Unconnected Consciousness as a Negation of National Patriotic Culture in Ngugi Wa Thiongo's a Grain of Wheat (1967)

Abstract

This study is a discourse on Ngugi wa Thiongo's understanding and depiction of national patriotic culture in A Grain of Wheat. It specifically focuses on the nexus between fragmentation of society and national patriotic culture. The thesis advanced in this research is that fragmentation of society negates national patriotic culture and subverts African people's endeavours to emancipate themselves. Fragmentation of society undercuts the possibility of positive participation and contribution to societal aspirations and goals. Ngugi argues that people's reaction to the encroachment of an alien culture that reduces them to the level of lower animals should transcend social or economic status in society so as to be able to confront the system not as individuals but as a compact and connected entity.