'In the House of the Interpreter' lets us into mind of a teen in dark Mau Mau days

The atrocities of the time, the loss of life, property and way of life is too real even to date but what was lost in between is the mind of a teen at that time. This is what Ngugi wa Thiong’o has succeeded in depicting in staggering imagery and narration 'In the House of the Interpreter'. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NMG

What you need to know:

  • Some of the images were of the Mau Mau dark days during the emergency, between 1952 and 1962 when the entire central region and Nairobi were arguably police states.
  • Ngugi is a teenage with a brother, Good Wallace in the forest fighting the white man and lives a life of utter nervousness, fearing that a gun-toting white police officer would descend on him while hunting the insurgents.
  • Edward Carey Francis may have been many things but what Ngugi probably took from him that speaks about the Kenyan literary icon to date is his advice.

During the Storymoja Festival of 2017 at the Nairobi Museum of Kenya one of the most memorable and iconic exhibitions was Boniface Mwangi’s pictorial Courage Exhibition telling the story of Kenyans who in their various occupations or lives left an indelible mark in the fabric of the Kenyan nation.

Some of the images were of the Mau Mau dark days during the emergency, between 1952 and 1962 when the entire central region and Nairobi were arguably police states.

The atrocities of the time, the loss of life, property and way of life is too real even to date but what was lost in between is the mind of a teen at that time.

This is what Ngugi wa Thiong’o has succeeded in depicting in staggering imagery and narration In the House of the Interpreter.

VANISHED VILLAGE

The autobiographical account is a poignant account offering an insight into the life at the time and the power that education has for those who decide to bathe in it.

Engrossed in his own thoughts Ngugi’s instincts suddenly alert him he has arrived home but on “casting my eyes beyond, I suddenly realise the whole village homesteads has disappeared” and he is left to ask “how could a whole village, its people, history, everything, vanish, just like that?”

He is strutting his famous khaki Alliance High School uniform proudly and cannot wait to return to his village and recount his adventures to his mother and family.

The full length of the problem hits him hard when he finds the village has disappeared and everyone has been relocated further away into a typical colonial concentration village manned by guards from an adjacent checkpoint.

THE SANCTUARY

Ngugi is a teenage with a brother, Good Wallace in the forest fighting the white man and lives a life of utter nervousness, fearing that a gun-toting white police officer would descend on him while hunting the insurgents.

The gate of Alliance High School is like the warm, reassuring feathers of mother hen to her chicks, the sanctuary where a young man can breathe easy until the next break.

The position of Edward Carey Francis is noteworthy, the Englishman with a complex psyche who poises the elitist institution to produce the best of the future leadership, cooperative in its dealings and effective enough to bring about a fresh yet deep-seated anticolonial nationalist fever that he unmistakably sets the best example.

In the staff of the High School Carey Francis has a number of Africans.

He has a strong insistence not just on scoring high in the classroom but also on the diverse activities on the playing field with the ultimate development of an intellectual mind ready for college and self-confident in all ways.

CONSTANT JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY

At school, as in the entire book, Ngugi seems to be in a constant journey of discovery.

He notices the “hierarchy and mystery of the prefect system, which was almost a mirror image of the colonial administration”.

While the faculty mastered the academic part of life the prefects were the police the principal used to rule the school. The sanctuary to Ngugi was full of both mystery and excitement, from being bullied by senior students particularly within the dormitories where “newcomers were monos and jiggers, to be put in their place, seen not heard”.

Even with the khaki uniform of Alliance a visit to Kikuyu town from the school was a quick reminder of the precarious situation on the outside as a raid brings the entire town into a halt, people disappearing in all directions. The effect of his uniform is a wonder to Ngugi, a magic veil that made the students invisible to the marauding colonial police raiders. Even in the sanctuary he lived a life of real present dread such as the intrusion into the school by the colonial government officials to screen members of Gikuyu, Meru and Embu for the issuance of a passbook to replace the ID card that would certify that the holder had not taken the Mau Mau oath of allegiance. Ngugi has to take his in Limuru where he remembers a cruel chief awaits and the idea of facing the chief becomes a constant haunting.

PERSONAL SPIRITUAL TURMOIL

Even as the political upheaval in the country deepens, Ngugi is also on a spiritual upheaval of his own after he is ensnared into the Christian faith.

His inability to hear the voice of God or lead anyone to the cross is a constant reminder of his failure as a Christian.

Confusion is exacerbated as together with his friend and brother in the faith, Omange, they are betrayed when a senior member of their evangelical trio puts a girl in the family way, confesses but refuses to marry her, of which Ngugi agrees with the “Franciscan view of Christian life as being more than mere expressions of piety”.

COME OF AGE JOURNEY

In The House of The Interpreter, Ngugi takes you through his teenage years in high school.

Through his journey of enlightenment in Alliance High School, his struggles with his Christian faith, the jarring reality of a new life in a colonial village, constant fear of government crackdown that would see him lose his sanctuary and the maturity that comes with his end days at the house of the interpreter.

Furthermore is the frustration with the colonial police when he is arrested, set free and immediately rearrested; building up to a final showdown with a compelling short court drama that makes the power of education shine through.

He opens another page of his life in 1959 in a train heading to Makerere University in Uganda.

Edward Carry Francis may have been many things but what Ngugi probably took from him that speaks about the Kenyan literary icon to date, is his advice.

When he faced Francis for the last time after his four years at the sanctuary came to an end he is advised “whatever you do, don’t be a politician. All politicians, black, white, and brown are unmitigated scoundrels”.