A Grain of Wheat as a national epic of Anti-colonial struggle The novel 'A grain of wheat' is Ngugi wa Thiongo's third novel. 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.  

3.  The novel 'A grain of wheat' is Ngugi wa Thiongo's third
novel. 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.

4.  The Mau Mau Uprising, also known
as the Mau Mau Rebellion, Mau
Mau Revolt, 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, and elements of
the British Army, including
local Kenya Regiment, mostly
consisting of the British, auxiliaries,
and anti-Mau Mau Kikuyu.
 The novel can b summarized as a
collective act of recalling and
reflecting on the past that is a
narration of nation

6. What is Uhuru ?
 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 Uruhu
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.  Seminal post-colonial writers such as Nigerian
author Chinua Achebe and Kenyan author Ngugi
wa Thiong'o have written a number of stories
recounting the suffering of colonized people.
 For example,
 In Things Fall Apart, Achebe details the strife and
devastation that occurred when British colonists
began moving inland from the Nigerian coast.

8.  The action of novel focuses
on the protagonists’
remembrances of the
events of the ‘Mau Mau ’
Revolt- the birth of a new
Kenya. The author choose
Christianity as a knife to
tear apart the society.
“They looked beyond the
laughing face of the
Whiteman and suddenly
saw a long line of other red
stranger who carried, not
the Bible, but the sword.”

9.  We say that the novel is not only indicates the
nationalism but also it reflects the sign of
national epic.
 The Kenyan writer offered a romantic view of
a nation marching towards freedom. The
sacrifice the natives gave did go in Vain.
 Mugo confesses and the community is
overtaken. The novel gives us detail about the
physical, psychological and political impact
of the revolt on small village people.

10.  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 ant colonial
struggle of national epic.