Ngugi wa Thiong’os Personal and Political Beliefs Through A Grain of W

Ngugi wa Thiong’o's Personal and Political Beliefs Through A Grain of Wheat Ngugi wa Thiong’o is a Kenyan born writer of Gikuyu descent, born in 1938 in Limuru. He attended Alliance High School in Kenya, Makere University in Uganda, and Leeds University in England. In 1992 Ngugi was honored with the Paul Robeson Award for Artistic Excellence, Political Conscience, and Integrity. He received the Gwendolyn Brooks Center Contributors’ Award for Significant Contribution to the Black Literary Arts in 1994. Currently he is The Erich Remarque Professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies at New York University. However, before achieving this notability, Ngugi experienced life in a colonized country. This ultimately led Ngugi to become an active supporter of Kenyan independence and Jomo Kenyatta through his writings. Ngugi’s personal and political beliefs are reflected in his novel A Grain of Wheat, which he wrote as an optimistic patriot. Ngugi has written numerous novels and plays on the politics, the corruption, capitalism, religious hypocrisy and the cultural effects of colonization. Some of his works include Weep Not, Child (1964), Decolonising the Mind (1986), and Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary (1981). To further support his political belief, Ngugi stopped writing his books in English. He called his book Decolonising the Mind his "farewell to English" (Margulis http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Ngugi.html) because it would become his last book written in English. In 1978 Ngugi was imprisoned for one year, without trial, by the Kenyan government after co-writing the play I Will Marry When I Want. It was during this imprisonment that he wrote the book Detained to describe his ordeal. However, Ngu... ... the elections. Ngugi does remain optimistic that one day his people will reunite and learn that change is inevitable, and one-day Kenya will achieve what its founding fathers envisioned. Works Cited Behrent, Megan. â€Å"Ngugi wa Thiong’o on the Language Question†. Online posting. 1997. Political Discourse – Theories of Colonialism & Postcolonialism. November 10, 1999. <http://landow.stg.brown.edu/post/poldiscourse/behrent.html.> Margulis, Jennifer. â€Å"Ngugi wa Thiong’o†. Online posting. Spring 1996. Ngugi wa Thiong’o. November 10, 1999. <http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Ngugi.html.> Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Personal Interview. October 28, 1999. Ngugi wa Thiong'o. A Grain of Wheat: New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1967. "Ngugi wa Thiong'o" Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=57045&sctn=1 [November 10, 1999]