This article will examine the significant role played by the African culture in the representation and hybridization process as well as the Africanization of the English Language in the socio-political reconstruction of the societies. I will explore the symbols and artifacts in Ngugi’s “Petals of Blood, Devil on the Cross, Matigari and Wizard of the Crow [1-4]” that portray the concepts of representation and hybridity which inevitably lead to socio-political reconstruction. Furthermore, unity is very important despite the class division because every member of the society is important for the growth of that society. Theories of new-historicist, post-colonial theory and psychoanalysis are employed to provide the paradigm for hybridized individuals in the society. While appreciating different representations used by the authors, the study argues that hybridity is a strength at the socio-political, and economic levels in the different texts as it leads mostly to reconstruction of the society. Some of the survival strategies proposed that aid in reconstruction include good education, hard work, solidarity, tactical silence and subversion. Africanization of the English language is seen as a means to enhance representation and hybridity in the process of reconstruction in both the social and political contexts. Bhabha in Location of Culture [5] says, “the Africanization of the English Language is a means to link both cultures, thus forming hybridized cultures. African literatures are therefore cross-cultural because they negotiate the gap between worlds to create a “third space of enunciation.”

Ngugi puts the idea of Africanization better in his book entitled Decolonizing the Mind [6] in the chapter entitled “The Quest for Relevance”, he states this as the way forward: “To get the correct national perspective, democracy- where a whole range of opinions, views and voices ran freely be raised - is an absolute minimum. For them the starting point is a democratic Kenya – the Kenya of peasants and workers of all the nationalities with their heritage of languages, cultures, glorious histories of struggle, vast natural and human resources. From this starting point they can radiate outwards to link with the heritage and struggles of other. peoples in Africa, the third world peoples, Europe and the Americas; with the struggles of the people the world over, the vast democratic and socialistic forces daily inflicting mortal blows to imperialist capitalism. A study of African literature, culture and history, starting from a national base, would therefore be linked with progressive and democratic trends in world literature, culture and history. For them the quest for relevance is not a call for isolationism but recognition that national liberation is the basis of an internationalism of all the democratic and social struggles, for human equality, justice, peace and progress.” 

Ngugi in the above quotation calls on foreign powers that practise democracy to put in relevance by considering the voices of all the concerned, and silence the spirit of isolation in order for justice, equality, peace and progress to reign in all domains of life for a better Kenya, Africa and the world at large through the realities of the postcolonial era. Elsewhere Ngugi in an interview with Pozo says: “Like all artists, I am interested in human relationships and their quality.  This is what I explore in my work. Human relationship does not occur in a vacuum. They develop in the context of ecology, economics, politics, culture, and psyche. All these aspects of our society affect those relationships profoundly. These aspects are inseparable. They are connected. The most intimate is connected with the earthliest. As an artist you examine the particulars to explore the interconnection of phenomena to open a window into the human soul. The material of life opens a window into the human soul. The material of life opens out into the spirituality of human life.”

It is very outstanding that in Ngugi’s fictional works we find that he records the exploitation of the Africans at the hands of the Europeans during colonization and even after independence. His sensitiveness and concern for shaping and moulding his community reflect in the following words: “I believe that African intellectuals alien themselves with the struggle of the African message for a meaningful national ideal. The African writer can help in articulating the feelings behind the struggle” [7]. In addition, the above quotation ties with Attridge and Rosemary in The Introduction of Writing South Africa Literature: Apartheid and Democracy, as they posit that “The African National “congress’s approach to culture as a weapon in the struggle, and more specifically, the call for literature to represent the victimization of the oppressed in realist form, are instances of such strategies.”

We realized that, by examining the Kenyan’s past and history, Ngugi shows that when Christian missionaries and other European colonizers entered Africa, they forced Africans to speak European languages as a means of enforcing their control. They set up schools that taught children European languages while depreciating the use of native languages. Language became a means of separating children from their own culture and history. While at home, children were taught about their ancestry from their parents through oral stories, at school they learned to criticize their native cultures if they wanted to become “civilized” and gain the favour of the “White man’s God.” Ngugi insists that African writers must write the correct stories of their people in their native languages using African forms so that future generations learn the true traditions that existed. Hybridity Ngugi’s novels result from the appropriation of a Western literary tradition that can be seen through the Africanization of the English language. As Fanon, states: “To fight for the liberation of the nation that material keystone which makes the building of a culture possible? There is no other fight for culture which can develop apart from the struggle.”

Ngugi in Devil on the Cross [2] and Matigari [3] use English language and the Kikuyu language to expose the cultural realities in Kenya. In the same vein Ngugi in an interview with Cantalupo Charles attests: “There is necessity for cultural give and take on the basis of economic and political equality between groups. Otherwise as in the case of colonial or neo-colonial imbalances, the culture of those who are the victims of imbalance are likely to be formed.  In situation of economic and political equality between groups, cultures can develop on the basis of give and take. Countries will borrow from each other elements that are healthy to each country” [8].

From the above quotation we realise that, where there’s mutual trust, everyone becomes everyone’s keeper. A culture is trust, mutual understanding and solidarity is formed. We also have exchange of ideas on diverse issues. In situations like this, the necessity for cultural gifts and take becomes a reality.

As a matter of fact, by Africanizing the European literary mainstream in Homecoming [7], Ngugi is of the opinion that: “, African literature in the European languages lays claim to being differentiated from the metropolitan literatures not only in its content but also to some extent in its form. Its originality comes from recourse made by our own writers not only to African themes and subjects, and to elements of folklore, but also to stylistic innovations derived from the formal features traditional African Literature. Where our literature is now; where is the wisdom and knowledge of our fathers’ now; where is the philosophy of our fathers now. The centres of wisdom that used to guard the entrance to our national homestead have been demolished; the fire of wisdom have been allowed to die; the seat around the fire side have been thrown on to rubbish heap; the gap posts have been destroyed: and the youths of the nation have hung up in shield and spears. It is tragedy that there is nowhere we can go to learn the history of our country ….”

This shows that, when we don’t know where to go and learn the history of our country it becomes very difficult to know where we are coming from and where we are going to. We had to pay particular attention to our cultural heritage which is the basis of our existence. This should be our collective responsibility.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o in Homecoming [7] analyzes the subtle tool of education used by colonialists to further reduce the colonized to puppets when he says that: “The real snake was surely monopoly capitalism, whose very condition of growth is cut throat competitions inequality and oppression of one group by another. It was capitalism and its external manifestations, imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, which had disfigured the African past. For in order that one group, one race, one class, (mostly the majority) to suppress the other, it must not only steal its mind and soul as well. Hence the oppressor’s obsession with disfiguring a people’s past and history. Through the school system he can soothe the fears of the colonized, or make them at least connive at a rational behind capitalist exploitation. Better than the cannon, it (the school) makes conquest permanent.”

From the above quotation, one can say that the school system alienates the individual from himself and also the environment which he sees as inferior. The colonizers were aware that the knowledge and development of a people depends on the discovery of themselves so that had to cut them off this knowledge through education. Education was aimed at alienating the self and the reality of the colonizer’s place in his environment. It was meant to shift the colonized from himself to another person. Supporting Ngugi’s above idea, Prejudice and false representation emphasized even more the colonizer’s tendency to dominate the colonized culture. Identity which establishes self-awareness brings unity.

Equally important is Chinweizu et al. in the Decolonization of African Literature, who attest: “Given the fundamental difference in values and experiences which often appear between two nations who use the same language, it should be obvious that the fact that the two works are written in the same language, is far less than sufficient grounds for judging them by identical criteria.”

Thus, language is an element of cultural consciousness of a people. However, two persons speaking the same language will always share their differences in terms of character, personality, aspiration and attitudes. 

Besides, Sarah Anyang Agbor, in Critical Perspectives On Commonwealth Literature [10] in the chapter entitled “Language in Commonwealth Literature” quotes Toyin Folola who says that “English has been Africanised by way of innovations in themes and styles, the impact of culture, and the numerous limitations and challenges of bilingualism.” Anyang’s opinion in relation to language in Commonwealth Literatures [10] states: “The Commonwealth experience and its contact with the imperial centre on the one hand and the English Language on the other are intrinsically related. This is one of the several reasons we may talk of a commonwealth Literature. However, apart from language there are other factors that define a literature such as norms, values and the dominant ideology (themes, realities) that exist in that literature. This results to different language neither the “standard” of imperial British nor his indigenous language.”

From the above we realise that, Commonwealth experience and the English Language have common ground. Due note should however be taken for various elements that define literature as stated above. Due note should also be taken of standard English indigenous languages.

Furthermore, it is in this wise that Keneth Ramchand in “Decolonisation in West Indian Literature” emphasizes: “In the “English speaking” West Indies, the Language of the colonizer had been made to reflect the way of life and the experience of its new users. We have only to compare the grammar, the lexis and the phonology of the spoken varieties of West Indian English to see how far this appropriation has proceeded on a popular, colloquial level” [10].

In addition, Molefi Kete Asante is of the opinion that: “We have been exploited, discriminated, oppressed, humiliated, and assassinated. Our political doctrines must speak to that reality. Since language is the instrument for conveying that truth, our language must be aggressive, and innovative. As inventive people, we must make sure that our linguistic inventions are functional in a socially and politically cohesive way. This means we must rid our language of degrading terms that have been inherited from our oppressors.”

He adds that “Language is the essential instrument of social cohesion. Social cohesion is the fundamental element of liberation.” 

Also, according to Gitahi Gititi in his article Recuperating a Disappearing Art Form: “Resonance of Gicaandi in Ngugi’s  Devil on the Cross [2] describes Gatuiria as Ngugi’s alter ego. To Gatuiria, the root of Kenyan national culture can be sought only in the traditions of all the nationalities of Kenyan. Thus, Gatuiria’s dream is to compose a piece of music for many human voices accompanied by an orchestra made up of all kinds of national instrument: “skin, wind, string and brass….” Also, Gatuiria/Waringa’s abortive marriage portrays cultural hybridity. Gatuiria parents and guests dressed like European as portrays in this quotation: “The men had on suits, white frilled shirts and bow ties. The women wear very expensive clothes of different colours. But they all wear hat and white gloves, On the outer edges soon foreign guests and tourist, dressed very sunny day and bemusedly watching the drama unfolding before them as if they were studying the ridiculous products of their own civilization mission.”

This shows that every civilisation comes with its own strengths and weaknesses. The strengths permit the people to move ahead in terms of development while the weaknesses are those elements that help to destroy the native customs and tradition of the people like copying foreign lifestyle that does not reflect the indigenous custom of the people.

In contrast, Wariinga dressed like a true Gikuyu woman proud of her history and culture. Wariinga dress in “a cloth, beads, necklaces, and Ngori-type earrings.” In Matigari [3], things have not changed since settlers William and the colonial masters left. Pregnant with a vision of liberate state, Matigari [3] as a patriot and a nation builder sets out to right the wrongs, he sees going on in Kenya. The narrator observes that “the white parasites must pack their bags and go, because from this day on, the builder refuses to beg for a place where he can put his head, the tiller refuses to go without clothes and the producers refuses to part without wealth.” The masses are determined to take their land from the traitors, parasites and the neo-colonialists. From somewhere in the crowd, a song broke out: “even if you kill us, victory belongs to the people. Victory belongs to the people.”

Better still, Gatuiria is a university teacher with a research fellowship in African culture. The object of his research is to compose a “truly national music for our Kenya, music played by an orchestra made up of the instruments of all the nationalities that make up the Kenyan nation that we, the children of Kenya, can sing in one voice rooted in many voices; harmony in polyphony?” Gatuiria is also aware of what he calls the effect of cultural imperialism that has deprived his country of its national identity. His commitment to a national cause has its meaning in his attempt to find “the roots of our culture in the traditions of all the nationalities of Kenya.” His feverish search takes him to the rural area, where he meets an old man who educates him in folk culture by telling him about the necessary social relevance of folk tales.

Moreover, Ngugi wa Thiong’o uses the old tradition of orature and songs in his works in order to pass his message to the masses. The use of orature, songs, dance, proverbs and various forms of rituals denote the origin and history of people which portray their national identity. Matigari [3] narrates his ordeal while in prison. He tells them “I revolted against this scheme of thugs and took the oath of patriotism.” Ngugi emphasizes Matigari’s commitment to this cause in Matigari’s words “I spent years on the mountains hunting Settler William and John Boy.” This awareness is in line with Fanon’s believed that a true native is one who takes up arms to defend his nation’s legitimacy. Ngugi supports Fanon’s opinion by creating a character that uses not only words but arms for the liberation of the oppressed. Ngaruro tells his fellow men “Cast your fears away for we are not alone, our true patriots are still alive.” This call mobilizes many persons behind Matigari in order to fight for the liberation of their country which will help in the reconstruction process. As Matigari continues the fight for freedom and nation building, he affirms that: “His desire is to reinstate joy in the society after all that suffering, Cold, Hunger, Nakedness, Sleepless night, Fatigue.” Hence, Ngugi in his writings has consistently written and spoken openly about the history of Kenyan people creating a resistance culture, a revolutionary culture of courage and patriotic heroism…. A fight back creative culture unleashing tremendous energies among the Kenyan people. Moreover, his Africanization of the English Language enables the Kenyans to better understand the situation in which they found themselves. Nicole Sieben, in Ngugi wa Thiong’o: “Literature’s Challenge Post-Colonial Imperialism in Africa” asserts that: “Even when Ngugi’s work is translated into English, he demands that Gikuyu terms remain in the text to maintain authenticity. Ngugi does not distinguish between his art and his politics. He believes his literature is part of the African “people’s anti-imperialist struggles to liberate their productive forces from foreign control.” Ngugi wants African writers to help awaken revolutionary spirits in the peasantry and working classes in Africa so that they can become collaboratively organized to defeat imperialism and create a “higher system of democracy.” While Kenya has been a politically independent country since 1963, Ngugi believes it remains culturally and economically subservient to European interests [11].

Worthy of note is the personification of worker’s resistance through Ngaruro wa Kinro whose name means ‘wiping away tears’ or ‘from mourning to change’ in Matigari. Ngaruro first rescues Matigari and becomes a leader of the strike as his call for the strike comes to be informed through metaphors and symbolism learned from Matigari through his action provides a resistance history to Ngaruro which the latter uses as discourse of strategic concealment in organizing the workers to the ministry of Truth and Justice.” Meanwhile, when Ngaruro is imprisoned with Matigari: “They talked nearly the whole night the workers, peasants, freedom fighters, revolutionary, about all the forces committed to building a new tomorrow for all our children, they became like student and teacher. Each was both a student and a teacher to the other.”

From the above we realise that we can only succeed to build a new tomorrow when we are focus and united in actions. Where we able to understand the stakes ahead, through the expression of diverse views.

According to Gerald Moore in Twelve African Writers in the chapter entitled “Towards Uhuru”? The work of Kenyan African union, in the period 1946- 1952 leading up to the Mau Mau insurrection, was specifically an attempt to unify pagans and Christians. Traditionally-educated in a single movement toward liberation. That attempt failed when the militancy of Mau Mau droves most “Christians to colonial camps” [12].

Worth noting is the idea that Matigari and Wariinga do not succumb to the whims and caprices of their frustrations by the oppressors but are praised for a struggle that will lead them to a greener pasture. Matigari comes to realization when he observes: “Yesterday, yes only yesterday I believed that if I wore a belt of peace, I would be able to find Truth and justice in this country…. Yet where did that kind of thinking land me…; I have now learned a lesson…. The enemy can never be driven by words alone, no matter how sound the argument nor the enemy can never be driven out by force alone. But words of truth, fully backed by armed power will certainly drive the enemy out…. In a wilderness dominated by beasts of prey, or in a market run by thieves, rubbers and murderers, justice can come only from the armed force of the united oppressed. Boy will never again sleep in my house for as long as I leave.”

As a matter of fact, the above quote shows that the force by arms can only come in, when the force of argument has been exhausted. The truth shall always prevail and it is the truth that will eventually drive away the enemy.

Thus, to Matigari, the armed struggle is the only answer left to the people in order to liberate themselves from the oppressive and unjust political order. This will only be possible if the producer refuses parasites to harvest if the toilers refuse to be the pots that cook but never eat the food. Even if it reaches the point of death, Matigari prefers to die, “I am not afraid of Dying for the just-cause-our heritage, Death comes but once.”

We realize that the laying down of arms by Matigari turns out to be symbolic passing on of the patriotic baton of Mau Mau love of freedom to the younger generation of Kenyans. The passing of the baton means that the struggle continues as the neo-colonialist are now the representative of the colonialist in the post-colonial era. Thus, the story of Matigari closes approximately and optimistically with the image of man bearing arms to ensure freedom. Also, Ngugi in Matigari [3] uses proverbs and idioms to demonstrate the issue of morality to the readers of his novels. For example, Devil on the Cross [2] is a proverbial manner that characterizes the narration throughout: “How can we cover up pits in our courtyard with leaves and grass, saying to ourselves that because our eyes cannot now see, our children can prance about the yard as they like.” “Those who eat alone die alone.” “We shall go home together.” “There is no night so long that does not end with dawn’’, “what curse has befallen us”, “my friends where could one find truth and justice in this country.” All these proverbs confirm the Africanization of English Language. In fact, Ngugi in his book Decolonizing the Mind [6] in the chapter entitled “The Language of African Literature” upholds that we speak Kikuyu as we work in the fields, in and outside the home: “We therefore learn to value words for their meaning and nuances. Language was not a mere string of words. It has a suggestive power well beyond the immediate lexical meaning. Our appreciation of suggestive magical power of language was reinforcing by the games we played with words through riddles, proverbs, transposition of syllabuses, the language through images and symbols gave us a view of the world.”

Language remains an important tool for communication. It is a carrier of our culture and remains a window to the world.

The above quotation shows Ngugi’s representation of the Kenyan culture and the importance he attaches to African languages in general and the Kikuyu language in particular. As a matter of fact, Ngugi makes us aware that Kimeria, once a traitor, is not the only type of person who can exploit the people. Those who fight in the Mau Mau war can also be a threat to the New Kenya if they have lost the ideals of nationalist liberation.When Kimeria talks about his business partner Nderi Wa Riera to Karega, he says: “We used to have our little differences. He (Nderi Wa Riera) was what you might call a, eh, a freedom fighter, that is, he was member of the party and was taken to detention. And I was, well, shall we say we didn't see eye to eye? Now, we are friends. Why? Because we all realize that whether we were on that side of the fence or this side of the fence or merely sitting astride the fence, we were all fighting for the same end. Not so? We were all freedom fighters. Anyway, Mr Nderi and I, we are quite good friends. We have one or two businesses together.”

This shows that when two friends communicate between themselves, they are bound to understand each other and this leads to unity in action. The reverse is true when there’s a breakdown in communication.

Kimeria’s statement, “We were all freedom fighters” echoes Kenyatta’s claim that all the Kenyans fought for Uhuru. Even though Kenyatta’s speech carries some truth that the Mau Mau fighters are not the only group who fought against the British because Kenya’s independence was also achieved by those who worked in a constitutional way, it cannot be denied that in the post-independence period the fruits of Uhuru have not been equally shared. 

Moreover, Jan Mohamed in Manichean Aesthetics has noted: “The regeneration of the whole Gikuyu culture is implied in the symbolic references of two characters, Gikonyo and Mumbi, to the mythic ancestors of their society, Gikuyu and Mumbi. The slight variations between Gikonyo and Gikuyu are reduced further by Kenyatta's claim that in the correct Gikuyu phonetics “Gikuyu” should be pronounced “Gekoyo.””

However, Ngugi makes use of Swahili proverbs as a means of identification and to present the oral nature of African tradition. When Kaniuru visits the Wizard of the Crow, the wizards say “what poisons a person comes through his mouth.” This proverb exposes the greedy and manipulative nature of Kaniuru. It indicates that, whatever his downfall may be, it will only be his own fault and he will be responsible for his downfall himself. Nobody will contribute to that. This proverb is like a warning, the wizard cautions Kaniuru to be careful.

As a matter of fact, in Wizard of the Crow [4], Ngugi also uses proverbs in this proverb by the Ruler to Machokali, “the bugs that bite one’s back are carried in what one wears”, also functions as a warning to Machokali. The Ruler insinuates that, those who will betray him will come only from his closest collaborators. Here, he wants Machokali to understand that he knows that he is betraying him. That only those you know best can betray you in life. The proverb is due to the fact that Silkiokuu misleads the Ruler into thinking that Machokali is interested in his position as Ruler. This also leads to Machokali’s (SID) Self-Induced Disappearance and Nyawira become inseparable. They are also proverbs like- “Pigs is fried in its own fat”, “Out of the same womb come a thief and a sorcerer”, “He who eats alone dies alone”, “A slave first loses his name, then his language.” Achebe as quoted by Ngugi in Decolonizing the Mind [6] in an article “The African writer and the English language” notes “Is it right that a man should abandon his mother tongue for something else’s. It looks like dreadful betrayal, and produces a guilty feeling, for me there is no other choice, I have been given the language and intended to use it.”

The above excerpt highlights the idea of hybridity as African writers and West Indian writers write their plays, novel, poems in English and their mother tongue. For example, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Salman Rushdie just to name a few. Equally important is the fact that, in Devil on the Cross [2], during his testimony, Kihahu boasts about the fact that all of his children speak English like Englishmen: “All of them speak English through the nose, exactly like people born and brought up in England. If you were to hear them speak Gikuyu or Kiswahili, you would laugh until you pissed yourself. It is so funny. They speak the two languages as if they were Italian priests newly arrived from Rome.... The children are mine, and one doesn’t mind that they speak their national languages like Italian foreigners.”

What I found particularly interesting in this quotation is the fact that, the most regrettable of all this is that the elites who are part of the cream of the society have accepted to give part of the most precious elements of culture: their national languages. For, as it is upheld, if culture were a house, language would be the key to enter the house. That is to show how important language is in the cultural scheme. But this is mainly the responsibility of colonization which, for a lot, has participated in the elite's cultural alienation. This alienation is summed up in Decolonizing the Mind [6] in these words: “Colonial alienation takes two interlinked forms: an active (or passive) distancing of oneself to the reality around; and an active (or passive) identification with that which is most external to one's environment. It starts with a deliberate disassociation of the language of conceptualization, of thinking, of formal education, of mental development from the language of daily interaction in the home and in the community. It is like separating the mind from the body so that they are occupying two unrelated linguistic spheres in the same person. On a larger social scale, it is like producing a society of bodiless heads and headless bodies.”

As a matter of fact, disassociation of the language of conceptualisation is very bad. It is a form of alienation that must not be encourage, alienation of the body from the soul has a negative consequence on the society.

As a matter of fact, to better show the elites’ lack of concern for their national languages, Ngugi presents to his readers how incorrectly the elites use Kenyan national languages. Among these people we can name Gatuiria who is a research student in culture and who, even though fights cultural imperialism, does not master his Gikuyu mother tongue, it is important to note that the problem of the elites’ cultural alienation is a1most impossible to be studied exhaustively. But no matter this she is a hybrid individual. Nevertheless, the study of customs, ceremonies and language, we can delve into the phenomenon of name changing. By now, we can say that, almost all the elite in “Petals of Blood, Devil on the Cross, Matigari and Wizard of the Crow [1-4]”have changed their Kenyan names in favour of western ones. The reader notes that in both novels, the elites prefer western names to the detriment of their local ones. In Petals of Blood [1], Wanjiru, Munira's wife, becomes Julia, the Reverend Kamau becomes Reverend Jerrod Brown, and Kimeria wa Kamia Nja is now Mr Hawkins. Some of them go so far as to hate their own African names and are ready to quarrel with whoever would call them by their original names. This is the case of Kimeria who does his best to bury his Kenyan name and when Abdulla calls him out by his name Kimeria Wa Kamia Nja, when he sees him in a bar, Kimeria is taken aback because he does not like his father's name. He has used various names in various places: “At Blue Hill for instance, he was only Mr. Hawkins. Who in Ilmorog could know his past?”

Besides, Ngugi believes that writing in an African language will only bring the world to our door steps, but will take us nearer home, and shape our future. He writes: “language is essentially the control of thought; it becomes impossible to direct our future until we control our own language. Our liberation from the captivity of the racist languages is the first order of intellectuals.” Even with the above declaration, Ngugi still continues to write in English language and the Kikuyu language. Thus, proving that, he is a hybrid. Ngugi in the Decolonization the Mind states: “In Kenya, English became more than a language, it was the language, and the other had to bow before it in difference. Thus, one of the most humiliating experiences was to caught speaking Gikuyu in the vicinity of the school. The culprit was given corporal punishment three to five strokes of the cane on bare buttocks or was made to carry a mental plate around the neck with inscriptions such as “I AM STUPID” or “I AM A DONKEY”.

The above idea is supported by, Paul Gilroy in his text: The Black Atlantic who discusses another related but distinct dimension of colonial hybridity that is intellectuals and political cross-fertilization that resulted from the movement of Blacks from Africa to Europe and the Americas, not only as commodities engage in various struggle toward emancipation, autonomy and citizenship. The movement creates what Paul Gilroy calls a “Black Atlantic” which he defines as “intellectuals and transnational formation which provide a means to re-examine the problems of nationality, location and identity and historical memory” [13] In confirming this, Isidore Okpewho in “Africa Mythology and Africa’s Political Impasse” is of the opinion that “the relations between majority and minority is an old pattern in the political life of nations across the world: but in Nigeria it has been pursued with such vengeance that the country may appear to have spread the disease to the rest of the world”. Gilroy continues to argue that the only way the world can be transformed for better is that the people should accept their mutations. He writes: “Above all, as a means to figure the inescapability and legitimate value of mutation, hybridist and intermixture reroute to better theories of racism and black political culture than those far offered by cultural absolutists of various phenotypic lives” [14].

The above citation proves that, people should accept the differences of other races into their own culture and the world will be a better place to live in, meaning that hybridity is strength rather than weakness. It is very outstanding that, with the victory of the Kenyan Land and Freedom Army in the Petals of Blood [1], the British colonial administrators are replaced by the local political leaders. As people expect from them better living conditions, they have to work hard in order to satisfy the aspirations of their fellow countrymen. But the process of betterment of the masses’ living conditions does not happen as people expect it. It is interesting to note that, Karega before his leading the Ilmorogians’ great journey to the city to find a solution to the drought which affected the village, used to lead students’ strikes in Siriana. That caused his expulsion, and experience he shares with Munira who is part of the non-moneyed elite. As l sold sheep skins to Wariinga I asked myself: “How could a whole community be taken in by a few greedy stomachs greedy because they had eaten more than their fair share of that which was brought by the blood of the people? And they took a symbol from its original beautiful purpose... and they think they can make it serve narrow selfish ends.”

But it is mostly the speech of General R, a freedom fighter that reveals the expectations of the people: “We get Uhuru today. But what is the meaning of ‘Uhuru ‘? Is it contained in the name of our movement: land and freedom? Let the party that now leads the country rededicate itself to all the ideals for which our people gave up their lives. The party must never betray the movement. The party must never betray Uhuru. It must never sell Kenya back to the enemy! Tomorrow we shall ask: where is the land? Where is the food? Where are the schools? Let therefore these things be done now, for we do not want another liar!” 

This excerpt shows that people expected the neo-colonialists to be redeemers of the African soil which had been raped by the Western exploiter during the colonial time. Indeed, Kenyan society in particular, and African people in general have fought the western administration believing that as a result they would manage to get Kenya led by the native neo-colonialist, there would not be any more problems and that their fight would not be vain. But to redeem the land: “To fight so that the industries like the shoe-factory which had swallowed his sweat could belong to the people: so that his children could one day have enough to eat and to wear under adequate shelter from the rain. So that they would say in pride, my father died that l might live: this had transformed him in to a slave before a boss into a man.”

The significant point in the above quotation is the fact that, those who suffer and do the job are not regarded as important like those who consume the products from these industries.

Also, in Petals of Blood [1], Ngugi often presents old Ilmorog as a golden area where everybody wishes to go back. By the way, Ngugi wa Thiong'o shows the reader how much people thought that they would regain their lost land with the reign of the new political leaders. These people expected from the African elites; the restoration of the ancient African society which sustained itself by a collective will, a spirit of solidarity and a common destiny. So, Kenyan people thought that they could taste the fruits of independence. Such is, in Petals of Blood [1], the case of Abdulla who is a former freedom fighter. On the eve of independence, he was released from his detention camp, and then he started waiting for the fruits of Uhuru: “I waited for land reforms and redistribution. I waited for a job. I waited for a statue to Kimathi as a memorial to the fallen. I waited....”

Furthermore, as Abdulla waits for a job in Petals of Blood [1], Wangari, in Devil on the Cross [2], is dispossessed of her piece of land by the Kenyan Economic Progress Bank because she cannot pay back a loan of 5,000 Shillings. Despite her being a former Mau-Mau fighter, she is arrested and locked up in a cell for three nights and then taken to court for vagrancy while she has been looking for a job in Nairobi: “I was taken to court this very morning, charged with intending to steal and with roaming about Nairobi without being a resident of the city, without a job, without a house and without a permit. Vagrancy or something like that, that's what they called it. But our people think: I, Wangari, a Kenyan by birth; how can I be a vagrant in my own country? How can I be charged with vagrancy in my own country as if I were a stranger? I denied both charges: to look for work is not a crime.”

The significant point about this interaction is the fact that she expands upon the theme to him: “You eat or you are eaten. How true I have found it. I decided to act, and I quickly built this house, Nothing would I ever let for free, I have many rooms, many entrances and four yards, I have hired young girls, it was not hard, I promised them security, and for that, they let me trade their bodies, what’s the difference whether you are sweating it out on a plantation, in a factory or lying on your back, anyway?”

This proves that in a situation whereby nothing is free, we are always faced with situation of the good, the bad, and the ugly leading to survival of the fittest.

Names in Kikuyu also have their meaning and bring out the idea of hybridity. The author Ngugi wa Thiong’o also changed his name from James Ngugi to Ngugi wa Thiong’o. We also noticed that from the beginning of his writings Ngugi deliberately mixed fictional names with those of historical characters, hoping to heighten the illusion of fictional reality. Better still, Wanja’s name means one who belongs to the periphery, and it is no wonder that in certain politically symbolized games such as football matches. She can only be a spectator, although that role still puts her in trouble with her parents. As the novel closes, Wanja’s mother is a positive character, and the text uses her to show an ideal revolutionist who rejects her husband’s alignment with the oppressor. Despite her husband’s protest, she continues to see her sister who is reputed to have links with freedom fighters. He supports the colonial government despite the fact that it killed his father. While the husband of his wife’s sister uses the skills, he acquired in World War Two to make guns for freedom fighters, Wanja’s father is busy amassing wealth at the expense of his family and country as a whole. In the post-independence era, we never get to see Wanja as the politically conscious woman she was during the fight for freedom. It is a fair conclusion that Mwanji affirms that, Ngugi’s Petals of Blood [1] uses untranslated language in pointedly gendered terms to express disillusionment with the postcolonial order. The very structure of the narrative seems to echo the unfulfilled expectations that the novel dramatizes, expressing in its untranslated language what Biodun Jeyifo would call “arrested decolonization” in the sense that the struggles for independence have not been translated into human freedoms in Africa. Ironically, if it is lack of translations into English from Gikuyu that expresses metonymically that failure of revolution to translate into independence, it is its use of English that enables it to express the vulgarity of the post colony. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, in “Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance, affirms that: “In this context the African idea was not simply a reaction to Europe’s self-representation with Africa as its otherness but a conscious but a consciousness in organized opposition to the oppressing otherness that was Europe. It was this African idea that put in motion the rebirth of Africa” [14].

We realize from the above quotation that the transnational spaces under consideration are the postcolonial, modern spaces of exchange and interaction in cultures. Moreover, Petals of Blood [1], Matigari [3], Devil on the Cross [2] and Wizard of the Crow [4] contains numerous non-English expressions that are left either untranslated or loosely hanging in the sentence structure in a way that would suggest the narrative’s ideal reader to be a person who is competent in both English and Gikuyu. According to Evan Mwangi in “The Gendered Politics of Untranslated Language and Aporia in Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Petals of Blood [16] Ngugi textualizes the post-independence condition as untranslated and sexualized, but the text does not step out of the patriarchal and colonial hegemony despite its use of elements of an African language.”

As a matter of fact, Evans Mwanji in “The Gendered Politics of Untranslated Language and Aporia in Ngugi wa Thiongo’s Petals of Blood [16], continues: “The narrator, presenting events to the reader from Munira's centre of consciousness, assumes that the reader understands Gikuyu language and therefore leaves the non-English words untranslated. They literally translate into "Kamau son of Njoroge has jiggers on his foot. “Even if this is a frivolous children's song from the common storehouse of oral traditions the type that the text calls “nonsense songs” and “nonsense work songs” it reminds the children of their own specific conditions. They in turn engage in self-reflexive projects of scratching their jigger-infected toes. In Petals of Blood [1], Ngugi inscribes swear words within the register of the male. To give an example, women in lawyer Chui’s home sing a sexually innocuous, but politically laden, song to the effect that Irish potatoes are peeled at First Lady Ngina’s home. When their male counterparts take over the poetic expression, they sing a circumcision song that uses taboo expressions that the author cannot reproduce in his mother tongue; the taboo expressions…. Juicing ess in the offensive words it cannot reproduce unless it is in translation. The words cannot be articulated in the language of the self although their voicing is possible in English as other languages.

The above quotation shows that some words have their meaning when translated in their context or translated in the language of your choice.

We are in support of Ngugi’s idea about language as seen also in “Something Torn and New.” We can add by saying that no language has a monopoly as keeper of memory, and that all memories contribute to the meeting point of human victory” [14]. Thus, a people without memory is in danger of losing its soul. Memory plays a vital role in human existence. It is a store of knowledge, values and customs. Memory is a real basis of our common survival. The process of knowing starts from the knowledge around you and all languages are local in the area in which they originated. The system put in place by the colonial master during colonialization was to alienate the colonial and the colonial child from his past and environment. Thus, focusing on native languages as seen in Ngugi’s novels is saving African tradition and culture through the creation of good art. He believes that without a reconnection with the African memory there is no wholeness. Further research could be done in this field, while highlighting African values and society to enable our audience to see that culture is identity. In the Africa context value such as virginity, respect for the elders living together amongst others are vey to Africanization.

1. Ngugi, wa Thiong’o. Petals of Blood [1]. London: HEB Ltd, 1977.

2. Ngugi, wa Thiong’o. Devil on the Cross [2]. London: HEB Ltd, 1982.

3. Ngugi, wa Thiong’o. Matigari [3]. London: HEB Ltd, 1987.

4. Ngugi, wa Thiong’o. Wizard of the Crow [4]. London: HEB Ltd, 2006.

5. Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1994.

6. Ngugi, wa Thiong’o. Decolonizing the Mind [6]: The Politics and Language in African Literature. London: James Currey, 1986.

7. Ngugi, wa Thiong’o. Homecoming [7]: Essays on African and Caribbean Literature, Culture and Politics. London: H.E.B, 1972.

8. Cantalupo, Charles, ed. The World of Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Trenton: African World Press, 1995.

9. Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa, Jamie Madubuike and Ihechukwu. Toward the Decolonization of African Literature, vol. 1. Washington D.C.: Howard University Press, 1983.

10. Agbor, Sarah Anyang. Critical Perspectives on Commonwealth Literature. Gottingen: Guvillier, 2010.

11. Sieben, Nicole. “Ngugi wa Thiong’o: Literature’s Challenge Post-Colonial Imperialism in Africa.” M.A. Thesis, Social Science Docket, Winter-Spring 2012.

12. Moore, Gerald. “Towards Uhuru.” Twelve African Writers. London: Hutchinson, 1980, pp. 263–288.

13. Gilroy, Paul. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993.

14. Okpewho, Isidore. Call Me by My Rightful Name. Trenton, N.J.: African World Press, 2004.

15. Ngugi, wa Thiong’o. Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2009.

16. Mwangi, Evan. “The gendered politics of untranslated language of aporia in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood [1].” Research in African Literatures, vol. 35, no. 4, 2004, pp. 66–74.