African literature

1. TOPIC:CRITICAL NOTE ON THE ANTI-COLONIAL
STRUGGLE AS DEPICTED IN ‘ A
GRAIN OF WHEAT’
NAME : JAYSHREE SOLANKI
ROLL NO: 10
ENROLLMENT NO: PG14101028
PAPER NAME:THE AFRICAN LITERATURE
PAPER NO:14
SUBMITTED TO:SMT S.B.GARDI BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY
E-MAIL ID: SOLANKIJAYSHREE122@GMAIL.COM

2. ‘A Grain of wheat ’ by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
JamesThiong’o is a Kenyan novelist, poet and
playwright who is distinguished professor of
English and comparative literature at the
California.

3. ‘A Grain of wheat’
National epic
Anti –colonial struggle

4. Index of Anti-colonial Struggle
 1 Religion concept
 2 Mugo central character
 3 Fanon’s concept
 4Mau Mau Movement

5.  Religion is an important element in the novel.TheWhite man
brought Christianity to Kenya.Many Blacks take up Christian
religion. However, the existing religions do not die. At the Uhuru
celebration, the town will sacrifice rams in a traditional sacrificial
rite.
 At the same time ,Kihika is a devoutly religious man,
comparing the struggle of the Black man in Kenya with the
struggle of the jews to be freedom the Pharaoh.

6. James takes the reader back to the days preceding Kenya’s Independence.
Mugo , a farmer and hero in the eyes of the villagers, is asked to deliver a
speech during the Uhuru celebrations, to be held in memory of his friend
Kihika. The oppressive power of colonialism to erase, alter, divide and
destroy an entire race of people.

7. Fanon’s anti-colonial nationalism
 Fanon defined anti-colonial nationalism.
He might recap following points in the
novel. He asserts the rights of colonized
peoples to make their self-definitions ,
rather than he defined by the colonizers.
 He offers the means to identify
alternative histories, cultural traditions
and knowledge which conflict with the
representations of colonial discourses.

8. Mau Mau Movement
 This is the movement plays vital role in the main story of
this novel.The Mau Mau uprising, so known as the Mau
Mau Revolt, Mau Mau Rebellion Kenya Emergency, was a
military conflict that took place in Kenya between 1952
and 1960.

9. Writer’s point of view :
“Nearly everybody was a member of the party, but nobody could say with any
accuracy when the Party was born: to most people, especially those in the
younger generation, the party had always been there, a rallying center for
action.”

10. To conclude,
 People tries to struggle for their own Uhuru and it
is the main and central idea.
 Its influence stretched from one horizon touching
the sea to the great Lake.

11.  Work cited:
 www.bookrags.com/studyguide-a -grain-of
wheat/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Grain_of_whea
t
 www.supersummary.com/a-grain-of-
wheat/summary