Petals of Blood
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 The Journey Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13
Themes
All Themes Colonialism and Capitalism Education Gender, Sexuality, and Exploitation Religion, Hypocrisy, and Delusion Land and Nature
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Godfrey Munira Wanja Karega Abdulla Kimeria Nderi wa Riera Chui Mzigo Nyakinyua Joseph The Lawyer Ezekieli Inspector Godfrey Mwathi wa Mugo Njuguna Mukami Mariamu Nding’uri Fraudsham Rev. Jerrod Brown Akinyi Julia
Symbols
All Symbols Flowers/Theng’eta Fire Siriana
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Petals of Blood

by

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
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Julia Character Analysis

Julia is Munira’s wife and the mother of his two children. When Julia and Munira first met, she was not a Christian, and Munira found her sensuality attractive. After they married, however, she converted to please Munira’s parents and became devout and unsexual. Munira, who resents Julia for praying before and after sex, moves out of their family home in Limuru to teach in Ilmorog, where he cheats on her with Wanja. Munira’s treatment of Julia reveals his religious and sexual hypocrisy: though a Christian, he commits unrepentant adultery; though sexually repressed himself, he wants his wife to be sensual and sexy for his benefit.

Julia Quotes in Petals of Blood

The Petals of Blood quotes below are all either spoken by Julia or refer to Julia. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Colonialism and Capitalism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

We can imagine the fatal meeting between the native and the alien. The missionary had traversed the seas, the forests, armed with the desire for profit that was his faith and light and the gun that was his protection. He carried the Bible; the soldier carried the gun; the administrator and the settler carried the coin. Christianity, Commerce, Civilization: the Bible, the Coin, the Gun: Holy Trinity.

Related Characters: Godfrey Munira, Nderi wa Riera, Ezekieli, Julia
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
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Julia Quotes in Petals of Blood

The Petals of Blood quotes below are all either spoken by Julia or refer to Julia. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Colonialism and Capitalism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

We can imagine the fatal meeting between the native and the alien. The missionary had traversed the seas, the forests, armed with the desire for profit that was his faith and light and the gun that was his protection. He carried the Bible; the soldier carried the gun; the administrator and the settler carried the coin. Christianity, Commerce, Civilization: the Bible, the Coin, the Gun: Holy Trinity.

Related Characters: Godfrey Munira, Nderi wa Riera, Ezekieli, Julia
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
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