Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o’s memoir
titled In the House of the Interpreter is a book written with passion in
a thought provoking style. He gives us mainly his experiences at home and in Alliance
High School, commitment towards service motive, influence of Principal Francis
on moulding the character of students, the latter’s participation in sports. Shakespearean
plays and the mutual influence of school and outside world understanding of nature of colonial rule . In the first part, ‘A Tale of home and School’
he starts his account with the following
words. ‘ It’s the end of my fist term at the boarding school, and I’m going
home.” While his friend Wanjai has gone I his father’s car, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o began trekking to his village. He came back from Alliance High
school to Limuru and memories
come back to him. When he reaches home , he finds
“A rubble of burnt dry mud, splinters of wood
and grass. My mother’s hut and my brother’s house on stilts have been razed to
the ground” (5)
He also
misses the whole village of homesteads.
There is not a soul insight. Even he birds flying above or chirping in the hedges
emphasise the emptiness. Bewildered, I sit
on my box under the pear tree, as if hoping it will share with me what
it knows. The tree, a\ t least , has defied the desolation, and I pick up a few
ripe pears to eat in baffled silence. How could a whole village , its people ,
history and everything vanish , just like that?(5)
Directed by one Mwangi he goes to a concentration village , called
Kamirithu and finds his mother, sister , sister-in-law and younger brother and
joins them in building their mud house.
He wonders, “What is it to me, now that
this village confronts me as a stranger? “ (8)
He narrates
his experience sin school which seemed to him a refuge form colonial hounds
when the state of emergency was declared in 1952. He writes,
“Now I was
inside a sanctuary, but the hounds remained outside the gates, crouching,
panting, waiting and biding time. “ (8)
The first day he slept on a real bed for the
first time in his life, and on second day he was given a uniform and a week passed swiftly but, “the howl of the hounds hovered over the
horizon , aa distant echo.” (9)
Alliance
High School was founded in 1926 by a
combination of missionaries of the church.
Its principal Carey Francis saw the school as a midway house
between colonials and natives to
mould the students intellectual and moral leaders. His appointment of African
teachers along with the white
teachers proved subversive of the colonial
. the children saw African teachers as role models and infused self-confidence in African boys to be on par with their
counterparts in any European and Asian school.
Their
English teacher P.R.Oades took the student to his house to familiarise them with English house where he showed them all
the rooms, furniture, utensils in the kitchen and explained table manners but
evaded regarding guns hanging on side porch. They belonged to the time he
worked in Kenyan Police Reserve in their fight against the Mau Mau when
emergency was declared in 1952. He also learned not to use big sentences and
long words and read the Bible. He
offered the same advice to his friend Kenneth Mbuguva who sent some
pages of writing to him.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o also mentions an incident where students
found difference between dessert and desert funny asking each other , Would you
like some Sahara? No, no, just a little Kalahari.” (21) and when they want
water , “will you pass some H2O , please?”(25) But his heart was more in literary
imagination rather than in history books or science labs.
He refers to his Allan Ogot, his maths teacher who used complex language of theorems and English in
the class room and taught silently outside the class room when he carried a book Tell Freedom By
Peter Abrahams. After many years when
the author recollects that he has discovered
South African literature through Peter Abrahams. He recalls Allan Ogot and
writes, “That silence was more soaring than any sermon he had given in
the chapel and more dazzling than any of the Euclidean theorems.” (27) He
stresses “how passing comments and fleeting images, often outside the formal
classroom , would leave a lasting , sometimes pivotal mark on his life.” (27)
he also mentions bullying in school from seniors but hoe he pledged not to do
it when he reached the second form. He developed life-long respect for students’ efforts and the theatre after
watching the play by another senior Kimani and hearing about Kuria , the
legendary student playwright. He became
more confident and less fearful of the colonial hounds when he stood second in
the results of first term examinations.
I the work we find that Ngugi repeatedly invokes the image of
‘hounds waiting outside.’ This indicates ominous presence of colonials from
whom children lucky enough o join Alliance High School had some refuge. When he
visited Indian shopping centre at kikuyu on
being invited by his friends
Mbugua and Wanjai. He didn’t have any money with him and could not
buy anything. He writes , “Even a cup of tea or he cheapest candy was
beyond my means. I would have gone back
to school, but I did not want to walk the distance alone.” (31) He was called
by his friend Igogo, a school dropout who gave him some coins to buy some candy
. Suddenly a raid by soldiers took place and people ran helter-skelter. Our Alliance
Uniform was a magic veil :the hounds did not even seem to see us . Still
, we felt safe only after we were back in the sanctuary.” (32)
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o also
points out how colonial admiration created concentration villages where
loyalists were given better houses corrugated iron roofs and the ‘disloyal’ poor
and the landless lived in mud-walled grass-thatched round houses. While men
were put in camps and concentrated villages
had mostly women and children who lived under constant surveillance.
“For all practical purposes, the line between the prison, the concentration
camp , and the village had been erased.”
(38)
He refers to Carey Francis, the principal who symbolized discipline in the school.
Ngugi saw in Francis a combination of discipline, entertainment as a magician and a reader of Three Men in a
Boat by Jerome K. Jerome who enthused children. He says , I found it
difficult to reconcile the images of the tongue-eating , stumping conjuror of
storms the tongue-in-cheek conjuror of illusions; and this loose-tongued
conjuror of life from a book published in 1889.” (46)
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o refers to Francis praise of Churchill and
thinks otherwise on seeing the loss of home, emergency and ambience of fear ,
bombings on Mount Kenya . he also tells how Shakespearian plays were staged by
students every year . he was apprehensive about his family’s safety since his
brother Good Wallace was a Mau Mau
fighter , and his mother was interrogated
and brother’s wife Charity was imprisoned on the charge of supplying
food and clothes for Mau Mau fighters.
In the second part , ‘A Tale OF Souls in Conflict’ In the second year at school , he found
that the colonial screening team came and interviewed all and faculty of
Gikuyu, Embu and Meru origins and he
himself required to get clearance from
official at Limuru . He could not share his apprehension with his classmate
Samuel Githegi or teacher Joseph
Kariuki whom African boys saw as role model. He also writes about how there were as few as five female students between 1938-52 from the school and
later a separate Alliance Girls
High School was opened.
The boys used to
referred to girls as Acrossians since the two schools faced each other. Kariuki
infused enthuses zeal for literature and sonnets.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
refers to bias in pedagogy . He has found it uncomfortable to regarding
obsession with English seasons and flowers.
The rivers and civilizations grew on river banks were of colonial powers
rather than African and the benign projection of the British colonialism in
comparison with the Spanish and German rivals
and the offering of imperialistic view by teachers didn’t impress them but they needed to study
all those things for the sake of facing tests. He writes,
“We crammed the notes,
facts , view points, and all because , even when we understood the correct
answers to the often-biased questions determined the future . our future was
made in England.” (67)
He has gone to
Kamirithu , concentrated village for clearance and fortunate to get a letter
from s friend’s father Fred Mbugua, his
old teacher at Manguo Elementary school and now the new chief and later form a white police officer at
Tigoni police station. The officer has suddenly stopped and asked him to wait
for second screening. As none has bothered about him as they focused on people
in queue, Ngugi simply walked away and ran back to his home pursued by
apprehensions. This experience has given
him courage of defiance.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o also describes how he and his friends
visited their home on Nairobi Saturday
( free day) and first time he and his
friends were given repasted potatoes by his mother but they had to walk back as
the father of his friend Wanjai didn’t provide them car to go back as they
didn’t seek his permission. Next time , he has gone along with Johana Mwalwala
, but stopped before reaching home by military people. While Mwalwala , being a
Mtaita has been allowed to go, Ngugi was
interrogated and left out. After coming
back to school at midnight , he has been called in by the principal Francis and
Ngugi confessed about his brother who has been guerrilla fighter , but Francis
has enquired if he had been uniform and asked him to be wary in future not to break school rules as some officers are scoundrels. He also
recounts how his brother has given
himself up after an attack , sent to a
camp and of the killing of the legendary fighter Kimathi. Francis’s
condemnation of Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez canal and condemnation of
invasion by Israel, Britain and France
in 1952 amazed Ngugi who noticed contradictions in Francis. He also writes
about how he came under the influence of Christianity and formed a cabal with his friends Elijah
Kahonoki or E.K., Jos Omange who became
ardent devotees. But after a while , this group disintegrated as E.K. confessed his affairs with many
including a nun whom he got pregnant but refused to marry. Ngugi says he has
realised the importance of piety in daily life and the need to face
temptations. “The fall of cabal left a deep hole in my heart and increased my
doubts. But I never gave up my attempts to convert the souls of people I knew
despite the mounting failures.” (95) he
also mentions his passion for the
theatre despite his religious zeal and writes about the performance of the play Henry IV during the annual day
functions. He refers to the stoical attitude
of his mother in spite of her ordeal of interrogation and ‘every night ends
with a dawn’ (G~uturi~ ~utuku~ ~utakia~)
He also writes about alienation between their father who had other wives and
lived in a different section of the village and
brother but their mother never allowed censure of the father.
The third part titles, ‘A Tale of the Street and the
Chamber’ refers to his third year on the campus. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o writes about
Saturday Evening Paper edited by students giving trivial and serious news, stories
on and off the campus. Here he writes about his experiences as a
scout and a debater of debating society. His visits to areas near Nairobi on
the centenary of Baden- Powell and participation in Asante rally in the
latter’s honour inculcated a deep appreciation of places
such as Ruiru, Juja, ,amg’u, Thika the river Chania, Muranga , Fort Hall ,
Thagana river originated from Mount
Kenya and becomes the Tana river by mingling with other streams, Nyeri
Town , then the capita of Central Province . He writes, “I had always been
drawn to thick forests, rugged rocks, and other natural sculptures, but the
landscape between Murang’a and Nyeri left a lasting impression, years later to
appear as the fictional landscape in my first novel, The River Between. “
(113)
At the break of the year, when he went to his village
kamirithu, he tried to organise boys and girls of Limuru in High School for
communitarian work. He and his friend Allan Ngugi went to his home and tasted
the potatoes roasted by mother. This roast has been symbolic of continuity amidst changes. Her last roast at
the foot of Mugumo tree and her story of its origin of starching back to his ancestors etched
abidingly in his mind. He also writes about debating society at school and how outside world began encroaching upon
their consciousness. When Principia Francis condemned Russians sending a dog
Laika into space , he recollects how none raised voice when colonial
home guards went after stray dogs and
killed them in his village. He also
helped Limuru youth group give a performance based on a mixture of spirituals,
carols and some songs based on traditional Gikuyu melodies issuing a message of
hope for new life amidst political
struggle.
In the part titled, A Tale of Two Missions, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
writes about political changes outside , his volunteering for Sunday School at Kinoo and his
participation in sports such as chess, table tennis. He also liked to
participate in long-distance running
races . He mentions little demons which whispered to slow down and how he fell prey to them in the first race but
overcame them in his second race. “It
was this effort that made me understand why the metaphor of running the good
race was so central to the Franciscan Christian ideal. Years later running
would become an important symbol in my books, especially in A Grain of Wheat.
“ (141) in describing competition between Alliance School and Caledonian club in which the former won, he
refers to raise n self-confidence of the black students . He points out that
the triangular sports among Alliance , Duke of York and prince of Wales had
racial undertones. “ Consciously so or not, every sports event between white
and black became a metaphor for the racialized
power struggle in the country.” ( 143) Ngugi also write about his
experience in multiracial volunteer work in Mutonguini and his interaction with
Andrew Brockett from Prince of Wales and their discussion which later got
depicted in his novel Weep Not, Child as a brief exchange between the
fictional Njoroge and Stephen. When
Akamba community elders called him
Mutumia which means ‘elder’ in their language Kikamba but ‘woman’ in Gikuyu , he got puzzled
until later his friend
Stephen Muna of the same region
explained the difference. He also writes about his experiences as a
dorm prefect and chairman of
Inter-Tribal Society. Referring to an old woman
he met on one Nairobi Saturday ,
he writes how they infused Kenyan nationalism in him irrespective of differences
in tribes such as Gikuyu or Luo.
He writes about how library has influenced him to become an
avid reader and a writer later on. He has read
James Biggglesworth, Stevenson , Edgar Wallace , Sherlock Holmes stories
. Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved
Country , Emily Bronte’s Wuthering
Heights , Tolstoy’s Childhood and
youth and Boyhood, Shakespearean theatre impressed him a great deal. He wrote a story freely which was interpreted Psychologically by his
friend Kimani and another friend Gaitho talked to him greatly about Ghana and
Nkrumah. Ngugi acknowledges the deep influence of Principal Carey Francis who
instilled discipline , service and
qualities such as courage and endurance in him . He also felt uncomfortable at the
colonial persecution of freedom fighters of Kenya. At the end of the Term at
school in December 1958, he writes, I had once seen it as a sanctuary surrounded
by bloodhounds, but in time, over the four years, the howl of the hounds had
quieted to a faint whimper. (186). But
when he stepped outside , he has had to confront hounds awaiting in the
external world.
The last part, ‘A Tale of the Hounds at the Gate’ is
written in a racy style. Ngũgĩ wa
Thiong'o writes how he has experienced
the unexpected and come out by the strength of truth. After working for four
months as an untrained teacher , he is returning from Kahuguini Primary School
with money earned as salary and arrears to reach home to give happiness to his mother. Suddenly the bus
has been stopped and all the blacks including Ngugi have been stopped by the police
. He has been arrested despite revealing that he has been an Alliance Students
about to join Makerere university . His brother Good Wallace and Cousin Kabae meet him in camp, offer him some food and assure
him of release in a day. But the camp officer who is initially favourable to
him turns hostile and sends him to Kiambu Remand Prison believing the trumped up charge of assaulting officers on
duty . Ngugi has to spends a few days there during which he comes to know of degrading conditions,
stories of fellow prisoners including criminals and freedom fighters. He finds
that the ghastly and incredible tales are told in a matter-of-fact manner without
complaints about conditions and with a
sense of resignation. “You do what you
have to do to live with it, not to change it, for how does one change the reality
of mountains, rivers , floods and fires?” (207) . He wonders, Does prison
create a space for confessions? Is it because the listeners are total strangers,
not likely to repeat it? Or is it the closeness of hared grievance?” (211)
He escapes into a
world imagination and dreams to get out of unpleasant situation. He also confesses how he has remained stubborn but fallen prey to a temptation from a lady teacher after a
lot of theological discussions. He has understood the value of being non-judgmental.
During the trial In court, his friends Kennet colleagues, his brothers Good Wallace
and Njinju come to attend the session to give moral support. Ngugi faces the
trial and receives a small letter from Lady Teacher who writes about her
conversion and wondered about his first success. He choses to tell truth remembering his mother’s advice ,
cross examines the police who earlier arrested him and tired to convince him to
plead guilty to escape prison term and emerges triumphant and free to the
delight of his well-wishers. Later in July
1959, he proceeds to study in Makerere University college.
The very title of the memoir comes from a passage in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress in which Christian , on his visit to the Interpreter’s
House , is taken to a dusty parlour. When dust raises during the sweeping of
the room , a woman sprinkles water on dust to settle it on the floor. When the Christian
asked its meaning , the interpreter answers that the parlour is like a pagan’s
heart and dust refers to the original sin and innate corruption whereas the
person who begins to sweep is the Law and she that sprinkles water is the
gospel.
Ngugi’s self-doubts refer to dust, the ordeals of temptation
and detention are the sweeper , and
truth to which he adheres despite the torment is the gospel.
Primary Source
Thiong'o ,Ngũgĩ wa . In
the House of the Interpreter : A Memoir . New York: Pantheon Books,
2012.
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