I WILL MARRY WHEN I WANT.

Besides the theme of class struggle, one of modernity vs. tradition is immediately apparent. This is seen in the relationship between Wangeci, Kĩgũũnda, and their daughter. Gathoni is a modern woman, one who wants to buy things and choose when she wants to marry. Her parents decry this and associate it with an encroachment of Western values. They cannot conceive of her making choices in this respect, and perhaps more minor but equally important, are frustrated with her lack of manners and work ethic. The play is slightly more sympathetic to the parents (and, by extension, tradition) by not giving Gathoni many words or thoughts of her own outside of petulant ones.

Marriage and family are given primacy in the play, as the title suggests. Ngugi has a more traditional view of marriage than other late 20th century writers. The focus is on the home and on a solid marriage rooted in companionship and the ability to care for one another. He excoriates the Western conception of marriage, which Njooki characterizes as property marrying property. His depictions of the two marriages (Gĩcaamba and Njooki's, and the Christian one proposed by Kĩoi for Wangeci and Kĩgũũnda) elevate the former and criticize the latter. He also seems ambivalent about having a too-emotional, laissez-faire attitude about the institution, as seen in Gathoni's viewpoint. The play begins and ends in the home, with traditional Kenyan views on family and marriage taken prominence.