or less against the ways of the tribe. Then, he eventually changed his mind again and re-embraced the tribe and resume his position as one of the Elders, especially that he knows the prophecy that the savior comes from the hills.
He thus goes after Waiyaki, determined to 'expose' him and prevent him from carrying out his revolutionary ideological project. And as with his father, Kamau also considers Waiyaki as his adversary. Kamau is also no less self-contradictory than his father. While still being loyal to his father and his plans to foil Waiyaki's project of reconciliation, he is nevertheless also driven by his envy towards Waiyaki's relationship with Nyambura.
The significance of circumcision and the understanding of tribal culture In the story, circumcision appears as a traditional practice among of such a significance that it is the only way can be recognized as a true man or woman.
We can therefore already see the critical and fundamental role it plays within the social fabric of the tribe. It acts almost as the passport stamp into the society. Without it, one is not allowed to marry or work. Who would ever pay cows and goats for such a girl? So even the very chance that there could be a girl in the tribe that is not circumcised was unthinkable.
Completely opposite to that, however, the Christian society the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download Makuyu casts this practice as a work of Satan. Anyone who is guilty of practicing it is banished as a sinner and thus deserves the wrath and punishment of God. Again, the river between ngugi wa thiongo pdf download critical conflict between both ideologies makes it basically impossible to reconcile them together.
In fact throughout the story, of all the core ideological differences between Christianity and the religion of the tribe, the practice of circumcision seems to be the centeral point of conflict between Makuyu and Kameno. We almost hardly hear about other differences such as the fact that both worship two completely different deities, for example.
Yet what does the circumcision and subsequent infection and death of Muthoni mean? Before we get to this point, let us look at the ironic fact that Muthoni reveals about her parents. Are we fools? Are they not Christians? With this argument, Muthoni tries to revive the bonds that link her parents with their Gikuyu origins. Muthoni therefor insists that is that despite their embrace of the Christian faith, her parents' Gikuyu origin is still attached to them, and it is therefore impossible to escape or denounce it completely.
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE - By The CATALYST
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This essay proposes an analysis of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's novel "The River Between" as a story of the struggle towards the reconciliation between two clashing . About The River Between. About Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is an award-winning novelist, playwright, and essayist from Kenya whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. He is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine. He lives in Irvine, California. Apr 28, · Read "The River Between" by Ngugi wa Thiong'o available from Rakuten Kobo. A 50th-anniversary edition of one of the most powerful novels by the great Kenyan author and Nobel Prize nominee A legen /5(6).
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