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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Petals of Blood, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonialism and Capitalism
Education
Gender, Sexuality, and Exploitation
Religion, Hypocrisy, and Delusion
Land and Nature
Summary
Analysis
On Sunday, Munira is reading the Bible in the New Ilmorog Primary School where he works after “a night’s vigil on the mountain.” Two policemen arrive and tell him he’s wanted for questioning about murder. Munira gathers up his coat and Bible. When one policeman asks about the Bible, Munira says the Second Coming will arrive soon. The other policeman, a religious man discomfited by talk of final judgment, changes the subject to how long Munira has lived in Ilmorog. When Munira says he’s lived there 12 years, the policeman comments that Munira has been in town since before the construction of New Ilmorog.
The first character the novel introduces, Munira, is a teacher, which hints that education will be an important theme in the novel. The novel creates intrigue when it states that Munira has just spent “a night’s vigil on the mountain”—but doesn’t explain what Munira was watching for. The Second Coming is a Christian religious belief that Jesus Christ will come to earth a second time for a final judgment of every human being. Interestingly, the more religious of the two policemen shifts the subject away from Munira’s talk of the Second Coming, which shows how characters can be uncomfortable or hypocritical about their own religious beliefs.
Themes
In the Ilmorog neighborhood New Jerusalem, Abdulla is sitting outside his shack-like home, staring at his hand “bandaged” in the hospital and wondering how the events of the previous night came to pass. Though what Abdulla wanted to happen happened, he doesn’t think he brought it about. A policeman catches Abdulla’s attention and says they want Abdulla to answer questions at the police station. Once Abdulla arrives, the police lock him up and hit him when he complains. He feels “old anger and new bitterness.”
In Christianity, the “New Jerusalem” is the capitol of Christ’s reign on earth after his Second Coming; it symbolizes redemption. Ironically, the buildings in Ilmorog’s New Jerusalem are “shack-like,” suggesting that Christianity has not overcome inequality and exploitation in the real world. Abdulla’s “old anger and new bitterness” at police brutality suggest that though he is used to injustice, it still bothers him.
Themes
At the hospital, a policeman tries to see Wanja, but a doctor prevents the visit, claiming Wanja is hallucinating fire and yelling about her aunt. When the policeman suggests they record Wanja as evidence “in case,” the doctor reassures the policeman Wanja isn’t in danger and should recover in 10 days.
Readers already know a murder or murders have taken place. Wanja, the first named female character, has been hospitalized, suggesting she is a surviving victim—perhaps linking womanhood with violent victimization. That Wanja is hallucinating fire implies that fire was the murder weapon. This implication reminds the reader that while humans have long used fire for warmth, fire like many natural phenomena can be dangerous when out of control.
Themes
Sleeping after a nighttime Theng’eta Breweries Union meeting, Karega is woken by policemen who want him to come to the station for questioning. Karega, wondering how he’ll get word to the other union members and whether the forbidden strike will occur, is driven to the station. Akinyi, seeing a car drive away from Karega’s house, goes to his door and finds it locked. The workers disseminate news of Karega’s arrest and go to the station to protest. A policeman explains they took Karega in for questioning about murder, not about the strike. When the skeptical workers begin yelling protest slogans, policemen with guns come chase them away.
The novel does not make clear what “Theng’eta” is, though its association with the word “Breweries” suggests it is an alcoholic drink. Given that the Theng’eta Breweries Union members are planning a strike, however, the novel is clearly linking Theng’eta with the economic exploitation of Kenyan workers. The union members assume that the police have arrested Karega because of the strike, not because of murders—an assumption that hints the police usually take the side of employers against their exploited workers.
Themes
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A newspaper runs a special edition about the murders of Mzigo, Chui, and Kimeria, directors of Theng’eta Breweries. The newspaper notes police have detained a “trade-union agitator;” the victims had just voted not to give workers a raise when they were burned to death inside a house they were tricked into entering.
This passage reveals who was murdered (the directors of Theng’eta Breweries) and how (by fire). That the victims ran Theng’eta Breweries again associates “Theng’eta” with exploitation and violence. When the newspaper mentions that police have arrested a “trade-union agitator,” it is insinuating that some worker or workers committed the murder. This insinuation shows that the newspaper, like the police, usually sides against exploited workers.
Themes
