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Chapter 5
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
Munira, Wanja, and Karega travel to Ilmorog together, taking turns on Munira’s bicycle. Munira ponders Mukami’s death, his father Ezekieli’s strange behavior and reference to Mariamu, and his own decision to hire Karega as another teacher. He also feels ashamed that he took the KCO oath—but he tries to avoid that shame, “still[ing] the inner doubt that would have awakened him to life.” Meanwhile, Wanja wants a fresh start and has resolved not to have sexual relationships until she has “defeated the past.”
Munira’s ongoing curiosity about his sister Mukami’s suicide and Ezekieli’s blaming Mariamu hint that the novel will reveal more about Mukami’s death in time. That Munira’s “inner doubt” could “awaken[] him to life” if he let it implies his life is unsatisfactory because he avoids thinking hard about troubling events. Wanja, by contrast, seems to have thought hard about her history of sexual abuse and exploitative relationships—and decided to avoid sex. It is unclear, however, whether Wanja thinks she can only “defeat[] the past” while celibate because sex is innately bad or because sex distracts her from her real problems.
Themes
Finally, Karega wonders about his strong reaction to Wanja, recalls Mukami with grief, and decides to be the best teacher he can be. Munira has explained that European and Asian schools stole the best African teachers from African schools once segregation in “the allocation of teachers was removed,” so Karega feels his new job will have extra political meaning.
Munira’s comments to Karega imply that ending racial segregation in Kenyan education hurt Black students in certain respects: because the schools with predominantly European or Asian students had more money, they could hire away the best Black teachers from the schools with Black students as soon as the segregated “allocation of teachers” ended. Black students ended up with fewer or worse teachers. When free-market logic determines the allocation of teachers, in other words, the poorer students get worse teachers—and in Kenya, Black students tend to be poorer due to a history of colonial exploitation.
Themes
When Munira, Wanja, and Karega reach Ilmorog, they notice it is still drought-stricken. Outside Abdulla’s shop, they encounter Abdulla, Joseph, and Nyakinyua. Nyakinyua tells them the town elders want to kill Abdulla’s donkey in a ceremony to end the drought. After Munira has introduced Karega and they’ve sat down, Karega points out that donkeys don’t influence the weather. Nyakinyua says it’s really about grass—Abdulla’s donkey eats grass that others want to reserve for goats. Munira and Wanja both suggest the drought will end—thought Wanja inwardly thinks that if it doesn’t, Ilmorog will be “ruined.”
The drought makes clear the Ilmorog farmers’ need for good weather—and so their economic vulnerability to bad weather. Karega’s comment that sacrificing the donkey won’t change the weather implies that traditional beliefs may prevent people from taking effective action to improve situations, relying on ineffective, quasi-magical solutions instead. Nyakinyua’s response reveals that what appears to be an ineffective spiritual action may disguise practical reasoning: the elders want to kill the donkey for eating too much grass.
Themes
With Mzigo’s approval, Karega begins working as an untrained teacher, a “UT,” in Ilmorog. Educating children makes Karega think more about Siriana. He’s concerned his students don’t understand life “outside Ilmorog” or larger political entities like Kenya, Africa, and the African diaspora. He feels Siriana didn’t help him understand “the African experience,” so he has difficulty teaching it. In the face of drought, poverty, and exodus to cities, Karega feels that his and Munira’s lessons trick the children about what’s important, the same way Chui tricked students at Siriana.
The term “African diaspora” refers generally to people of African descent living outside Africa; however, it often refers more specifically to descendants of enslaved African people in the Americas. Karega believes that Kenyan students should know not only about Kenya but also about the African continent and about how colonizers kidnapped, enslaved, and trafficked African people. Siriana did not help Karega understand these histories, indicating Siriana’s pro-European, pro-white bias, which minimized the evils people of European descent committed in Africa. Karega also believes that education should help children understand climactic phenomena like drought and socioeconomic phenomena like urbanization. These beliefs show that Karega is committed to teaching lessons relevant to students’ lives.
Themes
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One day in March, Karega goes to Abdulla’s and finds a gathering there. Nyakinyua tells him that an old farmer’s goat has died, which caused him to weep; the people tactfully ignored his tears and stayed with him.
The farmer crying over his dead goat shows how bad the drought is and how dependent Ilmorog’s farmers are on both livestock and the climate.
Themes
The drought lasts through April. In the middle of May, Wanja meets Munira and Karega at the school and tells them Mwathi wa Mugo has ordered the townspeople to sacrifice both Abdulla’s donkey and a goat. Wanja wants to save the donkey somehow. Munira asks how they can intervene; no one answers.
Karega has already pointed out that sacrificing a donkey won’t change the weather. Though Nyakinyua pointed out that the donkey eats grass that farmers’ livestock needed, the drought has gotten bad enough that killing the donkey won’t make much difference. Thus, the planned sacrifice suggests the people of Ilmorog do not know how to respond effectively to the draught and that Mwathi wa Mugo’s religious interventions may be a distraction, not a solution.
Themes
Karega recalls both natural and manmade famine in Ilmorog’s past. Though “uncontrolled nature was always a threat to human endeavor,” colonial policy and wars also caused mass Kenyan deaths. These recollections intrude on his thoughts as he tries to teach his students about Africa’s great early history. During one such lecture, a student faints from hunger, and Karega has to revive him with food from his own living quarters.
The phrase “uncontrolled nature was always a threat to human endeavor” hints that humans must learn to govern nature through scientific progress to keep themselves safe. Yet Karega knows that political policies as well as climactic conditions can cause famines, so controlling one’s political environment is as important as controlling nature.
Themes
When Karega broaches the problem with Munira, Munira asks rhetorically what they can do. Karega suggests they organize an Ilmorog delegation and travel to the city seeking aid. Munira initially doesn’t want to return to the city because of his experience drinking “tea,” but Karega’s mockery of the KCO improves Munira’s mood to the point that he suggests they tell Nderi wa Riera they’re KCO members.
“The city” is Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. Munira’s bad memories of “tea” remind readers that while Kenya has achieved independence, its new political order has violent, repressive elements; thus, Karega’s hope that the political system will help Ilmorog may be unfounded.
Themes
Karega gathers Munira, Wanja, and Abdulla to pitch his plan of visiting Ilmorog’s MP in the city. Rather than allowing Ilmorog to sacrifice Abdulla’s donkey, they’ll bring the donkey with them. Abdulla agrees, wanting to save his donkey; Wanja hesitates, recalling bad experiences in the city, but she thinks this trip could be better because she has altruistic motives now. When Abdulla and Wanja agree, Munira gives in to peer pressure—but he also hopes to exorcise his guilt about the KCO oath and see whether he can extract anything good from the experience.
Karega and the rest of the delegation plan in part to save Abdulla’s donkey from being sacrificed. Thus, the novel contrasts the traditional spiritual practices that Mwathi wa Mugo represents with secular political action. Yet the novel also reminds the reader that someone tried to kill Wanja for dating a Somali man the last time she was in the city—which may foreshadow dangers for the characters as they seek political solutions to their problems.
Themes
At a town meeting to discuss sacrificing Abdulla’s goat, Karega gets up and gives a speech suggesting they send a delegation to their MP instead. Njuguna speaks against the suggestion. He says that they shouldn’t have to plead with their MP and that he should come to Ilmorog instead. Then Nyakinyua argues that nothing good ever happens when important people come to Ilmorog—they just collect taxes or survey the land and then leave. If the people of Ilmorog want something, they should travel to the city and demand it. Nyakinyua’s speech persuades the town, and they begin preparing a delegation to travel to the city.
Nyakinyua’s contention that visitors never help Ilmorog indicates that Kenya’s post-Independence political status quo does not benefit poor people or people living in rural areas. While this contention makes clear that Ilmorog’s townspeople need to go to the city themselves if they want help, it may also make the reader doubt whether Ilmorog will get real help even if the townspeople do make it to the city.
Themes
