Here i have shared my own views on how A Grain of Wheat as a national epic of Anti-colonial struggle.

1. A Grain of Wheat as a national epic of Anti-colonial
struggle.
Name : Ravi Rajyaguru
Roll No : 26
M.A : Sem -4
Paper : ( 14) The African literature
Enrolment No : PG15101032
Email id.: rajyagururavi24@gmail.com
Submitted To : Department of English
MaharajaKrishnakumarsinhji
Bhavnagar University

2. • The novel ‘A grain of wheat’ is Ngugi wa Thiongo’s third novel.
The novel has Marxist and Fanonian militant attitude.
• The action of the novel focuses on the hero’s memory of the
incidents of the ‘Mau Mau revolt, the movement began in
1946 Mau Mau rebellion an anti – colonial movement which
historians says revolt an independence for the African nation.
• The novel stats into a small village and it give us detail about
the physical, psychological and political impact of the revolt
on small village people. The novel can be summarized as a
“Collective act of recalling and reflecting on the past” that is a
narration of nation. We can also compare this novel with
European and Latin American style – especially historical
novel is a vehicle to construct a national conscience.

3. What is Anti – colonialism?
• Ant colonialism is a political straggle of colonized peoples
against the specific ideology and practice of colonialism.
Anti colonialism signifies the point at which the various
forms of oppositions become articulated as a resistance to
the operations o colonialism in political, economical and
cultural institutions.
• So, Here, the actions of the novel is focuses on the
protagonists remembrance of the events of the ‘ Mau
Mau’ revolt which Ngugi sees as the only historical
moment which allows “the space to imagine the birth of a
new Kenya.
• The author choose Christianity as a knife to tear
apart the society.

4. • What is Mau Mau ?
“Gang of freedom fighters called
Mau Mau “
• The Mau Mau Uprising, also
known as the Mau Mau Revolt,
Mau Mau Rebellion, or Kenya
Emergency, was a military
conflict that took place in British
Kenya between 1952 and 1960.
• It involved Kikuyu dominated
groups summarily called Mau
Mau, the white settlers including
women and children and
elements of the British Army.

5. Mau
Mau
Rebellion
Physical
Psychological
Political
impact
The novel can be
summarized as a ‘collective
act of recalling and
reflecting on the past’ that is
a narration of nation.

6. What is Uhuru ?
• Swahili word Uhuru means freedom. But here in the novel the
definition of the actual meaning of Uhuru is an open political and
social question.
• the new Kenyan bourgeoisie sees it indeed as the possibility to
replace the colonizer without changing the existing social, political
and economical structure.
• Whereas for Gikuyu peasants Uhuru means a profound break with
the colonial past, a rebirth which has to bring about the restitution
of the white settlers who wants to rule over the others.
• So Uhuru is a struggle for the freedom and to get individuals own
existence and identity. So Uruhu is the central question into the
novel it also related with the national conscience.

7. The novel is not only indicates the
nationalism but also it reflects the sign
of national epic.
The novel gives us detail about the
physical, psychological and political
impact of the revolt on small village
people.
The novel can be summarized as a
“collective act of recalling and
reflecting on the past” that is a
narrative of nation.
The narrative is divided between the
new national bourgeoisie and the
peasants. And in this way we will say
that the novel is an anti-colonial
struggle of national epic.