POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND MAN’S OBLIGATION TO SOCIETY: AN EXAMPLE OF NGUGI’S THE RIVER BETWEEN

Abstract

There is ironic ambiguity that clouds every issue in the novel; the ambiguity that finds Waiyaki, the acknowledged leader of the people and upholder of the traditional way of the clan, spending his formative year at a Christian missionary school; the ambiguity of the situation whereby the people can only fight the white man with his own education. This had a dire consequence as there was a disordering of priorities, putting the acquisition of knowledge before the recovery of the tribal land, which was the thing that mattered most to the people. Be it as it may, it is important to point out that the life of a patriotic leader should be tied to the life of his people. That is “man’s obligation to society”.