The Use of Christianity and the Bible by Ngugi in "A Grain of Wheat"
Summary:
Essay explores the use of Christianity and the Bible in the novel "A Grain of Wheat" written by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o.
In the novel "A Grain of Wheat", Ngugi criticizes Christianity through Kihika. He doesn't believe in Christianity but strongly believes in the movement and sacrificing himself for the people. On the other hand Mugo is a complete contrast to Kihika, he (Mugo) doesn't believe in the movement and all he wants is to be left alone.
As a child Kihika was sent to a mission school, this is where his knowledge of Christianity was bestowed upon him. Although he is not Christian and doesn't believe in the religion,he uses the teachings from the Bible as an inspiration for the people of the movement. The teachings of the Bible had a great effecton Kihika for it played an important role in his leadership of the movement. He identified with different parts of the Bible and used it to his advantage as a weapon against the English, as well as to keep the fire burning within the people.
The quotation at the beginning of the novel speaks of sacrifice, Kihika's death was seen as a sacrifice, it was like a grain that fell onto the earth which grew into wheat, because of his death the people got motivated to go on fighthing and eventually gaining back their freedom.An example of this sacrifice is where the people veiwed his death as symbolic of Jesus dying on the cross, they saw Kihika as giving himself up for the people the same way Jesus did.
However Mugo was complete opposite to Kihika. Mugo was very anti-social, he kept to himself all the time. This was because of his unpleasant childhood. He doesn't wish to mix with people and wants nothing to do with the movement. He was greatly angered by Kihika when he asked him to be apart of the movement and felt that his life was being threatened and so he betrayed Kihika which led to Kihika's death. However, Mugo is affected by Christianity, he is seen as Judas who betrayed Christ, also as the saved sacrificed for he didn't want to sacrifice himself. He didn't believe in it when she his thinking gets a bit unrealtistic he sees himself as Moses leading the people.
In conclsuion, Ngugi criticized Christianity through Kihika, by showing how it was used to motivated the peopl into rebelling against the English, in a sense using their own weapon against them. Ngugi showed how the people of Kenya didn't covert to Christianity even though some attended the schools,one such example was Kihika, even though his father was good friends with the Rev. he still kept to his own faith. In a sense Ngugi is showing how something good can come out of something bad, meaning that the people didn't want to be converted or taught about Chirstianity but it was used to help motivate them to fight against the English oppression.
This is the complete article, containing 474 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
