SOURCE: Roos, Bonnie. “Re-Historicizing the Conflicted Figure of Woman in Ngugi's Petals of Blood.” Research in African Literatures 33, no. 2 (summer 2002): 154-70.

In the following essay, Roos acknowledges the contradictory traits of the character Wanja in Petals of Blood, asserting that “the great beauty of Ngugi's characterization is that he recognizes these conflicts within himself and in the people around him.”

The 1972 novel Petals of Blood marks Ngugi wa Thiong'o's growing interest in strong women characters like Wanja. Wanja succeeds in areas where women literary figures traditionally do not. In her relationship to the land, her strength as a mother/nurturer figure for the entire village, and her ability to forge her own destiny, Wanja is a female figure rife with agency and power. She steadfastly resolves to accompany others in their return to the city despite the unpleasant memories it holds for her, and she continues the trek...