A deeply anti-white, anti-colonial, anti-Christian novel.

Do you
agree?
At first glance, this criticism, although harsh, seems a fitting summation of
The River Between. The novel depicts European influence as menacing
and destructive to the spirit of the tribe, and is full of examples of conflicts
between natives and the white people, a reflection of the own treatment
Ngugi probably received at the hands of his colonial masters. Yet the novel
cannot be said to be a complete and utter condemnation of the
Europeans-it points out the positive impacts they have made on tribal
society as well, such as education, and the finer points of Christianity.
One of the reasons why I agree with this statement is because of the
tensions between the tribal people and Christians throughout.
Encroachment of the white man has already resulted in massive changes
to the peoples lives-they build schools and hospitals such as the Siriana
Mission School, erect a Government Post at Makuyu and force the people
to pay taxes to a government they have never met. Ngugi portrays all
these measures in a negative light, showing how the people believe the
new faith had contaminated the hills. Although the measures that the
white people have implemented are meant to modernize the supposedly
backward tribes and improve their quality of life, they are seen as
unwelcome intrusion into the tribes way of life, and are only treated with
disdain by the people. Thus, Ngugi portrays the effects of colonialism in a
negative light.
Perhaps partly because of this, there are extreme tension between the two
groups regarding different beliefs. Christians view traditionalists with
extreme disdain, seeing them as entrenched in their blind customs and
immoral through and through. Their efforts to convert the tribal people
are incentivised by their belief the tribe needs to be saved from the
barbarous nature of their rituals. Joshua vehemently condemns
behaviour like drinking and dancing, which are practices viewed as part
of the tribes way of life. This intense dislike is reciprocated by the
traditionalists- they want to keep the tribe pure and hence view
Christians with extreme hostility as they believe their actions are intrusive
and corrupt the tribe. Through portraying the conflict between the
Christians and the traditionalists, Ngugi shows how the effect of the white
mans intervention only results in unwelcome strife and does nothing to
better the peoples lives.
Circumcision in particular creates conflict.Traditionalists view circumcision
as a rite of passage and integral part of their culture, the biggest of all
rituals, where someone like Muthoni can become a woman made
beautiful in the tribe. Circumcision is a coming-of-age ceremony where
one proves ones worth, where boys turn into men and girls into women. In
the tribes eyes, uncircumcised people are deemed of lesser importanceyou can more readily trust a man than an uncircumcised boy, and hence
we see just how sacred circumcision is to the tribe. However, for
Christians, circumcision is barbarous and has to be rooted out if there
was to be any hope of salvation for these people. For Joshua, circumcised
females like his own daughter eased to exist for him, in his heart and
brought an everlasting disgrace to him and his house, preaching to his

followers that Christianity was wholly evil. The use of strong words such
as blind and barbarous demonstrate the intense opposition of
Christians towards circumcision, as does the fact that Joshua actually
disowns his own daughter over her decision to become circumcised.
Throughout the course of the book, this mutual dislike only escalates, first
by the Christians taking an extreme stand against circumcision, making all
traditionalists leave Siriana and preventing any child(ren) of a pagan
from being allowed into school, then into actual physical violence when
the traditionalists burn the hut of a man of God, attempt to circumcise
all Christians by force and the fact that uncircumcised girls were the
objects of cutting attacks. The initation day coincides with Christmas
day, a direct challenge to the Christians. This clearly demonstrates the
tremendous extent conflict has degenerated into-both groups are
extremely belligerent towards each other, and this perpetuation of fear
where both groups fear attacks from each other demonstrates clearly the
negative impact of colonialism.
There is also anti-Christian sentiment in the depiction of Christians in the
novel. Joshua, a staunch man of God, preaches the word zealously and is
one of the most prominent champions of the religion. Yet although
Christianity is meant to be a religion of love and forgiveness, encouraging
gentleness and compassion towards one another, what Joshua preaches is
radically different from these principles. Joshua rules with an iron fist,
observing the word to the letter, and punishes his daughters harshly
when they disobey him or the rules of his religion. He would never refrain
from punishing a sin, even if this means beating his wife. Violence against
anyone, much less a loved one, is morally abhorrent and goes against
what Christianity preaches, yet Joshua treats it as a necessary part of his
behaviour as a model Christian. This clearly shows us that the type of
Christianity Joshua believes in is very much one of punishment and wrath,
a relationship with God built on fear more than anything else. Joshua
treats Muthonis death without a sign of emotion on the face. While
forgiveness is supposed to be an integral part of Christianity, it is not
something that Joshua practices at all. Ironically, the non-Christian Waiyaki
probably practices Christian values more than Joshua does: he puts the
tribe before himself and is willing to sacrifice his own reputation and even
life for the woman he loves.
By painting Joshua in an unlikeable light, Ngugi causes us to feel disgust
for his practices, and hence dislike for what the Christians preach, and
hence anti-Christian sentiment is present in the novel.
Yet the novel does not completely deride the influence of colonialism and
the white man. One of the beneficial effects of colonialism shown is that of
education. The promise of education, the white mans magic is what
draws many boys from the hills and beyond to the Siriana Mission
school. Education is seen to be the answer to a peoples longings and
hopes, and provides a bridge between the tribe to the rest of societyNgugi best sums this up by saying, the war of shields and spears is now
ended; the battle of wits, the battle of the mind is left. Although the tribe
despise the white man, they recognise that in modern society, what will
get the tribe to advance and progress is not how well one wields a shovel
or a weapon, but whether one can read and write and understand a
foreign language, and education is the only way to equip children with
the skills needed to succeed. The tribes do not want to lose their former

dignity and be left a distance behind by the country beyond. They want
to move along with the rest of society, and they know that education is the
only way to achieve this. Thus The River Between shows how the white
men have introduced ideas which benefit the tribe, and the novel is not
wholly deeply anti-white and anti-colonial.
Ngugi also introduces positive aspects of colonialism through Nyamburas
version of Christianity. In contrast to her father, Nyamburas relationship
with Christ is one much closer to Christianitys true ideals-she prays often,
and focusses on the sacrificial aspect of Christ, through his death on the
Tree, love for all the people blazing outfrom his sad eyes. Her worship
consists mostly of prayers and the pouring out of her heart to God in the
hopes that he would still her restless soul. Nyambura exemplifies
Christian values that her father does not, and is probably the best
example of an upright Christian in the book. Through Nyamburas
example, Ngugi is arguably trying to show us the commendable side of
Christianity and the white mens religion, telling us that they did indeed
contribute positively to African society in the novel.
At the end of the book, Ngugi uses the self-reflection of Waiyaki to
introduce to us the view that not all the ways of the white man were
bad. Rather, he comments that it is because these ways innately clash
with the tribal customs that cause conflict and ruin the peoples livesalthough the white men do have benefits to offer the tribe, their insistence
on uprooting rituals integral to the tribes way of life results in conflict
occuring and anti-white sentiment. As Waiyaki comes to realise, some
good, some truth shone through the white mans religion, but this truth
had to be reconciled to the traditions of the people. It is because the
white men keep trying to impose Western ideology on the tribe that antiWestern sentiment runs so high, and the people feel so bitter against the
white men. Hence, because Ngugi shows us that the ways of the white
men do have some merit, this novel cannot be said to be completely antiwhite, anti-Christian and anti-colonial.
In conclusion, while this novel does have many anti-white and antiChristian themes, and spends quite a large bulk of content demonstrating
how the influence of Westerners negatively impacted the tribes, it is not
wholly an anti-European piece deriding Western imposition. The novel also
shows us postive aspects of white influence, such as education, and points
out that there is valuable truth in Christianity. Written from the eyes of an
author who had firsthand experienced events similar to the ones present
in the book, it is best described as a reflection of African society under
Western rule, and a detailed, compelling one at that.