Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Grain of Wheat, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonialism
The Individual vs. the Community
Guilt and Redemption
Christianity
Gender and Power
Summary
Analysis
Mugo wakes from a strange dream, lying alone in his hut, deciding whether or not he should rise for the day. He finds a bit of maize-flour in a corner of his hut and makes porridge with it, which reminds him of the porridge he ate in detention. Mugo leaves his hut, takes his tools, and begins walking towards his strip of farmland on the other side of his village, Thabai. On the way, he meets Warui, a village elder, who makes brief conversation about the coming of Uhuru until Mugo excuses himself. The land that Mugo is walking to was given to him by Warui to grow food on, since Mugo’s own land was taken by the government during his detention.
Mugo’s introduction depicts several key characteristics at once: he is alone, he is poor, and he seems uncomfortable around other people. This initial characterization makes him seem rather pathetic, which, importantly, will contrast with the way his fellow villagers see him and even how he sees himself, setting the stage for his character development. “Uhuru” refers to Kenyan independence, and establishes the story’s timeline as leading up to one specific event.
Themes
Mugo reflects that Thabai looks the same in 1963 as it did in 1955, when they were still threatened by the “whiteman.” As Mugo walks through the village, he keeps his head down, seemingly ashamed. A one-legged cripple named Githua approaches him and salutes him “in the name of blackman’s freedom,” calling him Chief and saying “Uhuru na Kazi.” Githua refers briefly to “the Emergency” before hobbling away. Mugo continues walking, wondering why everyone is treating him so strangely. As he passes an old woman’s hut, Mugo remembers her deaf son, Gitogo, who was shot in the back and killed by a British soldier as he ran to protect his mother, because he could not hear the soldier telling him to halt.
Githua’s praise of Mugo is the first contrast against his prior depiction as a lonely, isolated, pathetic man, setting up the tension between how Mugo sees himself and how other people see him. Narratively, it is worth noting that Githua is the first in the story to praise Mugo as a leader, since he will also be the only figure in the village to ever turn on Mugo and mock him. “Uhuru na Kazi” means “freedom and work” and is a common slogan of Kenya’s independence movement.
Themes
Mugo feels as if Gitogo’s mother, the old woman, somehow knows everything about him, can see straight through him. He feels the desire to help her but does not know how, so he continues to his strip of land where he scratches in the dirt for a while. There are no crops planted there, only weeds. Mugo cannot find the motivation to work hard, realizing he has not cared for working the land since the Emergency.
After Warui’s kind words and Githua’s adulation, Mugo goes back to being a poor, unmotivated figure. Whenever he is alone, Mugo is depicted as pathetic or lazy, which is exacerbated by the fact that he wants to be alone all the time. The Emergency refers to the 1952-1960 war between the Mau Mau and the British, during which time the British colonizers issued a state of emergency and ruled through martial law.
Themes
Mugo’s parents died when he was a child, leaving him destitute and under the care of an alcoholic and abusive aunt who hates the world and believes everyone conspires against her. Often, Mugo fantasizes about murdering her, but does not have the strength. Regardless, she kills herself through “over-drinking,” leaving him alone in the world and oddly missing his aunt. After her death, Mugo decides that he will labor and become wealthy, forcing the world to recognize him as someone important. He holds these dreams until “Kihika had come into his life.”
Mugo’s childhood abuse does much to explain his odd qualities and self-imposed isolation. Without the support of good family or even good friends, Mugo develops into a man who is unconfident and uncomfortable around other people. The fact that Mugo misses his aunt after she dies seeds the subtheme of family and belonging, which will surface again in Mugo’s final scene in the story.
Themes
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Mugo goes home early. While he is in his hut, he is visited by Warui, Wambui (an elder woman of the village), and Gikonyo (a wealthy businessman). Fearful, Mugo runs to the “pit lavatory” where he waits for a long time before returning to the hut. His visitors do not seem angry with him, however, but rather excited, explaining that they have come on behalf of the Party to be the voice of the Movement.
Mugo’s lack of confidence and flight under the pretense of relieving himself again characterizes him as lacking confidence or decorum, and his surprise that they are not angry with him indicates that he feels guilty over something and expects the ire of those in his community. The Party and the Movement both refer to the Kenyan resistance against British colonialism led by Jomo Kenyatta.
Themes
