Tradition Versus Mordernization Conflict Schaueble Kagoni Meja College

The River Between, a novel by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, is set during the pre-colonial eras of the1930s amongst the Gikuyu tribe of the Bantus living in Central Kenya. In the story, a clear rift is developed between two villages, Kameno and Makuyu, the former being against modernization in the novel and the later being agents of change who embraced the new ways that were being introduced by Christian missionaries into the interior parts of Kenya. These two villages in the story have also been craftily separated by River Honia that runs between them, which symbolically was used by the author to depict the division that existed between them. The Christian Mission that was erected in Siriana is the main source of the conflict between these villages as it is viewed as a threat to the Gikuyu way of life.

In the story, Chege a protagonist, who as much as he would not abandon the traditions of the Gikuyu people, he decides to send his son Waiyaki to the mission school at Siriana and tells him to “learn all the wisdom and all the secrets of the white man. But do not follow his vices.” (Wa Thiong’o, 2015). The tone of the novel is set as Chege is guiding his son through the region in the process telling him of the history of their people....