Ideology and the Imageof Women:

Kenyan Women in Njau and Ngugi

A BI O SE H M. PO RT ER
^ ) N E PROMI NENT GROUP among theclasses of oppressed peo-
ples i n theworld thewomen has been thesubject of much
recent discussion. In literary criticism, this has been evident i n
recent years i n thephenomenal number of imagestudies of the
sexes.
1
Though some of thesestudies haverightly probed into the
historical and other reasons for theoppression of and discrimina-
tion against women, and though most of thecriticism calls for a
morepositive(onemight even say honest) approach i n thede-
piction of femalecharacters, thereseems to betheincreasing dan-
ger of even well-intentioned and perceptivecritics merely looking
at thetyranny over women as mainly a battlebetween thesexes.
A ccording to such critics, it isprimarily men who have always
posed themajor problem for women. Thus onecritic, mary anne
fergusson, submits that women havebeen degraded i n most fic-
tional works (including even thoseby their female counterparts),
largely becauseof thedominant control men havealmost always
had over literary traditions. In fergusson's words :
Wemust remember in discussing thehistory of theimages of wo-
men in Literaturethat they reflect themasculinevision; masculine
images have established our literary tradition and have controlled
both male and female authors. Even among female authors - who
have no distinctively feminine tradition male attitudes per-
sist . . .
Even such admittedly great writers as Emily Bronte and Emily
Dickinson have been viewed condescendingly both by their con-
temporaries and by male critics today because they wrote like
women.
2
(Emphasis mine)
Similar views areexpressed by two other critics, Sandra M . G i l -
bert and Susan G ubar, in an even morerecent study, wherethey
62 ADIOSEH M. PORTER
suggest that the female writer (and, by extension, her real life
counterpart), must channel her energies in a new direction i n the
strugglefor freedom. For thesecritics, the female writer's battle
"is not against her (male) precursor's reading of the world but
against his reading of her" and, therefore, "she can begin such a
struggleonly by seeking a femaleprecursor who, far from repre-
senting a threatening force to be denied or killed, proves by ex-
amplethat a revolt against patriarchial literary authority is pos-
sible."
3
A lthough it is an unfortunatetruism that from Homer through
the writers of the Bible, Chrtien, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Pe-
trarch, Dante, Balzac, and on to A frican writers of the twentieth
century, wehaveoften seen negative images even stereotypes
of women, it would bean oversimplification of literary history
and, certainly, an affront to the female intellect to conclude, as
some of thesecritics have done, that even female writers who
createnegative fictional women only do so because they have
been blindly led to accept and depict things from themaleview-
point. The nineteenth-century British female novelist Mary A nn
Evans, who had to publish under themale pseudonym "G eorge
Eliot," can beseen as an example of a female writer who, even
during that relatively early period in thedemand for thelibera-
tion of women, clearly saw the issueof femininesubjugation as
being much morecomplex than simply a battlebetween theman
and the woman. To illustratethis point, a brief explication of
certain aspects of Eliot's The Mill on the Floss is in order.
In The Mill on the Floss which is neither a "political" novel
nor even Eliot's best wesee that, among other things, Eliot
takes a sociological look at the fictional society of St. Ogg's and
also at theeffects of this environment on thedevelopment of the
two leading characters, theTulliver children, Tom and Maggie.
In theprocess, thenovelist portrays themany problems confront-
ing thebright and independent Maggiewho grows up in a society
that tries to smother her potential. The young girl comes into
conflict not only with her mother's relatives but also with other
members of the society at large becauseof her desire to be re-
spected as an intelligent, sensitivehuman being. Wearehardly in
doubt that, for most of the time, Maggie Tulliver carries the
THE IMAGE OF WOMEN 63
novelist's endorsement. It is, however, inaccurate to suggest that
Eliot is merely adopting a "feminist" perspective by endowing
Maggiewith morepositivequalities than any of theother major
characters. Rather, onecan safely say that throughout thenovel,
Eliot seems to beemphasizing that, depending on a writer's social
vision (and regardless of his or her sex), maleor female charac-
ters within a literary work can be portrayed as cold, mean and
vindictive (as the female members of her mother's family, the
Dodsons), as rash, irresponsiblebut sympathetic (as her father,
M r. Tulli ver), or as discerning (as Maggie), and so forth.
It is with this example from one of the finest writers in the
British literary tradition in mind that I wish to demonstrate how
a writer's ideology (as it is implicitly revealed in theliterary text),
and not that writer's sex, helps determine the sexual images
within thetext. L ooking at an author's ideological stance rather
than at his or her biological identity as a clueto an understanding
of that author's manner of characterization will not only help
clarify how characters aredescribed, but (perhaps moreimpor-
tantly), explain why they areshown in theway they are the
latter point being an issueoften neglected by critics. The exam-
ples of Rebeka Njau's Ripples in the Pool,
4
and Ngugi wa Thi -
ong'o's Petals of Blood
5
serveas excellent cases to elucidate this
point.
Beforeprobing into theway thesexes aredepicted, and before
suggesting reasons for this portrayal in both novels, I wish to risk
being labelled a male chauvinist by clearly stating that, struc-
turally, at least, Ripples in the Pool is much inferior to Petals of
Blood. Firstly, unlikeNgugi who is ableto effectively demonstrate
theexploitation and oppression of the K enyan peoplefrom the
colonial period to the present era of black neo-colonialism as a
major theme, N jau lacks the artistry to present even oneclearly
defined theme. Oneis often in doubt about what N jau is trying
to say in Ripples in the Pool, not becauseof thewriter's complex,
or even "obscure," way of saying it, but rather becauseof the
poor manner in which characters and events arepresented. The
reader is never sure whether N jau is dealing with the mother-
fixation theme, or whether she wants to call attention to the
abandonment of traditional values or, finally, whether sheis just
64 ABIOSEH M. PORTER
trying to make a comment on a general malaisein thesociety.
Thereareelements of each of thesethemes in thetext, but none
of them is developed enough to form a thematic unit. N jau also
demonstrates an astounding capacity for creating colourless and
hazy characters: theheroine Selina's friend, Sophia, K efa M u-
nene, who is thelocal M . P . , Munene's father-in-law, Mai na, and
thenursei n Munene's "home" for thedisabled, Mari a, areex-
amples of characters who, i n spite of snippets of conversation
allotted to them, quickly vanish from thereader's mind. Finally,
thedepth of psychological penetration which characterizes N gu-
gi's A Grain of Wheat, and part of which wesee in Petals of
Blood, is, at best, only hinted at in Ripples in thePool.
Some parallels in plot and themenevertheless makean exam-
ination of Njau's and Ngugi's novels most significant in thecon-
text of the"woman question." Theleading female protagonists
i n both novels Selina in Ripples in thePool and Wanja in
Petals of Blood go through identical experiences and, not sur-
prisingly, arriveat thesame conclusions. Both women as young
girls had been thevictims of thesexploitation which characterizes
urban life. In oneinstance, after her husband, G ikere, has given
her a brutal, cowardly beating, Selina explains to G ikere that,
aboveall, sheneeds love something shehad lacked sinceearly
childhood. A s a child, shehad been chased out of thefamily
home, for an alleged crimeshedid not commit, by her father who
is said to havedemonstrated an incrediblelack of sensitivity to
the special problems of adolescents. Wanja, on theother hand,
had been seduced by a thoughtless, much older, man and had
become pregnant during her adolescence and, again, likeSelina,
had been kicked out of thefamily fold. Both Selina and Wanja
inevitably drift into thecity and, in spiteof their original high
ideals, go into prostitution as a means of survival. Thesetwo
highly intelligent women areboth quiteadept at their "craft."
Selina speaks of her skill in exploiting men who try to takead-
vantageof her, sexually, in theseterms :
A lthough I'm freewith them, they cannot cheat me. I know what
I want from them. Haveyou ever met executives who behavelike
animals when they fall in love? They arepathetic. I call them
bush creatures. They'reticks. They suck your blood, if you area
T H E I MAG E OF W O ME N 65
fool and leave you dry. A lways demanding more, in fact more
than onecan give. But they cannot treat melikethat.
(Ripples, pp. 1-2)
Wan ja echoes theseideas when sheexplains to both M uni ra and
Karega how sheoperates as a prostitute:
A s for me, it's a game. . . of money . .. you eat or you areeaten
. . . they areproud to beseen with me. . . even for one ni ght...
and they pay for i t. .. I havehad to behard . . . It is theonly way
. . . theonly way . . . (Petals, pp. 293-94)
Selina is again similar to Wanja in her acceptanceof a final part-
ner after she gives up prostitution. A lthough Selina's "mother's
boy" of a husband, G ikere, can i n many ways not be compared
with the high-spirited and more intelligent Karega who even-
tually becomes Wanja's lover, one cannot help seeing a certain
common element in both men's rather naivehopes of improving
theliving standards of their respective peoples. N jau and Ngugi
arealso quiteexplicit in their exposure and denunciation of the
"foreign rulepoliced by colonised blackskins" (Petals, p. 4 ) , such
as theK efa Munenes, Chuis, Kimieras, Mzigos and Nderis who,
after insinuating themselves skilfully into their people's minds,
turn against them and collaborate with foreign capitalists in the
exploitation of their country.
N ow , despitetheseseemingly closelinks between Ripples in the
Pool and Petals of Blood, a closer examination of thesexual im-
ages in both texts reveals a basic differencebetween thetwo writ-
ers. The difference between Ngugi and N jau is most obvious
when onelooks at their portrayal of women : whereas Ngugi con-
tinues his tradition of representing "brave, resilient, resourceful
and determined women . . . ,"
6
N jau reduces even her leading wo-
men characters to thetraditional stereotypes found i n all litera-
tures. A brief character analysis of themajor women in Ripples
in the Pool Selina and her mother-in-law and theprimary
ones i n Petals of Blood Wanja and the old Nyakinyua, "the
mother of men" w ill show thevalidity of this comment.
If onelooks i n isolation at someof thequalities N jau bestows
upon Selina and some of her other female characters such as
Tetu, thelatewifeof theunscrupulous K efa Munene, onewould
66 ABIOSEH M. PORTER
be tempted to believe that N jau fully appreciates thepositive
qualities of her female creations and that sheis out to criticize
thoseforces which contribute to her women's lower status in soci-
ety. Tetu, who dies in rather mysterious circumstances, is said to
havebeen an epitome of virtue :
Kargua .. . remembered thestory of her modesty, generosity, and
tender feelings towards everyone. Hehad heard peopletalk of her
kind heart during theemergency. A s a community Development
officer, Tetu toured villages distributing milk to destitutechildren
and aged women . . . Even when her father was arrested and de-
tained in Manyani, Tetu did not giveup her work . . . Shewas a
friend to all thosewho suffered. In theend, thegovernment sus-
pected that she, too, was involved in mau mau, and shelost her
job. (p. 29)
Selina is also portrayed at times as a kind, considerate woman
who is ready to help, and because of her attempts to assist her
sister-in-law G aciru, weareinformed that "G aci ru was happy to
find someone [Selina] who was always ready to encourage her to
learn new things and shedid her best to pleaseher brother's wife"
(p. 60) . N jau further induces thereader's sympathy for Selina
when thenovelist presents thevarious frustrating situations she
finds herself i n; for instance, when G ikerecomes back from his
trip to thevillage of Itukaura, weseethat "when hegot to his
househefound Selina eagerly waiting for him. Shegavehim food
to eat but hesaid hewas not hungry" (p. 41) hehad obvi-
ously eaten at his mother's beforecoming home. Thereader is
also madeaware of Selina's acumen ; sherightly recognizes G ikere
as a spineless and childish opportunist and, in fact, sees through
hi m for most of thetime, as is shown i n thescenewhere Selina
offers him themoney hedesperately needs for his clinic, but re-
fuses to join him i n his fight against K efa Munene. The sceneis
worth quoting :
. . . her eyes went to thenotes hewas holding and back to his face
again. G ikeregave her a kind of impersonal smile, then looked
down immediately, as though afraid to let her read what was
going on in his mind. Early on in his marriage, he had desperately
wanted to have her money, but shewould not part with a single
cent of it. A senseof guilt rushed through him when herecalled
that hehad married her because of her money. When helooked
THE IMAGE OF WOMEN
67
up, hefelt hot all over his body, and when hetouched his fore-
head, his hand felt wet.
"Y our dream will cometruenow," Selina said, staring fixedly
at him. "But remember, you must leavemealone."
"J need you. I need you desperately," said G ikere, breathlessly.
"I need G aciru, too, to help meclear theland."
"/ have given you the money,''' shesaid. "That is all you need."
"When theclinic is ready, I want you to help merun it."
"I haveanother job in thecity," shesaid coolly.
" A job? What kind of job?" heasked, impatiently.
"Receptionist."
"Where?"
"A t theEmbassy."
"Y ou, Selina?"
"Y es."
"When do you start?"
"In threemonths."
"Why didn't you tell methis before?"
"Y ou haveyour life. I havemine. I havemade a deal with you.
Let us stick to it."
"H ow did you get thejob?"
"K efa Munenehelped me."
"K efa Munene!"
"Y es."
"But heis against us\ "
"H e is against you, not me. I know too much about him."
(pp. 66-67; emphasis mine)
Despiteisolated occurrences such as thesewhich show N jau as
a writer who obviously demonstrates sympathy and understand-
ing for people in general, and for women in particular, oneis
generally repulsed by her main femalecharacters, especially when
their attributes areviewed in full perspective and in context.
Both Selina and her mother-in-law would certainly rank among
theworst stereotyped women ever portrayed in theliteratures of
A frica. Selina comes out exhibiting thecrudest type of neurosis
imaginable.
The images of Selina as a "bi tch" and of her mother-in-law
as a witch areconstantly hinted at or shown, but we seea perfect
presentation of theseimages when Selina, during G ikere's trip to
Itukaura, goes to her husband's shop, now being run by her
mother-in-law, to collect her weekly provisions, as is her custom.
68 A B I O S E H M. P O R T E R
G ikere's mother picks an unnecessary quarrel with and launches
an unjustifiabletiradeagainst Selina, and trueto thefarcial situa-
tion shefinds herself i n, Selina gets into a comic strugglewith the
old woman beforeshefinally grabs her provisions. U nlikea writer
such as Elechi A madi who, in The Concubine, tries to put the
blamesquarely on thepeopleresponsiblewhen hetreats themo-
ther fixation theme, or again, unlikeNgugi who, in A Grain of
Wheat, consciously transcends the traditional stereotyped image
of the relationship between mothers and their children-in-law,
N jau simply portrays G ikere's mother as a "typical" mother-in-
law. Sheis extremely possessiveand dissentious, and is easily one
of themost despicablecharacters in thenovel. Wi th Selina, oneis
not only annoyed and depressed with her incredibly insane be-
haviour as when, with no aparent motivation whatsoever, she
strangles G aciru, or when she falls into her numerous childish
tantrums, but also with the improbable half-grown manner in
which sheoften acts.
Moreover, if Selina's actions, just as thoseof MaggieTulliver,
or of Emma Bovary, or of Mauriac's ThrseDesqueyroux, were
only seemingly incongrous with what goes on in her society, one
would haveconcluded that, even after all her efforts, Selina has
problems adjusting to a society that is basically averseto theexis-
tenceof a highly astutewoman. The character weget, however,
is an extremely childish woman whosegeneral conduct would re-
pel even thosesympathetic to her : onecannot find any justifica-
tion for Selina's stealing of thetitledeeds to her mother-in-law's
landed property. It would be the height of folly to agree with
Selina that the"reason" for her stealing thetitledeeds is to assure
her husband of at least someof his unpredictablemother's prop-
erty. Onesuspects that Selina's real motives are based on some
kind of silly revenge on her mother-in-law. In another episode,
when Selina could havebeen used to successfully expose G ikere's
mother as theinterfering, old hag that sheis, our heroineindulges
in juvenile name calling which ultimately discredits what she
says. Shesays of her mother-in-law :
I wish I had knocked out her rotten teeth! I wish I had broken
her stupid skull! sheprovoked mebeyond what onecan bear! she
THE IMAGE OF WOMEN 69
called mesterileand all sorts of other terriblethings. I wish I had
killed her! . . . She makes me sick . . . She gives me nightmares.
That's why I can't keep a baby in my womb . . . She is not my
flesh . . . I do not stink likecow dung likeshedoes. . . . (p. 42)
Despitethenatureof therhetoric, onemight haveregarded Se-
lina's outbursts here as those of a frustrated individual who is
trying to beheard and understood i n an environment whereno
oneseems willing to listen. But N jau removes any element of sym-
pathy when, in thevery next scene, weseeSelina, with unbeliev-
ableimpulsiveness, rush at her newly-entered mother-in-law and
shoveher violently. This action, of course, gives G ikerea conveni-
ent excusefor beating up his wife.
A nd N jau just keeps enumerating thevices of her women char-
acters; Selina is bossy, arrogant, vain, and i n fact, insane. Her
friend, Sophia, and Mari a, thenurseemployed by K efa Munene,
and other women, are all portrayed as being imperceptive and
passive, and, as a result, nearly all of them are constantly ex-
ploited by therich men folk.
If Njau's attitude towards her feminine characters has been
shown to be negative, one can only say the exact opposite for
that of her male colleague, Ngugi. In Petals of Blood it is the
positive and attractive qualities of the women that are always
stressed. This, of course, is not to suggest that theauthor creates
unrealistic, fanciful femalecharacters. Theweaknesses as well as
the strong points that go to make up Wanja's personality, for
instance, are dramatically evoked for the reader. Even though
Ngugi, above all, condemns the exploiters i n society who drive
Wanja into murdering her child during a desperate situation, he
also makes theimplicit suggestion that he does not subscribe to
the rash way Wanja succumbs to pressure, tremendous as that
may be.
Thenovelist's emphasis is, however, on theworthy sideof his
female characters' nature; Wanja's kindness and resourcefulness
areeither referred to or demonstrated again and again :
Shewas Nyakinyua's grand daughter, this weknewshe often
helped theold woman in thedaily chores about thehouseand in
thefields but sheremained a mystery: how could a city woman
7 0 ABIOSEH M. PORTER
so dirty her hands? How could shestrap a tin of water to a head
beautifully crowned with a mass of shiny black hair? (p. 31 )
H er high mental capacity is underscored when shedecides to be-
come a barmaid for A bdulla, hencegiving the young J oseph a
chanceto go to school :
Throughout theafternoon Wanja arranged and rearranged things
and parcels on theshelves.... It was a thorough cleaning-up op-
eration. Wanja demanded that A bdulla repair a few of theshelves
and also thetablein oneof theback rooms in theshop that served
as thebar. .. . Outsidethebuilding shehad put up a sign board :
SH OP & BA R C L OSED TH IS A F T E R N O O N ST O C K T A K -
IN G . But therewas very littlestock to take and customers, es-
pecially in an afternoon, werefew and far between. Nevertheless
A bdulla was pleased with Wanja's innovations and especially the
professional seriousness with which shedid her j ob....
Toward theend of theafternoon sheremoved thestocktaking
sign and put up another one: SH OP N OW O P E N But no-
body came. She was up again. She put up another sign. PER-
M A N E N T C L OSIN G D O WN SA L E and on an impulsedrew
sketches of a shop and peoplerunning toward it in a hurry. .. .
Within a few hours the place was full of customers who soon
found out themistakeof thechildren. But they liked thenew-look
shop and a few remained to gossip and sip beer. (pp. 55-56)
What is even more significant about the ingenuity of both
Wanja and theold Nyakinyua, though, is that it helps them qual-
ify for positions among that rarevariety of women in literature
women with an unquestionable ability for genuinepolitical
leadership. Signs of this capability are first made evident when
"Fat Stomach" and "Insect," thetwo representatives of thelocal
parliamentarian, Nderi wa Riera, go to preach division, i n the
nameof culture, among thepeopleof Ilmorog. It is especially the
women, led by Nyakinyua, who exposetheseunscrupulous politi-
cal propagandists who, literally, haveto flee to savetheir skin.
From this point on, Ngugi steadily draws thereader's attention to
theneed for such quick-witted minds (regardless of sex), in the
making of political decisions. Events leading to and taking place
during theepic march from Ilmorog to thecity verify thepoint.
When, at theheight of thedrought, theIlmorogans, led by N j u-
guna, decideto maim and sacrificeA bdulla's donkey as a way of
propi ti ati ng the gods (and hence as a way of ending the
THE IMAGE OF WOMEN 71
drought), Karega rightly sees thesacrificing of thedonkey as no
solution to the problem. H e, also correctly, makes a suggestion
that a delegation besent to their local M . P . , who lives in thecity,
for much-needed help. But, becauseKarega does not articulate
his brilliant ideas in a convincing manner, theconservativeN j u-
guna nearly persuades thepeopleto accept their lot with resigned
despair. It is, however, only after a passionate and memorable
speech by the "mother of men" that thepeopleare finally con-
vinced of thenecessity for such a march :
It is our turn to makethings happen. There was a timewhen
things happened theway wein Ilmorog wanted them to happen.
Wehad power over themovement of our limbs. Wemadeup our
own words and sang them and wedanced to them. . . . Wemust
surround thecity and demand our share. Wemust sing our tune
and danceto it. Thoseout therecan also, for a change, danceto
theactions and words of us that sweat, of us that feel thepain of
bearing.. .. But Ilmorog must go as onevoice, (pp. 115- 16)
During thearduous trek to thecity, Nyakinyua is accurately said
to be"thespirit that guided and held them [her fellow villagers]
together . . ." (p. 123), becauseof theway theenergetic, old wo-
man lends moral, intellectual and physical support to her co-
travellers. Shekeeps "up their spirits with stories of thepast" and
shedoes this so well that it looked "as if therhythm of thehistoric
riseand fall of Ilmorog flowed i n her veins" (p. 123). A s a mat-
ter of fact, Nyakinyua unobtrusively verbalizes what looks like
Ngugi's position on male-female relations when, in an effort to
end an unnecessary squabblebetween someof her fellow villagers,
over therather ambiguous sexual characteristics of a statue, she
says :
A man cannot havea child without a woman. A woman cannot
bear a child without a man. A nd was it not a man and a woman
who fought to redeem this country? (p. 161 )
The importanceof Nyakinyua's statement here cannot be over-
emphasized. In this fictional world (just as in real life), where
exploitativepolitical and other figures useall kinds of sexist, racist
and other hideous tactics to dividethepeople, it is imperativethat
72 ABI OSEH M. PORTER
they know that their enemies do not belong to any one sex or
race.
A s with someof her comrades i n thestruggle, Wanja's capacity
for political and social guidance becomes more obvious during
their "great trek." A t least someof thepeoplesoon realize "how
good, how fortunate [they are] that G od had brought them A b-
dulla, Wanja, M uni ra and K arega"; and the presenceof this
dauntless bunch makes thevillagers march on "w i th eyes fixed on
a possibility of a different lifein Ilmorog, if not for them, at least
for their children" ( p. 143 ). Wanja's general comportment dur-
ing the journey makes her merit such commendations, but her
particular senseof parental responsibility towards the children
(especially towards J oseph, who falls i ll on the w ay), further
shows theessential good natureof this heroic woman. G iven her
selfless and noble qualities, it comes to us as no surprise that
Wanja actually drives herself to poverty again by selling thenew
building sheand A bdulla had laboriously invested i n, to prevent
therich bankers from dispossessing her grandmother of theland
old Nyakinyua cherished so much.
It is obvious, then, that both N jau and Ngugi are preoccupied
with social problems affecting their community. What is even
morestriking, though, is each author's attitudetowards thesexes.
Whereas Ngugi is seen to invest his characters, particularly the
females, with an objective balance of strength and weaknesses,
N jau, even though a woman, follows thegreater part of literary
tradition by presenting us with theimages of women weareall
too familiar with "bitches," witches, fools. A rewenow to as-
sumethat Njau's vision has been clouded by so much male-dom-
inated literary dogma that sheis only capable of producing fem-
ininestereotypes? This might havebeen thecaseif therewereno
indications within Ripples in the Pool that thewriter is sensitive
to thetraumas, thedilemmas of her female characters, or if she
blindly sanctioned theimmoral and amoral acts of her malechar-
acters. But evidenceabounds in thetext to show thewomen and
somemen i n Ripples in the Pool gets Njau's sympathy, as when
Selina describes her escapefrom her monstrous father and her
eventual sheltering by theold man, Mutheeof Itukuara, or when
T H E I MAG E OF W O ME N 73
shenarrates her agony in going through adolescence and young
adulthood.
The question that arises then is "why does N jau, unlike her
male compatriot, Ngugi, present such a negative view of wo-
men?" A probable answer is to befound, not only i n the latter
novels of Ngugi, wherehis distinctiveMarxist bias is manifest, but
also i n thewritings and movies of SembeneOusmane, who advo-
cates a similar ideology. BothNgugi and Ousmanehaveshown in
some of their best works that the problems of A fricans (or, in-
deed, of mankind) do not necessarily havetheir roots in either the
sex or thecolour of people. Thesewriters, therefore, tacitly sug-
gest that, rather than fight for "feminine" liberation (which
wrongly implies that all men are free), women, together with
their male counterparts, should fight for the freedom of all. In
conformity with genuine progressive ideology they also suggest
that kind of action would, no doubt, lead to the dismantling of
thewholesocial structurewhich pits onesex or raceagainst the
other for thesolepurposeof exploitation.
M y examination of thefemalecharacters within Ripples in the
Pool and Petals of Blood w i ll beincompleteif, onceagain, some
referenceis not madeto theobvious differencei n theartistic skills
of theauthors. It is necessary to do this becauseNgugi, likeOus-
manein Les Bouts de bois de Dieu, clearly negates thepopularly-
held misconception that "socialist" literaturedeals only in stereo-
types. U nl i keN j au' s characters, w ho look likean array of
symbolic female vices i n a string of badly-connected episodes,
Ngugi's women (and men), areshown to bewell-drawn charac-
ters with whom thesensitivereader can empathizeor sympathize.
In spiteof my admiration of and preference for progressive,
anti-bourgeois writings, it would bepresumptuous for meto sug-
gest that every writer needs to takeup Marxist analysis or prole-
tarian ideology in order for that writer to present admirable
characters of either sex. What can besaid, however, is that even
an implicit progressive stance within the text would help an
author createpositivesexual images, for, as an authority on the
languageof fiction pointedly remarks :
When human actions areformed to makean art work, theform
that is madecan never be divorced from the human meanings,
ABIOSEH M. PORTER
including themoral judgements, that areimplicit whenever hu-
man beings act.
7
NOTES
In addition to theinnumerablestudies that havebeen done on women in
literature, thefollowing should benoted for our purposes :
(a) Ba Shiru 8, No. 2(1977) a volumedevoted entirely to "African
women and literature."
(b) G -C. M. Mutiso, Socio-Political Thought in African Literature (Lon-
don: Macmillan, 1974), pp. 51-72.
(c) BeatriceStegeman, "TheDivorceDilemma: Thenew woman in con-
temporary African novels," Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction 15, No.
3 ("974), Si-93-
(d) Lloyd Brown, "TheAfrican woman as writer," Revue Canadienne
des Etudes Africaines/Canadian Journal of African Studies 9, No. 3
(1975)) 493-5
01
-
(e) Kenneth Little, "Women in African Literature," West Africa 3 Sep-
tember 1979, pp. 1598-1601.
Ibid. 10September 1979, pp. 1650-651.
Ibid. 17September 1979, pp. 1691-693.
mary annefergusson, images of women in literature (Boston: Houghton-
Mifflin, 1973), pp. 11-12.
Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic: The
Woman Writer and the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination (New
Haven and London: YaleUniv. Press, 1979), p. 49.
Rebeka Njau, Ripples in the Pool (London: Heinemann, 1975). All ref-
erences areto this edition which shall beabbreviated as Ripples.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Petals of Blood (London: Heinemann, 1977). All
references areto this edition which shall beabbreviated as Petals.
EustacePalmer, The Growth of the African Novel (London: Heinemann,
1979) : according to Palmer, Wanja "belongs to that remarkablebreed of
Ngugi women Mwihaki, Nyambura, Mumbi, Wambuku all of them
brave, resilient, resourceful and determined."
Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction (Chicago and London: The
University of Chicago Press, 1961), p. 397.