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Mzigo
Wanja’s grandmother Nyakinyua is one of the respected elders in Ilmorog, the town where much of the novel takes place. When Munira first arrives in town to become the new schoolteacher, Nyakinyua questions him suspiciously about whether he has come to indoctrinate the children in white values and steal them away to the cities—a line of questioning that illustrates how colonial education and capitalism are depopulating Ilmorog and destroying its rural, agricultural way of life. Yet Nyakinyua is not hostile to teachers or newcomers in general. When, during a bad drought, Ilmorog newcomer and “untrained teacher” Karega suggests that Ilmorog form a delegation to their MP Nderi wa Riera to seek aid, Nyakinyua speaks up in support of his idea and helps persuade the townspeople. On the delegation’s journey, Nyakinyua tells the travelers stories about Ilmorog’s and Kenya’s history. Later, she also teaches Wanja how to brew the traditional drink Theng’eta. Thus Nyakinyua represents traditional knowledge and informal education, in contrast to the formal colonial education that Munira, Karega, Chui, the lawyer, and Joseph all receive from Siriana. After Nderi wa Riera convinces Ilmorog’s farmers to take out loans from banks as part of an economic development scheme, Nyakinyua finds herself unable to repay the loan; when the bank repossesses her land, Wanja has to sell her own business to keep the farm in the family. Though Nyakinyua tries to organize resistance to the banks in Ilmorog, she dies before she can accomplish anything. The bank’s repossession of Nyakinyua’s farm shows how modern capitalist systems trick traditionally independent people into debt and dispossession.
Nyakinyua Quotes in Petals of Blood
The Petals of Blood quotes below are all either spoken by Nyakinyua or refer to Nyakinyua. 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:
).
The Journey
Quotes
The others surrounded the sculpture and commented on the fighter’s hair, the heavy lips and tongue in open laughter, and the sword around the waist. But why did he possess breasts, somebody asked: it was as if it was a man and a woman in one: how could that be?
They were arguing about it until Nyakinyua almost silenced them with her simple logic.
‘A man cannot have a child without a woman. A woman cannot bear a child without a man. And was it not a man and a woman who fought to redeem this country?’
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Nyakinyua Quotes in Petals of Blood
The Petals of Blood quotes below are all either spoken by Nyakinyua or refer to Nyakinyua. 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:
).
The Journey
Quotes
The others surrounded the sculpture and commented on the fighter’s hair, the heavy lips and tongue in open laughter, and the sword around the waist. But why did he possess breasts, somebody asked: it was as if it was a man and a woman in one: how could that be?
They were arguing about it until Nyakinyua almost silenced them with her simple logic.
‘A man cannot have a child without a woman. A woman cannot bear a child without a man. And was it not a man and a woman who fought to redeem this country?’
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
