Brief Questions in Petals of Blood

Brief Questions in Petals of Blood

• Who is Ngugi wa Thiong’o?

Ans: A Kenyan postcolonial writer, born 1938.

• In which language does Ngugi write his novels?

Ans: First English; later his Gikuyu language.

• What do you know about the Mau Mau revolt?

Ans: An anti-British uprising, 1952–1960, led by Kimathi.

• From where are the novel’s epigraphs taken?

Ans: Revelation, and Whitman’s poem on Europe.

• Who are murdered?

Ans: Mzigo, Chui, and Kimeria are murdered.

• Who is Abdulla?

Ans: An ex–Mau Mau fighter and shopkeeper.

• Who is Joseph?

Ans: Abdulla’s adopted brother.

• Who is Mukami?

Ans: Munira’s sister; she committed suicide.

• Who is Old Mariamu?

Ans: A worker on Munira’s father’s farm.

• Who is Wanja?

Ans: Nyakinyua’s granddaughter; returned to Ilmorog.

• What is Wanja’s new job?

Ans: She is a barmaid at Abdulla’s shop.

• What about Wanja’s first love?

Ans: A school friend; her father beat her.

• How does the new police officer treat Munira?

Ans: Kindly; he gives paper for confession.

• What does Karega reveal to Munira?

Ans: He is Old Mariamu’s son and an ex-student.

• Who was Nding’uri?

Ans: Karega’s brother; a Mau Mau fighter.

• How did Abdulla become a shopkeeper?

Ans: He restored a building; Joseph helped.

• What is the Kamwane Cultural Organization?

Ans: A state group arranging oath-taking tea parties.

• What did Karega do at Gatunda?

Ans: He sold skins, fruit, and vegetables.

• How did Ilmorog’s history begin?

Ans: With Ndemi settling and farming there.

• Why was there a marketplace massacre?

Ans: After a white man’s death, Europeans fired.

• Why is Karega compared with Ndemi?

Ans: He urges action, not waiting for gods.

• Why is it called Abdulla’s feast?

Ans: He killed an antelope for the meat.

• What does the lawyer do for them?

Ans: He shelters, feeds, and frees them.

• How does Nderi wa Riera behave?

Ans: Cold welcome; then he sends police.

• What festival follows harvest?

Ans: The circumcision festival.

• What drink is taken then?

Ans: Theng’eta, a hallucinogenic brew.

• How is Theng’eta made?

Ans: Maize flour, water, Theng’eta juice; brewed.

• What news shocks Munira?

Ans: Mukami loved Karega; Ndung’uri cut father’s ear.

• What is Muratina?

Ans: A milder drink allowed by colonials.

1. Why does Karega return to Ilmorog?

Ans: He was fired for union organizing.

• Why is Karega taken to the red chamber?

Ans: For torture and forced confession.

• How does Wanja answer Abdulla’s proposal?

Ans: She rejects the proposal.

• What does Abdulla decide seeing Kimeria?

Ans: To kill Kimeria that night.

• What does Wanja do before the fire?

Ans: She invites Mzigo, Kimeria, and Chui.

• Who killed Kimeria?

Ans: Wanja hit him with a frying pan.

• How is Wanja saved?

Ans: Burned, but Abdulla rescues her.

• What does Munira’s father do at trial?

Ans: He asks Munira why he did it.

• What news does the girl give Karega?

Ans: Workers unite; a mass strike looms.

• What is Munira’s view of Wanja and Karega?

Ans: He is jealous of their love.

• Who are the Samaritans?

Ans: Munira, Abdulla, Karega—helpers in drought.

• Who is Mwathi?

Ans: The town’s prophet and medicine man.

• What follows Wanja’s love with Kimeria?

Ans: Pregnancy; rejection; she becomes a barmaid.

• Why does Munira befriend Julia?

Ans: To make Wanja jealous.

• Which project brings development to Ilmorog?

Ans: The Trans-African Highway.

• How is Ilmorog modernized?

Ans: Road, bank, cooperative, and many shops.

• Who sets fire to Wanja’s brothel?

Ans: Munira does, out of jealousy.

• What is the novel’s background?

Ans: Kenya’s independence after the Mau Mau.

• What was the Mau Mau Revolt?

Ans: Armed resistance to British rule, 1952–1960.

• How was Abdulla’s donkey killed?

Ans: A plane crash killed the donkey.

• Who is Munira?

Ans: A schoolteacher running Ilmorog’s school.

• Who inspires villagers to visit Nairobi and their MP?

Ans: Karega inspires the journey.