Ngugi wa'Thiong'o

There were three stories that we read this week by Ngugi, an excerpt from "Decolonization of the Mind", "Wedding at the Cross", and "Minutes of Glory". Again, these three stories were written based on colonialism. The two short stories use irony to show how colonialism affects people differently in Africa. In the story “Wedding at the Cross”, we meet Wariuki as a young man that was all about having fun. He would ride his bicycle around, performing tricks for all to see. This is where Miriamu falls in love with him. We follow him throughout the story as he changes. He joins the army, gets picked up by the Europeans, fights for them against his own villagers. He receives land and money from the Europeans as they leave. He joined the Church in gratitude when he does not face retribution from his fellow villagers. This is when we start to see the change in him. Wariuki changes his name and becomes Dodge W. Livingstone, Jr. This is when Miriamu starts to notice a change in her husband. They are to be married again at the wedding at the cross. This was supposed to be a happy day, Livingstone is now accepted by her father but she ends up saying no to him. She says that she has been married before and that her husband, Wariuki, is dead. He of course is not dead in body but the spirit of Wariuki, to her, is no longer present in Livingstone. She does not love the man in front of her after he conformed to colonialism.

There is a similar correlation to how people act once they are conformed to colonialism. They are out for thrills and will only look at or interact with men and women that look wealthy or important. We also see that the narrator will only be called by her English name, Beatrice, because it sounded more pure and more beautiful. Beatrice means blessed by God with beauty. Wanjiru, her African name, is the name of one of the founding goddesses and is related to beauty. She is a plain-looking woman that does not really have anything to her that makes her stand out. She never gets a second look from men and the only time they talk to her is when they have no other option. She finally steals money from the lorry driver and buys herself a dress, heels, stockings, and earrings. She then went to a restaurant to eat, ignored then man that came and sat with her, and left. The man followed her but lost his confidence. She was finally being noticed by men and was being given drinks, seats on the bus, and attention. She went back to the bar that she stole the money from and the men in the bar all stopped talking and stared at her. She was still the same women but since she was wearing a nice dress, heels, earrings and stockings, the men started to pay attention to her and lust for her. She was soon arrested by the police for stealing the money but she was not harmed during the arrest. This shows that women that dress and look like her are treated differently. Some people in the bar thought she should have been beaten.

These stories show that material possessions are how people distinguish people of importance and wealth. We see this in many places all over the world, especially in America. We have become a country that worships our material possessions. People cannot live without all of our accessories that make our lives easier. It is different in Africa because the possessions that they value are things we take for granted, like running water, clean clothes, heels, stockings, and jewelry. No matter where you are in the world, material items are an important part of life.

These stories are more interesting than I thought they were going to be. I know that I have an attachment to my possessions. All of us probably take for granted that we have computers to even write these blogs on and classrooms that have projectors, air conditioning, and white boards to discuss these stories and blogs. I felt that these texts have something to show us all. We need to take a step back and not take everything that we own for granted. We need to remember that we are lucky to live where we do and have the things we have.