ANALYSIS OF THE NOVEL "WEEP NOT CHILD"

Weep Not, Child is a moving novel about the effects of the Mau Mau uprising on the lives of ordinary men and women, and on one family in particular. Two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, stand on a garbage heap and look into their futures: Njoroge is to attend school, while Kamau will train to be a carpenter. But this is Kenya, and the times are against them: In the forests, the Mau Mau is waging war against the white government, and the two brothers and their family need to decide where their loyalties lie. For the practical Kamau, the choice is simple, but for Njoroge the scholar, the dream of progress through learning is a hard one to give up.

Weep Not, Child is Ngũgĩ’s first novel, published in 1964.

Nyokabi is a beautiful woman, though she has been aged prematurely by a life of poverty and hardship. She offers her son, Njoroge, a chance to go to school – something the family has never been able to afford for his older siblings. He is delighted, even after she warns him that he will not be able to afford lunch there, and that he must attend every day. He rushes to tell his half-brother Kamau the good news.

Kamau, who is working as an apprentice carpenter, is happy to learn Njoroge's news. Although they are nearly the same age, Kamau cannot attend school because of his apprenticeship. The boys discuss their bright futures. Both hope that their training will make them as rich as either Jacobo, a wealthy and educated local villager, or Mr. Howlands, an English man who had lived among the community for a long time. Though both figures are the subject of local controversy - Mr. Howlands for his race and significant land ownership, and Jacobo for the compromises he makes to please Mr. Howlands - they are both admired because of their wealth. As we learn later, Njoroge and his family also live on land rented from Jacobo.

The narrator then speaks about the local community and landscape. He describes the black, paved road that passes through Mahua, heading far into the distance. It was built by Italian prisoners during World War II, and offers an alternative to the less-defined paths through the forest that natives would otherwise take when traversing the area.

The narrator then muses on the insularity of village life, and how difficult it is to understand white people. He tells of what the locals do for entertainment. When the men of Mahua get bored, they travel to the nearby town of Kipanga, where they shop and loiter. Kipanga is bigger and more diverse than Mahua – it has a large population of Indian traders, who maintain a fraught relationship with the native Gikuyu. One of the most popular figures in town is the barber, who tells stories about his time fighting in the war; in particular, he likes to tell about sleeping with white prostitutes in Jerusalem.

The narrator shifts back to the current day, on which the barber is speaking about the prostitutes. When he finishes his story, Ngotho - husband to Nyokabi, and father to Njoroge and Kamau - sets off for home. We learn that Nyokabi is Ngotho's second wife; his first is named Njeri. A man's first wife is favored in Gikuyu custom, but despite some occasional problems over jealousy, Ngotho’s wives and children get along well. As he walks home, he reflects on his own experiences serving in World War I, and those of his sons, Boro and Mwangi, who fought in World War II. When he arrives home, Ngotho learns that Njoroge will soon start school, and he feels proud that his son will be educated like the daughter of Jacobo.

Chapter 2

On Monday, Njoroge’s friend (and Jacobo's daughter) Mwihaki walks with him to his first day of school. Njoroge has admired her ever since he saw her being bullied by herd-boys many years before. She has been attending school for a while.

When they arrive, the other boys shock Njoroge with their shouting and lewd jokes. They make fun of him, calling him a Njuka, or newcomer. They try to force him carry their bags, but Mwihaki saves him by claiming that Njoroge is her Njuka, and so only she can order him around.

Time passes. At first, Njoroge has a hard time adjusting to school life. He likes his teacher, but becomes afraid of her after she beats another student. Because he always returns straight home after school for fear of angering his mother, he does not make many friends. One day, Mwihaki walks home with him and they dawdle, chatting and throwing stones. When her son does not return immediately, Nyokabi sets out in search of him, and is upset to find him playing with a girl from a higher social class.

One day after school, Njoroge begs his mother to tell him stories. Earlier that day, his teacher had asked him to tell the class a story, but he, in his nervousness, forgot all the stories he knows. Nyokabi agrees to honor his request after she finishes her chores.

Njoroge heads out to play, after taking off his school clothes. He passes Jacobo’s large house, and recalls an instance in which Jacobo’s wife, Juliana, hosted a party for all the children of parents who worked for the family. At the party, Njoroge giggled during Grace, and Juliana lectured the children about manners.

Njoroge sees Mwihaki walking in his direction, and he hides, ashamed that she might see him wearing only his old calico loincloth. He instead meets up with Kamau, who complains that his employer, the carpenter Nganga, does not let him do enough hands-on work at his apprenticeship. Instead, Nganga only assigns Kamau menial tasks. Njoroge sympathizes with his brother’s complaints, and invites him over for storytelling at Nyokabi’s hut that evening.

That night, something unusual happens: Ngotho tells stories, instead of Nyokabi. He is known as an excellent storyteller. First, Ngotho recounts the traditional Gikuyu creation story, in which the Creator, Murungu, placed a man and a woman under his sacred tree. Next, he tells about how white men came to Kenya, forced him and others to fight in World War I, and then stole their land. (Ngotho's land now belongs to the wealthy Englishman Mr. Howlands.) According to Ngotho, a seer named Mugo wa Kibiro had prophesied all of this tragedy before the British even set foot in Kenya. She had also promised that the white men would eventually leave, a promise that gives many like Ngotho hope for the future.

The story enrages Boro, Ngotho’s eldest son and a veteran of World War II. He has been troubled ever since losing his brother in the war, believing that his and his people's suffering seems to have no purpose. He demands to know why his father continues working for the man who took his land (Mr. Howlands), and then storms out before Ngotho can answer.

Chapter 3

Ngotho walks to work the next day, brooding over Boro's accusations, and reflecting on how the boy has changed since the war. As he walks through town, he remembers the various odd jobs he had held in his youth. When he arrives at the shamba, or tea plantation, the narrative shifts to Mr. Howlands’s point of view.

After fighting in World War I, Mr. Howlands grew disillusioned and decided to become a farmer in Africa, hoping to find inner peace there. He is completely dedicated to his work, and he admires Ngotho and his special connection with the land. Mr. Howlands brought his wife Suzanne – or Memsahib, as most of the characters call her – to Kenya, but he is oblivious to the fact that she hates it there. The Howlands have three children. Their eldest son, Peter, was killed in World War II, and their daughter became a missionary. Their youngest, Stephen, still lives with them.

As Mr. Howlands and Ngotho walk through the plantation together, Mr. Howlands confides in his employee about Peter’s death, and about his doubts that Stephen can manage the plantation after he dies. Ngotho wonders to himself when the Howlands family will leave Kenya, and thinks that “Mr. Howlands should not complain [about Peter’s death]. It had been his war” (33).

Analysis

Weep Not, Child was the first of Ngugi wa’ Thiongo’s novels to be published, and it is an excellent introduction to the author’s unique narrative style. One of the most striking features of Ngugi’s technique is his emphasis on free indirect narration, in which the narrator adopts the voice of the characters, without putting what they say in direct quotes. For example, Ngugi writes, “Ngotho did not beat his wives much. On the contrary, his home was well known for being a place of peace. All the same, one had to be careful” (10). In this passage, the narrator is not endorsing wife-beating; he is merely expressing what Ngotho is thinking.

Free indirect style is an effective choice for a novel like Weep Not, Child because it allows the narrator to quickly shift between different characters’ points of view. In the first three chapters, we hear the thoughts of a wide variety of characters, including Ngotho, Boro, and Mr. Howlands – not to mention the protagonists, Njoroge and Kamau. As the novel ultimately aims to explore an entire civilization, and not simply a few characters, the style allows Ngugi to conduct implicit arguments between different perspectives on the future of Kenya.

Another characteristic of Ngugi’s style is a freewheeling narrative technique, in which events do not always have a causal relationship. Instead of telling a linear story, Ngugi’s plot circles around characters, frequently pausing to offer historical context or background on the lives of secondary characters. For example, the interlude about Ngotho’s job history in Chapter 3 ostensibly has little to do with Njoroge and Kamau’s lives, but hearing about Ngotho's hardscrabble youth enhances the sense that the British colonists have exploited the people of Mahau – one of the novel’s most important themes. Further, it suggests the way that the past informs the present. Another example of this is the narrator's reflections upon the road that passes through Mahua. Again, this style reinforces Ngugi's intention as trying to understand the conflict within a society, and not simply the way one or a few characters react to that conflict.

Ngugi’s strong sense of political awareness is another notable quality in the novel’s first three chapters. Sometimes, this political perspective appears in expository passages – for example, the aforementioned passage about the road, or Ngotho’s version of the Gikuyu creation story. However, it also manifests through the more mundane interactions between the characters. When any character talks to or thinks about Boro, Ngugi makes sure to hint at the trauma Boro experienced fighting in the Second World War, and the resentment he feels toward the British overlords who sent him there. In fact, both World Wars feature prominently in these chapters, simply because they are mentioned so frequently. He does not make them a significant point of exploration, but the frequency with which he mentions them reveals how indelibly they have shaped Gikuyu culture at the time.

The Indian traders are another example of Ngugi imbuing daily life with political significance. Their relationship with the native Gikuyu showcases some of the issues that prevent oppressed peoples from uniting against imperial power. Most of the villagers have at least some awareness that Indians are oppressed by the British in their own country, in much the same way the Gikuyu are in Kenya. However, this knowledge leads not to a sense of common purpose, but to antagonism. The Gikuyu resent that the Indians were not forced to fight in the wars, and that the Indian traders in Kipanga act superior to their Gikuyu customers. This fraught relationship illustrates how minor differences between oppressed peoples can actually enhance the power of colonial overlords, allowing them to divide and conquer.

Mahua is a place with a deep sense of community, but there is also a dimension of internal strife that appears even in these early chapters. One example occurs in Chapter 1, when an old woman gripes because the black merchant in Kipanga will not lower his prices for other black people. Other examples come in the awkward moments that sometimes occur between friends; at Ngotho’s storytelling session, for example, “a young man tried to make a joke.... Nobody heeded him. He laughed alone and then stopped” (27). Each of these dissonant moments is indirectly caused by colonialism: the old woman’s problems with the merchant could be resolved by bartering, which fell out of favor after Europeans began to occupy East Africa; the solemnity in Ngotho’s hut reflects the gravity of Ngotho's story about the coming of white people. And of course, the greater resentments - like those against Mr. Howlands or Jacobo, who is considered something of a traitor for his complicity with the white man - are explicit reflections of political unrest. In fact, Jacobo is an example of the way that the tensions did not simply reflect racial difference. Though black, Jacobo has earned land and special privileges (he is the only black man allowed to grow pyrethrum) by collaborating with the white colonists. The Mau Mau Uprising, which this novel will detail, has not yet begun, but the conditions that give rise to it have already infiltrated so much of society.

Summary

Chapter 4

At school, Njoroge enjoys learning to read from his funny and energetic teacher, Isaka. At home, he tries to teach Kamauwhat he is learning, but Kamau seems to resent the offer.One day, Mwihaki catches up with Njoroge after school, and asks why he never walks home with her anymore. He deflects the question, and they talk about their parents. Both of them fear their parents, even though they are good children. They both share a sense that their parents are sometimes wrong. Njoroge recalls a time that an Indian boy tried to befriend him by giving him a piece of candy, and his mother made him throw it on the ground. When they pass Mr. Howlands's house, Njoroge mentions that his father works there, and they both speak around the fact that whites own land that once belonged to the blacks. Mwihaki mentions her father's belief that the natives were robbed because they were uneducated. Because she is a year ahead of Njoroge in school, she promises to teach him English once she learns it, but he is uncomfortable with learning from her.

The following year, Njoroge skips a grade and is promoted to Standard I – the same grade Mwihaki is in. Njoroge continues to urge Kamau to quit his apprenticeship and attend school, but Kamau insists that learning a trade is the only option for someone who owns no land. However, Njoroge and his father Ngotho continue to believe that education is the most important pursuit, although Ngotho thinks that “education [is] good only because it would lead to the recovery of lost lands” (40). Njoroge begins to sense that he is destined for something big.

Chapter 5

Njoroge and Kamau stand on a ‘hill’ of rubbish outside Ngotho’s house. From the ‘hill,’ they can see the lights of the big city Nairobi. They discuss Boro, who has left to find work there. Njoroge hopes that Boro will return, but Kamau explains that “Boro is not of this place” – he is too resentful of the village elders, who failed to fight off the white people (44).

Kamau confesses he would like to quit his apprenticeship and leave for Nairobi like Boro did. This means he could not participate in a strike that some of the local men are planning, but he believes strikes are for old men anyway. Njoroge begins to talk to his brother about Mwihaki, but changes his mind and asks about a mysterious character named Jomo instead. Kamau says that Boro used to call Jomo “the black Moses,” but does not offer much concrete information about him (46). That night, Njoroge prays that he will learn enough to both help his family and become smarter than Mwihaki.

Three years later, Njoroge and Mwihaki are in Standard IV, and beginning to learn English. They initially have trouble with grammar, which makes the teacher, Lucia(who is also Mwihaki’s sister), very angry. However, they slowly progress, and begin to grasp the language. One day, a European woman visits the class, and Lucia is enraged when the students greet her with "good morning, Sir" instead of with the more appropriate "good afternoon, Madam" (49). Later, Njoroge realizes that the woman was Mr. Howlands’s daughter, the missionary.

Time passes, and Kamau prepares for his circumcision ceremony, a rite of manhood amongst the Gikyu. Njoroge fears that once Kamau is a man, he will leave for the city and the family will disintegrate.

As time goes by, Njoroge immerses himself in books, especially the Bible. He develops his own kind of religious faith, which combines Christian teachings with traditional Gikuyu values. He comes to believe that Africans are God’s chosen people, and compares their struggles to those of the Israelites in the Old Testament. He wonders whether Jomo, "the black Moses," might in fact lead the Africans to freedom.

Analysis

Although Weep Not, Child is considered one of Ngugi’s less experimental texts, there are nevertheless moments of formal innovation in these chapters that foreshadow the stylistic experimentation of his later work. For instance, the exchanges between teachers and students are formatted like a schoolchild’s exercise book, with the dialogue not narrated, but scripted. This form emphasizes the repetition that comes with learning a new language, and also helps the reader empathize with Njoroge and Mwihaki – like them, we are reading an exercise book.

Further, the freewheeling narrative style becomes even looser, and the narrator reveals a general disinterest in psychological realism. Years pass in these chapters with barely a comment, reinforcing the narrator's omniscience. He chooses what to share, answering only the questions he deems appropriate towards his purpose. Though he does take on the perspectives of many different characters, he frequently brushes over psychological complexities, such as Njoroge's resentments over Mwihaki. The relationship is complex, involving sexuality, class, and gender, but the narrator never delves into the contradictions of it. His purpose instead is to depict an entire culture through these characters, and not to justify or over-explain the psychologies involved.

Ngugi continues to explore the importance of education, one of his the work's primary themes. All of the characters (with the possible exception of Kamau) agree that education is necessary for young people, but they disagree about why. Njoroge seems to believe that learning has intrinsic value, and he derives great pleasure from reading and thinking critically about events around him. His ultimate hope is that his education will help him transcend his culture, and become a savior of sorts. Ngotho, on the other hand, only values education as a pragmatic means for black people to take back their land. Even Jacobo, who has compromised with the white colonizers for his own benefit, recognizes that education is the tool towards empowerment.

The author also makes a point in these chapters of highlighting the ways that Njoroge’s story is representative of his generation’s experiences as a whole. “Education for him, as for many boys of his generation, held the key to the future,” Ngugi writes. “As he could not find companionship with Jacobo’s children (except Mwihaki), for these belonged to the middle class that was rising and beginning to be conscious of itself as such, he turned to reading” (51). Here, Ngugi points out how the broad changes in Gikuyu society shape the man that Njoroge’s hopes to become.

Of course, by putting such an emphasis on the empowerment afforded by education, Ngugi introduces a tragic sense to the novel. Especially because many readers would be well aware of the bloodshed and complexities of the Mau Mau Uprising, the idea that education will save the black natives is set up to disappoint. Even for a reader who does not know much of Kenyan history, it is easy to predict that these lofty goals for learning are unlikely to manifest in such a grounded work, at least not to the extent that Njoroge and his father hope. One arc worth tracing through the novel is the recognition that while education is paramount, it is also subservient to much more complicated and intense social forces.

Of course, one of the most present of these social forces is colonialism. In Chapter 5, Ngugi focuses on the relationship between Christianity and Gikuyu culture, a murky and complex effect of colonialism. Ngugi’s general opinions about British colonialism are fairly straightforward: he believes that the British robbed and exploited the Gikuyu people, and need to leave Kenya immediately. However, the book’s depiction of Christianity is complicated by the fact that many Gikuyu characters embrace it, and approve of its values. In fact, there is quite a bit of overlap between Christian and Gikuyu myth; for example, their creation stories are very similar.

Likewise, Christianity reinforces the values of hard work, ambition, and equality, all virtues that Njoroge has already been taught by his parents. As the narrator explains, “the tribal stories told him by his mother had strengthened [the] belief in the virtue of toil and perseverance” that he also gleaned from the Bible (52). In the novel, religious faith and experience vary dramatically for each character, and Ngugi suggests that each individual must come to his own understanding of what values are important to him.

Summary

Chapter 6

The men of Mahua (the village) sometimes gather to discuss political affairs. Occasionally, Boro and Kori travel home from the city for these meetings, bringing friends from there. Njoroge loves to eavesdrop on these conversations. He listens in on one meeting, in which the men plan a strike to involve all black people - or at least all those who work under white people or the British colonial government. That night, Njoroge prays that the strike will result in a pay raise for his father.When he hears about the impending strike, Mr. Howlands threatens to fire any worker who participates. Ngotho is torn with indecision – he wants to fight for better wages and fair treatment, but he also loves working the land and does not want to lose his job.

He eventually decides to join the strike, which causes a bitter fight between him and Nyokabi. Although Ngotho and his wives usually restrain from fighting around their children, Njoroge hears the argument, and is deeply disturbed. That night, he asks God whether the strike will succeed, and falls asleep listening for an answer.

Chapter 7

At the beginning of the new year, all the students gather at the school to learn whether they have passed and will continue to intermediate school. After a moment of suspense, Njoroge and Mwihaki learn that they have both passed, and they skip home merrily, holding hands. However, they separate as they approach their houses. When Mwihaki enters her house, her mood quickly dampens when she learns that something has happened to her father Jacobo.

The narrator tells what has happened. Earlier that day, Ngotho had left work to attend a rally in support of the strike. Boro, who has become a committed activist, and his friend Kiarie were scheduled to speak at the rally. Before they could begin, the police interrupted the rally and urged the audience to listen to Jacobo, who spoke to the natives about returning to work.

Ngotho, who suddenly found himself furious at this “Traitor,” rushed the stage to attack Jacobo (62). The other workers in the audience joined him, and a violent riot began. Jacobo was saved by the police’s quick intervention, and Ngotho was hailed by the village as a hero.

The narrative jumps forward a few days. A group of men congregate near the barber’s shop. They discuss how the strike has failed, and how Ngotho's family has been expelled from their home on Jacobo's land. Additionally, Ngotho has lost his job working for Mr. Howlands.

The events at the rally cause many changes for Njoroge and his family. Though the family is initially homeless, Nganga the carpenter allows them to set up new huts on his land. Without a job, Ngotho cannot pay the rising fees at Njoroge's school, but Kamau and Kori use their salaries to ensure the boy can continue with his education. Meanwhile, Mwihaki has left for a boarding school far away.

Interlude

Two and a half years later, a white government official looks at Nairobi from a hilltop, and ponders how his people have been rejected from Kenya despite “[trying] our best” (66). He believes that the natives are ungrateful.

The men in the village discuss the recent assassination of a chief who had accepted large amounts of land from the government. Several secondary leaders of the resistance have been arrested; eventually, Jomo, the revolutionary leader, is arrested as well. This arrest disappoints Njoroge, who has always hoped to meet Jomo. He remembers attending a rally held by the KAU, a resistance society, at the market place. There, he almost met the elusive Jomo, but was crowded out.

Analysis

In the final chapters of Part I, Ngugi continues to develop many of the stylistic quirks he established early in the novel. One of the most notable of these is his experimentation with format. For example, the dialogue and the applause in Chapter 7 are notated like stage directions, a bold choice that suggests several different meanings. The formatting may allude to the fact that the event was scripted; in other words, Kiarie’s speech had been carefully prepared. Even Ngotho’s unpredictable act of violence was arguably part of the ‘script;’ it is an inevitable result of the police’s relentless oppression of the Gikuyu people. Overall, this suggestion proposes that revolution is necessary and fated in oppressive circumstances, rather than being the result of a few strong individuals.

Weep Not, Child works as both a bildungsroman (a coming-of-age tale) and as a political chronicle, and its structure reflects this genre complexity. As Part I ends, Njoroge is still a child in many ways, despite the fact that he has witnessed more violence and deprivation than many adults ever do. He has grand (and perhaps unrealistic) ambitions for himself, but he relies on his parents and Kamau to help him pursue these goals.

However, the title of Part I - "The Waning Light" - suggests the end of childhood as a tragic necessity. This sense of "light" and wonder cannot last. In Part II, Njoroge will begin to take on more agency in determining his fate. The interlude serves as an intermediary stage between Njoroge’s youth and his adulthood. In it, he remains a passive character like in Part I, but he is beginning to develop a sense of political responsibility. He now sees Jomo as more than a transcendent Moses figure; he begins to realize the immediate grounded importance of the man.

However, the novel also explores the Mau Mau uprising more broadly, and its two sections deal with different phases of the revolt. In Part I, the revolt has not yet coalesced into a single political force; instead, it is a decentralized movement composed of many different cells and individuals. The interlude discusses both the assassination of a famous chief and the arrest of Jomo Kenyatta – real events that are more specific than any of the historical incidents in Part I are. As the novel progresses into Part II, the disparate rebel forces will converge into the Mau Mau, and become more violent. Again, the "light" of innocence and naiveté under which the Guikuyu have been living is now "waning" into the realization that action is necessary.

These chapters also highlight the political differences between Ngotho and the activists of Kiarie and Boro’s generation. The younger men believe in nonviolent resistance. This philosophy is probably influenced by Mohandas Gandhi and the Indian independence movement; the narrator references the Indian colony and nonviolence in Chapter 1.

Ngotho, on the other hand, is so overcome with anger and resentment that he cannot help attacking Jacobo. He is not even sure what forces him to do it, suggesting that the forces are more deep-seeded than his intellect can realize. Considering that Ngotho's own father had his land stolen, it is arguable that Ngotho feels the losses the Gikuyu have suffered under the British more viscerally than the younger generation can. Further, he is arguably fueled by a self-hatred from having so passively complied with the robbery, by working for Mr. Howlands. His political opinions come from his emotions, whereas Boro’s are more intellectualized. It also makes sense that Ngotho might be suspicious of nonviolent resistance, a concept borrowed from the Gikuyu’s rivals, the Indians. His instinct is instead to revert to a more traditional way of solving disputes – the duel. The conflict between these philosophies will continue to resonate at the Mau Mau Uprising continues to escalate.

Summary

Chapter 8

About two years have passed.Njoroge hears many stories about events occurring in the far-away towns of Nyeri and Murang’a. Often, these stories have a mythic element to them. For example, a boy named Karanja tells him one about Dedan Kimathi, the leader of the African Freedom Army, who tricked the police into expecting him to arrive, at which point they would arrest him. However, the leader instead turned himself into a white man, and borrowed a motorcycle from the police. The next day, he turns into an airplane, and drops them a letter explaining how he fooled them.

Jacobo has meanwhile become a chief. He is surrounded by bodyguards at all times, to protect him from guerilla resistance fighters. Mr. Howlands has become the district officer, and he and Jacobo often patrol the huts for suspicious activity. Njoroge has continued in his new school despite his family’s precarious finances.

One day, Njoroge comes home to find Boroand Kori in the house, both dirty and tired. There has been a police crackdown because Jomo will soon go to trial. Kori had been arrested, but he leaped from the moving police truck when he realized he and his fellow revolutionaries would be killed. Though he was shot in the knee during his escape, he has made it home. Everyone listens to his story.

There is an unmistakable tension in the house, both from fear for the future and from the problems between Ngotho and Boro. Boro has not forgiven his father for inciting the riot two years before; Boro and Kiarie are strong believers in nonviolent resistance, and Boro believes his father undermined the movement by attacking Jacobo. Another point of contention is the fact that Ngotho will not join the Mau Mau. Though Ngotho believes in the cause, joining would entail taking an oath, and Ngotho believes it shameful to have an oath administered to him by his son.

Chapter 9

At school, Njoroge and his friends discuss Jomo’s trial and the various rebel splinter groups that have formed. Njoroge asks the difference between the KAU and the Mau Mau, two of the most powerful groups. Most of the other students explain that they “like KAU and fear Mau Mau” because the Mau Mau slit the throats of black people reputed to be traitors (79). The boys all daydream about fighting in the forest.

Everyone is disappointed and afraid when they learn that Jomo Kenyatta has been found guilty during his trial, and will hence not be released. Ngotho suffers a crisis of conscience – he worries that his actions at the rally will keep the prophecy (that the whites will leave Kenya) from being fulfilled. He also ponders his problematic relationship with Boro, and wonders whether he has made other mistakes as a father. Meanwhile, to her family, Njerianalyzes why Jomo lost his trial. She believes that it is impossible to win a trial when white men have made all the laws. Boro exclaims that black men must rise up and fight, and Njoroge is deeply moved by his brother's passion.

Chapter 10

In the district office, Mr. Howlands waits for Jacobo to arrive for a meeting. He reflects on his failure to live a simple life in Africa, realizing that he has become immersed in politics despite his intentions. He had reluctantly accepted the district officer post because he wants to defend his land, the only thing he truly believes in. He has never bothered to think about the Gikuyu perspective; to him, black people are like “donkeys or horses in his farm” (84). Like Ngotho, Mr. Howlands often feels that he does not understand his children – especially his missionary daughter.

Jacobo arrives. The rebellion has caused Mr. Howlands to hate Jacobo, whom he sees as a savage despite the black's man wealth and their long history of working together. Jacobo tells Mr. Howlands that he believes Ngotho and Boro are secretly participating in the rebellion; he even believes Ngotho might be the secret head of the Mau Mau. He asks permission to send them to a detention camp, and Mr. Howlands instructs him to arrest Ngotho and his sons for any minor infractions. As Jacobo leaves, Mr. Howlands reflects on how he has never forgotten Ngotho.

That night, most of the family is gathered in Nyokabi’s hut. When Njeri and Kori leave to sleep in Njeri’s hut – only a few yards away – they are arrested for breaking the 6 p.m. curfew. Ngotho pays the fine for the crime, but only Njeri is released. Kori is sent to a detention camp without trial. Meanwhile, Jacobo continues to plot ways to arrest Ngotho.

One day, Njoroge arrives at school to find the students huddled around a letter that has been posted on the wall. The letter threatens that the headmaster and forty children will be killed if the school does not close down; it is signed by the resistance leader Dedan Kimathi. Njoroge does not understand the threat, because he “thought Mau Mau was on the side of the black people” (91). Kamau urges his brother to keep going to school, since he is no safer at home anyway. Njoroge agrees, and continues to attend.

Analysis

Ngugi makes an unusual choice in these chapters by returning to Mr. Howlands’s perspective. Although the novel emphasizes the suffering caused by British colonialism, Ngugi makes it clear that Mr. Howlands is not the omnipotent villain that some of the villagers believe him to be. Instead, he is a figure caught in the same forces of colonialism as the Kenyans are. He wants a simple life much as they do, and though he is clearly racist and lacks empathy, it is arguable that this is all an effect of the culture in which he was raised. This willingness to consider both sides of the issue may have been influenced by Ngugi’s years living in England; indeed, he wrote the novel not in Kenya but at Leeds University in Yorkshire.

The passages from Mr. Howlands’s point of view highlight the similarities between the British colonist and the people whose land he has taken. For example, Ngugi implicitly compares Mr. Howlands to Ngotho by paralleling their difficult relationships with their children. This is not Ngugi's first use of such parallelism; in Chapter 3, a similar parallel between Ngotho and Mr. Howlands was drawn to emphasize their passion for the land. Both characters are primarily motivated by the desire to defend what they believe is their land. The connection explains the interesting observation that Mr. Howlands "had never forgotten Ngotho" (87). The tragedy is that only one of them can own the land that both covet.

In these chapters, many characters exhibit significant changes. Some characters change simply because they are growing up; for example, Kamau becomes a pillar of financial and spiritual support for the family as Ngotho ages. His choice to pursue a career instead of attend school has forced him to mature more quickly than Njoroge has. His newfound authority becomes apparent when he suggests Njoroge stay in school despite the threat of violence, and Njoroge listens to him instead of to Nyokabi. However, the war has also wrought major changes among the adult characters. For example, Ngangashows an unprecedented generous streak when he allows Ngotho’s family to move onto his land, and Jacobo – who has never before been portrayed as explicitly malevolent – pursues Ngotho’s family in order to seek revenge on the patriarch and defend his own holdings from the threat of rebellion. What all of these changes have in common is that they reflect a more dangerous, less stable world. As Ngotho's family grows more separated, so too does the society become less organized under the threat of violence.

In fact, most of the new elements in Part II can be understood through its title: "Darkness Falls." Kenya’s political strife intensifies in Part II, and these chapters refer to several splinter groups that formed during the 1952-1960 Emergency. The two most important ones are the Kenya African Union (KAU) and the Mau Mau. The KAU was founded in 1944 as a study group, and was led by Njoroge’s hero, Jomo Kenyatta. For most of its early existence, it advocated moderate, pan-African political stances, and avoided involvement in tribal politics. (However, the organization was frequently accused of being dominated by the Gikuyu, Kenya’s largest and most educated tribe.)

Like the KAU, the Mau Mau had Gikuyu origins. It was a secret society, and members had to take an oath to join; the oath is what is problematic for Ngotho. As Eric W. Brown has noted, secret societies and oaths were an important part of Gikuyu culture, so the Mau Mau quickly became popular. Because of the organization’s secrecy, scholars still disagree about what the Mau Mau’s original goals were. However, it is generally agreed that they were more politically extreme than the KAU, and more willing to use violence to advance their goals. In 1951, the Mau Mau effectively took control of the KAU. As violence becomes commonplace and the characters live in a world of constant threat, the veil of innocence has clearly been lifted, and darkness has fallen.

For more on the political climate alluded to in Part II, please see the Additional Content section of this ClassicNote

Summary

Chapter 11

As conditions continue to deteriorate and daily life becomes more dangerous, Kamau becomes the family’s main support. Njoroge, still in school, often thinks of Mwihaki, whom he has not seen since the riot several years before. One day, Kamau tells Njoroge that six villagers, including Nganga and the barber, have been taken into the woods and murdered. One day, Mwihaki, home from boarding school on a vacation, surprises Njoroge as he is walking along the road. She has become a beautiful young woman, and Njoroge realizes that he must also appear more mature than he had before. They talk briefly, and Mwihaki asks Njoroge to spend more time with her. She gains his sympathy by confessing that everyone in the village avoids her because she is Jacobo’s daughter. Njoroge reluctantly agrees to attend church with her.

Two days later, they walk to church together. When they arrive, their old teacher Isaka – who has become a Revivalist – reads a selection from the Book of Matthew about enduring hardship. After church, Mwihaki invites Njoroge into her home. Jacobo arrives unexpectedly, and wishes Njoroge good luck in school, explaining that Njoroge's generation will have to rebuild Kenya. Njoroge is briefly pleased at the attention, but grows uncomfortable when the sight of Jacobo’s bodyguards reminds him of the dead barber.

Mwihaki and Njoroge discuss how Kenya has changed in the past few years. Mwihaki wonders why Jesus did not prevent the violence in their country. Njoroge, unshaken by her doubts, replies that God works in mysterious ways. They speculate about whether the Gikuyu are being punished for someone’s sins. Mwihaki proposes they run away together, adding that she “could be such a nice sister” to Njoroge (104).

Njoroge immediately argues the foolishness of the plan, but Mwihaki quickly assures him that she was joking. However, she promises to rejoin him once she finishes school.

Chapter 12

Over the years, Mr. Howlands has grown to enjoy crushing the resistance. As they often have, he and Jacobo discuss how to deal with Ngotho and Boro, although Mr. Howlands remains reluctant to directly attack Ngotho. To counter this reluctance, Jacobo shows him one of several threatening, anonymous notes he has lately received; he believes they have been sent by Ngotho.

Meanwhile, Isaka brings Njoroge and several other youths to a church retreat nearby. On the way there, the police detain the group and ask to see their papers. The girls are allowed to go free, and Njoroge is released because he has his papers. Isaka does not have papers, but is unfazed by the officers. He insists that he would never join the Mau Mau because he has devoted his life to Jesus. Nevertheless, the officers bring him into the forest and shoot him. Njoroge feels sick

As it turns out, the officers were actually looking for Boro and his guerillas, who are staked out in the forest. The narrator focuses on them. Boro constantly broods about his brother Mwangi, who died in World War II. In fact, his entire life is devoted to avenging Mwangi's death. He believes that killing Jacobo will serve this goal, though he has yet to develop a plan for the assassination. He discusses the issue with his lieutenant, who is eager to help. However, Boro insists that he must perform this task alone.

Analysis

By the time she returns to the village, Mwihaki has clearly become the novel’s symbol of innocent victimhood. The fact that her first ‘date’ with Njoroge is a church service emphasizes the purity of their relationship. Further, Njoroge has continued to think of her not only as a person, but as a reflection of the carefree days of his youth. Although some readers may be tempted to romantically link Njoroge and Mwihaki, both youths characterize their bond as similar to the one between siblings. Their long history of uncomplicated friendship is more affecting for remaining chaste; it becomes an example of the kind of love and fellowship that help people survive the darkest experiences.

These chapters function primarily to build suspense for the novel’s climax, when Njoroge will be interrogated about Jacobo’s murder. All of the major characters are depicted in stasis here, waiting and watching, all to foreshadow the catastrophic events to come. In keeping with his philosophy of empathy and fraternity, Ngugi includes the perspectives of Mr. Howlands, Jacobo, and Ngotho here. Although they all are on different sides of the conflict, they are all preoccupied with the same sense of apprehension. War, Ngugi suggests, harms the human spirit in the same ways regardless of which side a person is on.

At this point in the novel, Mr. Howlands is transitioning from a sympathetic character to a villainous one. The shift will culminate when he wreaks his gruesome vengeance upon Ngotho in Chapter 15, but for now, occurs more gradually. Earlier in the novel, Ngugi established that Mr. Howlands was primarily concerned with keeping his land, an almost transcendent concern that parallels him to the Gikuyu. However, his ignorance about their humanity is now manifesting into a fierce hatred that will cause great tragedy.

The implicit suggestion is that hatreds are exacerbated by war. Certainly, Mr. Howlands has always had a repressed hatred for the blacks of Kenya, though he had little cause to exercise it. Now, as Ngugi writes, “Mr. Howlands felt a certain gratifying pleasure [in crushing them.] The machine he had set in motion was working. The blacks were destroying the blacks. They would destroy themselves to the end. What did it matter with him if the blacks in the forest destroyed a whole village? What indeed did it matter except for the fact that labour would diminish? Let them destroy themselves. Let them fight against each other” (106). Here, Ngugi not only establishes the shift in Mr. Howlands, but uses it as a microcosm for the novel's theme of intra-ethnic conflict.

Mr. Howlands is not the only character who is changed by the realities of war, however. In addition to Jacobo (whose evolution will be discussed in the analysis of Chapters 13-15), Isaka undergoes a major shift as a result of the suffering he has seen in his country. Early in the book, Isaka is characterized as a carousing womanizer, but in this section, he returns to the village as a Christian revivalist. When he is murdered in Chapter 12, he becomes a kind of Christian martyr, refusing to abandon his faith even in dire circumstances. His relationship with religion contrasts with those of the other characters. Conflict and hardship seem to only strengthen Isaka’s faith in Christianity, whereas these same forces cause Mwihaki to doubt God. At this point, the reader to left to wonder in what way our protagonist will change in the face of these forces. Will he abandon his faith in God and education, or will he remain committed to the same beliefs that defined his childhood?

Summary

Chapter 13

Njoroge is the only boy in the area to pass intermediate school and progress to high school. The villagers, proud of his accomplishments, chip in to pay his tuition. Mwihaki also passes her exit exams, but does not do well enough to continue to high school. Instead, she will attend a teacher’s training college. The day before Njoroge leaves, he and Mwihaki meet one last time. Mwihaki warns him not to forget the people he knew at home, and not to put on airs. Njoroge suspects she is jealous, and chatters about his hopes to go abroad after high school but to eventually return, since he believes Kenya needs him. Mwihaki angrily replies that the country has grown so dark that no one can fix it. Njoroge argues that that things will get better. After they say goodbye, Mwihaki walks home alone, trying to cover her tears.

Chapter 14

At first, Njoroge is puzzled by the diversity of his high school. For the first time, he interacts with white teachers who treat him with kindness and respect. He is also surprised to find that his classmates, who are from other tribes, are not so different from the boys he knows at home. One day, a school for European boys competes against Njoroge’s school in football. Njoroge sits out the match, chatting with a white student who turns out to be Stephen Howlands.

Stephen admits that he often wanted to introduce himself to the black boys in Kipanga, but was afraid they would not want to talk to him. Njoroge sometimes saw Stephen around, and felt the same way. The boys ponder the strangeness of this coincidence. They comment on the tension that prevents people of different races from interacting with each other, but Njoroge reassures Stephen that the tension will one day pass and Kenya will be peaceful again. Stephen fears he will not be around to see it – he is being sent to England for boarding school.

Meanwhile, Mwihaki writes Njoroge frequently. In her letters, she confesses that she misses him, and confides that life at home has changed – “fear,” she writes, “is in the air” (123). Jacobo has grown paranoid and unpleasant, and the villagers are terrified. Njoroge admits to himself that he is glad not to be at home.

Chapter 15

The chapter begins during Njoroge’s third term at high school. Stephen and his sister have left for England. Njoroge remains very happy at the high school, which is an oasis of peace in a troubled country. The headmaster keeps order through both severity and a fervent belief in “the white man’s rule and civilising mission” (126). One day, the headmaster pulls Njoroge out of class to tell him that his family has been involved in a “sad business,” and that he must remain open to Christ. He then hands Njoroge over to the custody of two police officers (126).

The officers take Njoroge to a station known as the “House of Pain,” where he is surprised to find Mr. Howlands waiting. The policemen interrogate Njoroge about Boro’s whereabouts, and eventually reveal that Jacobo has been murdered. They beat Njoroge mercilessly when he cannot give them any information. Eventually, they inform him that his father Ngotho has admitted to the crime, and that they will castrate Njoroge if he does not confirm his father's guilt. Njoroge refuses to say anything, and passes out when they put the pincers to his penis. Mr. Howlands then leaves, without saying anything. A few days later, Njoroge and his mothers are released from confinement.

Meanwhile, Ngotho writhes in pain in his hut, remembering recent events. The narrator is ambiguous about who actually killed Jacobo, but implies that Ngotho was not guilty. Nevertheless, Ngotho was pleased when he learned of his rival’s death, and he walked tall for the first time in years. However, Kamau was soon arrested for the murder, and Ngotho confessed to save his son. Mr. Howlands, who had come to consider Ngotho as a nemesis, interrogated him with such violence that even the other police officers were frightened.

Njoroge’s latest experiences finally break his optimism. He is overcome by guilt because he believes he has brought this “ill luck” on his family by associating with Mwihaki (131).

One night, he runs away from home. As he passes Jacobo’s house, he realizes he wants nothing more than to hold Mwihaki and run away with her. He sadly returns home because he now knows he cannot leave either Mwihaki or his family. That night, he does not pray.

Analysis

Boro and Ngotho – two of this novel’s secondary protagonists – have passionately wished for Jacobo’s death for some time. When it comes, however, Ngugi has complicated Jacobo enough that his murder does not seem like a triumph for the rebel cause, but just another meaningless act of violence.

The author encourages this reading by allowing us to first learn about the murder from Njoroge’s perspective, rather than from Ngotho’s. While Ngotho is happy about his old landlord’s demise, Njoroge can only think of Mwihaki’s safety. By giving us Njoroge’s perspective first, Ngugi reminds us of the dire consequences that the murder will have on innocent people, like Mwihaki and Jacobo’s other children. Had he dramatized the murder, Ngugi would have possibly created the sense that it was a dramatic moment in which a villain was bested. Instead, it is just an act of violence that will ripple through an unsteady world. All of this serves to complicate a character who is portrayed in Part I as a simple antagonist.

Indeed, when Njoroge visits Jacobo’s home in Chapter 11, Ngugi reveals a very different character from the vengeful chief who plots ways to arrest Ngotho’s family on false pretenses. This Jacobo has been worn thin by fear and toil, and he treats Njoroge with the same respect and kindness he would give to any of Mwihaki’s friends. Jacobo’s sympathetic side appears again when he briefly explains to Mr. Howlands the relationship between Njoroge and his daughter. As he has throughout the novel, Ngugi aims to relate the complexities of a society, rather than just the motivations or perspectives of a few biased characters. Therefore, our relationship with even this previously despicable man becomes ambiguous when we realize how fully a culture of hatred and fear affects everyone.

Ngugi enhances this atmosphere of moral ambiguity by deepening his already complex characterization of Mr. Howlands. When Howlands walks out of Njoroge’s interrogation, the narrator does not specify the exact reason. However, the fact that Njoroge’s torture stops suggests that Mr. Howland's vendetta against Ngotho is not intense enough for him to justify such cruelty upon an innocent.

Nevertheless, the sadistic side that Ngugi introduced in Chapter 12 comes to full fruition in the wake of Jacobo’s murder. “Mr Howlands,” Ngugi writes, “was determined to conquer and reduce Ngotho to submission” (130). Although he has clearly drawn out the complexities of Mr. Howlands’s unhappy past, Ngugi never absolves the character of responsibility for the atrocities he commits. This is important because Mr. Howlands is a symbol of the British officials who did commit many abuses like those depicted in the novel. This fact has been a point of contention until relatively recently, when the British government admitted that the colonial authorities in Kenya tortured detainees. Though Ngugi reveals through the novel a deep sense of empathy, there are limits, and Mr. Howlands has now passed one of them.

Summary

Chapter 16

Ngotho becomes desperately ill as he tries to recover from the wounds he sustained in torture. When Njoroge visits him, Ngotho rambles incoherently that the British have detained Kamau because they want "young blood" (134) When Ngotho hears a knock at the door, he fears it is Mr. Howlands, but it turns out to be Boro, who is thin and unkempt after months of fighting and hiding in the woods. Boro apologizes for not coming sooner, and Ngotho begs him not leave the family again. However, Boro explains that he must continue to fight. He leaves not long afterwards, and Ngotho wishes him well, and then urges Njoroge to look after his mothers. As Boro walks out the door, Ngotho dies.

Chapter 17

Five months later, Njoroge works as a sales assistant in an Indian dress shop. He hates his job, and is ashamed that his big dreams have amounted to nothing. Mr. Howlands died on the same day as Ngotho did, and Boro and Kamau have been charged with his murder.

The narrator recounts how Mr. Howlands died. After letting Ngotho go, he returned home to brood. Although he gave Ngotho wounds that would ultimately kill him, Mr. Howlands felt he had not yet received ultimate restitution. He was forced to let Ngotho go free because he found a notebook with Boro’s name on it at the crime scene.

Over time, Mr. Howlands gradually realized that Ngotho truly had nothing to do with the murders. In fact, he even thought Boro was merely covering for Kamau. Seeing Njoroge tortured shamed him, and he grew guilty with the remembrance of how he had once been an idealistic youth who was subsequently disillusioned by violence.

Boro entered Mr. Howlands’s house on the day Ngotho died, and admitted that it was he who killed Jacobo. Boro then accused Mr. Howlands of stealing the Gikuyu land and raping their women. Mr. Howlands responded that it was his land. Boro laughed at this claim and then shot Mr. Howlands, after which he surrendered himself to the homeguards gathered outside.

In the present day, Njoroge sulks at his job, and his miserable mood frightens the children who come into the shop. His boss fires him, and he leaves to seek comfort from Mwihaki.

Chapter 18

Mwihaki receives a note from Njoroge asking to see her, but she is reluctant because of Njoroge’s association with her father’s murder. She was devastated when she learned that Jacobo was dead. Eventually, she agrees to meet Njoroge.

When he arrives, Njoroge apologizes for what happened to her father. Mwihaki believes that he could have warned her before the murder if he chose, but Njoroge insists that he knew nothing about it. Finally, he tells her that he loves her. Mwihaki confesses that she loves him too, and Njoroge proposes they run away to Uganda together, as she once proposed. However, Mwihaki insists they must stay because they have a duty to help make a brighter future for their people. She adds that she cannot leave her mother to be with him.

Njoroge feels forsaken by everything he once cared for – education, God, country, Mwihaki. He walks to the outside of the village, prepared to hang himself. At the last moment, Nyokabi appears, and urges him to come home. He feels guilty for shirking his father’s last command, which was to take care of his mothers. As he walks home, a voice in his head calls him a coward for attempting suicide.

Analysis

At the end of Weep Not, Child, many important characters die. Many of these deaths serve as vehicles for the novel’s themes. Ngotho’s death is perhaps the most dramatic; that it occurs exactly when Boro walks out the door suggests that his life is tied to the continued resistance. Right or wrong, the determination of men like Boro to continue fighting against all odds led to many deaths on both sides of the conflict. By choosing the cause over his family, Boro effectively dooms his father.

Likewise, Mr. Howlands and Ngotho remain foils to one another even in their paralleled death scenes. They die on the same day, each one wracked by guilt and uncertainty in the moments before his death. Both scenes also feature an image of Boro walking through a door. Earlier in this section, both men exhibited a vicious appetite for revenge, each believing that his suffering can only be righted by the death of an adversary. Arguably, this belief in ‘eye-for-an-eye’ justice is what leads to their deaths, which again makes the implicit argument that violence breeds violence.

The final chapter of Weep Not, Childemploys a significant tonal departure from the rest of the novel. Throughout the book, Njoroge is portrayed positively because of his ambition and relentless optimism. However, his hopes for himself and his country prove futile. Despite his attempts to succeed and change his country through education, he drops out of high school and becomes an attendant in a dress shop – that is, until he proves ill-equipped for even that. In the novel’s final pages, it seems that Njoroge is destined not for outward greatness, but for an insular life of providing for his widowed mothers. The title of Part II - "Darkness Falls" - has clearly become the case. The protagonist has lost both hope and will to live.

Of course, Njoroge's fate should not be read as a comment on his earlier hopes for education. Ngugi seems too taken with the power of learning to doom it in such a way. Instead, Ngugi seems to blame the broader political circumstances for interfering with Njoroge’s pursuit of success. So grievous are the circumstances in Kenya that even education loses the power to change people.

Perhaps more poignant is Njoroge’s loss of faith in God. For most of his youth, he reads the Bible and cannot ignore the parallels between the Gikuyu and the Israelites. He maintains this belief even when Mwihaki and other people around him begin to doubt God, and even when he sees Isaka martyred by the police. However, his brutal interrogation, and his father’s subsequent death, prove to be the last straw. Njoroge finally gives up on the idea that the Emergency and the violent uprising are all part of God’s plan. Unfortunately, because he has based his life on these broad hopes, he has nothing left when they are taken away.

What then, can readers take away from this novel, which in its final pages seems to spurn the values it portrayed positively for the previous seventeen chapters? Ngugi still seems to suggest that religion, love, and family are powerful forces that can help people survive terrible conditions. The relationships he crafts in most of the book remain true and profound. However, he ultimately shows that some events are too atrocious for even love to overcome. Humans – white and black alike – are all helpless pawns in broad political struggles. The hatred of colonialism and blindness of revolution both are forces that swallow individuals, and hence cannot be controlled be them. As Njoroge thinks to himself at the end of the book, “life too seemed like a big lie where people bargained with forces that one could not see” (138).