The River Between by Ngugi
Ngugi has portrayed several themes in his book The River Between. Among them are colonialism and imperialism. Whereas colonialism is the practice of domination that involves bringing under control of one people to another, imperialism is the political, social and economic control over a dependent territory. These two terms, colonization and imperialism, consequently sum up to one word, subjugation.
Chege has been used to illustrate the theme of colonialism when he told his son Waiyaki to go learn the ways of the white men. “Go to the mission and learn all the secrets of the white man but do not follow their vices”. These were the word that Chege told Waiyaki.This was a clear illustration that Chege was hybrid to his culture. He believed that education was good but was not supposed to lead one to abandonment of traditions. Western education had not been among Africans during pre-colonial era but came with the missionaries who created way for the colonial powers who politically dominated Africans. It is stated that Waiyaki made quick progress that missionaries saw a possible brave Christian leader.
In addition, Joshua has been used to show imperialism. Socially, his religious life had been subjugated. He was a converted Christian that he repented for his past life. Most especially, he devoted a prayer to God asking Him to forgive him for marrying a circumcised wife. He even hated began to hate his African culture. He was among the first people to be converted to the new faith while he was still young and even disowned his tribe. Livingstone, a missionary used Joshua to spread Christianity because he believed that it was easier spreading Christianity indirectly and using tribe’s man to attract more followers. Joshua also manipulated his wife and two daughters to Christianity. It is stated that Joshua would never refrain from punishing sin, even if it meant beating his wife. He did not mind as long as he was executing God’s plan.
Despite the fact that Muthoni had gone against the norms of Christianity and went through circumcision, on her death bed, she said, “I am still a Christian…a Christian in the tribe. I am a woman and I will grow healthy in the Tribe.” This is a clear show that Muthoni’s faith had been controlled by the missionaries through his father Joshua. In addition to that, Nyambura, sister to Muthoni had really discouraged Muthoni against circumcision basing her argument on Christianity point of view. This also, she had learnt from the missionaries through her father.
Politically, imperialism is illustrated when there are rumors that a government post would be set up at Makuyu and the hills would be ruled from there. It is also stated that, the white men, during their last visit, announced that people in those regions would begin paying taxes to the government in Nairobi. Paying of taxes was economic imperialism .However much people did not understand what taxes were at that time, it was definitely going to affect the people negatively.
In conclusion, colonialism and imperialism was directly and indirectly imposed to the Gikuyu through the missionaries and the British government, which was meant to establish a political regime to govern over the Africans. Some characters in the book have been manipulated it their previous ways of life to adopt a new lifestyle that changed how they perceived life or how they were to perceive life in future. This meant that their activities and their way of doing things would change or were bound to change.