Summary
Chapter 1
A river flows between the two ridges of Kameno and Makuyu in Kenya. The valley is called the valley of life and the river is called Honia, or “cure.” It never dries and is the soul of the two ridges. All men, beasts, and trees are united by it. However, if you stand in the valley the ridges look like antagonists because of the way the face each other; there is a sense in which this is a struggle of life and death.
Long ago, a man rose in Makuyu. He claimed that Gikuyu and Mumbi sojourned there, so it meant leadership belongs in Makuyu. Not everyone believed this, thinking they had stopped in Kameno. In Kameno they said Murungu gave them the land and that a sacred spring sprang where they stood. People still paid homage to it. The great Gikuyu seer, Mugo, was also born there, grew up there, and warned everyone that someday the people with clothes like butterflies would come. And come they did—they were the white men.
The ridges were isolated and people lived their lives undisturbed by what went on elsewhere. The hills and ridges were “the heart and soul of the land. They kept the tribes’ magic and rituals, pure and intact” (3).
Most people never left the ridges but some went out. Leaders of the land arose there, having the courage to look beyond. They became strangers to the hills.
Chapter 2
Two boys, Kamau and Kinuthia, emerge in the plain. They are wrestling, but it soon becomes violent. Another boy emerges and orders them to stop. It is Waiyaki, and he asks why they are fighting. Kamau says the other boy called his father a convert to the white man, and Kinuthia says Kamau made fun of him for his father dying poor. They begin struggling again.
Waiyaki says Kamau’s name; humiliated, Kamau stops and slinks away. Kinuthia is grateful.
Waiyaki is the son of Chege. He has not yet been circumcised but is tall and well-built. He has a small scar from a wild goat near his left eye. Chege is an elder of Kameno who knows “the meaning of every ritual and every sign” (7) and all the ways of everything in the tribe. There are plenty of stories about him. Some say he is related to Mugo; some say he is a seer. He often warns his people of the white men. People respond that the white man does not speak the language of the hills or know the ways of the land, but the white men still come. Now, Joshua and Kabonyi have been converted and abandoned the ways of the tribe.
The boys come home in the darkness and Waiyaki goes to Chege. Chege warns his son that it is dangerous in the darkness, but Waiyaki boasts that he knows the way of all the ridges. He realizes his father was worried about him, and his heart warms. Chege tells his son that he must remember tomorrow is the day of his second birth. Waiyaki trembles with excitement.
Chapter 3
The Demi na Mathathi were the giants of the tribe who long ago cut down trees, cleared the forests, and held communion with ancestral spirits. Sometimes the boys played as them, and even though one boy told Waiyaki he could not be one because he was not circumcised, everyone knew there was something about Waiyaki’s eyes, gaze, and the burning words within him.
The day for the second birth is here and Waiyaki wonders why he does not feel happier to learn the ways of the tribe and be like his father. He wants his initiation and manly spirit.
The elders are beginning to arrive near the river, and people are feeling festive. Waiyaki sits between his mother’s legs, a ceremonial umbilical cord is cut, and he follows his mother into the river. He is filled with strange fear, though, and this disturbs some.
Waiyaki goes to bed early after this strange experience. Even though he feels a little hollow, he is ready for the future.
Chapter 4
Waiyaki gets back into the rhythm of the village. Some say his eyes have a glitter in them; some say it is evil.
One evening Chege calls him into his hut and asks if he has been to the hills deep south of Kameno. Waiyaki says no. Chege then asks if he has heard of the sacred grove, and Waiyaki says he has. Chege tells his son they will go there tomorrow. Waiyaki feels a thrill course through him and wonders what manly secret they will see.
The next day, Waiyaki follows Chege through the labyrinthine plants and thorns. It is quiet, but Chege often stops to comment on something he knows about a bush or plant. Waiyaki feels close to his father and thinks that the hidden things of the hills are being revealed to him.
They leave the valley and climb up the slopes. Once, an antelope runs away from them, and Chege explains that they only run away from men, not women, because women used to rule this land and the men—until they became too harsh and the men overthrew them.
At the top of the path, there is a small hill; this is the sacred place. A big Mugumo tree looms on the edge of the tree, huge and strange. It looks holy, and Waiyaki knows it is the tree of Murungu. He can see across the whole land; he can that the ridges are not antagonistic, but rather have merged into one.
Chapter 5
Chege is moved by what he sees and tells his son this land is beautiful to the eye, that it is all their land, and that the Father and Mother of the tribe were made by Murungu. Murungu showed them the land and brought them here.
Chege seems like he is in a vision and Waiyaki, while a little frightened, senses something great in his father. Chege continues to speak of this blessed and sacred place. Kameno is where the father and mother started and were supported; their children spread throughout all the land.
After a moment, Chege looks at his son and tells him he descends from those who came to the hills. He then tells his son of Mugo the seer and how he warned the people of the men with clothes like butterflies. The people thought he was crazy and scorned him, so he became bitter and hid himself away. He went beyond the hills but finally came back, disguised, to live. Chege adds that he and Waiyaki are descended from Mugo.
Waiyaki is dumbstruck. Chege tells him not to fear and that he is the last in their line. Waiyaki feels a weight on his soul and a presentiment stirring within him. His father tells him to sit and, staring off into space and trembling a bit, explains that this is the ancient prophecy of Mugo: the only way to stop the butterfly men was to learn their ways, trap them, and fight them back; salvation will come from the hills and a son shall rise.
Chege stops. He says only he and maybe Kabonyi know the prophecy. He looks at Waiyaki and tells him he must heed this, go to the Mission, and learn the wisdom and secrets of the white man; he must be true to his people and his ancient rites.
Waiyaki is weak with shock but Chege presses on, telling him there must be a man to rise and save the people. They will cry for a savior.
Late in the day father and son return home, exhausted. Waiyaki thinks their trip was like a dream and wonders if his father is sane. However, deep within he feels a heaviness. His soul feels like a man’s, though his body is a boy’s.
Waiyaki, Kinuthia, and Kamau go to Siriana to live and learn together under the Reverend Livingstone of the Siriana Mission. Many boys from the hills go there. They work hard and Waiyaki impresses everyone. Some think he will be a great Christian leader.
Chapter 6
Nyambura sits by the Honia river, feeling it call to her. This is the place where boys and girls come for their circumcision ritual, but she knows that it is sinful and a pagan rite that she and her sister are saved from. Her father, Joshua, is a man of God and helped them realize this.
Muthoni, Nyambura’s younger sister, seems moody and restless. The two are inseparable and even look similar. Nyambura is normally quiet, though, whereas Muthoni is vivacious. Muthoni tells her sister that she must say something, but that it is a secret. Nyambura promises to keep it secret and tries to calm her sister.
Finally, Muthoni admits that she wants to be circumcised. Nyambura is stupefied and sits in silence. She reminds Muthoni that their father will never allow this and that they are now wise in the ways of the white people. Father teaches them what he knows, and missionaries do not like this rite.
Muthoni will not yield. Nyambura knows their father will never allow this, and she begs her sister to explain why. She grows passionate and Muthoni is upset and rushes to her. She says she wants to be a woman: a real girl who knows the ways of the hills and the ridges. She reminds Nyambura that their parents are circumcised and this did not prevent them from being Christians.
Muthoni tells her sister that she does not simply want the white man’s Christianity and needs something more. Nyambura is stunned silent. She has never thought deeply about this, usually listening to her father.
Muthoni states that she will go to their aunt in Kameno for this. Both girls start to weep. Nyambura knows she cannot change her sister’s mind. The river flows on.
The sisters begin their walk home. On the way, Muthoni accidentally drops her watermelon and Nyambura thinks privately that this is a bad omen.
Chapter 7
The people of Makuyu are performing their chores and duties that morning as the girls walk home. The houses here are uniform, but Joshua’s is distinct because of its tin roof. It makes it clear that the isolation of Makuyu is perhaps ending. Siriana is the nearest missionary center, though, and Nairobi is far. Disciples come to these hills, but they did not live here yet. The people are loyal to the ways of the land. Livingstone rarely comes here, but Joshua does his work.
Joshua was converted when he was a young man. He found a sanctuary and power in Siriana, and now the faith possesses him wholly. He renounced his tribe’s magic, power, and rituals for the one God. He thinks his people ignorant and living in darkness. He is happy he has escaped Hell, been washed anew, and been freed from fear. He does not fear Chege, nor the hills and its people; he preaches with fury and vehemence and converts many. However, some fall back into their old ways, and Joshua sometimes feels wrathful and condemnatory. Thankfully, his own home is a model of rigidity and religious uniformity.
When Joshua sees his daughters walking home, he is proud of his upstanding family and their strong faith.
It is an unusual year with rich seasons. The elders of Kameno offer sacrifices to Murungu. All are preparing for rites and rituals—Kameno for the initiations and Joshua for Christmas. Joshua is adamantly against circumcision and even feels chagrin that his own wife, Miriamu, is circumcised. Miriamu does not agree but says nothing; Joshua is so devoted to the Old Testament that he’d even beat his wife.
That year is not a good one for Joshua. Some in Kameno are restless and blame him for the white men. They hear of a Government Post being built at Makuyu and that they will be taxed by a government in Nairobi. Joshua does not mind these changes and sees the white men as his brothers in Christ. They are not responsible for the ills of the land; the people, in their blindness, are. He often feels great anger and tries to be patient even though he wishes he could punish them.
Preparation for the birth of the Christian savior, as well as the initiation rituals, proceeds.
Chapter 8
Sundays are usually busy for Joshua. Sometimes he has Kabonyi preach, but Kabonyi is not as compelling. Joshua is exhausted one Sunday and goes home with his wife. Nyambura is home but Muthoni is not. Nyambura starts to worry, especially for the moment when Joshua, who does not allow his children to stay out late, will ask for Muthoni.
Miriamu asks where she is. She is a peace-loving woman who wants her children to obey their father, but “one could still tell by her eyes that [Christianity] was a religion learnt and accepted; inside the true Gikuyu woman was sleeping” (34).
Nyambura is quiet. Her father calls out for Muthoni. Nyambura steps outside but returns. Joshua glares at his wife to find their daughter. Night is coming.
Miriamu knows that her duty as a mother is to bear on her shoulders her children’s sins and misdeeds, and so she goes to look for Muthoni.
Inside, Nyambura and Joshua are silent. Joshua rages at his wife and Nyambura is torn. Finally, she timidly ventures that maybe Muthoni has gone to visit their aunt. Joshua turns on her and asks why she would do that. Nyambura says she wants to be circumcised.
Joshua grabs her, so infuriated he has spittle coming out of his mouth. Nyambura is terrified that he will hit her. He releases her, though, and she feels a sense of pity at his defeated and pained form.
Joshua sits, looking like a defeated beast of prey. He tells Nyambura she has permission to go to Kameno and to tell Muthoni that if she comes back then everything will be forgiven—but if she does not, then she is no longer his daughter.
Silence falls. Miriamu cries.
Nyambura goes and returns the next day, saying Muthoni refuses to return. Joshua is ashamed and thinks of the suffering of Job. From this day inward she is dead to him; she is a disgrace to him and his house.
Analysis
Ngugi begins on a macro scale and then moves to the micro. He starts with an image of the ancient ridges of Kameno and Makuyu in the remote central highlands of Kenya and takes their history back to the gods and founding Kikuyu. The structure of the hills, river, and valley is already suggestive of conflict, as the river divides more than it unifies. The ambiguity surrounding the founders of the ridge communities (where did they go, where did they stay, etc.) is indicative of that conflict, as are the troubles that follow in subsequent generations. This image of the ridges standing apart from each other thus foreshadows the tremendous divisions to come: the tribe and the white man, Waiyaki and the elders, Muthoni and Nyambura, Joshua and Waiyaki, and more.
The first division of the tribes versus the white men still operates on a macro scale, as the influx of Europeans into Africa had been growing exponentially since the late 19th century. White Christian missionaries were traditionally the forerunners of companies and governments, and even though they may not have directly advocated for colonialism, they were often indirect implements of it. Tellingly, the tribe in The River Between is not dealing with just the missionaries and educators but also with the government and its imminent taxation.
By beginning with this “brief, symbolic evocation of the mythic landscape in which the plot unfolds,” Ngugi asserts that “land serves as the unifying ground for leadership and tradition,” as critic Michael Loudon writes. The tribe’s most important ritual, circumcision, is deeply tied to the land in its execution, and the most important gatherings take place in sacred places. Chege relates the prophecy to Waiyaki at the sacred grove with the great tree of Murungu, Nyambura and Waiyaki plight their troth at the river, Muthoni is immersed in the river when she speaks of and undergoes circumcision, and more. The further Waiyaki removes himself from the land, and the further he becomes a stranger to it, signifies “his failure to achieve the leadership of his people. As the prophecy’s mythic power originates from the land, so must its fulfillment speak to the land’s sanctity.”
On the micro scale, Ngugi explores the events surrounding the figure of Waiyaki. From the first introduction, the reader is made aware that Waiyaki is a young man to be reckoned with and someone who will do great things for the tribe. Waiyaki’s physical appearance is matched by his pedigree: he is the elder/putative prophet, Chege’s son, and maybe even related to the great prophet Mugo. Waiyaki’s interpersonal issues with Kabonyi, Kamau, Joshua, the elders, Muthoni, and Nyambura, make up much of the drama of the text, but Waiyaki is also a deeply introverted young man in the sense that he lives in his head. He is constantly ruminating, worrying, planning, and second-guessing; Ngugi makes the reader privy to Waiyaki’s internal processing in such an immediate and consuming way in order to reinforce just how far out of touch with the rest of the tribe he is. When things crash and burn for him, it makes sense because, as Kinuthia worries, Waiyaki cannot see everything that is really happening.
In these first few chapters, Ngugi develops his main characters and sets in motion the conflicts between them. First, there is Joshua, the main Christian convert among the tribe. Joshua represents Christianity in a negative light, for he is harsh, cruel, unyielding, and incapable of forgiveness. He eventually renounces both of his daughters, is the worst sort of Old Testament patriarch with his wife, and grows irrationally angry when he observes what he thinks is sinful behavior on the part of the tribe. He cannot accept any of the tribal customs or allow them to be eased out; rather, he preaches vociferously against them and offers no compromise. Joshua’s tribal counterpart is Chege, who just as powerfully “preaches” against the white man’s encroachment. Chege matches Joshua in age, experience, and respect of his community, but unfortunately, he dies not long after Waiyaki’s circumcision.
Both Muthoni and Waiyaki are potential unifying figures—potential “rivers between”—that do indeed see a path of compromise. They meet in the neutral ground between the ridges in the river Honia, the divider but also potential unifier. Yet, as critic Charles E. Nnolim writes, “the irony in Ngugi’s works is that those who try to bridge the gap between opposing forces are doomed to failure” and that what makes this novel a pessimistic one is “that there is no acceptable alternative, no viable counterweight to either fanaticism or the law of sweet reason.”
