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Introduction

Writing in the 1960s, Chinua Achebe remarked on the role of the artist in his society. He

says:

The writer cannot be excused from the task of re-education and regeneration that

must be done. In fact, he should march right in front. For he is after all – as

Ezekiel Mphalele says in his African Image – the sensitive point in his community

… Perhaps what I write is applied arts as distinct from pure. But who cares? Art is

important but so is education of the kind I have in mind.(162)

This sets the tone for the projection of the writer as having a special role to play in the social,

cultural and political advancement of the society he is part of. It is interesting to note that

Achebe’s conception of the role of the artist in Africa is not different from that of most of his

fellow writers. This position is best exemplified in Wole Soyinka. Speaking at the African-

Scandinavian Writers Conference in Stockholm in 1967, Soyinka berated his fellow African

writers for being more insensitive than writers elsewhere to the contemporary universal collapse

of humanity. The reason, as Soyinka found it, was that the African writers had been generally

without vision, being more content to turn their eyes backwards in time – but never inwards –

often as a distraction from the pressing problems of the present.

From the foregoing, we can establish that the writer symbolises the conscience of his own

society and if he chooses to deviate from this position, he is either denying himself or

withdrawing to the position of a mere chronicler of history. This explains why writers, whether

of African descent or not, have first and foremost addressed themselves to the prevailing issues

in their societies. However, since literature prides itself on aesthetics, the form is considered as a
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veritable tool in delivering the message. This work, therefore, examines the formal structure

deployed by Ngugi wa Thiong’o in mobilising his compatriots to dismantle the exploitative

establishment in Kenya. It likens form with an artistic garment that clothes the nudity of the

writer’s message, while debunking the dichotomy held by some literary theoreticians. It is in the

light of above that the theory of New Criticism is adopted for this study.

The Theory of New Criticism

The New Criticism was a formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American

literary criticism in the middle decades of the 20th century. Although the term New Criticism

was first coined in the nineteenth century, it was not until American critic and poet John Crowe

Ransom, founder of the Kenyon Review wrote a book titled The New Criticism (1941) that it

became established in common academic and literary usage. In essence, the New Critics were

reacting against established trends in American criticism, arguing for the primacy of the literary

text instead of focusing on interpretations based on context. It emphasised close reading, to

discover how a work of literature functioned as a self-contained, self-referential aesthetic object.

One of the most influential movements in modern critical scholarship, the New Criticism is a

philosophy of literary interpretation that stresses the importance of studying literary texts as

complete works of art in themselves. According to Cleanth Brooks, “New Critics believe that the

structure and meaning of the text are intimately connected and should not be analysed separately,

viewing the two as constituting a quasi-organic unity” (592). In order to bring the focus of

literary studies back to analysis of the texts, they aim to exclude the reader's response, the

author's intention, historical and cultural contexts, and moralistic bias from their analysis.

The work of Cambridge scholar I. A. Richards, especially his Practical Criticism and The

Meaning of Meaning, which offered what was claimed to be an empirical scientific approach,
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were important to the development of New Critical methodology (Lynn par. 10). Also very

influential were the critical essays of T. S. Eliot, such as "Tradition and the Individual Talent"

and "Hamlet and His Problems", in which Eliot developed his notion of the "objective

correlative". Eliot's evaluative judgments, such as his condemnation of Milton and Dryden, his

liking for the so-called metaphysical poets and his insistence that poetry must be impersonal,

greatly influenced the formation of the New Critical canon.

In New Criticism, the text itself is paramount and is studied independently of its context

or author's intent. Literary language is thought of as distinct from ordinary language, and the

form and structure of the text are considered to provide meaning just like the content itself. This

school of criticism is most commonly applied to poetry and encourages very close reading.

Though its interest in textual study initially met with resistance from older scholars, the methods

of the New Critics rapidly predominated in American universities until challenged by Feminism

and Structuralism in the 1970s. Other schools of critical theory, including, Post-structuralism,

and Deconstructionist theory, the New Historicism, and Receptions studies followed. This study,

therefore, adopts a New Critical approach to the study of wa Thiong’o’s Matigari because the

authors of this research are inclined to the persuasion of the New Critics that the form of a text

is inextricably connected to its message and should not be analysed separately. This is what

justifies the significance of the theory.

wa Thiong’o’s Matigari: The Perspective of the New Critic

In examining our text of study under the set theory we shall consider the formal structural

elements deployed by the writer in conveying his message. The elements to be used as analytical

tools are, oral narrative form, symbolism, narrative voice and plot.
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Oral Narrative in wa Thiong’o’s Matigari

A formal analysis of wa Thiong’o’s Matigari immediately draws attention to its

extraordinary use of oral narrative forms – its immersion in storytelling and song. Indeed, the

resemblance of the novel to orature can be noted even before the story begins in the author’s

address to the readers/listeners. The fact that he writes “reader/listener” is itself significant in that

he presents the novel as not just the work to be read but to be performed.Odun Balogun affirms

this position stating that “the author’s prefatory note reveals Ngugi’s fastidiousness in adhering

to the details of the oral narrative composition” (139). Such notes replicate the usual warm-up

ritual that traditional storytellers engage in before commencing their tales, a ritual that ends up

quite appropriately with the usual opening formula: “So say yes, and I’ll tell you a story! Once

upon a time, in a country with no name...” (ix). wa Thiong’o invites the reader/audience to

participate in the composition of the novel by choosing the country of the story, its time

reference, and the duration of its action. He equally summons the community to participate in the

story just as the orator enlists the help of the gathered group and the cantour signals the chorus to

join in. This introduction, therefore, sets up wa Thiongo’s narrator as an orator interacting with

the listeners who actively participate in the creation and performance of the work.

Interestingly, the story itself shares an inter-textual reference to an old oral tale in

Gikuyu. Matigari as a character shares similar attributes with the central character of this old oral

tale which is a property of oral literature. It is, therefore, instructive to conclude that Matigari

has adopted an aspect from an oral tale. This adoption of an oral tale whose linguistic and

thematic development are built up to favour an oral rendition explains that even as the story

comes in written form, it still possesses most of the oral forms found in the oral tale. There are

many similarities between the oral tale and this adopted written form: in both instances, we have
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a central character whose quest to be shown a path to justice and truth comes with passion. In the

old oral tale, the anonymous character searches for truth regarding the cure to an unidentified

illness while he keeps singing to whoever crosses his path. His act of repetition is what Matigari

in Matigari also imbibe that the oral narrative nature of the text becomes pronounced.

Apart from storytelling aspect discussed above, Matigari's fraternity with oral art form

also manifests in its dependence on the power of oral songs in sustaining the plot which the

author presents. Christine Timm also shares the notion that wa Thiong’o uses music in many

ways: to create formal structure, to advance the plot, to further political ends (6). The novel

begins and ends with songs. The songs have helped in creating awareness into the political tone

raised in the novel, and to sustain this awareness, the narrative resorts entirely to these songs.

This importance of songs is created early in Matigari's search for truth and justice. As he moves

around, women sing in honour of a supposed saviour of mankind who has being roaming the

streets of Kenya. The narrator informs us that "the people... composed a song...: show me a way

to a man/whose name is Matigari wa Njirungi/Who stamps to the rhythm of bells/And the bullets

jingle/And the bullets jingle..." (7). These songs act as wa Thiong’o’s weapons with which his

success with Matigari is achieved since they help in igniting and rekindling the fire of protest

against the unjust practices imposed on the people of Kenya.

In sum, it should be noted with emphasis that wa Thiong’o’s use of songs in Matigari

constitutes the novel's driving-force. As the songs are central and important to the peasants, so

are they to the success of wa Thiong’o’s plot development. It is these songs that retain the

burning desire in Matigari to achieve his quest which keeps the narrative going. They create in

his readers a promising future which is seen in the final scene of the novel that marks Matigari's

demise, promising a new dawn for revolution

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Symbolism in Matigari.

The presence of symbols and themes in a literary piece is of great importance to the new critic.

This means that a New Critic’s analysis of any literary work strives to consider how a writer

employs the use of these symbols which sometimes come through the use of allegories. In

Matigari, wa Thiong’o creates series of these symbols which come through characters, objects

and significant events that occur in the life of the novel. Matigari’s central character is

symbolically created by the author such that our understanding of his actions and reactions to the

things he faces and is affected by as being the direct condition of the rest of the characters who

share with him the same fate. Of course, it is this direct condition of the proletariat characters

brought to us by the experiences of Matigari that has occasioned the possibility of reading his

character as a symbolic creation of the author. In fact, the entire events that surround Matigari as

a character can be read as the author’s way of bringing to us the general situation of other

characters in the novel. Hence, it is possible for us to search and find “a Matigari” in every

character of his social status. This has unveiled the importance in his character not merely on the

note of being a protagonist – it is also on the fact that other characters have been represented

through him.

Such is also the symbolic nature that Guthera’s character and a few others can be read

from, though hers being in form of a metaphor. Yet, since metaphors, like symbolism, are

representation of ideas or objects, we can argue that her metaphorical creation has achieved the

same aesthetics that symbolism does. Like Matigari’s symbolic nature, Guthera, the young

beautiful dark lady who has become destroyed through prostitution, is a metaphor for not just the

land of Kenya, but for the entire African land. When Matigari first meets her, he describes her

appearance as being
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a woman with teeth that gleam like milk, a mass of hair so black and soft, as if it

is always treated with the purest of oils. Yes, a woman who is neither too short

nor too tall; neither too fat nor too thin. So well built that her clothes fit her as

though she were created in them! See how well she wears her flower-patterned

lasso around her shoulders so that the flaps fail gently in soft folds over her

shoulders and breaths. It was difficult not to stare at her. What was such a rare

beauty doing in a dingy bar? (28)

It is in such a description that Guthera’s metaphorical character is unravelled before us. When

this is considered, then those adjectives will be understood as being wa Thiong’o’s form which

brings out the beauty of the African land. Unfortunately, just as Guthera is forced into taking

after prostitution which takes away her sense of belonging, so is this Africa – beautiful,

gleaming, and glistering – forced to assume a status which has reduced her pride, her sense of

belonging as well. Here the importance of form is once again foregrounded. With such a

metaphor, wa Thiong’o’s message about Africa is understood by readers since his vivid

descriptive adjectives on Guthera have helped them to understand better this message he has in

the novel which is believed to have partly hung on the worthless condition of Africa despite her

many potentials which, not being too big, too short to have called for what she goes through.

The importance of Guthera’s metaphor is understood to have hung on the note that to

understand the woes and exploitation of Africa – both politically and morally – a reader must

understand her exploitation and what religion has caused her. This is what becomes realistic of

all the symbols and metaphors that Matigari contains. It is through focusing on them that what

they represent is understood, hence the imports of form in the novel becomes prominent such
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that we can conclude that symbolism and metaphorical presentation are important in considering

the form of the novel.

Moving away from symbolic characters, one observes that at the beginning of the novel,

after Matigari has buried his weapons, a riderless horse gallops past him. In the end, after

Muriuki has dug up Matigari's weapons, the horse appears again, galloping past him. The horse

stands for strength and courage, which both have to muster to fight for their cause. Michael

Braun avers that the fact that it is riderless emphasises their need to assume a leadership position

in the struggle for freedom (par.1-2). Again, the fig tree is the third tree mentioned in the Bible.

After Adam and Eve have eaten the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and

Evil, they cover themselves with fig leaves. Matigari girds himself with the bark of a fig tree

after burying his weapons, which is an allegory to the biblical story, indicating that he has

discovered good and evil. In his case, he realises the good and evil parties struggling for power

in his country: The patriots and the sell-outs, as he describes them. We also see that after

Matigari has buried his weapons, he is looking for his house and his people. Both are an allegory

of his country and his fellow citizens, who are oppressed by imperialists and capitalists. He is

therefore on a quest to independence, claiming that the country belongs to its people and not the

imperialists, as the figurative house was built with their own hands. Mr Williams, therefore, is a

symbol of all the imperialists exploiting the country, and Mr Boy symbolises the citizens who

have turned against their own kind and supported the foreign powers.

Throughout the story, Matigari finds symbols of capitalism in the names of Western

corporations, which have taken over the city. Moreover, car brands, most notably German

brands, are used as a symbol of wealth and class divide. Even the children who sleep in the
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wreck of a Mercedes think they are better than their peers who end up living in the wreck of

another brand. Like the Western names and car brands, the mural on the wall of the bar, where a

group of animals sits in a circle drinking beer while the king lion collects money and encourages

them to drink more, is an allegory of the current state of society: The government collects money

from the citizens through taxes, encouraging them to numb their senses to prevent them from

realising how they are exploited. The lion has the word 'tribute' written on his belly, which

indicates that the leader of the country redirects the tax money into his own pocket instead of

spending it for the benefit of the public.

Narrative Voice in Matigari

Narrative voice is considered to be an important device in literary texts since a writer’s

choice or preference of one over the other influences his narrative. In wa Thiong’o’s Matigari,

we are presented with the third person narrative voice otherwise referred as an omniscience or

“the eye of God” narrative voice. Ngugi creates a narrator who, himself, is not a character in the

novel, yet his power of knowledge and of what he knows makes it possible for readers to depend

on him in order to understand the message which the author presents in the narrative. This is

usually what one experiences with works of literature with a third person narrative voice. In wa

Thiong’o’s case, the third person narrative voice or technique, as it is often called, is important

since it helps him in focusing attention on different characters as the narrative develops. This

adoption of an omniscient narrative voice has made it possible for readers to focus on the major

characters created by the author. Because it is a voice that knows both the consciousness and

internal workings of characters, Matagari, exposes its characters’ minds for readers

understanding. This is because the uniqueness of works of art is partly hung on the development

of characters, and partly, too, on how readers understand these characters accordingly.
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One thing which the omniscient narrative voice has helped Matigari to achieve is the

creation and development of the novel’s main character – Matigari. Indeed, Matigari is created

by the author as a character whose actions and inactions influence the narrative. Understandably,

his development is understood only from the eyes of the narrator who assumes this omniscient

narrative method. Unarguably, it is this form of narration that has made it possible for readers to

understand the thoughts of Matigari which turns out to be the message the author has presented

in the novel. It is also important to stress that the omniscient narrative voice has helped readers to

unravel the thinking of these characters, something the first or second person technique could not

have possibly achieved. Hence, we can conclude that in discussing the novel’s form, narrative

voice must be given its desired prominence.

Plot of Matigari

Matigari’s plot dwells on its linear nature. There are different types of plots which

authors’ preference determines the form the plots of their narratives assume. In wa Thiong’o’s

Matigari, the plot is seen to be linear since the events follow a sequential ordering. The plot’s

structure is in three parts. The first part details his return and subsequent discovery that things

have not changed after all, the second his search for truth while the third an eventual execution of

his quest which he had nurtured shortly after his return. The foregoing has also exposed us to the

fact that apart from being a linear plot, the novel is divided into three different sections each

narrated by a third person narrative voice. These parts are all united through the narrative’s flow

which, as noted, has been able to flow from one section into the other. Hence, it suffices to say

that wa Thiong’o creates a form of plot which supports not just the actions created in the novel,

but also adds to the aesthetics the novel comes with.

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Conclusion

Our examination of the formal elements in wa Thiong’o’s Matigari shows that it is

illogical to view the structure of a literary work as a separate entity from the message. Just like

the New Critic argues, the structure and meaning of the text are intimately connected and should

not be analysed separately, viewing the two as constituting a quasi-organic unity. It is, therefore,

apt to conclude that wa Thiong’o’s skilful deployment of the oral form, symbols, narrative voice,

and plot are not merely intended to stitch the narrative together, but carefully designed to convey

the message of the struggle against exploitation of the masses.

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Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. “The Novelist as Teacher.” New Statesmen, 29 January 1965, p.162.

Balogun, Odun F. Matigari: “An African Novel as Narrative Performance Oral.” Oral Tradition,

vol .10, no. 1, 1995, pp.130-165.

Braun, Michael. “Matigari Symbols, Allegory and Motifs.” GradeSaver.

www.gradesaver.com/matigari/study-guide/symbols-allegory-motifs. Accessed April 3, 2019.

Brooks, Cleanth. "The New Criticism." The Sewanee Review vol. 87, no. 4, 1979, p. 592.

Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts: Writing about Literature with Critical Theory. Addison-

Wesley, 2001.

Timm, Christine. “Music as a Point of Resistance in Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Matigari.” Ufahamu: A

Journal of African Studies, vol. 20, no. 2, 1992, pp. 3-17.

Wa Thiong’o, Ngugi. Matigari. Heinemann, 1989.

 www.gradesaver.com/matigari/study-guide/symbols-allegory-motifs
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