LIT/O/1/B: WEEP NOT CHILD BY Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

Weep Not Child, Ngugi wa Thiong’o 1964 novel, centers around the interactions between British colonists in Kenya and the native people. This book takes place during the Mau Mau Uprising, an eight-year struggle in British-controlled colonial Kenya. During this 1950s uprising, the British killed somewhere between 12,000 and 20,000 African rebels. The success of the British Empire can be attributed to their “divide and rule” practice, a political tactic first utilized by the ancient Greeks. This practice makes it difficult or impossible for smaller groups of people to band together and revolt—and that is exactly what happened during the Mau Mau Uprising. Ngugi’s works, including Weep Not Child, are piercingly critical of British rule.