Ancestry

Kintu is based on the present day clan’s connection to their ancestors and how one mistake can ripple farther into the future than anyone could have guessed.

First, it is important to establish the curse, the clan’s ancestry, and how it continues on despite Ntwire’s declaration that living is suffering. The patriarch that causes the curse is Kamu Kintu, and it is his last name that continues through the bloodline for generations despite the death of himself and his entire family. The Kintu name lives on through Zaya who carries Kintu’s grandchild because “way back, [Baale, Kintu’s son] offered to teach me how to be with a man, in case I had to go back to Gitta” (96). This is the moment that the Nitwire’s curse takes hold. He tells Kintu “Your house, and to those that will be born out...