Harry Thuku is an early revolutionary leader in the initial days of the Movement, serving as a precursor to Kihika and using the same biblical imagery to fuel his calls for liberation. However, Harry Thuku is captured and broken by his British oppressors over a period of seven years, becoming nothing more than a tragic figure of history occasionally mentioned by characters in the novel.
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Harry Thuku Character Timeline in A Grain of Wheat
The timeline below shows where the character Harry Thuku appears in A Grain of Wheat. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
A Kenyan leader named Harry Thuku emerges, carrying a message from God that he must free his people from the British...
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Chapter 3
...life has been committed to the Movement (he was there in the protest march for Harry Thuku ), and Wambui has long been a collaborator with the Freedom Fighters, smuggling messages and...
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Chapter 7
...that the “day of deliverance had receded into a distant future.” The narrator recalls that Harry Thuku , after his capture, was exiled on an island for seven years, returning to Africa...
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Chapter 12
...his hope in “the spirit of the black people” and believes that figures such as Harry Thuku or Jomo Kenyatta are imbued with “mystical power,” and that Mugo must be such a...
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