Beginnings of a Paper

Entry #17
Work: The River Between by Ngũnĩ Wa Thiong'o

I've decided to switch my paper topic to the work above after the initial revulsion I spoke of in my last entry. I'll use this entry to pound out my ideas a little.

I'm seeing an awful lot of the matriarchy that Waiyaki's father, Chege told him had existed in days gone by, even though the tribal religion seems to be centered, at least on the surface, around a patriarchal order. According to the tale, the women drove the men too hard, were unfair, and the men revolted.

And this matriarchy no longer exists, or so Chege tells Waiyaki -- but is this true? So much of the Gikuyu religion is earth-based, and therefore mother-based. They are close to the land. I'm seeing the two ridges, opposing mountains as breasts, the river as a birth canal. Even the cover art depicts it in this way. Is a goddess religion possible without a matriarchy? Or, if not a matriarchy, can it exist in the presence of a patriarchy?

Their religion descends from two shared parents, Gikuyu & Mumbi. Christianity has only a male godhead and each of the subsidiaries (the Christ and the Holy Ghost) are male. Yes, the virgin served as an incubator for the Christ, but she was a vessel only; chosen, yes, but not a goddess in her own right.

It is only through a male-centered religion that the white man was able to infiltrate peacefully these people. Christianity appeals to the disgruntled male, owner of property, head of household -- and with Christianity, Mumbi can be forsaken. Joshua's rebellious daughters can be forgotten, cut off because they are female and they are not in the image of the perfect One.

I'm merely hammering out these thoughts as I have them. No idea if I can find the textual support yet or independent research to support the point -- which I realize I haven't made yet.

The tribal culture of the Gikuyu and the white man's Christian religion are both forms of control of a people. Gikuyu people remain close to the earth because the earth feeds them. Waiyaki's attempt to blend learning with the tribal customs is honorable, but doomed, as the earth is lost in Christianity. The Gikuyu roots are in the earth, and the Christian religion transcends the earthly, therefore they cannot coexist. One necessarily negates the other.

There. That's as close right now that I can come right now to a thesis statement. I still have the last several dozen pages to read before morning, so I'd better get on it.

Till later...