Heroism in ‘A Grain of Wheat’

Heroism in ‘A Grain of Wheat’

v  What is Heroism?

                   True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost.

-         Arthur Ashe

v Introduction:

          African Literature, oral and written literature produced on the African continent. Africa has a long literary tradition, although very little of this literature was written down until the 20^th century. In the absence of widespread literacy, African literature was primarily oral and passed from one generation to the next through memorization and recitation.

  

                      We can see ‘Heroism’ is a central theme in most literature, especially Western literature such as Beowulf, The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Song of Roland. In Western literature, we expect heroism to be found in books that “chronicle the heroic deeds of great warriors like Achilles, Odysseus, and Aeneas and celebrate the life of warfare”. Not all literary heroism is like this though. Also, this theme is not limited to European or American literature. Kenyan author Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s certainly toys with this common literary theme in his novel ‘A Grain of Wheat.’

We can see in this novel that there are three characters that show the heroism in this novel. And they are,

Heroism:

1.     Kihika

2.     Gikonyo

3.     Mugo

There can be little question that Kihika, the rebel in Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s A Grain of Wheat, is a hero. With respect to Mugo, however opinion may be divided. Mugo is a traitor who finally admits his treason. To be sure Mugo’s peers, the people of thabai are deeply puzzled by the sense of his acts. Yet Ngugi’s choice of narrative form can direct the reader’s interpretation, for the novel proposes an expansion of the concept of heroism to include not only the magnanimous gestures of an exceptional man but also ironic self-discovery by the average man.

v  Kihika is martyr for movement

Kihika is the first to really be known as a hero and stands as such in the novel. “Kihika, a son of the land, was marked out as one of the heroes of deliverance”. His heroism is defined by his words and actions throughout the book. In the beginning, even when he was a young man, he was known as a strong speaker and eventually a man of action. When he was younger, he dared to stand up and tell the preacher he was wrong about a certain interpretation of Scripture. After he left school, he found he had a new vision and that vision led him to speak about independence.

It is the struggle against the British. The Emergency and Mau Mau that create for Khihika the occasion to realize his ideals for both himself and his people. By lashing out at the enemy of his people, Kihika proves himself to be a man of great deeds and noble qualities. He eventually becomes a martyr for Kenyan freedom. His bravery and death earn him the admiration of his fellows, and he becomes and inspiration for them as did Gandhi and Christ for him Khihika is clearly a hero in the eyes of both the people of thabai and in those of the implied reader; it is through battle and the sword that Kihika’s dreams come to fruition.

Just as Kihika dominates the prelude to the novel’s action (pre-independence) Mugo dominates the action itself, which starts when freedom has been won and independence is to begin before independence, Mugo, and orphan, lives with a cruel aunt. Unlike Kihika, he is lonely, introspective and taciturn. Yet he too aspires to be part of the community. Mugo feels rootless when his aunt dies.

Whom could he now call a relation? He wanted somebody, anybody, who would use the claims of kinship to do him ill or good. Either one or the other as long as he was not left alone, an outsider. He turned to the soil. He would labor, sweat, and through success and wealth force society to recognize him.

v  Gikonyo as a sacrificer

         

                    Gikonyo and Karanja are harder to discuss with regard to heroism since they both get labeled as cowards at some point in the novel. Karanja has a harder case to prove with being a hero since he actually changes sides a few times and seems to have the most sinister heart out of all the characters. Gikonyo, as were many others, were brutally treated for their involvement with the Movement and were subsequently sent to concentration camps and beaten severely. During the six years in detention, Gikonyo remained steadfast to his party loyalties and never took the oath. Gikonyo stood firm as a normative hero, never wavering from his loyalty to Kenya and remaining defiant of the white man who oppressed him.

          Karanja, as a character, gets caught somewhere in the middle between Austen’s hero types. While other characters such as Gikonyo and Kihika are much more well defined in their political or national heroism, Karanja is never illustrated as speaking in public or having anyone really pay honor to him as others do to Kihika or Gikonyo. When they were younger, Karanja attended the same social circles as Gikonyo and Kihika but his only attitude toward Kihika was one of criticism. When they were at the train station, Karanja once commented on Kihika’s oratory, “You say one thing now. The next hour you say another”. Karanja never gives any sort of positive feedback to those who are known as heroes and in fact, he is never labeled as a hero. But is he an anti-hero? Karanja certainly displays less becoming characteristics especially that of siding with the forces that beat the Kenyan nationalists, but he never really becomes a true trickster.

                    There is one incident which might be thought of as similar to being a trickster but I would not classify it so. This is toward the end of the novel when Karanja became a chief. He was “more terrifying than the one before him. He led other home guards into the forest to hunt down Freedom Fighters”. Karanja has essentially become an antagonist but his “trickery” doesn’t occur until he tries to convince Mumbi to give into his wishes for love.

                   This is the extent of his trickery; he overcomes a woman in her point of joy and emotional breakdown and rapes her. This act of rape is a pent up desire for her that he had six years prior. But she found love in Gikonyo and not him so he grew jealous until he could have revenge. While this is not textbook trickery, it certainly has some deviance and planning involved. Karanja is certainly no normative hero and not even quite an anti-hero. He is sort of a middle man whose flaws outweigh his good qualities.

v Mugo is a real Hero

         

          Mugo is the last of the possible heroic characters and due to his presence throughout the novel, is perhaps the most important character yet. Moreover, his character is so well orchestrated and our perception of him changes throughout the book. He is also a character whose heroism seems nonexistent in the first part but later we come to realize that he may just be better than all the rest. During the first chapter and most of the book, we get the idea that Mugo is perhaps the most cowardly of all Africans. He constantly avoids talking to people and when they try to talk to him or confront him, he acts almost mad. In fact, throughout the entirety of the novel he seems mad. However, the people love him and think him to be this great hero.

As a reader, I did not feel their favor for him was right or just. I merely thought that the African populace didn’t know Mugo as well as we did. After all, we have the omniscient narrator to tell us all. But just when one thinks there is no hope for this coward, Gikonyo comes to his house to talk to him and we realize why he seems mad. He was beaten several times for not taking the oath and suffering for his devotion to the freedom movement. Gikonyo also declares him to be a hero, “You have a great heart. It is people like you ought to have been the first to taste the fruits of independence”.

This declaration really changes our view of Mugo from his lack of spine to realizing that he was beat so much for his heroism that he was changed forever. Mugo then becomes at that point a great hero. However he is not without faults since very shortly after this declaration we learn that just before men were sent off to concentration camps, he was the one who betrayed Kihika. While this act of betrayal might negate our Western ideas of heroism, he is praised for his act of courage to speak the truth.

v Conclusion:

                              As one looks at the male characters in this novel, we find several heroes and perhaps one anti-hero. Mugo, Gikonyo, and especially Kihika are praised for their acts and words as they fought for Kenya’s freedom. Though they may not be quite similar to the Western heroes of old, still they stand for their cultural values and are loved and respected by others. Karanja does not fit into the mold of hero or anti-hero as well as other book characters, but nonetheless, he is never praised for his heroism and is hated for his betrayal and brutality toward his fellow native Africans. This novel helps Western readers understand the African sense of heroism as well as the realities of the human condition. No hero is really as pure as we’d like him to be but nonetheless they are still worthy of honor and devotion