The Dump (Visceral Imagery)
Mũriũki and other orphaned children live in a scrapyard dump. The text uses visceral imagery of the children's inadequate and dangerous living conditions, condemning the exploitative colonists for creating inequality. To find food and essential supplies, the children must rummage through the garbage, competing with dogs, vultures, rats and "all sorts of vermin" for discarded "pieces of string," "shoelaces," "rubber bands," and "banana peels." The underfed children gnaw on bones "with their teeth, hoping to find a scrap of meat." This bleak imagery demonstrates the human consequences of economic inequality and colonialism.
The Prison Cell (Olfactory Imagery)
Matigari is unjustly imprisoned in a dark, filthy prison cell, recalling author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's own political imprisonment. By appealing to the sense of smell, the author vividly depicts the disgusting, inhumane conditions in which prisoners are kept. Matigari can hardly breathe in the cell, as it "reeked with the breath of the ten other people packed there." In addition to the human scents, the cell is rarely cleaned, and there is "the heavy odor of vomited beer, the smell of the sweat on their bodies and that of the human sweat and blood which had dried up on the walls of the cell over the years." The dried blood on the wall, in particular, demonstrates that the government has been torturing prisoners for years.
Wealthy Neighborhoods (Visual Imagery)
Matigari and his companions drive through the wealthy neighborhoods, gawking at the opulence of the elite class. The manors are "large, with huge gardens," a stark contrast to the wrecked cars in which poor children like Mũriũki live. The wastefulness of the wealthy is emphasized through descriptions of their "swimming pools full of clear blue water" though the country suffers a drought. To maintain their excessive lifestyle, the rich disconnect from the ordinary people, securing their hoarded wealth with "huge steel gates" and security guards and dogs. This visual imagery highlights the class struggles in Matigari's country and the wealthy's indifference toward the working class.
The Assembly (Visceral Imagery)
The Minister for Truth and Justice holds an assembly where he vilifies the workers' strike, restricting the ordinary people's rights and affording privileges to the wealthy elite. The text uses visceral imagery to create a grim, "dull atmosphere" and a tense tone, contrasting with the Minister's hyperbolic and comic speeches. The temperature in the room "was neither too hot nor too cold," and the "murmuring of those assembled indicated neither happiness nor sadness." This neutral state symbolizes that the country is on the precipice of a significant change; through Matigari's presence, the people are becoming aware of their oppression yet are unsure of how to resist it. This tension is signified through the imagery of the room's "electric light" weakly glowing to create "a kind of twilight" where "nothing was clear."
