A Grain of Wheat

The Kikuyu people worship Kihika as a hero for his actions during the Emergency. As a young man, he left his comfortable home and ran to the forest to join a band of rebels. Later, he led a raid on a major British armory, which provided weapons and ammunitions for the Mau Mau, and killed cruel administrator Thomas Robson. Kihika’s daring practically guaranteed that he will come to a tragic end. After murdering Robson, Kihika tried to shelter at Mugo’s house. Not wanting to be involved in the Movement, Mugo betrays Kihika’s location to the white authorities.

Kihika is a Christ figure, and his story closely follows that of Jesus. Like Jesus, Kihika leads a rebel group opposing the occupiers of his native land. Also like Jesus, after being betrayed by a close friend, taken captive, and being executed, Kihika becomes a mythic figure for those who knew him in life. The fact that as a young man, Kihika was an ardent Christian further cements this connection, as does the fact that the novel’s chapters feature epigrams from Kihika’s Bible. After a disagreement at his religious school, he replaced his fervor for Christianity with a political zeal.

Kihika is the “grain of wheat” referred to in the title. A passage underlined in his Bible from John 12:24 says, “Verily, verily I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground an die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” To remain at home and not be involved in the Movement, Kihika’s life would have less meaning. As a result of his death, the people of Thabai are united in their beliefs and in their admiration for him.

Karanja, who as a young man was a close friend of Kihika, is concerned with his own well-being and advancement. Working for the British occupying forces, Karanja has the nominally high position of Chief, but is in reality relegated to running errands for John Thompson, who often cannot tell Karanja apart from other Kenyans. Karanja has seriously misjudged the British administrators, believing that they see him as an essential part of the plan for colonization. However, Karanja is just a pawn, doing dirty work for the British at the expense of betraying his own people.

The central tragedy of Karanja’s life is the loss of Mumbi to Gikonyo, a mere carpenter. Karanja had felt secure in his courtship and was blindsided by the relationship between Mumbi and Gikonyo. He never truly accepts his loss and uses his position within the homeguard to finagle encounters with Mumbi. It is even possible that he was responsible for Gikonyo’s arrest, as the two formerly had played their guitars and sang songs of rebellion together. Even when he helps Mumbi during a time of intense starvation for Thabai, he demands sexual favors from her in exchange. Mumbi and Karanja have sex, which results in Mumbi’s pregnancy and the birth of her son. None of this, however, shakes Mumbi’s love for Gikonyo.

General R., Koina, and many others in Thabai believe that Karanja is responsible for Kihika’s death—this action would jibe with Karanja’s first job for the homeguard, identify members of the Movement for white authorities.

The end of British colonialism in Kenya means that Karanja has lost his place in the world. He is horrified to learn that Thompson is leaving Kenya and that a black man may be Karanja’s new boss. The last thing tying him to Thabai is his love for Mumbi, which he finally realizes is hopeless. In the final scenes of the novel, Karanja contemplates suicide, but instead boards a train that will take him away to discover a new purpose for himself. 

John Thompson’s service in Africa turns him into a cynical, brutal, and sexually powerless man who dehumanizes the Kenyans he supposedly wants to help. He arrives in Kenya with the firm belief that all of Africa would benefit from British colonization. He is quickly disillusioned when the Africans are not grateful for British interference or involvement. As an administrator at Rira detention camp, Thompson begins with the belief that he can simply talk with the detainees and they will see the wisdom of his words and confess their involvement with the Movement. When this does not work, he becomes increasingly violent and tortures the detainees. Meanwhile, his marriage to Margery grows colder and more distant, as she has a flagrant affair with one of his colleagues, even meeting her lover at Thompson’s own home.

Thompson’s racism does not allow him to see Kenyans, or black Africans in general, as people. He is shocked as a young man to overhear African students discussing history and literature—shocked because he never suspected they could be educated. Now, he is unable to distinguish one black man from another—not even his messenger Karanja, whom he sees every day. Karanja is simply another faceless native.

Thompson’s depression as the Kenyans approach the brink of Uhuru is palpable; even the queen of his country has willingly ceded control of the country. In Thompson, there are echoes of other famously racist characters who view Africans as sub-human, such as the ivory trader Charles Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness or the administrator at the end of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The novel ends on a dark note, as Thompson decides that Africa will always need the involvement of Europe.

Gikonyo is the ultimate self-made man in the village of Thabai. Driven with his mother out of his father’s house years, he learns carpentry as a young man. After his arrest and time at a detainment center, he returns to Thabai and becomes a successful and wealthy entrepreneur through his carpentry business and land acquisition.

Nevertheless, Gikonyo sees himself as a failure because he measures himself against the behavior of others at the detention center. Desperate to return to Mumbi while in detention, Gikonyo confesses to taking the Movement oath, hoping this cowardly act will free him. When it doesn’t, Gikonyo becomes obsessed with Mugo, a prisoner withstanding the brunt of Thompson’s vicious torture without ever confessing anything. Gikonyo doesn’t know that the Movement-unaffiliated Mugo has nothing to confess; to Gikonyo, Mugo’s resilience is a rebuke.

Gikonyo’s other great disappointment is returning home only to see Mumbi with another man’s child. Gikonyo’s unwillingness to speak to Mumbi and his rash outbursts of anger against her show that although he has everything on the outside, what happened during the Emergency has left him empty on the inside. It is not until the end of the book, as he convalesces in the hospital with a broken arm, that Gikonyo can see his life clearly for the first time in years, and realize that he can reconcile with Mumbi. In the final sentences of the book, Gikonyo imagines making a carving of Mumbi, pregnant with his child—a new beginning for a new Kenya.