Ngugi wa Thiongo’s “The River Between”
Number of pages:
7
ABSTRACT:
This is a 7 page paper discussing Ngugi wa Thiongo’s novel “The River Between” (1965). Ngugi wa Thiongo’s novel “The River Between” tells the story of the division between two Kikuyu communities in regards to their adherence or denial of the Western and Christian beliefs and education. The story takes place in the late 1920s and 1930s and tells of the division between the two communities which are divided between the Christians and the non-Christians. Ngugi uses several elements within his work to highlight the division between the communities. Firstly, he portrays a visual division in his description of the landscape which consists of the two communities on “antagonistic” ridges facing each other across the river. Secondly, he highlights one of the traditional rituals, circumcision, to show how the inclusion of the ritual in one community leads to a different social and gender structure than that of the Christian community which has been educated that circumcision is a “sin”. Regardless of the education however, the community left without circumcision does not feel that all of the stages to adulthood are met in the Christian religion. The novel also includes several mythological elements by Ngugi which are found to be traditional “savior” elements consistent with literary and religious themes across all religions. In the case of “The River Between” however, the savior elements are once again related to the land which must be conserved and protected against the invading colonists.
Bibliography lists 5 sources.
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File: D0_TJNgugi1.rtf
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