The River Between
by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
by Noorin Pattni
Waiyaki, the story’s protagonist while standing on God’s hill overlooking Mount Kirinyaga, sees the expense ridges and valleys lying like two dormant lions waiting to be reawakened.
To begin with, the tranquility in the region is shattered by the coming of the colonialists who bring new ways which leaving the people of the society in a cultural dilemma. The two ridges Kameno and Makuyu are skillfully narrated by the narrator as angry antagonists ready to clash by the bringing in of the colonialists. Represented by the two ridges, Ngugi shows that that the differences between the two ridges are not just physical but also in their religious beliefs and their ability to hold ancestral practices. Makuyu is more into Christianity than Kameno. It embraces the white man’s life and ways of doing things. On the other hand, the great Kameno is home to the great seer Mugo wa Kibiro who prophesized the coming of white men. Waiyaki and his father Chege are direct descendants of Mugo from this ridge. The differences between the two ridges play out when Kamau and Kinuthia; two of the characters from the novel, are engaged in a fierce fight because one comments about the other one’s father being a Christian. Their cultural beliefs create this animosity as the Christian converts were considered to go against the tribe.
However, there is a river between the two regions shows that despite the changes life still continues, also giving the book the title. It is a hope for the two regions and acts as a reconciler, just like the protagonist Waiyaki. The story is written in third person and is presented mostly from the perspectives of Waiyaki and Nyambura. Waiyaki becomes an African elite, who with the knowledge gains tries to reconcile the two ridges together with Nyambura. Nyambura is the daughter of the one of the Christian diehards; Joshua, the antagonist but she falls in love with the novel’s protagonist creating a sense of suspense for the readers but creating a sense of shame to her own dad. Joshua.