Gathoni’s Aggression in Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ngugi Wa Mirii’s Play Nitaolewa Nikipenda
A Representation of Africa’s Desired Political, Social and Economic Autonomy
Abstract
This paper was guided by the Post-colonial Theory with a focus on Frantz Fanon’s leanings on life aspects of the formerly colonised Africans. It was also guided by African Feminism in its analysis and discussion of the findings. It is based on Frantz Fanon’s ideas and arguments contained in his book The Wretched of the Earth (1965). Some of the ideas contained in this book were used as lenses to discuss Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ngugi wa Mirii’s Kiswahili translation of their play I Will Marry When I Want (1982) translated as Nitaolewa Nikipenda (1982). It singles out Gathoni, a female character in the play who, throughout the story line, is projected as potentially aggressive, independent minded and as a character who does not allow others to manipulate her in any way. Together with Fanon’s perspectives on Africans’ liberation and African Feminism literary lenses, this paper argues that, Gathoni sharply contrasts with a traditional African woman who has been projected in literary works as docile, unassertive and who depends on others especially men for her welfare. This work was a library-based study whose data were collected through close reading of both play versions; that is the Kiswahili and the English version to facilitate easy translation of the quotations. These were the primary data. The review of different documents including journal articles and dissertations both as hard copy and soft copy materials on the internet generated the secondary data. The findings reveal that, Gathoni’s aggression and independent mindedness is the writers’ representation or projection of social, economic and political freedom that they would aspire the formerly colonised Africans to possess.
